Emma married Æthelred in 1002, becoming queen of England and producing two sons, Edward and Alfred. When Æthelred fled the country in the face of the Viking invasion, Emma left with her boys too, although, in a telling commentary on her marriage, she made her own way to Normandy. When Æthelred died, his son, Edmund Ironside, led the fight against Cnut. But when Edmund died, Cnut needed to shore up the legitimacy of his claim to the throne, and what better way to do that than by marrying the queen?
Many years later, Emma commissioned her version of these events; by her telling, Cnut wooed her back to England and into marriage with gifts and promises. Given the political nature of such a match, Emma may not have had much of a choice in the matter, but power mattered to the queen, and she was willing to make sacrifices to keep it. The children of her first marriage, Edward and Alfred, were left behind in Normandy while Emma set about producing a new heir to the throne with Cnut. According to her book, the political marriage became a true partnership and contemporary records bear this out: Emma had far higher status as Cnut’s queen than she had ever enjoyed as Æthelred’s wife.