Emma of Normandy (died 1052), the wife of King Aethelred the Unready from 1002 to 1016 and then the wife of King Cnut from 1017 to 1035, was a dominant player in English politics for nearly 50 years. Emma is the first English queen depicted in contemporary artwork, and she also commissioned her own work of history, the Encomium Emmae Reginae. Her lengthy career saw her outlive both of her husbands, but she also lived long enough to see two of her children, Harthacnut (reigned 1040 to 1042) and Edward the Confessor (reigned 1042 to 1066), become English kings.

Emma's year of birth is unknown, but she was born in Normandy to Duke Richard I; her mother, Gunnora, was likely of Danish descent. Emma first enters the historical record in 1002, with her marriage to the English king Aethelred II, "the Unready" (reigned 978 to 1013 and 1014 to 1016). Aethelred had been king of the English since 978 and already had several children from his first marriage to Aelfgifu of York, who vanished from the historical record around the turn of the millennium.

Emma was honored with the title of queen, which Aethelred's first wife had not received. Emma appointed Norman followers to important positions in England, such as a reeve named Hugh in Exeter as early as 1003. Emma, unlike Aethelred's first wife, also appears on many diplomas from Aethelred's reign. Her sons with the king, Edward and Alfred, appear alongside her as well.

But England was not entirely stable by the time Emma became queen. Viking raids in Britain were common; they had plagued the kingdom since the 980s, but by the 1000s, they had grown far more intense. The Danish king, Swein Forkbeard (reigned 986 to 1014), led particularly large armies in England, raiding throughout the kingdom from 1003 to 1005 and 1006 to 1007. Another Danish lord, Thorkell the Tall, overran nearly the entire kingdom from 1009 to 1012.

In 1013, Swein returned, and many of the English nobles submitted to him without a fight. As England fell to the Danish invaders, Emma went into exile with her own party of nobles and clerics, apparently acting independently of her husband. She arrived in her native Normandy, where her brother Richard II was now the duke. Aethelred soon sent their young children to Normandy for their safety as well. After a last stand at London and on the Isle of Wight, Aethelred joined his family in exile.

When Swein died in February 1014, the English royal family was given a second chance. Aethelred was invited back from exile on the condition that he rule more justly than he had in his first reign. Emma and Aethelred's first child, Edward, was entrusted with relaying Aethelred's acceptance back to the nobles in England.

Back in England, Swein's young son Cnut had taken over his father's Viking army. He had also married Aelfgifu of Northampton, a powerful English noblewoman, securing the allegiance of the middle and northern parts of England. However, Aethelred led an army to Lincolnshire that wiped out much of Cnut's forces. Cnut fled back to Denmark, leaving Aethelred in control once more. After her brief exile, Emma was England's queen again.

Cnut returned in 1015, however. By the end of 1016, both Aethelred and his successor, Edmund Ironside (reigned 1016), Aethelred's oldest surviving son from his first marriage, were dead. Cnut became England's king, and when his brother Harald died in Denmark in 1018, he became the Danish king as well.

Emma's next move was a stunning one: Emma married Cnut, her first husband's archenemy, in 1017. However, medieval sources provide conflicting accounts of how this came about. Thietmar of Merseburg presents Emma as ruling London in late 1016, and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle says that Cnut had her brought to him from London and married her. Emma's own version of the story can be found in her Encomium, which says she was in Normandy at this stage and that Cnut sent envoys to her. It is not impossible that Emma was in Normandy in 1017, as she had already gone into exile once before, but the account is at odds with the earlier sources that place her in London.

It is possible that Emma wished to portray herself as a more active player in seeking her second marriage, explaining why the Encomium's version of events is at odds with the others. The Encomium also omits Emma's first marriage to Aethelred, only referring to him as an unnamed prince of London, and implies that her sons with Aethelred were actually her sons with Cnut.

Either way, Emma was able to retain her title as queen by marrying Cnut. The union may have also spared the children from her first marriage, who lived in exile in Normandy. In contrast, Aethelred's son from his first marriage, Eadwig, was assassinated early in Cnut's reign, and Aethelred's grandsons via his first marriage were sent to Sweden, with instructions to kill them.

Emma and Cnut had two children: a son, Harthacnut, and a daughter, Gunnhilda. Despite retaining her title and power, and possibly saving her older children from a violent fate, not all was well with Emma's new situation. Cnut already had a wife, Aelfgifu of Northampton, whom he had married circa 1013 and had two children with. Aelfgifu's union to Cnut does not appear to have been dissolved, and Cnut continued to associate with her long after his marriage to Emma. Aelfgifu and her son Harold appear alongside Cnut, Emma, and Harthacnut in the Thorney Abbey Liber Vitae, and Cnut gave Aelfgifu more power than Emma. After Cnut had won control of Norway in the late 1020s, he sent Aelfgifu and her older son, Swein, to govern it.

In England, however, Emma gradually rose in status throughout Cnut's reign, eventually being listed just beneath the king himself on important documents. She also became the first English queen to appear in contemporary art, being depicted alongside Cnut in 1031 on the New Minster Liber Vitae. She was depicted a second time in her Encomium in the early 1040s.

When Cnut died in 1035, England fell into a fierce succession dispute. On one side was Emma and her son with Cnut, Harthacnut. On the other side was Aelfgifu and her surviving son, Harold Harefoot. Emma and the powerful Earl Godwin made the case for Harthacnut, who was already ruling Denmark. Emma's version of events, from the Encomium, was that Cnut had promised that Emma's sons would take precedence over his sons from any other wife – a veiled reference to the threat that Aelfgifu posed.

Aelfgifu drew on her old connections in central and northern England to promote Harold, who had a good case in his own right. He was already in England and was Cnut's oldest surviving son from his first marriage. Aelfgifu and Harold soon had the support of Earl Leofric and all the northern nobles, along with the English fleet of London.

Emma's faction was hindered by Harthacnut's absence and soon became desperate. She seemingly gave up on Harthacnut and sent letters to her older sons with Aethelred, inviting them to unseat Harold. Edward made a halfhearted attempt by raiding Southampton before returning to Normandy. Alfred landed in England with a Norman force and was blinded and killed by forces loyal to Harold. In spite of Emma's efforts, none of the alternatives to Harold had worked out.

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reports that Harold was the more popular candidate anyway. He seized the treasury from Emma in 1035, and a council that same year gave him the regency of England. When Harthacnut had still not arrived in 1037, Harold was finally consecrated, formally becoming England's next king. Even Emma's ally Godwin had joined Harold's faction.

Emma had no one left on her side, and King Harold exiled her in the winter of 1037. Emma's brother Richard II had died a decade earlier, so rather than returning to Normandy, she went to Bruges in Flanders. Harthacnut finally left Denmark to meet up with Emma in Flanders in 1039. They discussed launching an invasion of England but soon received news that Harold did not have long to live. They decided to wait in Flanders until they heard of Harold's death, which finally came in March 1040.

After Harold's death, Emma returned to England with Harthacnut, who became king. Harthacnut soon brought his much older half-brother, Edward the Confessor, back from exile. Emma now had a son from each of her marriages with her in England, and it was at this point that the Encomium Emmae Reginae – Emma's own version of history – was completed.

The Encomium presented an idealized view of her situation, where she and her two royal sons coexisted in harmony, but it omitted anything that painted her in a bad light or was inconvenient. The Encomium is a version of Emma's life in which Aethelred was irrelevant, Aelfgifu of Northampton was a concubine, and Harold Harefoot was a brutal, illegitimate, irreligious tyrant. These claims may seem like shameless propaganda, but they are also found in other medieval sources, like the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and John of Worcester, suggesting Emma's circle was effective at spreading them.

The reality of 1040s English politics was much messier than the Encomium lets on; when Harthacnut died and was succeeded by Edward the Confessor, Edward took land and riches from his mother. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Edward was upset with Emma's lack of support for him over the years. The new king brought some of his most powerful earls with him to sideline Emma, which hints at both Edward's precarious new position and the extent of Emma's power. Emma soon reconciled with Edward, but she never again influenced English politics to the same level. Perhaps Emma, in her semi-retirement, functioned as an elder stateswoman rather than the power broker she had once been. Either way, little is heard from her after this.

It was a rarity for English royal wives to have their deaths recorded, but when Emma of Normandy died in 1052, even medieval chroniclers took note. Different versions of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle mark her passing in slightly different ways, with one calling her the wife of Aethelred and Cnut and another referring to her as the mother of Harthacnut and Edward. Both are accurate in their own ways, two sides of the same coin and two dimensions of the same person.

Beyond her status as the wife and mother of multiple kings, Emma was also highly significant for commissioning her own work of history, appearing in multiple pieces of contemporary art, and for encompassing the Danish conquest in a way nobody else could: she had been on the losing side with Aethelred, the winning side with Cnut, and was the mother of two of Cnut's successors. Emma was also a source of William the Conqueror's claim to England, as his great aunt, meaning she also bridged the gap between the Danish and the Norman conquest of England.