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Æthelred the Unready, or Æthelred II,〔The use of either the cognomen or the numeral distinguishes him from King Æthelred of Wessex, who ruled from 865 to 871.〕〔Different spellings of this king’s name most commonly found in modern texts are "Ethelred" and "Æthelred" (or "Aethelred"), the latter being closer to the original Old English form ''Æþelræd''.〕 ( 968 – 23 April 1016) was King of the English (978–1013 and 1014–1016). He was the son of King Edgar and Queen Ælfthryth and was only about ten years old (no more than thirteen) when his half-brother Edward was murdered. Although Æthelred was not personally suspected of participation, the murder was committed at Corfe Castle by his attendants, making it more difficult for the new king to rally the nation against the military raids by Danes, especially as the legend of St Edward the Martyr grew. From 991 onwards, Æthelred paid tribute, or Danegeld, to the Danish king. In 1002, Æthelred ordered a massacre of Danish settlers. In 1003, King Sweyn invaded England, and in 1013, Æthelred fled to Normandy and was replaced by Sweyn, who was also King of Denmark. Æthelred returned as king, however, after Sweyn died in 1014. "Unready" is a mistranslation of Old English ''unræd'' (meaning bad-counsel)—a twist on his name "Æthelred", meaning noble-counsel. A better translation would be ''ill-advised''. ==Name== The story of Æthelred's notorious nickname, from Old English ''Æþelræd Unræd'', goes a long way toward explaining how his reputation has declined through history. His first name, composed of the elements ''æðele'' (comparable to Dutch ''edel(e)'' and ''adel''; as in Old Saxon ''athal-''), meaning "noble", and ''ræd'' (comparable to Dutch ''raad'' and Old Dutch ''rat''), meaning "counsel" or "advice",〔Bosworth-Toller, ''An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary'', with Supplement. p.1124〕 is typical of the compound names of those who belonged to the royal House of Wessex, and it characteristically alliterates with the names of his ancestors, like Æthelwulf ("noble-wolf"), Ælfred ("elf-counsel"), Edward ("rich-protection"), and Edgar ("rich-spear").〔Schröder, ''Deutsche Namenkunde''.〕 His nickname ''Unræd'' is usually translated into present-day English as "The Unready" (less often, though less confusingly, as "The Redeless" - ), though, because the present-day meaning of "unready" no longer resembles its ancient counterpart, this translation disguises the meaning of the Old English term. Bosworth-Toller's ''Anglo-Saxon Dictionary'' defines the noun ''unræd'' in various ways, though it seems always to have been used pejoratively.〔 Generally, it means "evil counsel", "bad plan", "folly". Bosworth-Toller do not record it as describing a person directly; it most often describes decisions and deeds, and once refers to the nature of Satan's deceit (see Fall of Man). The element ''ræd'' in ''unræd'' is the element in Æthelred's name which means "counsel". Thus ''Æþelræd Unræd'' is a pun meaning "Noble counsel, No counsel". The nickname has alternatively been taken adjectivally as "ill-advised", "ill-prepared", "indecisive", thus "Æthelred the ill-advised". The epithet would seem to describe the poor quality of advice which Æthelred received throughout his reign, presumably from those around him, specifically from the royal council, known as the Witan. Though the nickname does not suggest anything particularly respectable about the king himself, its invective is not actually focused on the king but on those around him, who were expected to provide the young king with ''god ræd'' (i.e., good counsel). Unfortunately, historians, both mediaeval and modern, have taken less of an interest in what this epithet suggests about the king's advisers, and have instead focused on the image it creates of a blundering, misfit king. Because the nickname was first recorded in the 1180s, more than 150 years after Æthelred's death, it is doubtful that it carries any implications for how the king was seen by his contemporaries or near contemporaries.〔Keynes, "The Declining Reputation of King Æthelred the Unready", pp. 240–1. For this king's forebear of the same name, see Æthelred of Wessex.〕 In the view of Oxford professor Chris Wickham, Æthelred was one of the most forceful kings of the tenth century, who ended the control of every one of the major magnate families over their ealdormanries in the two decades after 985, and although this was ultimately to prove to his disadvantage, it is significant that he maintained the strength to push all of them into private life in spite of the military crisis of the period. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Æthelred the Unready」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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