Was Aethelred Unready? Viking Invasions

Aethelred came to the throne in 978, after the murder of his half-brother Edward. The traditional description of his reign is “cruel in the beginning, wretched in the middle, and disgraceful in the end.” Or, as Levi Roach, a specialist on the religious and political history of Europe in the Middle Ages, puts it: "notorious for his unsuccessful military leadership, his blind trust in loyal associates and his overly harsh treatment of political opponents.” 

His epithet, Unread, means badly-counselled, or ill-advised in Old English. Aethelred was never called this during his reign, rather it’s a later invention meant as a sarcastic joke. “Aethelred” means something like “well counselled”, so the epithet might be best translated as: “Well counselled? Yeah right!”

Though Aethelstan had united England under Saxon rule, there was still a strong Viking presence in northern and eastern England. In the reign of King Eadred, Aethelred’s brother, the Viking warlord Eric Bloodaxe had reconquered Jorvik. When Aethelred took the throne, England was once again united, but was threatened by resurgent raids from Norwegian Vikings. In 991, the Saxons lost a major battle against the Viking warlord Olaf Tryggvason at Maldon. This was a great shock; it was the first serious defeat in a generation and, as the Norse didn’t seem to be leaving, perhaps heralded a return to the bad old days of Viking invasions.

Aethelred and Olaf met and signed a treaty in Andover. Olaf would go away, convert to Christianity and take his men to Norway. There, he would attempt to conquer the country and Christianise it. In return, Aethelred would pay the Viking a ransom of £10,000. To later observers, especially those with patriotic leanings, this was the start of the ‘wretched middle’ of Aethelred’s reign, casting the king as a sort of medieval Neville Chamberlain, an appeaser who only delayed the inevitable. Or, as Rudyard Kipling put it:

“And that is called paying the Dane-geld;

   But we've proved it again and again,

That if once you have paid him the Dane-geld

   You never get rid of the Dane.”

And it’s true: during Aethelred’s reign, Danegeld payments became a habit. The expense was enormous: £10,000 in 991, £16,000 in 994, £24,000 in 1002, £36,000 in 1007, £48,000 in 1012. All in all, by 1016, Aethelred had paid over £137,000 in Danegeld. This is (very) approximately £156,000,000 in today’s money. 

Yet, Aethelred was hardly unique in resorting to paying off Vikings. Even Alfred had paid when his back was against the wall. It's also worth looking more closely at the treaty Aethelred signed with Olaf.

In fact, Aethelred paid Olaf for a service. He would go and fight other Vikings, and convert them to Christianity. The point was to divide his enemy against themselves. Aethelred paid Olaf in the hope that once he had converted the Norwegians to Christianity, he would prove a friendly king in the north. In this context, the continued payment of the Danegeld is not Unread, ill-advised, but an astute use of diplomacy aimed at reducing the ability or desire of Vikings to attack England.

The plan worked; Olaf converted vast swathes of the Scandinavians to Christianity. Aethelred also married Emma, the sister of the Norman duke Richard II, head of a powerful Viking-descended noble family ruling Normandy. Like the Danelaw, this realm had seen extensive Norse colonisation, and Vikings were using its ports to launch raids on the English coast. With the marriage, Aethelred ensured that the Norman ports would remain closed to Vikings, helping to keep the southern English coast safer.

The northern and southern seas were safe, but threats to his reign came from within and from the east, in Denmark. Aethelred became increasingly worried about an invasion by the Danes, the likelihood of the invaders finding support in Northumbria, and the power of the Viking faction among his soldiers. On St. Brice’s day, 13th November 1002, Aethelred ordered the massacre of all Danish settlers in England. This act of savagery would bring back a new era of Viking invasions, a bloody throwback to the time of Ivar and Guthrum, and the doom of the House of Alfred the Great.