Emma of Normandy

Norman princess and mother of Edward the Confessor

Source-basedStable

Lived 987–1052, aged 65

Business ProfessionalsOther

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48 languages
Cross-language footprint
Era
987–1052
Aged 65

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In their orbit

People connected to Emma of Normandy

SpouseÆthelred the Unready

SpouseCnut the Great

FatherRichard I of Normandy

ChildHarthacnut

Summary

Updated 2026-05-29

Medieval power broker who married her way to three thrones: England, Denmark, and Norway across two successive husbands. Emma's strategic unions kept her queening through the messy Viking-era politics of early 11th-century Europe.

Biography

About

Emma of Normandy was a Norman-born noblewoman who became the English, Danish, and Norwegian queen through her marriages to the Anglo-Saxon King Æthelred the Unready and the Danish King Cnut the Great. A daughter of the Norman ruler Richard the Fearless and Gunnor, she was Queen of England during her marriage to King Æthelred from 1002 to 1016, except during a brief interruption in 1013–14 when the Danish King Sweyn Forkbeard occupied the English throne. Æthelred died in 1016, and Emma married Sweyn's son Cnut. As Cnut's wife, she was Queen of England from their marriage in 1017, Queen of Denma…

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