How did I miss this first time round?
Do you know of any specific choices?
I'm aware of the biography of Æthelred in the Yale Monarchs series, as well as Stenton's book on Anglo-Saxon England, but does anyone know of other books on this period, especially the wars between the Anglo-Saxons and the Danes?
From my shelves:
Michael Swanton (ed),
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles (London: Phoenix Press, 2000). Highly recommended.
Ann Williams,
The World Before Domesday: The English Aristocracy 900-1066 (London: Continuum Books, 2008).
Ryan Lavelle,
Aethelred II: King of the English (Stroud, Glocs: The History Press, 2008)
I don't know how common marriages to seal alliances were in the Middle Ages, but King (Saint) Olaf II of Norway's daughter Wulfhilde is of a good age to marry Ironside's son Edward. Would an Anglo-Norwegian alliance against the Danes work?
My tuppence: Consolidating and solidifying an English kingdom will probably see continued marriage with English noble families for sometime... as to who those marriages would be with, well names of daughters to aristocratic families in this period are notoriously left out of most accounts.
Æthelings rarely married European princesses but the dowager Lady (Emma) may have some influence (especially over her own two sons)... however this might be the time for that to change and Wulfhilde seems as likely a candidate as any. Although I can't really see an Anglo-Norse alliance against the Danes. The Norse have their own designs on the British Isles...