Emma of Normandy

 Emma of Normandy had the honour, if that's what you want to call it, of being married to two kings of England and mother to another two. The first of her husbands was Aethelred II, better known to history as Aethelred The Unready. His reign was a complete and utter disaster. Unlike previous Anglo Saxon kings who fought against Viking raiders valiantly, Aethelred was hopelessly out of his depth. Bribery was his main method of staving off further devastation in his kingdom which failed dismally. In 1002, Aethelred made an ill advised decision in a desperate attempt to show he could fight back. That year, he ordered an indiscriminate slaughter of Danes leaving peacefully in England. Men and women, young and old were killed. Among the victims was the sister of the Danish king Sweyn Forkbeard and her husband. Furious, Sweyn would make Aethelred's life a misery for the next decade until he eventually he deposed and exiled the English king in late 1013. Sweyn didn't enjoy power in England for long and in early February 1014, he died. Aethelred returned from exile but Sweyn's son Cnut took up his father's cause. On Aethelred's death in 1016, the throne of England would be up for grabs between Cnut and Aethelred's son Edmund Ironside. Emma was now widowed but not for long. In 1017, she married Cnut after he had successfully seen off the challenge of Edmund who had been murdered at the end of 1016.  Emma was now Queen of England for a second time.

With Aethelred, Emma had produced three children. Edward, who would be known to history as Edward The Confessor, Alfred, who would be murdered quite horribly in the mid 1030s and a daughter called Godgifu who became Countess of Bolougne. With Cnut, Emma produced two more children. A daughter, Gunhilda, who married the German king and would-be Holy Roman Emperor Henry III and a son named Harthacnut who, like his half brother Edward The Confessor, would also become king of England. Emma's father was Count of Rouen and her mother, a woman named Gunnor. During her lifetime, a book was written in praise of her called the Ecomniun Emmae Reginae which, as the image shows was actually presented to her. As one can imagine, it's lavish in it's praise of it's subject. Emma is described as being of the "greatest nobility and wealth" and praised her beauty. She was also apparently a shrewd woman as well.  When Cnut sent messengers seeking her hand in marriage, Emma played a canny game. She knew that Cnut had sons from an earlier relationship with another woman. This meant, if Emma was to produce more sons for the king of England,  then their's, as well as Emma's, futures would be very uncertain if Cnut died. Emma wanted guarantees for her and her offprings future before she accepted his marriage proposal. Cnut agreed to her terms and they were married.

According to the Ecomniun, there was great rejoicing at the marriage between Emma and Cnut. This may be a bit of an exaggeration. Cnut was, in effect, a conqueror and his popularity would have been far from universal with the Anglo Saxons. But over time, Cnut grew in confidence and, with sensible governance, he established his authority. He reigned for nearly 2 decades in England and his reign can be certainly considered a success, especially when stood in contrast with the reign of Aethelred The Unready. But with Cnut's death in 1035, came uncertainty for Emma. It was Harold Harefoot, Cnut's son from his first marriage, who seized power. The heavily biased Ecomniun accuses Harold of using threats of force to claim  the crown and the author also blames the nobility for abandoning Emma's sons. With Harthacnut preoccupied in Denmark, Emma wrote to her sons from her first marriage, Edward and Alfred, who had remained in Normandy after their father's deposition in 1013. Emma urged them, or at least one of them, to return to England and remove Harold Harefoot from power. Emma knew she faced political extinction if things carried on the way they were. Edward and Alfred though, would heed her call.

In 1036, Edward and Alfred arrived in England but disaster soon befell them. There are different versions of what happened. One is that Alfred and Edward were attacked almost as soon as they landed. Another is that they were brought to Guildford by Earl Godwine, the most powerful man in England at the time, where scores of Edward and Alfred's retinue were violently attacked by King Harold's men. Among the victims was Alfred who had been blinded in such hideous fashion he died of his injuries not long after.  Edward escaped the violence but, in keeping with Emma's sensible advice, he swiftly returned to Normandy. Emma too came to the realisation that England was becoming an increasingly dangerous place for her and she too crossed the Channel, making her way to Flanders. Emma was greeted with warmth by the Count of Flanders and here she could plot potential revenge on Harold Harefoot. 

Her first move was to write to Harthacnut to inform him of the great injustice that had befallen her, Edward and Alfred and she implored him to come to her aid. But in 1040, Harefoot died, leaving the path clear for Emma and Harthacnut to travel to England. In their eyes, Harefoot was a usurper. There were serious question marks over Harefoot's birth and even if he was really the son of Cnut. His brutal treatment of Alfred made him little more than a tyrant and Harthacnut showed the world what he thought of Harefoot by having his corpse dug up and thrown in a bog. Harthacnut had far more brotherly affection for Edward and the two had a good relationship during the former's brief reign. 

After years of turbulence, Emma may have looked forward to a period of stability. At the time of Harthacnut's death in 1042, she was well into her 50s but with the succession of her one remaining son,Edward,  further strife would befall her. The all too powerful Earl Godwine began to whisper false accusations about Emma to King Edward, even suggesting treason and, for a time, it worked. Emma lost lands and titles but she eventually came back into the king's favour. She died in 1052. The wife of two  kings of England, the mother of another two kings of England, Emma had been right at the centre of English politics for half a century.