Æthelred the Unready Æthelred the Unready Æthelred II (Old English: "Æþelræd", ; 966 – 23 April 1016), known as the Unready, was King of the English from 978 to 1013 and again from 1014 until his death. His epithet does not derive from the modern word "unready", but rather from the Old English "unræd" (meaning "poorly advised"); it is a pun on his name, which means "well advised". Æthelred was the son of King Edgar and Queen Ælfthryth. He came to the throne at about the age of 12, following the assassination of his older half-brother, Edward the Martyr. His brother's murder was
St Edward King and Martyr, Cambridge St Edward King and Martyr, Cambridge St Edward King and Martyr is a church located on Peas Hill in central Cambridge, England. It is dedicated to Edward the Martyr, who was King of England from 975 until his murder in 978. It was at St Edward's in 1525 that what is said to have been the first sermon of the English Reformation took place, and the church is sometimes labelled the "Cradle of the Reformation". The present church was founded in the 13th century on what is believed to be the site of an earlier Anglo-Saxon church. In around 1400