Forgiving Aethelred The Unready

 Somebody I’ve given a lot of thought to over the last couple of years is Aethelred The Unready. Poor Aethelred’s reign was dominated by the resurgent Viking raids which had calmed for an extended period of time before bursting into life again in the 990s. And Aethelred was, famously, completely incapable of dealing with such a terrible problem, unlike many of his distinctly more robust predecessors over the course of the previous century. But the question I frequently ask myself is “does Aethelred deserve to be heavily chastised or is his reputation as an inept ruler slightly harsh on him?”

Well, as I’ve already indicated, Aethelred was following in the footsteps of some seriously strong kings dating back to the time of Alfred The Great. By the time Aethelred became king in 978, there had only been two failed reigns of an English king in just over a century. These were Eadwig, an immature king who died young and Aethelred’s half brother, Edward The Martyr, who was murdered aged only 15, allowing Aethelred to become king. By law of averages, the country was due a disastrous reign and, unfortunately, it was Aethelred who was that disaster.

But, in my view, we must be careful about being overly critical of Aethelred. He lived in challenging times and he did try what he thought was best. The effort and endeavour to protect his English subjects from the monstrous Vikings was there but his methods were disjointed and, often, misguided. His payment of “Danegeld”, a tribute to the Vikings to cease their bloodshed, is easily construed as cowardice on Aethelred’s part but he frequently attempted to defeat his enemies in battle as well. Unfortunately, these campaigns often ended in fiasco with Aethelred entrusting the command to men who were unfit for purpose.

The organisation of Aethelred’s campaigns were a shambles. The Anglo Saxon Chronicles bemoans how the English army would often be at the opposite end of the country to wherever the Vikings were raiding. In short, Aethelred was no military genius and his strategies, both bribery and force, were dismal failures. But Aethelred is not the only one to blame for the troubles of his reign. “The Unready” of course translates to “ill advised” which is a big clue that Aethelred was surrounded by incompetence. One man who let Aethelred down on at least two occasions was Aelfric of Hampshire. This Earldoman had been trusted by Aethelred in 992 and 1002 to march on the Vikings but, on both occasions, failed to do his duty.

But Aethelred also failed to help himself. He attempted to bribe Danes to join his service, probably an indicator of his limited means and desperation. And, as was the case with Danegeld and the entire Danish force, individuals simply took the payment and promptly stabbed Aethelred in the back by returning swiftly to the Danish ranks. Danegeld didn’t prevent the Danish army from their raiding and individual bribery didn’t work either. In 1002, Aethelred’s patience snapped and he ordered the St Brice’s Day Massacre, a slaughter of Danes living in England.

It is very easy to criticise Aethelred from the relative comfort of the 21st Century but he did stand and try to fight. Unfortunately for him, he neither had the brainpower or the steadfast and loyal men required to fight such a fierce enemy. Aethelred’s reign was dogged by fear, tears, blood and fire and he was unable to stop the carnage, try as he might.