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👑 King of Wessex 👑 King of England
Ethelred

Ethelred

9.9
A king of England from 978 to 1016 who struggled to stop Viking invasions
  • proper noun
translation icon : Ethelred

Examples

  • Meanwhile, Ethelred had apparently decided that he had to pray before the battle and refused to advance until his prayer service was complete.

  • In The Fall of the House of Usher, the narrator reads from "The Mad Trist," in which a hero named Ethelred kills a dragon and takes the treasure that was guarded by the dragon.

    Blog text (21)

  • King Ethelred the Unready faced numerous challenges during his reign, especially from Danish invasions.

  • In history class, we learned about Ethelred, the king who struggled to defend England from Viking raids.

  • The documentary focused on Ethelred, who ruled England from 978 to 1016 and earned his infamous nickname.

Synonyms

Ethelred II
vsEthelred
9.9

A king of England from 978 to 1016 called the Unready who struggles against Danish invasions

is the simple personal name without epithet or regnal number
Ethelred the Unready
vsEthelred
9.9

A king of England who failed to stop Danish invasions and whose nickname meant he had poor advisers

is the neutral personal name rather than the critical epithet

Compounds

Ethelred the Unready
9.9

A king of England who failed to stop Danish invasions and whose nickname meant he had poor advisers

Surface Forms

Ethelred main

Etymology

Ethelred comes from Old English parts æthel meaning 'noble' and ræd meaning 'advice' or 'counsel'. So the name means 'noble counsel', which makes Ethelred the Unready easier to remember because his nickname actually meant 'no good counsel', the opposite of his name.