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Æthelred the Unready

King of England

19 dated entries naming Æthelred the Unready, drawn from 16 separate years between 968 CE and 1017 CE. Nothing here is written by us: each line is the sentence a Wikipedia year article used, and the link beside it opens the exact revision.

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10th century

  • 968Æthelred the Unready, king of England (approximate date)source
  • 978March 18 – King Edward the Martyr is murdered at Corfe Castle (Dorsetshire) upon the orders of his step-mother Ælfthryth (or Elfrida). He is succeeded by his half-brother Æthelred II (the Unready) who becomes king of England. During his reign Æthelred tries to keep his realm from being overrun by Danish Viking invaders.source
  • 985Lady Wulfrun, an Anglo-Saxon noblewoman, is granted land by King Æthelred II (the Unready). She founds Heantune that later becomes the city of Wolverhampton in the West Midlands.source
  • 986Æthelstan Ætheling, son of Æthelred II (the Unready) (d. 1014)source
  • 991March 1: In Rouen, Pope John XV ratifies the first Truce of God, between Æthelred the Unready and Richard I of Normandy.source
  • 994A Danish Viking fleet, under Olaf Tryggvason, sails up the Thames Estuary, and besieges London. King Æthelred II (the Unready) pays Olaf 16,000 lbs of silver (Danegeld).source

11th century

  • 1002November 13 – St. Brice's Day massacre: King Æthelred the Unready orders all Danes in England killed. Æthelred marries (as his second wife) Emma, daughter of Duke Richard I of Normandy.source
  • 1004Godgifu, daughter of Æthelred the Unready (approximate date)source
  • 1005November 16 – Ælfric of Abingdon, archbishop of Canterbury, leaves ships to the people of Wiltshire and Kent in his will, leaving the best, equipped for 60 men, to King Æthelred the Unready.source
  • 1007King Æthelred the Unready pays the Danish Vikings a sum of 36,000 pounds of silver (Danegeld) to stop further invasions.source
  • 1008In England, King Æthelred the Unready orders a new fleet of warships built, organised on a national scale. It is a huge undertaking, but is completed the following year.source
  • 1012April – King Æthelred the Unready resumes the payment of Danegeld (48,000 pounds of silver) in an attempt to buy off Viking raiders.source
  • 1013Summer – Danish Viking raiders led by Sweyn Forkbeard (accompanied by his son Cnut) sail from Denmark to attack England. Again London defends itself and the Vikings move elsewhere, plundering Wessex, Mercia and Northumbria. King Æthelred the Unready sends his sons Edward and Alfred to Normandy. Æthelred retreats to the Isle of Wight and follows them later into exile.source
  • 1014June 25 – Æthelstan Ætheling, son of Æthelred the Unreadysource
  • 1014March – King Æthelred the Unready sends ambassadors to England, including his own son Edward to negotiate to reclaim of the throne at the invitation of the English nobles.source
  • 1016April 23 – Æthelred the Unready, king of England, dies after a 38-year reign. He is succeeded by his son Edmund II "Ironside".source
  • 1016April 23 – Æthelred the Unready, king of Englandsource
  • 1017Eadwig Ætheling, son of Æthelred IIsource
  • 1017January 6 – Cnut ("the Great") is crowned king of England. In July he marries Emma of Normandy, the widow of Æthelred the Unready, securing his ties with Normandy.source

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