Ethelred II
978-1016
House of Wessex

Ethelred became king at age 7, after the murder of his half-brother Edward. His lack of good council and generally ineffective reign earned Ethelred the name 'unraed' (unready) meaning 'no council' or 'indecisive'.

Ethelred married Elfaed with whom he had five sons and seven daughters. Later he married his second wife Emma of Normandy. He had made an earlier alliance with her father, the duke of Normandy to help defend against increasing Viking raids. Ethelred also attempted to buy off would be attackers with the Danegeld. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, this was largely ineffective.

Sweyn of Denmark dispossessed Ethelred in 1013 and he fled to Normandy. When Sweyn died in 1014 he returned to England. He died in 1016 and was succeeded briefly by his son Edmund.