Characters:
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Statue of Æthelflæd at Tamworth
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Æthelflæd, the ‘Lady of the Mercians’, (c. 870 – 12 June 918) ruled Mercia in the English Midlands from 911 until her death. She was the eldest daughter of Alfred the Great, king of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex, and his wife Ealhswith. Æthelflæd was born around 870 at the height of the Viking invasions of England. By 878, most of England was under Danish Viking rule. She was married to Æthelred of Mercia, who played a major role in fighting off renewed Viking attacks in the 890s, together with Æthelflæd's brother, the future King Edward the Elder. When Æthelred's health declined Æthelflæd was responsible for the government of Mercia. Æthelred died in 911 and Æthelflæd then ruled as Lady of the Mercians. She was a great ruler who played an important part in the conquest of the Danelaw. She was praised by Anglo-Norman chroniclers such as William of Malmesbury, who described her as "a powerful accession to [Edward's] party, the delight of his subjects, the dread of his enemies, a woman of enlarged soul". (From Wikipedia)
Æthelflæd is the central character in Annie Whitehead’s novel To Be A Queen.
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Frontispiece from the Encomium
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Queen Emma of Normandy (Referred to as Ælfgifu in royal documents;
c. 984 – 6 March 1052) was queen of England, Denmark and Norway through her marriages to Æthelred the Unready (1002–1016) and Cnut the Great (1017–1035). She was the daughter of Duke Richard I of Normandy and Gunnor. After her husbands' deaths Emma remained in the public eye, and continued to participate actively in politics during the reigns of her sons by each husband, Edward the Confessor and Harthacnut. She is the central figure within her contemporary biography Encomium Emmae Reginae, a critical source for the history of early 11th-century English politics. Emma is one of the most visually represented early medieval queens. (From Wikipedia)
Emma is the central character in Helen Hollick’s novel A Hollow Crown (title of the UK edition) / The Forever Queen (title of the US edition), and a character in Harold the King (UK edition title) / I am the Chosen King (US edition title) the story of the events that led to the 1066 Battle of Hastings.
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Two Queens: Sometime... somewhere entirely fictional...
Queen Emma (QE): [inspecting a wine flagon on a side table] I see that useless maid has not refilled the wine, yet again. I suspect she spends too much of her time lifting her skirts for Æthelred, that no-good, useless husband of mine. Hoping he can amuse her. [mutters] She’ll be lucky.
Æthelflæd (Æ): [looking up from a manuscript that she is reading, her father’s translation of the Cura Pastoralis] How odd that we should both have a husband with the same name, yet we existed so many years apart?
QE: [snorts] From what I’ve heard, your Æthelred was a competent man. In all respects. Unlike mine who deserved the addition of ‘Unready’ to his damned name. [She laughs] Most people think he got it because of his incompetence with fighting the Vikings. I was calling him that long before then – for his equally as incompetent lack of performance in bed.
Æ: [smiles to herself but makes no comment]
QE: I suppose your husband succeeded there as well? [she snorts again, then smiles] Well, my second husband made up for all that. Cnut was, how shall I say? Most satisfactory.
Æ: It is strange for me to hear of a Viking so lovingly spoken of. We did naught but curse them in our households, my father’s and my own in Mercia. They were the enemy.
QE: [changing the subject slightly] You only had the one daughter did you not?
Æ: [quietly] Only one that lived, aye.
QE: [sighs] My daughters were taken from me before they met womanhood. Married off as ‘essential alliances’. Alliances? Huh! The only use for a daughter, as men see it. I ended up with Æthelred because of a damned alliance.
Æ: I suppose I could use those very words, for I too was married to my Æthelred to strengthen the alliance between Wessex and Mercia. But you chose to make alliance with Cnut of Denmark after he had conquered England, did you not?
QE: I did. But that was in order to retain my crown. I did not know, then, that I would end up loving him.
Æ: Again, I could say the same. I did not think I would come to love my husband. I was truly lucky there, for love can be a fickle, fleeting, thing.
QE: [Scornfully] When it comes to your children it certainly is! One of my sons, Alfred, stupidly got himself murdered. Another, Harthacnut, refused to listen to the physicians and died, while the other, Edward, was even more useless than his imbecile father.
Æ: My daughter was a long-awaited, much prayed-for gift from God. I thought I had failed my husband by not providing a son, but he loved her. Sadly, our fate was ever to be on the march, and perhaps we neglected her. In the end, our love was not returned. I do not blame her. Had I known what my brother did to her, though, I would have fought him, even though we had ridden and marched together in common cause until that point.
QE: [inspects what Æthelflæd is reading, raises her eyebrows, then sits down in a chair] Brothers? Oh, don’t get me started on brothers! It was my brother who arranged that dreadful marriage with Æthelred.
Æ: My brother Edward learned duty from an early age. We both did; watching our father fighting the Vikings made us aware of what needed to be done. We were close, even as children. I think that’s why he was able to work with me and let me rule Mercia. To be honest though, even had he tried to take over, the Mercians would not have let him. By then, I had gained their trust, but it came almost too late. I was too busy feeling sorry for myself and should have learned much earlier to adapt.
QE: [sighs] Oh, if only I could have my life again...
Æ: [Interrupting] If you could, how would you change it?
QE: I would ensure that I had the power to remain in control. You had the advantage there, didn’t you?
Æ: You’d think so, wouldn’t you? I had a stark choice: let Edward take over or become ruler myself. I had been taught well, by my dear husband. It was somehow easier with him advising me.
QE: I admire you, Æthelflæd, when your husband died you took command. Look at all that you achieved!
Æ: [modestly] Oh, well, thank you for that. I had a group of the most loyal men you could wish for; they fought for me and sadly many died for me. My success was laced with loss and heartache. [her voice becomes shaky and she takes a moment to steady her breathing] But you achieved much. You ruled as regent when Cnut left England to journey to Denmark and Norway, and to go on pilgrimage to Rome. You fought to ensure that Harthacnut became King of England after Cnut died...
QE: Fought? Not in the way you fought, my dear! All I had were words, words to write down, words to cajole and convince. Words that meant nothing, because my dearest son only became king when the one who usurped his crown, that weasel, Harald Harefoot, so conveniently died. [She mimics a sad face].
Æ: I’ve often wondered. Did you have anything to do with his sudden death?
QE: [going to a side table and ignoring the question. She lifts a silver platter, offers its content to Æthelflæd.] Do have one of these honey cakes. They are delicious.
Æ: [watches her, recalling how she used to observe other people moving around to cause a distraction.] Thank you, I will. [waits patiently for Emma to answer.]
QE: If I must confess to anything, I will confess that I regret not strangling Edward at birth. There was many a time I wished I had. Especially when he stripped me of authority, threatened me with exile and took away the treasury from my care. The little runt.
Æ: [smiling] Perhaps, if we spoke to them nicely, we could persuade Annie and Helen, our scribes, to write something where our history of these things changes for the better?
QE: [also smiling] Now there’s a thought! What a superb idea!
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Note from Annie and Helen ... an idea indeed. You never know, we might... One day.
We hope you have enjoyed the joint tour that Annie and Helen have journeyed through these past few days.
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© Helen Hollick / Annie Whitehead
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