The Massacre of St Brice's Day -- The 'Palace Revolution', 1005-6 -- Sin and society, 1006-9 -- Crime and punishment -- Apocalypse and atonement -- CHAPTER 6 A KINGDOM LOST AND WON 1009-16 -- From crisis to collapse: Thorkell's 'immense raiding army', 1009-12 -- Calamity and response, 1009-12 -- Faction, friction and conquest, 1013-16 -- CONCLUSION AN AGE OF ILL COUNSEL? -- BIBLIOGRAPHY -- INDEX

A major new title in the Penguin Monarchs series In his fascinating new book in the Penguin Monarchs series, Richard Abels examines the long and troubled reign of Aethelred II the 'Unraed', the 'Ill-Advised'. It is characteristic of Aethelred's reign that its greatest surviving work of literature, the poem The Battle of Maldon, should be a record of heroic defeat. Perhaps no ruler could have stemmed the encroachment of wave upon wave of Viking raiders, but Aethelred will always be associated with that failure. Richard Abels is Professor Emeritus at the United States Naval Academy. He is the author of Alfred the Great: War, Kingship and Culture in Anglo-Saxon England and Lordship and Military Obligation in Anglo-Saxon England. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

In diesem Band der „Göttinger Schriften zur Englischen Philologie“ sind eine mediävistische Staatsexamens- und eine Magisterarbeit veröffentlicht, die kürzlich am Seminar für Englische Philologie entstanden sind. Sie nehmen den Leser mit auf eine Reise, die in den turbulenten letzten Jahrzehnten angelsächsischer Herrschaft unter König Aethelred II beginnt und mit dem mittelenglischen Gedicht vom Mann im Mond endet. Hat König Aethelred II seinen Beinamen ‚der schlecht Beratene‘ wirklich verdient? Unter dieser Fragestellung betrachtet Andreas Lemke die von Krisen heimgesuchte spätangelsächsische Zeit und untersucht dazu unter anderem die angelsächsische Chronik, Gesetzestexte, Münzen und einige literarische Werke der Zeit (Texte von Aelfric und Wulfstan, die Battle of Maldon). Andre Mertens hingegen gibt das bisher wenig geschätzte mittelenglische Gedicht (Mon in þe mone stond and strit) in einer kommentierten Edition heraus und zeigt dabei wichtige Ansätze zu dessen Interpretation vor dem Hintergrund des kulturhistorischen Kontextes auf. Beide in diesem Band veröffentlichte Arbeiten umspannen zeitlich, inhaltlich und methodisch das breite Themenspektrum der Göttinger Mediävistik und sollen damit als Ansporn für neue Abschlussarbeiten dienen. ; https://univerlag.uni-goettingen.de/handle/3/isbn-978-3-941875-62-3

The reign of Æthelred 'the Unready' (978-1016) is known to us mainly from a series of annals in the Anglo-Saxon Chrolicle, written at or after its close and accordingly conveying an impression of gathering doom as Viking armies ravaged the country and eventually, under the leadership of Swein Forkbeard and Cnut, brought about its conquest. Dr Keynes is here concerned to establish what light the royal diplomas issued in King Æthelred's name throw on this unhappy and notorious period. He first considers the general issues that bear directly on the value of royal diplomas as historical evidence for all periods of Anglo-Saxon history, discussing the circumstances under which these documents have been preserved, the techniques available for their criticism, and the arrangements that existed for their production. He then demonstrates how a detailed analysis of Æthelred's diplomas can transform our understanding of this troubled reign. On a practical level they provide invaluable evidence on the operation of royal government, and on a personal level they afford a remarkable insight into the relations between the king and his councillors, suggesting a picture of political manoeuvring and court intrigue which compensates for the chronicler's emphasis on the struggle against the marauding Vikings. By placing the familiar account of incessant warfare in the context of these domestic affairs it becomes possible for the first time to see the reign in its true perspective.--

First full-scale examination of the phenomenon of the English Vernacular minuscule, analysing the full corpus and giving an account of its history and development.

Æthelred became king of England in 978, following the murder of his brother Edward the Martyr (possibly at the instigation of their mother) at Corfe. On his own death in April 1016, his son Edmund Ironside succeeded him and fought the invading Danes bravely, but died in November of the same year after being defeated at the battle of Assandun, leading to the House of Wessex being replaced by a Danish king, Cnut. Æthelred, in constrast to his predecessor and successor, reigned (except for a few months in 1013-14), largely unchallenged for thirty-eight years, despite presiding over a period which saw many Danish invasions and much internal strife. If not a great king, he was certainly a survivor whose posthumous reputation and nickname (meaning 'Noble Council the No Council') do him little justice. In Æthelred the Unready Ann Williams, a leading scholar on his reign, discounts the later rumours and misinterpretations that have dogged his reputation to construct a record of his reign from contemporary sources.

divAn imaginative reassessment of Æthelred "the Unready," one of medieval England’s most maligned kings and a major Anglo-Saxon figure The Anglo-Saxon king Æthelred "the Unready" (978–1016) has

Aethelred II is more commonly known by the epithet -the Unready-, and it is precisely this popular image of incompetence which Ian Howard's biography is intended to put to rest.

This is a biography of Anglo-Saxon England's notoriously weak king, Aethelred II the 'Unready'.