Æthelred II "the Redeless" King of England ^{1 2 3}

   Another name for Æthelred was Ethelred II "the Unready" King of England.

  Research Notes:

From Wikipedia - Ethelred the Unready :

Ethelred II (c. 968 - April 23 , 1016 ), also known as Ethelred the Unready or Aethelred the Unready (Old English Æþelræd Unræd), was King of England (978 -1013 , and 1014 -1016 ). He was the son of Edgar , King of all England (959 -975 ) and Ælfthryth . The majority of his reign (991 -1016) was marked by a defensive war against Viking invaders...

Conflict with the Danes
England had experienced a period of peace after the reconquest of the Danelaw in the mid-10th century . However, a new wave of raids began in 980 and a sizable Danish force began a sustained campaign in 991 . During the next quarter of a century England was devastated by a succession of large Danish armies, either under the leadership of King Sweyn I of Denmark or of other commanders such as Olaf Tryggvason and Thorkell the Tall , which Ethelred's government failed to combat effectively. He was only able to halt the depredations of these armies by the payment of large sums of money known as Danegeld . Each payment led to the withdrawal of the Danes, but on each occasion a fresh onslaught began after a year or two, and each Danegeld payment was much larger than the last. Ethelred's most desperate response was the massacre of the Danes living in England on St Brice 's Day (November 13 ) 1002 . Finally in 1013 English resistance collapsed and Sweyn conquered the country, forcing Ethelred into exile, but after his victory Sweyn lived for only another five weeks. In 1014 , Canute the Great was proclaimed King of England by the Danish army in England, but was forced out of England that year. Canute launched a new invasion in 1015 . Subsequently, Ethelred's control of England was already collapsing once again when he died at London on 23 April 1016 . Ethelred was buried in St Paul's and was succeeded by his son, Edmund Ironside .

Marriages and issue

Ethelred married first Ælfgifu , daughter of Thored , the ealdorman of York , by whom he had six sons: Æthelstan Ætheling (died 1011), Edmund Ironside , Ecgberht Ætheling , Eadred Ætheling , Eadwig Ætheling (killed 1017) and Eadgar Ætheling the Elder . They also had as many as four daughters: Edith, who married Eadric Streona , ealdorman of Mercia , and Ælfgifu, who married Uchtred the Bold , ealdorman of Bamburgh . Less certainly there may also have been a daughter named Wulfhild married to Ulfcytel Snillingr , and perhaps a fourth daughter, whose name is not recorded, who was abbess of Wherwell .

His second marriage, in 1002, was to Emma of Normandy , whose grandnephew, William I of England , would later use this relationship as the basis of his claim on the throne. They had two sons, Eadweard (later King of England and known now as Edward the Confessor ) and Ælfred Ætheling . By this marriage, he also had Goda of England , who married Drogo of Mantes , Count of Vexin ...

  Noted events in his life were:

• King of England, 978-1016.

Æthelred married Ælfgifu of York, daughter of Thored Ealdorman of York and Unknown, in 985. (Ælfgifu of York was born about 968 in <Wessex>, England and died about 1002.)

Æthelred next married Emma Princess of Normandy, daughter of Richard I Duke of Normandy and Gunnora de Crepon, about 1002. (Emma Princess of Normandy died in 1052.)