logo
episode-header-image
Sep 2023
38m 21s

Emma of Normandy

History Hit
About this episode

Matt Lewis continues Gone Medieval’s special series showcasing Medieval Queens with a look at Emma of Normandy, the Norman-born noblewoman who became the English, Danish, and Norwegian Queen through her marriages to Æthelred the Unready and the Danish King Cnut the Great. After Cnut's death, Emma continued to play an active role in politics during the reigns of her sons by each husband, Edward the Confessor and Harthacnut.


Matt finds out more about Emma from historian Elizabeth Norton, author of England's Queens: The Biography and She Wolves: The Notorious Queens of Medieval England


This episode was edited by Joseph Knight and produced by Rob Weinberg.


Enjoy unlimited access to award-winning original documentaries that are released weekly and AD-FREE podcasts. Get a subscription for £1 per month for 3 months with code MEDIEVAL - sign up here.


You can take part in our listener survey here.

Up next
Aug 22
The Battle of Bosworth
A King clinging to his right to rule. A young Tudor ready to snatch the crown and begin a new dynasty.With immersive sound design and cinematic story-telling; Matt Lewis brings to life one of the pivotal moments in English history—the Battle of Bosworth.On August 22, 1485, Richar ... Show More
1h 12m
Aug 19
Medieval Obscenity
This episode contains obscene and sexual language throughoutThe medieval world was far from prudish, it was positively bawdy. Writers, preachers, and even everyday neighbours used blunt, often hilarious language to talk about sex and the body—not just for laughs, but to make shar ... Show More
46m 26s
Aug 15
The Paston Letters with Helen Castor
Matt Lewis and Helen Castor uncover the romantic entanglements and perilous struggles of the 15th-century Paston family, whose personal correspondences reveal intimate details of love, ambition, and survival during the Wars of the Roses. Through the incredible archive of letters ... Show More
1h 5m
Recommended Episodes
Mar 2024
Emma of Normandy
In this episode, Greg Jenner is joined by Professor Elizabeth Tyler and comedian Jen Brister in early medieval England to learn all about Queen Emma of Normandy. Emma was wife to two English kings – Aethelred and Cnut – and mother to two more, Harthacnut and Edward the Confessor. ... Show More
58m 2s
Nov 2023
Mary, Queen of Scots
This is the story of the incredible rise and fall of Mary, Queen of Scots. She was queen of Scotland, she was queen of France, and she could have been queen of England. She led armies, lived as a fugitive, became embroiled in love affairs and spent nearly two decades in jail. Dan ... Show More
41m 55s
Sep 2023
Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn
This is the story of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn as you've never heard it before. From their childhoods and courtship through to their union and Anne's brutal execution, we'll peel back layers of historical myth to find out how this marriage changed England forever. Dan is joined ... Show More
45m 17s
Feb 2023
Medieval Leaders and Queens: Aethelfled, Hildegard & Jadwiga.
Aethelfled, a warrior queen who crushed the Vikings, Jadwiga, the first Queen Regent of Poland and Hildegard of Bingen, an 11th-century polymath abbess who became a 20th-century feminist icon and saint. Art and cultural historian Dr Janina Ramirez joins Dan on today's episode to ... Show More
36m 47s
May 2024
Henry VIII's Sister, Margaret Queen of Scots
Margaret Tudor - daughter of King Henry VII, sister to Henry VIII - was married at 13 to James IV of Scotland, learning the skills of statecraft that would enable her to survive his early death and to construct a powerful position in Scotland.  In this episode of Not Just the Tud ... Show More
41m 16s
Jan 2024
Tudors in Love
From Henry VIII declaring himself as the ‘loyal and most assured servant’ of Anne Boleyn to the poems lavished on Elizabeth I by her suitors, the dramas of courtly love have captivated readers and dreamers for centuries.  In this edition of Not Just the Tudors, first released in ... Show More
39m 23s
Aug 2023
The Magna Carta in America
What does a document written in 1215 in England have to do with the United States? The Magna Carta has supposedly influenced foundational documents like the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. In this episode, Don is joined by Eleanor Janega, the new co-host of our ... Show More
29m 39s
Jul 2024
Domina: Women Who Shaped Rome
The crisis of the Roman Republic is a period littered with iconic male power players. Julius Caesar, Mark Antony, Pompey, Brutus and the Gracchi brothers. But less famous, and often overlooked are the women that shaped these famous Roman statesmen. In today's episode of the Ancie ... Show More
51m 42s
Jun 2023
Amelia Earhart
On July 2 1937, Amelia Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, took off on what was supposed to be the final leg of their circumnavigation of the globe, but would in fact be their final flight. In this episode Don is joined by Susan Butler to explore this American sweetheart's pe ... Show More
52m 11s
May 2017
Sue Cameron on Emma of Normandy
Twice Queen of England and mother of two kings, but have you heard of Emma of Normandy? Doyenne of Whitehall and Westminster journalists, Sue Cameron names William the Conqueror's aunt as her great life. Matthew Parris explores the time 1,000 years ago when England was emerging a ... Show More
27m 23s