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- Emma de Normandie was born between 985 and 987 at Normandy, France. She was the daughter of Richard I, 3rd Duc de Normandie and Gunnor de Crêpon. She married, firstly, Æthelred II 'the Unready', King of England, son of Eadgar 'the Peaceful', King of England and Ælfthryth, on 5 April 1002 at Winchester Cathedral, Winchester, Hampshire, England. She married, secondly, Canute II Sveynsson, King of England and Denmark, son of Sveyn I 'Forkbeard' Haraldsson, King of Denmark and England and Gunhilda of Poland, on 2 July 1017. She died on 14 March 1052 at Winchester, Hampshire, England. She was buried at Winchester Cathedral, Winchester, Hampshire, England.
Emma (c.?985 - 6 March 1052 in Winchester, Hampshire), was a daughter of Richard the Fearless, Duke of Normandy, by his second wife Gunnora. She was Queen consort of England twice, by successive marriages: first as second wife to Æthelred the Unready of England (1002-16); and then second wife to Cnut the Great of Denmark (1017-35). Two of her sons, one by each husband, and two stepsons, also by each husband, became kings of England, as did her great-nephew, William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy.
Life
Reign of Æthelred
In 1000-1 Normandy gave shelter to a Viking army threatening England, and Æthelred may have attempted an invasion of Normandy in response, but in 1002 he changed tack and arranged to marry Emma, the sister of Richard II, Duke of Normandy, as his second wife. She was given an English name, Ælfgifu, which was used instead of her Norman name on formal occasions or on charters. She had two sons, Edward (the future Edward the Confessor) and Alfred, and a daughter, Goda. She was accorded a more prominent place in charters than his first wife. She received properties that had belonged to Queen Ælfthryth in Winchester and Rutland, and also controlled the city of Exeter, parts of Devonshire, Suffolk and Oxfordshire.
In 1013 Æthelred sent Emma and her children to her brother in Normandy to escape Sweyn's invasion, and soon followed himself, but they were able to return when Sweyn died in February 1014. Æthelred's eldest son, Æthelstan had long been recognised as heir apparent, and charter evidence shows that Edward ranked behind all Æthelred's sons by his first marriage, but Æthelstan died in June 1014, and Emma now tried to get her own son, the ten year old Edward, recognised as heir. She was an ally of her husband's most trusted adviser, the deeply distrusted Eadric Streona, ealdorman of Mercia, and he took her side, but she was opposed by Æthelred's oldest surviving son, Edmund Ironside, and his allies, who naturally regarded him as the heir.
Edmund revolted against his father, and in 1015 Sweyn's son Cnut invaded. Æthelred was able to hold out against Cnut in London, but in April 1016 Æthelred died, as did Edmund in November. Queen Emma still held out against Cnut in London, but it was finally agreed that her sons should go to live in Normandy and she would marry Cnut. The marriage probably saved her sons, as Cnut tried to rid himself of rival claimants, but spared their lives.
Reign of Cnut
During the first years of Cnut's reign, Emma was rarely called upon to act as witness to his acts. This changed around 1020, when she became more active in affairs. Like Queen Ælfthryth, she acted as patroness of the clergy and abbot Ælfsige of Peterborough was one of her closest advisors. She also befriended clergy from the continent, which added to the prestige of both herself and her husband as a Christian king.
It is thought though, due not least to the extolling of her in the Encomium Emmae Reginae, that in addition to political machinations, Cnut grew fond of Emma. In this, an affectionate marriage and the ability to keep the threat from over the channel at bay, was seen as a happy coincidence.
Reigns of Harold I, Harthacnut and Edward the Confessor
After Cnut's death, Edward and Alfred returned to England from their exile in 1036, to see their mother, and were put under their half-brother, Harthacnut's, protection. This was seen as a move against Harold Harefoot, Cnut's son by Ælfgifu of Northampton, who put himself forward as Harold I with the support of many of the English nobility. In contempt of Harthacnut, and at war with his enemies in Scandinavia, Alfred was captured, blinded, and shortly after, died from his wounds. Edward escaped to Normandy and Emma herself soon left for Bruges and the court of the Count of Flanders. It was at this court that the Encomium Emmae was written.
Twice the Queen of the English kingdom, Emma of Normandy sits here in receipt of the Encomium Emmae, with her sons Harthacnut and Edward the Confessor in the frame.
Harthacnut prepared an invasion force after he had made his Danish Lands secure in 1040 and picked Emma up from Flanders before setting out to England. The death of Harold I in 1040 made his accession easier. Emma then held Wessex as regent for her son Edward, until he was officially made welcome in England the next year. Harthacnut told the Norman court that Edward should be made king if he himself had no sons. Edward was subsequently King of England on the death of Harthacnut, who, like Harold I, met his end in the throes of a fit. Emma was also to return to England, yet was cast aside, as she supported Magnus the Noble, not Edward, her son. It is supposed that she had no love for her children from her first marriage.
Psychological speculation
Emma of Normandy might well have seen herself as coming second to the first wife, in both of her marriages (Æthelred's first wife Ælfflaed possibly died in childbirth or from complications during labour). With her marriage to Cnut, set in the shade of his first wife, Ælfgifu of Northampton, she, at the time was known as Ælfgifu of Normandy. Her second marriage, then, in some way left her as a second Ælfgifu, which she was clearly inclined to abandon, preferring Emma. Despite her being a second wife, her noble marriages created a strong connection between England and Normandy, which was to find its culmination under her great-nephew William the Conqueror in 1066.
Emma's progeny
Emma's issue with Æthelred the Unready were:
Edward the Confessor
Goda of England
Alfred Ætheling
Her issue with Cnut the Great were
Harthacnut
Gunhilda of Denmark
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985 - 1052 (~ 67 years)
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