Encomium Emmae
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Encomium Emmae Reginae or Gesta Cnutonis Regis is an 11th century Latin encomium in honour of Queen Emma of Normandy. It was written in 1041 or 1042. The single manuscript surviving from that time is lavishly illustrated and believed to be the copy sent to Queen Emma or a close reproduction of that copy. One leaf has been lost from the manuscript in modern times but its text survives in late paper copies.
The Encomium is divided into three books. The first deals with Sweyn Forkbeard and his conquest of England. The second deals with his son, Canute the Great, his reconquest of England, marriage to Emma and career as king. The third deals with events after Canute's death; Emma's troubles during the reign of Harold Harefoot and the ascension of her sons, Harthacanute and Edward the Confessor to the throne.
The Encomium is a heavily biased and selective work. Commissioned by Queen Emma herself, it strives to show her and Canute in as favorable a light as possible. For example it completely omits mention of Emma's first marriage. Interestingly, the work uses Emma's birth name but not her regnal name, which was Ælfgifu. She chose to have herself remembered by the name she, as a Norman, apparently preferred to the English name her first husband gave her.
Despite its faults the Encomium is an important primary source for early 11th century English and Scandinavian history.
[edit] References
- Campbell, Alistar (editor and translator) and Simon Keynes (supplementary introduction) (1998). Encomium Emmae Reginae. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-62655-2
[edit] External links
- Encomium Emmae Reginae Overview by Stephen J. Murray
- Encomium Emmae reginae Georg Heinrich Pertz's 1865 edition
