The Annals of Æthelred and the Early Years of Cnut

Abstract

This chapter considers the group of annals now found in Chronicles C, D, and E covering the reign of Æthelred II and the early years of the Danish conqueror Cnut. It discusses the identity of this group and their transmission, arguing for D and E’s close connections. The focus is on Danish invasions, but there is unusual attention to archbishops. On the basis of some annals in D, it argues, again, that D’s predecessor was in the hands of Archbishop Wulfstan II, and that these annals were thus already attached to his copy of the Northern Recension by the early 1020s. This group of annals is, it is argued, a passionate, partisan, and powerful retrospective story. It was self-consciously within the tradition begun at Alfred’s court; but in those chronicles where it is found it altered the story of the chronicle produced there.