Emma of Normandy was one of the most significant figures in the turbulent politics of 11th-century England, Scandinavia and Normandy. She ended up being queen to two kings of the English ( Aethelred the Unready and Cnut), and mother to two more (Harthacnut and Edward the Confessor); as well as being a highly influential figure in a time when women were judged more on their child-bearing qualities than for their intellect. In today’s enlightened times we can learn more about her than other women in Anglo-Saxon England thanks to a variety of charters, illuminated manuscripts and a biography written during her own lifetime.
She was a reputed beauty and the sister to Richard ll, Duke of Normandy who inveigled her into King Aethelred’s bed. This was an attempt to pacify the Saxon King who suspected the Norman Duke (the Conqueror’s grandfather) of harbouring the hated Vikings who consistently raided the English kingdom. Emma, fulfilling her wifely duties, produced three children; Edward the Confessor (who ruled England from 1042 to 1066), Alfred and Godgifu.
In 1002 Aethelred was visited by the Christian God in a dream who urged him to kill all the people of Danish descent who had settled (peacefully or not) in his kingdom. The next day the king conspired with his nobles to assassinate these settlers and they attempted a mass slaughter which became known as the St. Brices’s Day Massacre. One of the many victims of the pogrom was the King of Denmark’s sister, Gunhilde who perished in Norwich during the ensuing bloodfest. Sweyn Forkbeard, mustered his forces to invade England and avenge his sibling and in 1003 he landed to deliver some Viking justice. After ten years pounding the Saxon king had enough and fled to Normandy with his sons, while King Sweyn took the English throne. Not to be outdone by his father, Prince Cnut took Queen Emma. When Cnut succeeded his father to the English throne, Emma of Normandy became the English queen for the second time.
Not just a pretty face, Emma’s political influence grew and had far-reaching consequences. After all, her first marriage to King Aethelred the Unready gave William the Conqueror a tentative claim to the throne which led to the Norman invasion. Her political alliances also contributed to the rise of Earl Godwin, father of King Harold II who died at William’s hands during the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Emma is a fine example of a woman of influence involved in politics on both sides of the English Channel and beyond before the Norman Conquest. On her death she was buried next to her Danish husband Cnut and their bones are purported to be contained in one of six mortuary chests in Winchester Cathedral.
