Æthelred the Unready
Æthelred the Unready (968-1016), King of England, whose nickname meant ‘lacking in foresight’. Unable to prevent a Danish invasion, he tried to buy peace from the Danes with tributes, called Danegeld. In 1002 a large-scale massacre of the Danes, ordered by Ethelred, provoked further invasions and in 1013 Sweyn of Denmark was accepted as king of Eng-land. Ethelred was forced to flee but returned on Sweyn’s death (1014). He died during Canute’s invasion of England (1015-16).
