Æthelred the Unready

Æthelred II, called the Unready (c. 968–1016), a son of King Edgar, became king in March 978 after the murder of his half-brother Edward the Martyr. Viking raids resumed, and after defeat at Maldon in 991 he bought off the Danes with tribute.

A massacre of Danes in 1002 provoked retaliation, and in December 1013 Swein Forkbeard drove him into exile in Normandy. He returned in 1014 after Swein's death and died on 23 April 1016, leaving the war against Cnut to his son Edmund Ironside.