Editing Emma of Normandy (section)

===Manuscripts===
Prior to May 2008 only one copy of the ''Encomium'' was believed to exist. However, a late-14th-century manuscript, the [[House of Courtenay|Courtenay Compendium]], was discovered in the [[Devon Record Office]], where it had languished since the 1960s. According to a report by the UK Arts Council, "The most significant item [within the text] for British history is the Encomium Emma Reginae ... It is highly probable that the present manuscript represents the most complete witness to the revised version of the Encomium". The manuscript was put up for auction in December 2008, and purchased for £600,000 (5.2 million Danish kroner) on behalf of the [[Royal Library, Denmark]].{{sfn|Bech-Danielsen|2008}} Unlike the ''Liber Vitae,'' the compendium does not contain any images of Emma.
The [[New Minster Liber Vitae|New Minster ''Liber Vitae]], now in the [[British Library]], was completed in 1030, shortly before Cnut's death in 1035. The frontispiece depicts "King Cnut and Queen Emma presenting a cross to the altar of New Minster, Winchester." Stafford in her visual exegesis of the portrait states, "it is not clear whether we should read it as a representation of a powerful woman or a powerless one."{{sfn|Stafford|2001|p=3}} In one portrait, each facet of Emma's role as sovereign is displayed; that of a dutiful wife and influential queen.

It has been suggested that the poem ''[[Semiramis]]'', possibly written in 1017 by [[Warner of Rouen]] at the court of Emma's brother, [[Richard II, Duke of Normandy|Richard, Duke of Normandy]], and dedicated to her brother, Archbishop [[Robert II (archbishop of Rouen)|Robert]], is a contemporary satire ridiculing Emma's relation with Cnut.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Van Houts|first=Elisabeth M.C.|date=January 1992|title=A Note on Jezebel and Semiramis, Two Latin Norman Poems from the Early Eleventh Century|journal=The Journal of Medieval Latin|volume=02|pages=18–24|doi=10.1484/j.jml.2.303969|issn=0778-9750}}</ref>

Emma is also depicted in a number of later medieval texts, such as the 13th-century ''Life of Edward the Confessor'' ([[Cambridge University Library]] MS. Ee.3.59) and a 14th-century roll, ''Genealogy of the English Kings, Genealogical Chronicle of the English Kings''.

Emma and her sons Edward and Alfred are characters in the anonymous Elizabethan play ''[[Edmund Ironside (play)|Edmund Ironside]]'', sometimes considered an early work by [[William Shakespeare]].