The Encomium Emmae Reginae is, as its title suggests, a political tract in praise of Queen Emma, daughter of Duke Richard I of Normandy, wife of King Ethelred the Unready from 1002 to 1016, and wife of the Danish conqueror King Cnut from 1017 to 1035. It is an important primary source that transports us into the heart of eleventh-century politics. This edition contains a new introduction that places the Encomium in the historical context in which it was written, and traces the career of Emma, a woman who was twice queen and who sought to preserve her position of power as queen-mother.