Æthelred the Unready: Lost in Translation?

Translation has always caused issues in history. At the height of the Cold War in 1963, US President John F. Kennedy made a speech in Berlin where he aimed to demonstrate his country’s empathy for the plight of the city’s people following the construction of the Berlin Wall by the USSR. Kennedy closed his speech with the line “Ich bin ein Berliner”. Unfortunately JFK had just informed the crowd that he was a jelly doughnut.

Another man whose reputation has suffered from poor translation is Æthelred the Unready, King of the English from 978 to 1013 and then again from 1014 until 1016. Æthelred came from a family of exceptional sobriquets being the son of Edgar the Peaceful, brother of Edward the Martyr and father of both Edmund Ironside and Edward the Confessor and it’s fair to say that he lost out compared to his relatives. Before I drown in a sea of future blog subjects it’s important to note that Æthelred’s infamous nickname does not mean not ready. “Unready” is in fact a mistranslation of the Old English word “unræd” meaning badly counselled. Unfortunately for Æthelred this mistranslation has somewhat tarnished his reputation.

Part of the confusion regarding Æthelred’s moniker comes from his path to the throne. His father’s unexpected death in 975 left the throne in the hands of his brother Edward who was around thirteen years old and rumoured to be illegitimate. Edward’s brief reign was marred by the political wrangling of the leading English lords culminating in his assassination in 978. This handed Æthelred the throne and the difficult task of managing a country rife with suspicion about the new king - hardly unexpected when members of his household were responsible for Edward’s murder and escaped prosecution.

Æthelred, armed in case any of his brother's mates turn up.

Fratricidal companions aside Æthelred’s ascension to the throne was received positively by the majority of the English nobility. Unfortunately for the new king news of his coronation was equally well received by the Danish who set about raiding the English coast for the first time since Edgar the Peaceful’s reconquest of the Danelaw, an area stretching from the Scottish border to Essex, in the mid-10^th Century. Although these raids were relatively inconsequential to England they brought Æthelred into direct conflict with the increasingly powerful Normans who regularly provided safe harbour for returning Danish ships. Although Pope John XV managed to broker a peace treaty between the English and the Normans in 991 this only led to further Danish attention

By the end of 991 the Danish raiders had inflicted a range of crushing defeats on the English and Æthelred had been forced to buy peace from his Scandinavian visitors. Despite this the raids continued and by 994 a considerably larger Danish fleet sailed up the Thames Estuary for London. With skirmishes in the Thames resolving little Æthelred met with leaders of the fleet and arranged for further tribute to be paid. Æthelred clearly got on well with his adversaries as he stood as sponsor for Olaf Tryggvason at his confirmation ceremony in Andover later that year. Then again this might have been Æthelred making sure Olaf made a speedy exit from English shores.

A silver coin from the reign of Æthelred the Unready - last seen in the pockets of Olaf Tryggvason.

Despite Æthelred’s relative success with Olaf the Danish raids began again in 997 and ravaged the English coast on regular occasions with the English again arranging a Danegeld payment of £24,000 in 1002. This clearly proved to be the final straw for Æthelred and on November 13^th, or St Brice’s day for fans of obscure saints, he ordered the massacre of all Danish men in England. In reality this had little impact in many areas of England due to the strength of the Danish population but victims of this brutal order included Gunhilde, the sister of the Danish king Sweyn Forkbeard - another exceptional sobriquet although one lacking much need of explanation.

The imaginatively named Sweyn Forkbeard.

Between 1004 and 1012 there were various clashes along the English coast with Æthelred forking out increasingly large sums of money to keep Sweyn’s forces away. In 1013 Sweyn launched an invasion of England. By this stage Æthelred’s resistance had disintegrated and he was exiled to Normandy. His stay in France was not long, however, as Sweyn died unexpectedly in February 1014 and Æthelred rallied his troops to launch a campaign buoyed by the English nobility’s promises to restore him to his throne. The campaign was an unmitigated disaster as Sweyn’s heir, Cnut, seized control of much of England. During his defence of London in 1016 Æthelred died and his son Edumund Ironside’s forces were swiftly defeated.

Æthelred’s reign would have been challenging for the most able of rulers let alone for a thirteen year old boy swept to the throne by the murder of his brother. In modern English it is undeniable that he was “unready” to rule a divided kingdom in an era of Danish naval and military dominance. As for the Old English it is difficult to say whether Æthelred was poorly counselled or “unræd” considering the circumstances. Paying the Danegeld had been a regular burden of Europe’s kings from the advent of Viking raids in the 9^th Century and by doing so Æthelred protected England from some of the Danes’ wrath. Unfortunately for  Æthelred much of his history has been written in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles by the monks who experienced the worst excesses of the Danish raids. This has left Æthelred’s reputation tarnished as a man who made poor decisions rather than a man ill-prepared for an impossible job. Maybe it’s time to forget the Old English.