Æthelred the Unrædy* was not well advised,
that nickname's an Old English joke.
Other than that he was not a bad fellow,
contemporaries
found him a rather good bloke†.
Later historians have been less kind
for reasons time has obscured.
This suggests to discerning observers
your rep when you're dead cannot be assured.
Continual changing and rearranging
after you go can be life-changing.
—————————
* His
epithet does not derive from the modern word “unready”, but
rather from the Old English unræd meaning “poorly advised”; it
is a pun on his name, which means “well advised”. — Wikipedia
† “[A] tall, handsome man, elegant in manners, beautiful
in countenance and interesting in his deportment.” —
Ibid
