Æthelred the Unready

Æthelred came to the throne in March 978 after his older half-brother Edward the Martyr was assassinated - a crime that shocked the realm but left the nine-to-twelve-year-old prince above suspicion. Viking raids resumed shortly after his accession, minor at first in the 980s, then catastrophic from the 990s onward. Battles went badly, so the king and his advisers paid tribute to make the raiders leave. In 1002 he ordered the St Brice's Day massacre of Danes, a spasm of paranoia that historians mark as a turning point. By 1009 Eadric Streona had risen to become his most powerful adviser - and would later prove a traitor. In December 1013 Swein Forkbeard of Denmark conquered England outright and Æthelred fled to Normandy, returning only when Swein died weeks later. Civil war erupted in 1015 when Eadric murdered allies of Æthelred's son Edmund Ironside; father and son tried to unite against the returning Cnut but suspicion and treachery undid them. Æthelred died in April 1016, leaving Edmund to fight on alone until Cnut took everything by December.