Æthelred II 'the Unready' (c.966-1016), King of the English, reigned thirty-eight years; longer than almost any predecessor; through the second and fatal wave of Viking invasion. His byname is a pun, 'Unraed', 'ill-counselled', against his name's meaning 'noble counsel': the verdict of hindsight on the Danegelds, the St Brice's Day massacre of 1002, and the loss of the kingdom to Swein in 1013. Restored briefly before his death, he left the fight to his son Edmund Ironside, our ancestor.

Research notes

AETHELRED II 'the Unready', King of the English (c.966-1016); son of Edgar; father of Edmund Ironside (our line). Direct ancestor. ||27 Oct 2026 - 2nd MARRIAGE WIRED (✓)|| Emma of Normandy (m. 1002), mother of Godgifu, whose descent through Earl Ralph of Hereford, Harold of Ewyas, the Tregoz lords and the Grandisons reaches this tree a second way (CP XII/2 'Tregoz'; Medieval Lands). Source: Medieval Lands (Charles Cawley, fmg.ac), read in the browser 27 Oct 2026, 'Untitled English Nobility D-K' - EWIAS, and 'England Earls 1067-1122' - HEREFORD (Mantes), citing the Gloucester St Peter cartulary, Gesta Stephani, Red Book of the Exchequer, Domesday, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Florence of Worcester, Orderic Vitalis and Simeon of Durham.

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