It is not surprising that the descendants gave him the nicknames Helpless, Clumsy and Lazy. He was ready to pay a gigantic tribute, so as not to fight. He led to a bloody massacre on defenseless settlers. In the end, through his cowardice and fatal orders, England fell into the hands of warlike visitors from the North ...
When in 978, still as a child, Ethelred II ascended the English throne for the first time (!), Nothing foreshadowed the catastrophe that would end his reign (twice).
Due to Ethelred II's ineptitude, Swen Forkbeard took the throne of England.
And although, according to the chronicle of William of Malmesbury, the harbinger of misfortunes that fell on England several decades later, it appeared during the baptism of the future monarch (he reportedly peed into the baptismal font) , nobody thought that the country's fate would turn out so tragically ...
Feeding a Viking lion
Undoubtedly, Ethelred was unlucky - during his reign there was a new wave of devastating attacks by the Danes and the Norwegians. The bloodthirsty warriors from the North embarked on plundering expeditions as early as 980 AD. Over time, both their frequency and brutal effectiveness grew. Finally, in 991, an enormous fleet, led by Olaf Tryggvason, landed on the English coast.
The ruler was frightened not in jest. To ward off the specter of this and subsequent invasions, Ethelred decided ... to bribe his enemies. The Vikings "graciously" agreed to take the tribute. The monarch, however, had to somehow "organize" the ransom funds. The easiest way was to introduce a new tax, the so-called danegeld . You don't have to have a particularly vivid fantasy to imagine how the English reacted to him ...
This is how Ken Follett presented the prevailing sentiment among Ethelred's subjects in his latest novel Let There Be Light :
- It's about the Vikings. For six years, Ethelred has been bribing the Vikings to keep them from invading us. However, it costs him a lot. Six years ago he paid £ 10,000 and three years ago £ 16.
- We heard about it in Normandy. Father said is like feeding a lion so it doesn't eat you.
- Many English people think similarly.
Ethelred II was nicknamed the Helpless for a reason.
Eventually, the English king too became tired of paying the tribute that was to protect his country from conquest. Moreover, not only did the sums demanded by the enemies grow year by year, but also the tax was not fully effective in fulfilling its role. The Danes, together with the Norwegians, set off for the English lands with impunity, looting and looting without mercy.
Murder for murder
Ethelred decided to end idleness and indecision. It soon turned out, however, that it would be better if he maintained the attitude he had known from earlier years of his reign. His independent decision led to a catastrophe. Ann Williams reports:
Ethelred has taken action against enemies inside the country. In late summer or fall of 1002 "the king ordered that all Danes in England be murdered [and] this was done on St. Briccius (November 13) ”(…).
The decree did not target English people of Scandinavian origin (…). The target victims were probably the remnants of the Viking gangs that entered Ethelred's service in 994, whose loyalty had become precarious.
According to Henry of Huntingdon, who heard tales of the massacre from "very old people" as a child, the slaughter was almost exclusively confined to cities and only affected Danish men. Women and children were spared.
The article was inspired by Ken Follett's book "Let there be light", which was published by the Albatros publishing house.
His accounts, however, are contradicted by reports that the sister of the King of Denmark, Sven Forkbeard, Gunhilda, who came to England with her husband and converted to Christianity, was among the victims. Gunhilda's death infuriated the Danish ruler (which is hardly surprising) and he swore revenge. In 1003 he invaded Exeter and then hit the eastern part of the country.
In the following years, he repeated attacks that became more and more dangerous. So much so that finally, in December 1013, Swen Forkbeard was crowned King of England. Ethelred must have escaped.
The Return of the King
For a very short time, the Viking monarch enjoyed the new conquest - he died less than two months after the coronation, and his son, Canute the Great, did not care much for the affairs of the island state. Ethelred was therefore able to return to his homeland in an atmosphere of humiliation. He did not fail to claim the throne.
This time, however, it did not stay as long as before. In the summer of 1015, Canute decided that he would still be interested in England - and began another conquest. Happiness in misfortune - Ethelred didn't have to relive the humiliation associated with forced emigration. He died on April 23, 1016.
After his death, the country finally passed into the hands of the Danes. The Vikings ruled England with a firm hand for several decades, and the name of Ethelred II was dishonored. Ken Follett in his latest novel Let There Be Light through one of his heroes, however, he defends the helpless king:
He was called Ethelred Rash because he was said to listen to bad advice. The prior did not know whether to believe it. People who claimed the king had bad advisers usually wanted to hit the monarch while hiding their own intentions.
Either way, he wasn't sure if Ethelred's decisions were actually catastrophic. He became king at twelve and had ruled for over twenty-five, which was quite an achievement in itself. True, he failed to deal with the Vikings once and for all, but they had plagued England for almost two hundred years and no king has been able to stop them.
So maybe, in fact, instead of the Helpless, the Helpless, or the Sluggish, the hapless king should be called "Ethelred who was (very) badly advised"?
Inspiration:
- Ken Follett, Let there be light, Albatross 2020.