1066 and all that

or, it's Emma's fault I could never get straight why the good Saxon King Harold had to fight first the Danes then the Normans, and then when he lost England became run by the Norman French. Actually, it's more complicated than that, because they all were related to each other, and the Normans were originally Vikings. Then in the middle of this, you find Emma: check geneology here. First, she was the second wife of Ethelred the Unready... but then

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

got that straight? No? The article has a genology but that doesn't help much. But she must have been fairly good, since Cnut married her for convenience but seems to have become fond of her as time passed...and they did manage to have 2 children together... and factoid of the day: Cnut's grandfather is Harold Bluetooth, for whom the bluetooth technology was named.