He ordered "all the Vikings living in England to be slaughtered"

Around the year 1000 AD England was much smaller than it is today. In the south and west there were a number of dominions called kingdoms, the largest of which was Wessex. The north and east, on the other hand, was the Danelag. Danish law applied here, and many of its residents came from present-day Denmark. At times these Vikings had also overrun large parts of Wessex, but had been pushed back by Alfred the Great around 886. A hundred years later, however, attacks from overseas increased again.

In these troubled times, Ethelred II (966/969–1016) came to the throne in England. The nickname "the unadvised one", which was given to him by later-born chroniclers, is only partially true. For when he was able to claim his rights as his father Edgar's heir, he was just ten years old, and his interests were being looked after by advisers and partisans, above all his mother Elfrida. It set itself the goal of eliminating Eduard, Edgar's son from his first marriage, and was actively involved in this. During a visit from her stepson, she is said to have "stabbed him with a dagger as she offered him a cup to drink," reports Chronicler Henry of Huntington.

With that, the crown fell to Ethelred. That he remained "unadvised" or "unfinished" had to do with a catastrophe that occurred shortly after his accession to the throne. The assembly hall at his residence collapsed, burying numerous veteran members of the witan (council) under its rubble. When shortly afterwards another Viking army appeared on the coast, the young king had to deal with this problem alone.

Or so the chroniclers put it. Ethelred was probably not entirely innocent of the difficult situation into which his kingdom was slipping. Because in Denmark, with Svend Gabelbart, a ruler had come to power who initially eliminated all rivals in the country and also consolidated Danish rule over Norway. He then set about restoring the Danelag.

Large fleets repeatedly landed on the east coast of England. Ethelred had no choice but to pay the invaders enormous amounts of money. In 992 alone, 22,000 pounds of silver had to be raised for the "Danegeld", two years later it was 16,000.

In order to increase his financial power, Ethelred attempted to limit the endowments and rights that his predecessors had granted to the church and monasteries. But he failed at that too. In order to increase his foreign policy scope, he married Emma in 1002, a princess from Normandy. But the hope that the Normans who had settled there would support him against the Danes was deceptive. Instead, he had to buy peace with them again with silver; there is talk of more than 20,000 pounds.

In this situation, the "unadvised" relied on an unthought-out liberation. He ordered "all the Danes living in England to be put to death on St. Britice's Day, as it is said that he had learned that they had conspired to kill him and his advisers and take possession of his kingdom". Among the victims of the bloodbath was a woman named Gunnhild. She had taken refuge with others in a church in Oxford that had simply been burned down by the mob. However, Gunnhild was not an insignificant peasant woman, but the sister of the Danish king Svend Gabelbart and lived as a pledge of a contract as a hostage in England.

He immediately equipped a fleet and went to war on Wessex. Between 1003 and 1007, 36,000 pounds and 1009 and 1012 another 48,000 pounds were squeezed out of the devastated land. In 1013 Forkbeard declared himself King of England. Ethelred was fortunate to be able to go into exile with Emma to live with her relatives in Normandy.

However, when Forkbeard died the following year, the English greats refused to follow his son Knut. With Norwegian support, Ethelred was able to return, but was pushed back by Knut in 1015 and trapped in London. There he died. Knut became his successor not only on the throne but also in bed, because he married Emma. Canute has gone down in history as “the Great” because he ruled over England, Denmark, Norway and southern Sweden.

However, one measure of Ethelred should prove to be highly effective in history. With his marriage to Emma, ​​the Norman Wilhelm established his claim to the English throne in 1066, which he also won by defeating Harald II at Hastings.

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