He abolished the unpopular annual army "geld" and sent his wife, Edith, to a monastery. He and his brother were led by their mother, Emma, into exile for over fifteen years while his father Ethelred the Unready led the defense against a Norse invasion. Three men claimed to be his heir to the throne: his great nephew Edgar Atheling, the Norse king Harald Hardrada, and a certain duke of Normandy, William. William claimed this man had named him successor while in exile at his court in Normandy, which was the basis for the 
He abolished the unpopular annual army "geld" and sent his wife, Edith, to a monastery. He and his brother were led by their mother, Emma, into exile for over fifteen years while his father Ethelred the Unready led the defense against a Norse invasion. Three men claimed to be his heir to the throne: his great nephew Edgar Atheling, the Norse king Harald Hardrada, and a certain duke of Normandy, William. William claimed this man had named him successor while in exile at his court in Normandy, which was the basis for the Norman conquest. The last king of the Wessex line, for 10 points, name this most famous Anglo-Saxon king, who built Westminster Abbey and who was canonized a century later.
He abolished the unpopular annual army "geld" and sent his wife, Edith, to a monastery.