Emma, daughter of Richard, Duke of Normandy, married Ethelred the Unready in 1002 and the couple later had a son, Edward the Confessor. In 1013 Emma and Ethelred were forced to flee to Normandy after the country was invaded by Sevin Haralsson, the king of Norway.

In 1017 Emma was summoned to England to marry Ethelred's successor, Canute, by whom she had two children, Hardicanute and Gunnhildr. This marriage created a dynastic link between the royal families in England and Normandy.

Emma was a generous patron of churches and monasteries such as those in Winchester, Ely and Ramsey. She also provided money for churches in Bremen (Germany) and Poitiers (France).

After Hardicanute died in 1042 Edward the Confessor became king. The following year Edward deprived Emma of all her estates. Anglo-Saxon chroniclers claimed that Edward had done this because he felt he had been neglected by his mother as a child. Emma of Normandy died in 1052.