Emma d.1052
Queen of England

The daughter of Richard II, Duke of Normandy, she was a forceful, ambitious and unscrupulous survivor, who played a leading part in English political life for 40 years. She married Ethelred II, the Unready (1002), and had a son, Edward the Confessor. She fled to Normandy when Svein Haraldsson, Fork-Beard invaded England (1013), returning to England (1017) to marry Ethelred's successor, Knut Sveinsson (Canute). She tried to put their son, Hardaknut Knutsson, on the throne after Knut's death (1035), but was thwarted by Harold I Knutsson, Harefoot, her stepson, and fled to the Flemish court of Baldwin the Pious, father-in-law of William the Conqueror. When Hardaknut was elected king (1040), Emma returned to England, but on his death (1042) his successor, her other son, Edward the Confessor, confiscated her property when she apparently favoured his rival, Magnus I, the Good, of Norway.