#athelred

Uhtred. King of Mercia ✨️

Æthelred Unræd was an Anglo Saxon king who appointed all his friends to positions of power. While he did this, he continually broke legal precedents by breaking laws himself but also by allowing his high-powered friends to break laws, too. And when they were caught for breaking those laws, they were never punished. Sometimes they were rewarded!

He also went on a genocidal and propagandistic campaign against the legal Danish settlers in his kingdom. He prevented new immigrants from coming in and tried to kill and expel those already legally settled on their own land.

All this served to weaken the political and military framework established by his predecessors. The position of king transformed from that of a servant/protector of the people and the nation to a weak figurehead indebted to the morally and legally compromised people with whom he chose to surround himself.

Finally, in doing this, he eroded the previously robust system of counselors meant to help run his kingdom.

Several years into his reign, a man named Cnut came from the North to conquer England. And you know what happened? The English people basically let him. They exiled Æthelred and told him to GTFO. No real forces mustered to Æthelred’s aid. He’d failed to defend and serve his people too many times for them to take up arms in his name. His advisors cared more about keeping their heads and avoiding injury than protecting their leader or their country.

Cnut became King of England, Denmark, and Norway. Cnut unseated a descendent of Alfred the Great, because Æthelred Unræd was so bad at his job.

Here’s the joke. Æthelred Unræd in modern English translates to “Æthelred the Poorly Counseled” made even more hilarious but the fact that his first name means “Noble council.” Æthelred Unræd literally means “Nobly Counseled the Poorly Counseled.”

There are other characters besides Ivar.

And the Saxons.

Thank you that is all.

I must say that I always kind of liked Judith. And I have to defend her a little. I don’t think she wants Alfred to be king because he’s easier to manipulate, on the contrary, from what we know about the two I’d say Alfred is the one with his own ideas and believes and thus would be harder to manipulate. I think she really sees him as the better option because Athelred is so much like his father, who never stood a chance against the vikings and she’s hoping that Alfred could bring a change.

But you’re right she does clearly favors Alfred in other ways as well and that scene when she asked Athelred to renounce the chance to become king was kind of painful to watch. I really felt for Athelred and I hope that they are not going to make this another brother against brother thing (They probably will, I know).