Harriet O'Brien

I wish I could give this book more stars, but unfortunately there is just not enough extant information to write much of a biography about Emma of Normandy. She's one of the most fascinating voids in history; clearly a major power node in the waning days of the Anglo-Saxons as wife or mother to four kings of England(!), her story suffers greatly from the "sausage fest" that most chroniclers have made of history since the dawn of time. As a result, sometimes the only way to fill the pages for show more any author that wishes to give Emma the detailed, full treatment she merits is to speculate poetically.

O'Brien has done as good a job as an author can with what little we have of Emma's personal story, but no author however good they are can magic facts out of thin air. As a result, my major takeaway from this book remains a desire to reach back in time and strangle the monks of the era for round-filing half of humanity even when their personal stories clearly had massive effects on the world. show less

The formidable Emma of Normandy is not a lady that jumps to mind immediately when recalling the illustrious legacy of English queens. However, Harriet O’Brien takes reminds us in Queen Emma just what kind of influence and impact this one woman had on the foundations of Norman and Scandinavian rule in England.

Brought to England from the shores of Normandy as a young girl, Emma became the second wife of the first king of England, Æthelred. Over the years, her role transformed from silent show more witness to court business to become a powerful mother of two kings of England, and twice queen herself. After the death of Æthelred, Emma was claimed as bride by the incoming Viking conqueror, Cnut of Denmark.

O’Brien narrates the warp and weft of Emma’s tale of her marriages, children, a kingdom at war, and her periods of exile with a balanced perspective. She deftly surmises rationale for the choices Emma makes in her lifetime, based on interpreting the existing extant documents available. In doing so, Emma blooms into life as a capable woman who had no qualms using her wit, whiles and determination to navigate the tumultuous period in English history that saw the intersection and divide of a nation tranisitoning through three distinctive dynasties of rule.

The author doesn’t skirt the fact that Emma appears to have made some hard decisions along the way, such that O’Brien describes her as “Machiavellian”. She abandons her sons from Æthelstan, including Edward the Confessor, into exile in Normandy while she marries Cnut and works with him to reign in the chaos of administration that followed his coronation. After Cnut’s death, she fights to put her son Harthacnut into the throne, only to have to later appeal to Edward to fill the void after Harthacnut’s untimely demise.

Queen Emma is an interesting read beyond the facts themselves, because of the careful and methodical approach O’Brien uses to sift through the details of Emma’s life. Her extensive research is inspirational. Refreshing too is seeing the story of a medieval woman in a position of such power unfold. It’s also a good sign when another person on the plan to England is reading the same book. Grab a glass of wine and curl up with this one. (Bloomsbury, 2006) A sneak peek version is available to read in Google Books.

REVIEW BY LADY AVELYN WEXCOMBE (SCA) show less

Quick Version

A history of Emma, Norman wife of two kings of England (one Anglo-Saxon and one Dane), mother of two kings of England, and great-aunt of William the Conqueror.

Long Version

Emma is every historian’s dream subject. Born into a position destined to make her a pawn in the power plays of the highest nobility, Emma had the intelligence and the cunning to rise to eminence in a world where women were undereducated and disregarded.

Despite a length of less than three hundred pages, this show more book does an excellent job telling not only Emma’s story, but the tale of the time in which she lived. This is a period of English history full of shifting politics and cultures. Alfred the Great had ruled shortly before, the apex of Anglo-Saxon England. Emma’s first husband, the inept Aethelred led to its ruin. Cnut the Dane conquered England and in a stunning move married the popular and recently widowed Queen Emma. Following his demise, Emma held on long enough to put not just one, but two sons, one by Aethelred and one by Cnut, on to England’s throne.

In addition to the machinations of politics, Harriet O’Brien paints a vivid picture of life at all levels of society during Emma’s lifespan, interspersing her portrait with useful tidbits such as which food items would not have been seen and when they were first cultivated in England. I finally learned the difference between mead and ale!

I highly recommend this history to readers of Helen Hollick’s historical fiction, [B]The Forever Queen[/B] and its recently released sequel [B]I am the Chosen King[/B]. It also stands on its own as a wonderfully readable account of the life and times of a woman too often overlooked in the annals of history. show less

This is a book I've been wanting to read for a while. It covers the period of English history that intrigues me the most -- the period of the Danelaw and after -- and the people who intrigue me the most: Æðelræð, Emma/Ælfgifu (so many Ælfgifus!), Knútr, and Edward. This is the pivotal period where the conditions for the shift to Norman rule (just another foreign rule) are created. I am most interested in the creation of identities and multilingualism of the period. The author does a show more good job of teasing out a narrative from the limited documentary sources, but the book is flawed by gaffes that a non-medievalist would make, and she's got a real fixation on the limited/non-literacy of the period. Medievalists think about that differently now: there are many different literacies and strategies. show less