Daily Medieval

Also known as Sweyn Estridsson or Estridsen, because his mother was Estrid , daughter of Sweyn Forkbeard , Sweyn II was King of Denmark from...

Estrid Svensdatter, daughter of Sweyn Forkbeard and sister of Cnut , was born c.990 and lived at least until 1057. We do not know about her...

It may well have been news of the wholesale slaughter of Danes  in 1002 that was ordered by King Æthelred that motivated Sweyn Forkbeard t...

One site of the  St. Brice's Day Massacre  in 1002 seems to have been Oxford. Æthelred called it in a 1004 charter "a most just ext...

Clashes with Danes in England resulted in establishing the Danelaw, originally just the set of Danish laws agreed upon with Alfred the Great...

European history classrooms in America often talk about the Danish King Cnut (Canute) and his conquest of England. The modern world also he...

It must have been a shock when Thorkell the Tall , a leader and warrior of the early 12th-century Danish invasion of England, changed his st...

The Danish raid on Canterbury in 1011 included a leader named Thorkell the Tall. He was an important enough man that his name was recorded o...

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Alfheah  (also called Alphege), was captured during an invasion of Vikings in 1011.  Eadric Streona  was suppo...

Yesterday mentioned that Eadric Streona failed to negotiate the release of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Ælfheah, from the Vikings. Ælfheah...

Eadric, the son of Ethelric, started as a relative unknown. His father was at the court of Æthelred the Unready , but was not distinguished....

Edmund, son of Æthelred the Unready  and his first wife Ælfgifu of York, was likely born between 990 and 993, one of several siblings. He wa...

After Edmund of East Anglia began to be treated as a saint , he became an important focal point for Christians in East Anglia, and embraced...

When King Edmund of East Anglia bought off the Vikings of the Great Heathen Army in 865, he might have thought he was safe from that point...

The Kingdom of East Anglia formed in the first half of the 6th century. Its first king was Wehha, ruling people who came from Frisia and Jut...

There were few times in England's Medieval period when it was not at war with someone. Even when they were not forced to defend themselv...

After returning to England from failed Crusade attempts, Edmund Crouchback had to deal with some unrest. His father, Henry III, died on 16 ...

When Henry III's son  Edmund Crouchback was 23 years old, he pledged to go on crusade with his brother, Edward, and a cousin, Henry of ...

Henry III wanted another son. His first son, Edward, was followed by a daughter, Margaret, and Henry needed at least "an heir and a spa...

A queen can have several duties, one of which is to produce heirs that can either succeed their parents or be used to make politically advan...

The citizens of London may have welcomed their new queen when she and Henry III rode to Westminster for the coronation after the wedding (12...

Ramon Berenguer V, Count of Provence (1198 - 1245), and Beatrice of Savoy (c.1198 - c.1267) had four daughters, all of whom married kings. T...

This post is about Margaret of England (29 September 1240 – 26 February 1275), the daughter of King Henry III. She was in her 20s during the...

Gilbert de Clare, 7th Earl of Gloucester, was originally on the side of the rebels during the Second Barons' War . He changed over to th...

The end of the Second Barons' War required closure and reconciliation, and it came in the Dictum of Kenilworth, named for the castle in ...

Simon de Montfort was in control of London in April 1264. Northampton was under siege by supporters of King Henry, and Simon assembled his ...

In February 1264, after the Mise of Amiens , the fighting between the forces of Simon de Montfort and King Henry III began in earnest. One ...

So the first phase of the Second Barons' War happened very quickly. The rebellious barons invaded London and captured King Henry III and...