Sue Cameron on Emma of Normandy
Great Lives
BBC
4.2 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 16 May 2017
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
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 as a new nation in the decades before the Norman invasion, when the country's Anglo Saxon rulers were beset with Viking invasions. Emma, herself of French Viking descent, was pitched into a maelstrom of war and politics, when she crossed the channel as a teenage bride in 1002.
Joined by medieval historian Vanessa King of Goldsmiths, University of London, Sue and Matthew conjure the fortunes of a woman who emerged as a key powerbroker and kingmaker. Emma bestrode early English court politics for half a century during her life, and for years afterwards. Married first to Aethelred, the Saxon king, she was promptly summoned to marry his successor after his death in 1016, the Danish king of England, Canute, who's alleged to have ordered the waves to cease.
Sue Cameron imagines what it must have been like for Emma in the midst of these turbulent times, trying to protect the sons she had with both kings, while advancing their position at court.
Producer: Mark Smalley
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2017.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You're about to listen to a BBC podcast and I'd like to tell you a bit about the |
| 0:03.8 | podcast I work on. I'm Dan Clark and I commissioned factual podcasts at the BBC. |
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| 0:40.0 | This is the BBC. |
| 0:44.0 | Hello. Today we discuss a woman who was twice Queen of England, |
| 0:49.0 | the mother of not one but two English kings, |
| 0:52.0 | and a kingmaker in her own right. |
| 0:54.0 | Her power was widely recognised across Europe for half a century during her life |
| 0:59.0 | and for years after her death because her bloodline played a decisive pivotal role in the history of England. |
| 1:06.0 | And the chances are you won't have heard of her. |
| 1:08.6 | I certainly hadn't. |
| 1:09.8 | I'd never come across Emma of Normandy before she was brought to my attention by that |
| 1:15.2 | Doyen of Whitehall and Westminster journalists, the presenter Sue Cameron. |
| 1:20.3 | Sue Welcome, not just who was Emma of Normandy, but why is she your great life? |
| 1:26.0 | Well, I think she was a quite extraordinary woman, particularly given the age in which she lived. |
| 1:32.0 | As you said, she was not only the Queen to two |
... |
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