Queen Emma And The Vikings By Harriet O Brien

“Queen Emma And The Vikings”, is a historical fiction written by Harriet O’Brien in 2005, but in the time period of the 900’s. Harriet O’Brien has a journalist based in London. She has written for the independent and Conde Nast Traveler, among other publications. She resigned after going freelance to travel more. She mainly covers the UK, Europe and Asia, where she grew up. This is her second book. The first book she wrote is called, “Forgotten Land”. This book intrigued me because it offered the history of a girl with rights, so much like ours today, but also so different in every way. The woman in this book proves that she is a leader and will fight for what she believes in.
This book is about Queen Emma, a strong woman, who will do anything
In 1002; when she was 13 years old, she was sent to Normandy to marry the King of England otherwise known as Aethelred the Unready, who is 20 years her age. Her job was to bare a son for the king as a way to clench their pact together. Queen Emma was about the same age as Aethelred’s oldest sons; Aethelstan, Egbert, and Edmund. A few weeks after the wedding, Emma was starting to feel pride in her marriage, and attends a meeting being held. When she is first called to sign important documents, she doesn’t realize it, because she was given an English name for her new English life. Her name is now Aelfgifu, although she is mostly referred to as, “The Lady”. During their marriage, they were attacked frequently by the Vikings, and it took about 16,000 pounds to bring peace between them. Somewhere between 1005 and 1013, Aelfgifu had three children. Her first son, Edward, a daughter, Godgifu, and her last son, Alfred. Aethelred died in 1016, due to unknown causes. Aelfgifu is now a 30 year old widow, with three children. Even before the king’s death, the realm had already fallen under control by a Viking army controlled by 19-year-old Danish King named Cnut. Edward the son of
But unfortunately, In the spring of 1017, Cnut managed to invade the palace and seize the crown. In the later year of 1017, King Cnut wanted to validate his place on Aelthelred’s throne, so he wed his predecessor’s widow, Aelfgifu, disregarding the women he was married to already. The lady’s name was Aelfgifu (having no relation to Queen Emma), and she already had children with Cnut. King Cnut’s first wife, however; was disregarded and set aside for the time being. Almost a year has passed since King Cnut was crowned, and he has convened a great gathering in Oxford to bring the Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian Viking people together. Unfortunately this did not help, it just started more chaos, and it left King Cnut having to pay them both in total 83,000 pounds for peace within the palace. After a year of being married to King Cnut, Aelfgifu, had come to see what a man of peace and wisdom he really was, and eventually there came a bond of mutual affection between them. She went on to bare one more child; Harthacnut. On November 12, 1035, Cnut died at the age of thirty-eight. Unfortunately, he did not name a successor before his death, and this left Emma with major problems. Within weeks after the