Emma: The Twice-Crowned Queen: England in the Viking Age
Queen Emma, the only woman to have been married to two kings of England and to have borne two more, stood at the crossroads of history, caught between the triad of cultures that defined England in the eleventh century. Danish by descent and sister of the duke of Normandy, she initially married Saxon king Ethelred, momentarily uniting the Viking, Norman, and Saxon factions that vied for power in early medieval England. After the death of Ethelred the Unready in 1016, Emma married Canute, the newly crowned king of England. Hardened by two unhappy marriages, an increasingly political Emma made her influence felt in domestic, religious, and political spheres. As a wife, mother, and queen, Emma subtly exerted her authority according to the societal norms of her day. This solidly researched biography provides a window on the often-neglected Viking era in England.Margaret FlanaganCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved