Ethelred II, the Unredy

Ethelred II, the Unredy (968-1016 AD), King of England.

Ethelred II (or Aethelred) is known as the Unredy which, at the time, meant Purposeless.

He became king at the age of ten and was on the throne for thirty-eight years.

In that time he undid much of the good work that had been done by Alfred the Great and his successors over a period of one hundred years.

Danes began raiding Wessex again and, instead of fighting them, Ethelred tried to bribe them to stay away. The Danes took the money, but always asked for more and by 1007 the sum of £30,000 was being paid to them. To raise this money, Ethelred collected a tax called Danegelt.

On St. Brice's Day (14 November) 1002, Ethelred had every Dane in Wessex murdered. As a result of this, King Sweyn of Denmark invaded England and Ethelred fled to Normandy.

Sweyn died and Ethelred returned to reclaim his throne. Sweyn's son, Canute, fought against Ethelred, and at first he was defeated by Ethelred's son, Edmund Ironside.

After Ethelred died, Edmund went on fighting Canute but he died after seven months and Canute became king.

See Ann Williams Aethelred the Unready