March 18, 978. Edward the Martyr killedThere has been some confusion
on the dates of Edward's murder and Athelred's consecration, but it seems likeliest
that Edward died in 978 and Athelred was consecrated in 979; see Keynes, p.233
n.7. One version of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle adds the details that the killing
took place at Corfe in the evening of 18 March, and that Edward was buried at
Wareham without royal honours. In the following year Ealdorman Alfhere (of Mercia)
fetched the king's body from Wareham and bore it with great honour to Shaftesbury.
The
nearly-contemporary Life of St Oswald adds the details that the murder was committed
by some zealous thegns of Athelred, who surrounded and killed Edward when he had
come to visit his half-brother Athelred and Alfthryth (see EHD 236, pp.914-5).
The Life calls Edward a martyr of God, and adds that he was taken to the house
of an unimportant person and left there under a mean covering, until a year later
Alfhere came and found the body uncorrupted and buried it honorably.
The
late 11th-century Passion of St Edward adds that it was Alfthryth who plotted
the killing, so that her son could be king (Fell, pp.3-4; on the date, see Fell,
p.xx). This may be a truth that was known at the time and suppressed in the Life
of St Oswald for fear of royal displeasure, but could just as well be the first
stage in the transformation of Alfthryth from a historical person into a fairy-tale
wicked stepmother (at the extreme end of which she is reduced to using magic potions
and torturing abbots with hot irons; see Wright, pp.158-60). At this distance,
without clearer information, the mystery of who plotted Edward's death remains
unsolved. (See further Keynes, pp.166-74.)
A cult of St Edward soon developed:
Athelred called his half-brother a saint in a charter of 1001 (S 899), and stated
that St Edward's festival was to be celebrated over all England on 18 March in
one of his law codes (V ?thelred 16, issued 1008; see EHD 44, p.444, and references
at Ridyard, p.157 n.71).
C. Fell, Edward King and Martyr (Leeds: 1971)
S. Keynes, The Diplomas of King ?thelred "The Unready" 978-1016: A Study
in their Use as Historical Evidence (Cambridge: 1980), pp.163-74
S. Ridyard, The Royal Saints of Anglo-Saxon England: A Study of West Saxon and
East Anglian Cults (Cambridge: 1988), pp.44-50 and 154-75
D. Rollason,
"The cults of murdered royal saints in Anglo-Saxon England", Anglo-Saxon
England 11 (1982), pp.1-22
C. Wright, The Cultivation of Saga in
Anglo-Saxon England (London: 1939)
978. Athelred, Edgar's son, succeeds
to England
May 4, 979. ?thelred consecrated king
?thelred came to
power in 978 after the murder of his half-brother Edward on 18 March 978; he was
probably twelve or younger. From the regnal years of some of his charters we know
he was already acting as king in 978, but he seems not to have been consecrated
until 979 (see Keynes, Diplomas, p.233). We have no means of knowing why there
was a delay of over a year between ?thelred's accession and his coronation, but
if Edward's body was really hidden and in an uncertain location for a year after
the death it was perhaps thought inappropriate to consecrate a successor; it may
not even have been absolutely certain that Edward was dead.
From a study
of ?thelred's charters, Simon Keynes has divided the internal affairs of the reign
into four periods (see Keynes, Diplomas). In his teenage years (978-84) he seems
to have been carefully guided by his mother ?lfthryth and ?thelwold, the bishop
of Winchester. ?thelwold died in 984 and his mother disappeared from his charters
until 993; in this period, called by Keynes the period of "youthful indiscretion",
?thelred seems to have been manipulated by counsellors to alienate church lands
in ways that by 993 he admits he regrets. In 993 a new group of witnesses became
prominent in the charters, ?thelred was making amends to the churches, and were
it not for the Viking raids from without this might have come down to us as a
period of peace and prosperity. In about 1006 there seems to have been another
abrupt change in the witnesses of charters, coincident with the emergence in 1007
of Eadric as ealdorman of Mercia. Eadric is increasingly prominent in the closing
years of ?thelred's reign.
?thelred's reign is however much better known
for the Viking raids, which resumed in 980. They seem to have become more serious
in 991, when after the battle of Maldon it was first decided to pay tribute to
the Vikings to try to get them to leave. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records five
"national" payments in ?thelred's reign (?10,000 in 991, ?16,000 in
993, ?24,000 in 1002, ?36,000 in 1007, ?48,000 in 1012), but there were probably
also many unrecorded "local" payments (like the ?3,000 from Canterbury
and East Kent in 1009). Sometimes these payments did gain the English a respite,
but the escalating amounts and the repeated return visits show that the situation
was out of control. ?thelred was driven from the country at the end of 1013; though
he returned early in 1014 and drove the Vikings out, they returned the following
year. At his death in 1016 the Danish Vikings were over-running the country, and
by the end of that year Cnut the Dane was king of all England.
Most of our
narrative sources for ?thelred come from the end of the reign and so are understandably
grim. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for ?thelred's reign seems to have been written
after Cnut's conquest, and may project more gloom than was actually present in
the earlier years (a contemporary annal for 1001 survives from one version of
the Chronicle, and is much less doom-laden than the annal for 1001 in the sequence
composed after 1016). Wulfstan of York's Sermo Lupi ad Anglos of 1014 reads like
a catalogue of all that is wrong with England, but like the Chronicle it is reporting
on a society after three decades of invasion, and this should not be extended
back over the thirty-eight years of ?thelred's reign. Wulfstan is also writing
in a self-centred tradition in which foreign invasions are explained not by the
needs or desires of the foreigners, but by the sins of the natives, which have
caused God to turn his face from them and allow them to be chastised. In this
context it is not surprising that Wulfstan does not mention the flowering of literature
(works by ?lfric, by Byrhtferth of Ramsey, by Wulfstan of Winchester), illuminated
manuscripts (see The Golden Age of Anglo-Saxon Art, nn.33-58), and other artwork
(Golden Age, nn. 74-5, 118-9) that can be dated to the turn of the 10th/11th centuries.
?thelred
was twice married, and all his sons were given the names of earlier English kings.
By his first wife, ?lfgifu, he had ?thelstan (who died in 1014 and left a will,
S 1503, EHD 129), Ecgberht, Edmund Ironside (who was king in 1016), Eadred, Eadwig
(killed by Cnut in 1017), Edgar, Edith (who married Ealdorman Eadric after 1006),
?lfgifu, and perhaps three other daughters. (Two 12th-century sources state that
?thelred's first wife ?lfgifu was the daughter of an ealdorman, but since they
name different ealdormen, ?thelberht and Thored, and it is not clear which is
more trustworthy, ?lfgifu's parentage remains uncertain. See Barlow, Edward the
Confessor, p. 28 n. 5.) In 1002 ?thelred married Emma of Normandy, and they had
three surviving children: Edward (the Confessor, who became king in 1042), Alfred
(killed in 1036), and a daughter, Godgifu, who married Drogo the count of the
Vexin, and then after Drogo's death in 1035 married Eustace the count of Boulogne.
?thelred's
nickname, "the Unready", only appears centuries after his death. It
is first recorded in the late 13th century as "Unrad", a comment on
his reign meanaing "no counsel" or "ill-advised counsel",
and intended as a contrast to the literal meaning of ?thelred's name, "noble
counsel". By the fifteenth century the pun was no longer understood and the
meaning came closer to the modern "Unready" (see Keynes, "Declining
Reputation", in Hill 1978). Since ?thelred himself admits in 993 that counsellors
had been able to take advantage of his ignorance, and later in his years of maturity
he placed his trust in the treacherous Eadric, it seems undeniable that he was
at times a poor judge of character.
J. Backhouse and others, The Golden
Age of Anglo-Saxon Art, 966-1066 (London: 1984)
F. Barlow, Edward
the Confessor, 2nd edn (London: 1997)
D. Hill (ed.), Ethelred the
Unready: Papers from the Millenary Conference (Oxford: 1978)
S.
Keynes, The Diplomas of King ?thelred "The Unready" 978-1016: A Study
in their Use as Historical Evidence (Cambridge: 1980)
S. Keynes,
"The Vikings in England", The Oxford Illustrated History of the Vikings
(Oxford: 1997), pp.48-82
980. Return of the Vikings: Southampton,
Thanet, and Cheshire ravaged
981. Vikings ravage Devon and Cornwall
982.
Vikings ravage in Portland (Dorset), burn London
983. Alfhere of
Mercia ravages Dyfed
The Annales Cambriae record that the Saxons, led
by Alfhere (ealdorman of Mercia), ravaged the lands of Einion ab Owain (Dyfed).
984.
Athelwold of Winchester dies
Beginning of Athelred's "irresponsible phase"
985.
Ealdorman Alfric exiled
985-7. Abbo of Fleury teaches at Ramsey
986.
Athelred lays waste the diocese of Rochester
986. Vikings raid Iona
988.
Vikings ravage Watchet (Somerset)
March 1, 991. Peace treaty between
England and Normandy
From a letter from Pope John XV of this date (translated
at EHD 230) we learn that there were strained relations between ?thelred of England
and Richard of Normandy in the late 980s or early 990s. (The letter is the only
surviving record of these difficulties.) The Pope received many reports of this
enmity and finally sent a legate, Leo of Trevi, with letters for both ?thelred
and Richard. Both kings confirmed the peace at Rouen on 1 March 991, and it was
set out in these terms: that if either of them or any of their people did wrong
to the other, it should be atoned for with fitting compensation, that the peace
should remain forever unshaken, and that the duke should receive none of the king's
men, or of his enemies, nor the king any of the duke's, without their seal.
The
stricture against the duke of Normandy receiving ?thelred's enemies may suggest
that the Vikings had been using Normandy as a base for their raids against England
in the 980s.
S. Keynes, "Introduction to the 1998 Reprint"
of Alistair Campbell (ed.), Encomium Emmae Reginae (Cambridge: 1998), at p.xvi
August
10/11, 991. Battle of Maldon
Tribute payment to the Vikings: ?10,000
D. Scragg (ed.), The Battle of Maldon, AD 991 (Oxford: 1991)
992. English
fleet gathered at London
Ealdorman Alfric deserts
993. Vikings sack Bamburgh,
and Lindsey and Northumbria
English army gathered, but leaders flee
Athelred
has ?lfgar, son of Ealdorman ?lfric, blinded
September 993. Olaf and Sveinn
come to London with 94 ships, but are repulsed
Vikings ravage along the coast
and Essex, Kent, Sussex, Hampshire, etc
Tribute payment to the Vikings: ?16,000
Vikings
winter at Southampton
993. End of ?thelred's "irresponsible phase"
997.
Vikings attack Cornwall, Wales, Devon
998. Vikings attack Dorset, terrorize
Isle of Wight, Hampshire, Sussex
999. Vikings ravage West Kent
1000.
Athelred ravages Cumberland
Summer 1000. Vikings to Normandy
1001.
Vikings ravage Hampshire, Devon, etc.
1002. Tribute payment to the Vikings:
?24,000
Spring 1002. Athelred marries Emma of Normandy
The Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle records that the Lady (hlafdige), Richard's daughter (daughter of Richard
I, count of Rouen 942-6), came to England. Emma of Normandy was given the English
name Alfgifu (which is, confusingly, also the name of ?thelred's first wife);
she was witnessing the king's charters already by the second half of 1002.
S. Keynes, "Introduction to the 1998 Reprint" of Alistair Campbell (ed.),
Encomium Emmae Reginae (Cambridge: 1998)
November 13, 1002. St Brice's Day
Massacre: Athelred decrees death of all Danes in England
1003. Sveinn and
his army take Exeter, harry Wessex to Wilton and Salisbury, then return to sea
1004.
Sveinn lands with fleet in East Anglia, sacks Norwich, Thetford
English under
Ulfcytel Snilling attack; lose, but hard fight
1005. Great famine in England
Sveinn
and his fleet return to Denmark
1006. Danish fleet returns, takes Sandwich,
Isle of Wight
Much devastation (Hampshire, Berkshire, Reading, Wiltshire)
1007.
Tribute payment to the Vikings: ?36,000
1007. Eadric Streona appointed ealdorman
of the Mercians
1008. ?thelred orders concentrated ship-building
1009.
English fleet stationed off Sandwich
After internal conflicts, remnants of
fleet stationed at London
August, 1009. Thorkell's army arrives at Sandwich
Canterbury
and East Kent buy off the Vikings for ?3,000
Vikings move on to Isle of Wight,
ravage Sussex, Hampshire, Berkshire
November, 1009. Vikings take winter quarters
on the Thames, in Kent, often attack London
January (?), 1010. Vikings burn
Oxford
May, 1010. Vikings storm Ipswich, defeat Ulfcytel
Vikings burn Thetford
and Cambridge, Bedford and Tempsford, Northampton, etc.
1011. Danish
raids all over;
Alfheah, archbishop of Canterbury, captured; later martyred
April,
1012. Tribute payment to Vikings: ?48,000
Thorkell swears allegiance to Athelred
1012.
Eadric ravages Dyfed
The Annales Cambriae record that Eadric and
Ubis (?), the Saxons, ravaged Menevia (Dyfed).
1013. Danish Sveinn
returns with his fleet
Sveinn accepted as king by most of England
Sveinn
besieges London
Christmas 1013. Athelred escapes to Normandy
London
surrenders
February 3, 1014. Death of Sveinn
Crews of Danish ships
elect Cnut
English approach Athelred in Normandy
April 1014. Athelred
returns, puts Cnut to flight
1015. Eadric betrays and kills Sigeferth
and Morcar of the Seven Boroughs
Edmund Ironside, Athelred's son, marries Aldgyth,
Sigeferth's widow, against his father's wishes
Edmund takes submission of the
Seven Boroughs
August 1015. Cnut's fleet returns to England
Edmund
and Eadric raise armies against the Danes
Eadric turns coat to follow Cnut
West
Saxons submit to Cnut
1016. Edmund joins forces with the Northumbrian
Uhtred
Edmund and Cnut ravage
Cnut's army closes on York, and Uhtred and
the Northumbrians submit to Cnut
April 23, 1016. Athelred dies
Edmund
Ironside chosen as king by London, and besieged there
Cnut chosen as king by
the rest of England at Southampton (?)
Edmund retakes Wessex
Battles of
Penselwood, Sherston, Brentford -- Eadric switches sides
The Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle notes that Athelred died on St George's day (April 23), and that after
that Edmund was chosen as king by all the counsellors who were in London. The
allegiance of the rest of the country is not discussed in the Chronicle, but John
of Worcester in the 12th century explains that the chief nobles of the rest of
the country renounced the line of ?thelred and concluded a peace with Cnut at
Southampton. The facts that in the Chronicle's account the Vikings could besiege
Edmund in London with impunity, and that Edmund had to re-take possession of Wessex,
tend to support John of Worcester's statement.
Edmund did break out of London
and take back Wessex, and receive the submission of the West Saxons. Shortly afterwards
he fought Cnut's army at Penselwood near Gillingham, and then again after midsummer
at Sherston -- the Chronicle notes that in the battle of Sherston Eadric Streona
and ?lfm?r Darling were supporting the Danes. Edmund then gathered the West Saxon
army and took them to London and relieved the siege and sent the Danes back to
their ships. Two days later, Edmund fought the Danes at Brentford and put them
to flight, and then he returned to Wessex and collected his army.
Once Edmund
had left the Danes besieged London again, but they were successfully repulsed,
and went instead into Mercia, and ravaged there, and gathered again in the Medway.
Edmund brought his army to Kent, and fought the Danes at Otford according to John
of Worcester, and the Danes fled to Sheppey. Eadric switched back to Edmund's
side at Aylesford, and the Chronicle records Edmund's acceptance with the doleful
comment, "no greater folly was ever agreed to than that was". The Danes
meanwhile went back inland into Essex. Edmund overtook them in Essex at the hill
called Ashingdon, and fought them there on October 18.
The fate of the other
members of Athelred's family after his death in April 1016 is less certain. A
contemporary German observer, Thietmar of Merseburg, records that Emma and her
two sons were in besieged London, and that the Danes offered Emma peace if she
would give up her sons and pay an appropriate ransome. Thietmar adds that after
long deliberation Emma agreed to this, but in the confusion the two brothers slipped
away. Later Norse sources credit Edward (the future Confessor) with fighting alongside
Edmund Ironside in the battles of 1016, though his presence was probably only
symbolic (he can have been no more than 13 years old, since his parents were married
in 1002). Edward makes no impression on the contemporary English sources, and
a charter he witnesses at Ghent at Christmas 1016 suggests that he was in Flanders
by the end of 1016, perhaps on his way back to Normandy after Edmund's death and
Cnut's triumph in November 1016. It is uncertain where the other children of ?thelred
and Emma (Alfred and Godgifu) were in the course of 1016, but all three of them
were in Normandy after 1016 (see further entry on 1033/4).
F. Barlow,
Edward the Confessor, 2nd edn (London: 1997)
S. Keynes, "The
Athelings in Normandy", Anglo-Norman Studies 13 (1991), pp.173-205
October
18, 1016. Battle of Ashingdon: Cnut defeats Edmund
Terms at Alney: Edmund keeps
Wessex, Cnut takes everything else
On October 18, Edmund's army overtook
Cnut's at Ashingdon in Essex and they fought there. Eadric betrayed the English
by starting a rout with the Magons?te (the people of Herefordshire), and the Chronicle
notes that he thereby "betrayed his liege lord and all the people of England".
Cnut won the victory and casualties on the English side were heavy -- the Chronicle
names a bishop, an abbot, three ealdorman (?lfric of Hampshire, Godwine of Lindsey,
Ulfcytel of East Anglia), and continues "all the nobility of England were
there destroyed".
Edmund survived, and Cnut followed him with his army
to Gloucester. Eadric and other counsellors advised that the kings should be reconciled,
so hostages were exchanged and a meeting took place at Alney, at which the kings
established their friendship with an oath, fixed the payment for the Danish army,
and divided the kingdom so that Edmund would succeed to Wessex and Cnut to Mercia
(and presumably the rest of England).
Then the Danish army went to their
ships, and the Londoners came to terms with them and bought peace from them, and
the Danish army took up winter quarters in London.
In 1020, Cnut and Archbishop
Wulfstan and Earl Thorkell and many bishops returned to witness the consecration
of a minster at Ashingdon, commemorating the site of the victory much as William
would later establish the abbey at Battle.
November 30, 1016. Edmund
dies
Cnut becomes king of all England
The Chronicle records Edmund's
death on St Andrew's day (November 30), and adds that he was buried at Glastonbury.
Cnut then succeeded to the whole of England.