Aethelred Unraed (King of England, 978-1013 and 1014-16)

        Aethelred's name, a compound of "aethel" and "raed," means "noble counsel."  The cognomen "Unraed" was given to him later as an ironic commentary upon his reign.  It means "bad counsel," or more idiomatically, "ill advised," not in any literal sense ModE "unready."  He certainly did come to the throne at 10 years old after his elder brother, Edward (later Saint Edward Martyr) was murdered, but young kings can be good kings if advised by wise counselors.  Apparently, Aethelred was not.  Aethelred presided for decades over an unstable monarchy under attack by raiding Vikings who forced him to pay tribute, called "Danegeld" (Danish gold), and eventually forced a temporary Danish kingship upon the land.  The first Danish king, Cnut, was said by legend to have ordered the sea's tide to stand still, but this may be no truer than the tale that Aethelred was "Unready" for kingship.  Cnut may have issued his absurd command, knowing it would fail, to persuade his over-confident conselors that there were limits even to a king's power.