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
Edward the Exile the diagram below were Kings of England before Cnut the Great (Canute) took the crown and sent Edward into exile. Edward the Exile Edward the Exile (1016 – 19 April 1057), also called "Edward Ætheling", was the son of King Edmund Ironside and of Ealdgyth. He spent most of his life in exile in the Kingdom of Hungary following the defeat of his father by Canute the Great. After the Danish conquest of England in 1016, Canute had Edward, said to be only a few months old, and his brother, Edmund, sent to the Swedish court of Olof Skötkonung (who