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Aethelred the Unready (Penguin Monarchs)

by Richard Abels Book 35 in the Penguin Monarchs series.

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2.5(5)

Richard Abels reconsiders Æthelred II, remembered as the ‘Unready’ king who failed to stop renewed Viking conquest. The biography follows a long reign of tribute payments, shifting military strategies, court faction and repeated attacks by Scandinavian armies.

Abels places the king’s failures within the severe limits of late Anglo-Saxon power rather than treating them simply as personal incompetence. The book culminates in Danish conquest and exile, explaining how the crisis of Æthelred’s reign opened the way for Cnut’s empire.

Historical Periods

Danish Conquest of England1003–1016

Genres

Court & Political Fiction

Historical people

Æthelred the Unready967–1016

Series reading order

Books in the Penguin Monarchs series

View the complete series

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