在他统治的早些年,埃塞尔雷德与温特斯特主教埃塞尔沃德(英语:Æthelwold of Winchester)关系密切,后者是其中一个从一开始就支持他继承王位的人,虽然没有成功。984年8月1日,温特斯特主教埃塞尔沃德(英语:Æthelwold of Winchester)去世,这使埃塞尔雷德痛心疾首,他后来在993年写下的一份土地证书(Charter)中提到,埃塞尔沃德的去世使我们的国家失去了一位“对各行各业尽心管理,鞠躬尽瘁,不仅仅是为了我,更是为了所有国民利益”的人。
与丹麦人的冲突
埃塞尔雷德的父亲,和平者埃德加,在十世纪中叶重新征服了丹麦区,自那以后英格兰经历了一段时间的和平。然而,从980年开始,当时埃塞尔雷德还不满14岁,丹麦人开始小规模的侵袭英格兰的海岸线。汉普郡,萨尼特(英语:Isle of Thanet)和柴郡在980年被袭击,德文郡和康沃尔郡在981年被袭击,多塞特郡则是982年。在988年之前的六年间,还有另外一次袭击发生在西南部,有记录显示那里发生过一次在入侵者和德文贵族之间的著名的战争。斯坦顿指出,虽然这一系列孤立的袭击个案对于英格兰并没有造成持久性的影响,但是“这些侵袭的重要性是,首次使英格兰陷入了与诺曼底公国的外交危机”。[注 5][11] 作为起源于斯堪的纳维亚人的诺曼人,他们认为丹麦人是他们的亲戚,对丹麦人非常友善,在那段时间,袭击过英格兰海岸线的丹麦船队经常到诺曼底公国停靠。这导致了英格兰和诺曼底公国之间日益紧张的关系,最终闹到了教皇若望十五世那里。教皇为了化解彼此的敌意,采取措施在英格兰和诺曼底公国之间建立和平关系,最终于991年在鲁昂签署和平协议。
莫尔登之战
然而,事与愿违,就在991年8月,一支规模相当大的丹麦船队在英格兰东南部开始了持续的进攻。这支船队首先抵达肯特郡的福克斯通,绕过东南沿海抵达了黑水河入海口,并且最终占领了河口附近的诺西岛(英语:Northey Island)。在诺西岛西侧约两公里(一英里)的地方,有一座城堡名叫莫尔登(Maldon),埃塞克斯的郡长伯特努思(英语:Byrhtnoth)带领他的部下驻扎在此城堡。英格兰和丹麦之间接下来的战斗是由古老的英国诗歌《莫尔登之战》(英语:The Battle of Maldon)记录并得以名垂千古的。诗歌中描写了面对毫无胜算的局面,伯特努思率众英勇抵抗丹麦海盗进攻的故事。斯坦顿简明地总结了诗歌中记载的事迹:“他们(丹麦人)打算利用一条连接诺西岛和入海口南缘的堤道(causeway)向内陆发展进攻,在涨潮的时候这条堤道是被淹没的。伯特努思在他们(丹麦人)离开岛上的营地之前带领部下和一支当地的民兵抢占了堤道靠近陆地的一端。伯特努思拒绝纳贡,他在高涨的潮水中大声地鼓舞士气,并且命令他的手下沿海岸线展开,严阵以待,静候退潮的时刻。随着潮水渐低,入侵者开始鱼贯进入堤道。然而,三个伯特努思的部下顽强守住堤道,对抗着海盗凶猛的进攻。最终入侵者要求在陆地上进行公平决斗。伯特努思同意了决斗的要求,对于这个决定即使是那些非常敬仰伯特努思的人都认为‘过于鲁莽’了,于是入侵者们潮水般涌过堤道,混战开始。当伯特努思倒下时,结果就已经注定。很多人,甚至包括伯特努思的很多手下在内,决定立即撤退,英格兰人的队形马上就乱了。仍然坚持战斗的则是伯特努思手下的一群勇气可嘉的家臣(thegn),他们知道战败已经无可避免了,却仍然为了替他们的主公复仇而发起自杀式进攻,最终全部战殁”。[12]这仅仅是在英格兰对抗丹麦人的进攻中一系列惨败的开端,首先是这些海盗,接下来面对的则是更加强大更有组织的丹麦正规军队。
^原文:'much that has brought condemnation of historians on King Æthelred may well be due in the last resort to the circumstances under which he became king.'
^原文:'offended many important persons by his intolerable violence of speech and behaviour.'
^原文:”The presence of supporters of church reform on both sides indicates that the conflict between them depended as much on issues of land ownership and local power as on ecclesiastical legitimacy. Adherents of both Edward and Æthelred can be seen appropriating, or recovering, monastic lands.“
^原文:'their chief historical importance is that they brought England for the first time into diplomatic contact with Normandy.'
^原文:'that he would never come back to England in hostility.'
^原文:'other component parts of the Viking force appear to have decided to stay in England, for it is apparent from the treaty that some had chosen to enter into King Æthelred's service as mercenaries, based presumably on the Isle of Wight.'
^原文:'there is no suggestion that this was a new fleet or army, and presumably the mercenary force created in 994 from the residue of the raiding army of 991 had turned on those whom it had been hired to protect.'
^原文:'allowed Æthelred to carry out a devastation of Strathclyde, the motive for which is part of the lost history of the north.'
^原文:'may have seemed the best available way of protecting the people against loss of life, shelter, livestock and crops. Though undeniably burdensome, it constituted a measure for which the king could rely on widespread support.'
^原文:'The history of England in the next generation was really determined between 1009 and 1012...the ignominious collapse of the English defence caused a loss of morale which was irreparable.'
引用
^The use of either the cognomen or the numeral distinguishes him from King Æthelred of Wessex, ruled 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.
^ 3.03.1Bosworth-Toller, An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, with Supplement. p.1124
^The Burial of King Æthelred the Unready at St. Paul's, Simon Keynes, The English and Their Legacy, 900–1200: Essays in Honour of Ann Williams, ed. David Roffe, (Boydell Press, 2012), 129.