Eiríkr Hákonarson
Encyclopedia
Trøndelag
Trøndelag is the name of a geographical region in the central part of Norway, consisting of the two counties Nord-Trøndelag and Sør-Trøndelag. The region is, together with Møre og Romsdal, part of a larger...
, ruler of Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
and earl of Northumbria
Northumbria
Northumbria was a medieval kingdom of the Angles, in what is now Northern England and South-East Scotland, becoming subsequently an earldom in a united Anglo-Saxon kingdom of England. The name reflects the approximate southern limit to the kingdom's territory, the Humber Estuary.Northumbria was...
.
Background
Eiríkr was the bastard eldest son of earl Hákon Sigurðarson, and brother of the legendary Aud Haakonsdottir of LadeAud Haakonsdottir of Lade
Aud Haakonsdottir of Lade, also called Öda Haakonsdottir of Lade , was a legendary Swedish Viking age queen consort, according to the sagas the last spouse of King Eric the Victorious of Sweden....
. He participated in the Battle of Hjörungavágr
Battle of Hjörungavágr
The Battle of Hjörungavágr is a semi-legendary naval battle that took place in the late 10th century between the Jarls of Lade and a Danish invasion fleet led by the fabled Jomsvikings...
, the Battle of Svolder
Battle of Svolder
The Battle of Svolder was a naval battle fought in September 999 or 1000 in the western Baltic Sea between King Olaf Tryggvason of Norway and an alliance of his enemies...
and the conquest of England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
The principal sources on Eric's youth are Fagrskinna and Heimskringla. They relate that Eric was the son of Hákon Sigurðarson and a woman of low birth whom Hákon bedded during a sojourn in Uppland. Hákon cared little for the boy and gave him to a friend of his to raise. On one occasion when Eric was eleven or twelve years old he and his foster father had harboured their ship right next to earl Hákon. Then Hákon's closest friend, Skopti, arrived and asked Eric to move away so that he could harbour next to Hákon as he was used to. When Eric refused, Hákon was infuriated by the boy's pride and sternly ordered him away. Humiliated, Eric had no choice but to obey. In the following winter he avenged the humiliation by chasing down Skopti's ship and killing him. This was Eric's first exploit, as commemorated by his skald Eyjólfr dáðaskáld
Eyjólfr dáðaskáld
Eyjólfr dáðaskáld was a skald active in the early 11th century. He was the court poet of Eiríkr Hákonarson for whom he composed the Bandadrápa, his only known poem. Eight stanzas and a refrain are preserved of the Bandadrápa in the kings' sagas, primarily Heimskringla, and in Skáldskaparmál...
who mentions the incident in his Bandadrápa.
The sagas say that after killing Skopti, Eric sailed south to Denmark where he was received by king Harald Bluetooth. After a winter's stay in Denmark, Harald granted Eric earldom over Romerike
Romerike
Romerike is a traditional district located north-east of Oslo, in what is today south-eastern Norway. It consists of the Akershus municipalities Fet, Lørenskog, Nittedal, Rælingen, Skedsmo, Sørum and Aurskog-Høland in the southern end , and Ullensaker, Gjerdrum, Nannestad, Nes, Eidsvoll and Hurdal...
and Vingulmark
Vingulmark
Vingulmark is the old name for the area in Norway which today makes up the counties of Østfold, western parts of Akershus , and eastern parts of Buskerud , and includes the site of Norway's capital, Oslo...
- areas in the south of Norway long under Danish influence. In Heimskringla this information is supported with a somewhat vague verse from Bandadrápa.
Battle of Hjörungavágr
Battle of Hjörungavágr
The Battle of Hjörungavágr is a semi-legendary naval battle that took place in the late 10th century between the Jarls of Lade and a Danish invasion fleet led by the fabled Jomsvikings...
was Eric's first major confrontation. The battle was a semi-legendary naval battle
Naval battle
A naval battle is a battle fought using boats, ships or other waterborne vessels. Most naval battles have occurred at sea, but a few have taken place on lakes or rivers. The earliest recorded naval battle took place in 1210 BC near Cyprus...
that took place in the late 10th century between the earls of Lade and a Danish invasion fleet. The battle is described in the Norse kings' sagas
Kings' sagas
The kings' sagas are Norse sagas which tell of the lives of Scandinavian kings. They were composed in the 12th to 14th centuries in Iceland and Norway....
—such as Heimskringla
Heimskringla
Heimskringla is the best known of the Old Norse kings' sagas. It was written in Old Norse in Iceland by the poet and historian Snorri Sturluson ca. 1230...
—as well as in Jómsvíkinga saga
Jómsvíkinga saga
The Jómsvíkinga saga relates of the founding of Jomsborg by Palnatoke, and of the famous Viking brotherhood of the Jomsvikings....
and Saxo Grammaticus
Saxo Grammaticus
Saxo Grammaticus also known as Saxo cognomine Longus was a Danish historian, thought to have been a secular clerk or secretary to Absalon, Archbishop of Lund, foremost advisor to Valdemar I of Denmark. He is the author of the first full history of Denmark.- Life :The Jutland Chronicle gives...
' Gesta Danorum
Gesta Danorum
Gesta Danorum is a patriotic work of Danish history, by the 12th century author Saxo Grammaticus . It is the most ambitious literary undertaking of medieval Denmark and is an essential source for the nation's early history...
. Those late literary accounts are fanciful but historians believe that they contain a kernel of truth. Some contemporary skaldic poetry alludes to the battle, including verses by Þórðr Kolbeinsson
Þórðr Kolbeinsson
Þórðr Kolbeinsson was an 11th century Icelandic skald, or poet. He was the court poet of Eiríkr Hákonarson and some 17 stanzas of his poetry on the earl are preserved in the kings' sagas...
and Tindr Hallkelsson
Tindr Hallkelsson
Tindr Hallkelsson was an Icelandic skald active around the year 1000. He was the court poet of earl Hákon Sigurðarson and fragments of his drápa on the earl are preserved in Jómsvíkinga saga, the kings' sagas and the Prose Edda...
.
Hákon Sigurðarson was a strong believer in the Old Norse
Old Norse
Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
gods, and when Harald Bluetooth attempted to force Christianity upon him, Haakon broke his allegiance to Denmark. A Danish invasion force was defeated at the battle of Hjörungavágr in 986. According to Heimskringla, Eric, apparently reconciled with his father, commanded 60 ships in the battle and emerged victorious. After the battle he gave quarter to many of the Jomsvikings
Jomsvikings
The Jomsvikings were a possibly-legendary company of Viking mercenaries or brigands of the 10th century and 14th century AD, dedicated to the worship of such deities as Odin and Thor. They were staunchly pagan, but they reputedly would fight for any lord able to pay their substantial fees, and...
, including Vagn Ákason.
Raids in the Baltic
In 995, as Óláfr Tryggvason seized power in Norway, Eric was forced into exile in Sweden. He allied himself with Olof of Sweden and Sweyn Forkbeard whose daughter, Gyða, he married. Using Sweden as his base he launched a series of raiding expeditions into the east. Harrying the lands of king Vladimir I of KievVladimir I of Kiev
Vladimir Sviatoslavich the Great Old East Slavic: Володимѣръ Свѧтославичь Old Norse as Valdamarr Sveinaldsson, , Vladimir, , Volodymyr, was a grand prince of Kiev, ruler of Kievan Rus' in .Vladimir's father was the prince Sviatoslav of the Rurik dynasty...
, Eric looted and burned down the town of Staraya Ladoga
Staraya Ladoga
Staraya Ladoga , or the Aldeigjuborg of Norse sagas, is a village in the Volkhovsky District of Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the Volkhov River near Lake Ladoga, 8 km north of the town of Volkhov. The village used to be a prosperous trading outpost in the 8th and 9th centuries...
(Old Norse Aldeigja). There are no written continental sources to confirm or refute this but in the 1980s, Soviet archaeologists unearthed evidence which showed a burning of Ladoga in the late 10th century.
Eric also plundered in western Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
(ON Aðalsýsla) and the island of Saaremaa
Saaremaa
Saaremaa is the largest island in Estonia, measuring 2,673 km². The main island of Saare County, it is located in the Baltic Sea, south of Hiiumaa island, and belongs to the West Estonian Archipelago...
(ON Eysýsla). According to the Fagrskinna summary of Bandadrápa he fought Vikings in the Baltic and raided Östergötland
Östergötland
Östergötland, English exonym: East Gothland, is one of the traditional provinces of Sweden in the south of Sweden. It borders Småland, Västergötland, Närke, Södermanland, and the Baltic Sea. In older English literature, one might also encounter the Latinized version, Ostrogothia...
during the same time.
Battle of Svolder
Battle of Svolder
The Battle of Svolder was a naval battle fought in September 999 or 1000 in the western Baltic Sea between King Olaf Tryggvason of Norway and an alliance of his enemies...
in 1000, Eric, Sweyn and Olof, ambushed king Óláfr Tryggvason by the island of Svolder. The place cannot now be identified, as the formation of the Baltic
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
coast has been much modified in the course of subsequent centuries. Svolder was an island probably on the North German coast, near Rügen
Rügen
Rügen is Germany's largest island. Located in the Baltic Sea, it is part of the Vorpommern-Rügen district of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.- Geography :Rügen is located off the north-eastern coast of Germany in the Baltic Sea...
.
During the summer, Olaf had been in the eastern Baltic. The allies lay in wait for him at the island of Svolder on his way home. The Norwegian king had with him seventy-one vessels, but part of them belonged to an associate, Jarl Sigvaldi
Jarl Sigvaldi
Jarl Sigvaldi was the son of Strut-Harald the Jarl of Skåne and the brother of Thorkell the Tall . He succeeded Palnatoke as the chieftain of the Jomsvikings, but he proved more wise than brave....
, a chief of the Jomsvikings
Jomsvikings
The Jomsvikings were a possibly-legendary company of Viking mercenaries or brigands of the 10th century and 14th century AD, dedicated to the worship of such deities as Odin and Thor. They were staunchly pagan, but they reputedly would fight for any lord able to pay their substantial fees, and...
, who was an agent of his enemies, and who deserted him. Olaf's own ships went past the anchorage of Eric and his allies in a long column without order, as no attack was expected. The king was in the rear of the whole of his best vessels. The allies allowed the bulk of the Norwegian ships to pass, and then stood out to attack Olaf.
Olaf refused to flee, and turned to give battle with the eleven ships immediately about him. The disposition adopted was one which is found recurring in many sea-fights of the Middle Ages where a fleet had to fight on the defensive. Olaf lashed his ships side to side, his own, the Long Serpent, the finest war-vessel as yet built in the north, being in the middle of the line, where her bows projected beyond the others. The advantage of this arrangement was that it left all hands free to fight, a barrier could be formed with the oars and yards, and the enemy's chance of making use of his superior numbers to attack on both sides would be, as far as possible, limited — a great point when all fighting was with the sword, or with such feeble missile weapons as bows and javelins. Olaf, in fact, turned his eleven ships into a floating fort.
Eric captured Olaf's ship, the Long Serpent, and steered it from the battle, an event dwelled upon by his court poet Halldórr ókristni
Halldórr ókristni
Halldórr ókristni was a Norse skald, active around the year 1000. The only thing known about him is that he was one of the court poets of Earl Eiríkr Hákonarson. Eight dróttkvætt verses by him are extant, preserved in the kings' sagas. They contain a lively description of the battle of Svolder...
.
Rule of Norway
After the battle of Svolder, Eric became, together with his brother Sveinn HákonarsonSveinn Hákonarson
Sveinn Hákonarson was an earl of the house of Hlaðir and co-ruler of Norway from 1000 to c. 1015. He was the son of earl Hákon Sigurðarson. He is first mentioned in connection with the battle of Hjörungavágr, where the Heimskringla says he commanded 60 ships...
, governor of Norway under Sweyn Forkbeard from 1000 to 1012. Eric's son, Hákon Eiríksson
Håkon Eiriksson
Håkon Eiriksson was Earl of Lade and king of Norway as a vassal under Knut the Great.Håkon Eiriksson was from a dynasty of Norwegian rulers in the eastern part of Trondheim, bordering the Trondheimsfjord. He was the son of Eirik Håkonson, ruler of Norway and earl of Northumbria...
, continued in this position to 1015. Eric and Sveinn consolidated their rule by marrying their sister Bergljót to Einarr Þambarskelfir, gaining a valuable advisor and ally.
Fagrskinna relates that "there was good peace at this time and very prosperous seasons. The jarls maintained the laws well and were stern in punishing offences."
During his rule of Norway, Eric's only serious rival was Erlingr Skjálgsson. Too powerful and cautious to touch but not powerful enough to seek open confrontation he maintained an uneasy peace and alliance with the earls throughout their rule.
According to Grettis saga
Grettis saga
Grettis saga is one of the Icelanders' sagas. It details the life of Grettir Ásmundarson, a bellicose Icelandic outlaw.- Overview :...
, Eric forbade duelling
Holmgang
Holmgang was a duel practiced by early medieval Scandinavians. It was a recognized way to settle disputes....
by law and exiled berserk
Berserker
Berserkers were Norse warriors who are reported in the Old Norse literature to have fought in a nearly uncontrollable, trance-like fury, a characteristic which later gave rise to the English word berserk. Berserkers are attested in numerous Old Norse sources...
s shortly before his expedition to England.
Religion
According to Theodoricus monachus, Eric pledged to adopt Christianity if he emerged victorious from the battle of Svolder. Oddr SnorrasonOddr Snorrason
The Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar of Oddr Snorrason whose name is also sometimes Anglicized as Odd Snorrason was a Latin royal biography attributed to a 12th century Icelandic Benedictine monk at the Þingeyrar monastery ....
's Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar has a more elaborate version of the story where Eric replaces an image of Thor
Thor
In Norse mythology, Thor is a hammer-wielding god associated with thunder, lightning, storms, oak trees, strength, the protection of mankind, and also hallowing, healing, and fertility...
on the prow of his ship with a Christian cross. There is no skaldic poetry to substantiate this but most of the sagas agree that Eric and Sveinn adopted Christianity, at least formally. Fagrskinna says:
"These jarls had had themselves baptised, and remained Christian, but they forced no man to Christianity, but allowed each to do as he wished, and in their day Christianity was greatly harmed, so that throughout Upplönd and in over Þrándheimr almost everything was heathen, though Christianity was maintained along the coast."
Adopting Christianity was no doubt a politically advantageous move for the earls since they were allied with the Christian rulers of Sweden and Denmark. Instituting freedom of religion was also a shrewd political move after Óláfr Tryggvason's violent missionary activity. Eric's religious conviction as a Christian was probably not strong. While the court poets of Eric's rivals, Óláfr Tryggvason and Óláfr Haraldsson, censored heathen kenning
Kenning
A kenning is a type of literary trope, specifically circumlocution, in the form of a compound that employs figurative language in place of a more concrete single-word noun. Kennings are strongly associated with Old Norse and later Icelandic and Anglo-Saxon poetry...
s from their poetry and praised their lord as a Christian ruler, all surviving court poetry devoted to Eric is entirely traditional. The Bandadrápa, composed sometime after 1000, is explicitly pagan - its refrain says that Eric conquers lands according to the will of the heathen gods. Even the poetry of Þórðr Kolbeinsson
Þórðr Kolbeinsson
Þórðr Kolbeinsson was an 11th century Icelandic skald, or poet. He was the court poet of Eiríkr Hákonarson and some 17 stanzas of his poetry on the earl are preserved in the kings' sagas...
, composed no earlier than 1016, has no indication of Christian influence. According to Historia Norwegiae and Ágrip
Ágrip af Nóregskonungasögum
Ágrip af Nóregskonungasögum or Ágrip is a synoptic history of the kings of Norway, written in Old Norse. The preserved text starts with the death of Hálfdan svarti and ends with the accession of Ingi krókhryggr but the original is thought to have covered a longer period, probably up to the reign of...
, Eiríkr actively worked to uproot Christianity in Norway but this is not corroborated by other sources.
Conquest of England
In 1014 or 1015 Eric left Norway and joined Canute the GreatCanute the Great
Cnut the Great , also known as Canute, was a king of Denmark, England, Norway and parts of Sweden. Though after the death of his heirs within a decade of his own and the Norman conquest of England in 1066, his legacy was largely lost to history, historian Norman F...
for his campaign in England. Judging from Þórðr Kolbeinsson
Þórðr Kolbeinsson
Þórðr Kolbeinsson was an 11th century Icelandic skald, or poet. He was the court poet of Eiríkr Hákonarson and some 17 stanzas of his poetry on the earl are preserved in the kings' sagas...
's Eiríksdrápa their fleets met off the English coast (in 1015) but the chronology of the various sources is difficult to reconcile and some scholars prefer placing their meeting in 1014 in Denmark. At that time Canute was young and inexperienced but Eric was "an experienced warrior of tested intelligence and fortune" (Fagrskinna) and, in the opinion of Frank Stenton
Frank Stenton
Sir Frank Merry Stenton was a 20th century historian of Anglo-Saxon England, and president of the Royal Historical Society . He was the author of Anglo-Saxon England, a volume of the Oxford History of England, first published in 1943 and widely considered a classic history of the period...
, "the best adviser that could have been found for a young prince setting out on a career of conquest".
The Scandinavian invasion fleet landed at Sandwich
Sandwich, Kent
Sandwich is a historic town and civil parish on the River Stour in the Non-metropolitan district of Dover, within the ceremonial county of Kent, south-east England. It has a population of 6,800....
in midsummer 1015 where it met little resistance. Canute's forces moved into Wessex
Wessex
The Kingdom of Wessex or Kingdom of the West Saxons was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the West Saxons, in South West England, from the 6th century, until the emergence of a united English state in the 10th century, under the Wessex dynasty. It was to be an earldom after Canute the Great's conquest...
and plundered in Dorset
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
, Wiltshire
Wiltshire
Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...
and Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
. Alderman Eadric Streona
Eadric Streona
Eadric Streona was an ealdorman of the English Mercians. His name a loose translation of the Anglo-Saxon "the Grasper." Streona is historically regarded as the greatest traitor of the Anglo-Saxon period in English history....
assembled an English force of 40 ships and submitted to Canute. The Encomium Emmae is the only English source which gives any information on Eric's actions at this time but its account of his supposed independent raids is vague and does not fit well with other sources.
In early 1016 the Scandinavian army moved over the Thames into Mercia
Mercia
Mercia was one of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was centred on the valley of the River Trent and its tributaries in the region now known as the English Midlands...
, plundering as it went. Prince Edmund attempted to muster an army to resist the invasion but his efforts were not successful and Canute's forces continued unhindered into Northumbria
Northumbria
Northumbria was a medieval kingdom of the Angles, in what is now Northern England and South-East Scotland, becoming subsequently an earldom in a united Anglo-Saxon kingdom of England. The name reflects the approximate southern limit to the kingdom's territory, the Humber Estuary.Northumbria was...
where Uhtred the Bold, earl of Northumbria
Earl of Northumbria
Earl of Northumbria was a title in the Anglo-Danish, late Anglo-Saxon, and early Anglo-Norman period in England. The earldom of Northumbria was the successor of the ealdormanry of Bamburgh, itself the successor of an independent Bernicia. Under the Norse kingdom of York, there were earls of...
, was murdered. The great north English earldom was given by Canute to Eric after he had won control of the north. After conquering Northumbria the invading army turned south again towards London. Before they arrived King Ethelred the Unready
Ethelred the Unready
Æthelred the Unready, or Æthelred II , was king of England . He was son of King Edgar and Queen Ælfthryth. Æthelred was only about 10 when his half-brother Edward was murdered...
died (on April 23) and Prince Edmund was chosen king.
Following Ethelred's death the Scandinavian forces besieged London. According to the Encomium Emmae the siege was overseen by Eric and this may well be accurate. The Legendary Saga of St. Olaf
Legendary Saga of St. Olaf
The Legendary Saga of St. Olaf or Helgisaga Óláfs konungs Haraldssonar is one of the kings' sagas, a 13th century biography of the 11th century Saint Olaf II of Norway. It is based heavily on the largely lost Oldest Saga of St. Olaf. The composition is primitive and clumsy and the saga essentially...
indicates that Eric was present at the siege of London and a verse by Þórðr
Þórðr
Þórðr may refer to:*Þórðr Kolbeinsson*Þórðr Sjáreksson*Þórðr Sturluson, brother of Snorri Sturluson...
says that Eric fought a "west of London" with Ulfcytel Snillingr
Ulfcytel Snillingr
Ulfcytel was an Anglo-Saxon nobleman. He was apparently the ealdorman of East Anglia from 1004 to his death at the battle of Assandun, although he is not called an ealdorman in any of the charters he witnessed...
.
After several battles, Canute and Edmund reached an agreement to divide the kingdom but Edmund died a few months later. And in 1017 Canute was undisputed king of all England. He divided the kingdom into four parts; Wessex he kept for himself, East-Anglia he gave to Thorkell, Northumbria to Eric and Mercia to Eadric. Later the same year Canute had Eadric executed as a traitor. According to the Encomium Emmae he ordered Eric to "pay this man what we owe him" and he chopped off his head with his axe.
Eric remained as earl of Northumbria until his death. His earlship is primarily notable in that it is never recorded that he ever fought with the Scots
Kingdom of Scotland
The Kingdom of Scotland was a Sovereign state in North-West Europe that existed from 843 until 1707. It occupied the northern third of the island of Great Britain and shared a land border to the south with the Kingdom of England...
or the Britons of Strathclyde
Strathclyde
right|thumb|the former Strathclyde regionStrathclyde was one of nine former local government regions of Scotland created by the Local Government Act 1973 and abolished in 1996 by the Local Government etc Act 1994...
, who were usually constantly threatening Northumbria. Eric is not mentioned in English documents after 1023. According to English sources he was exiled by Canute and returned to Norway. This is very unlikely as there are no Norse records of his supposed return. Eric's successor as earl, Siward, cannot be confirmed as being earl of Northumbria until 1033 so Eric's death can not strictly be placed more precisely than between 1023 and 1033. According to the Norse sources he died of a hemorrhage after having his uvula cut
Uvulotomy
A uvulotomy or staphylotomy is any cutting operation performed on the uvula.The procedure was performed in European medieval medicine. The Norwegian Eiríkr Hákonarson bled to death following such an operation....
(a procedure in medieval medicine
Medieval medicine
Medieval medicine in Western Europe was composed of a mixture of existing ideas from antiquity, spiritual influences and what Claude Lévi-Strauss identifies as the "shamanistic complex" and "social consensus." In this era, there was no tradition of scientific medicine, and observations went...
) either just before or just after a pilgrimage to Rome.
Sources
The most important historical sources on Eric are the 12th and 13th century kings' sagasKings' sagas
The kings' sagas are Norse sagas which tell of the lives of Scandinavian kings. They were composed in the 12th to 14th centuries in Iceland and Norway....
, including Heimskringla
Heimskringla
Heimskringla is the best known of the Old Norse kings' sagas. It was written in Old Norse in Iceland by the poet and historian Snorri Sturluson ca. 1230...
, Fagrskinna
Fagrskinna
Fagrskinna is one of the kings' sagas, written around 1220. It takes its name from one of the manuscripts in which it was preserved, Fagrskinna meaning 'Fair Leather', i.e., 'Fair Parchment'. Fagrskinna proper was destroyed by fire, but copies of it and another vellum have been preserved...
, Ágrip
Ágrip af Nóregskonungasögum
Ágrip af Nóregskonungasögum or Ágrip is a synoptic history of the kings of Norway, written in Old Norse. The preserved text starts with the death of Hálfdan svarti and ends with the accession of Ingi krókhryggr but the original is thought to have covered a longer period, probably up to the reign of...
, Knýtlinga saga
Knýtlinga saga
Knýtlinga saga is an Icelandic kings' saga written in the 1250s, which deals with the kings who ruled Denmark since the early 10th century....
, Historia Norvegiæ
Historia Norvegiæ
Historia Norwegiæ is a short Latin history of Norway written by an anonymous monk. The only extant manuscript, in the private possession of the Earl of Dalhousie and kept at Brechin Castle, Scotland, is fragmentary; what we have of the Historia is found on folios 1r-12r...
, the Legendary Saga of St. Olaf
Legendary Saga of St. Olaf
The Legendary Saga of St. Olaf or Helgisaga Óláfs konungs Haraldssonar is one of the kings' sagas, a 13th century biography of the 11th century Saint Olaf II of Norway. It is based heavily on the largely lost Oldest Saga of St. Olaf. The composition is primitive and clumsy and the saga essentially...
and the works of Oddr Snorrason
Oddr Snorrason
The Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar of Oddr Snorrason whose name is also sometimes Anglicized as Odd Snorrason was a Latin royal biography attributed to a 12th century Icelandic Benedictine monk at the Þingeyrar monastery ....
and Theodoricus monachus
Theodoricus monachus
Theodoric the Monk In Old Norse his name was most likely Þórir munkr. was a 12th century Norwegian Benedictine monk, perhaps at the Nidarholm Abbey. He may be identical with either Bishop Tore at Hamar or Archbishop Tore Gudmundsson, who both went under the name Theodoricus in the Abbey of St...
. The Anglo-Saxon sources are scant but valuable as they represent contemporary evidence. The most important are the 11th century Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a collection of annals in Old English chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the Chronicle was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alfred the Great...
and the Encomium Emmae
Encomium Emmae
Encomium Emmae Reginae or Gesta Cnutonis Regis is an 11th-century Latin encomium in honour of Queen Emma of Normandy. It was written in 1041 or 1042 probably by a monk of St Omer.-Manuscripts:...
but Eric is also mentioned by the 12th century historians Florence of Worcester
Florence of Worcester
Florence of Worcester , known in Latin as Florentius, was a monk of Worcester, who played some part in the production of the Chronicon ex chronicis, a Latin world chronicle which begins with the creation and ends in 1140....
, William of Malmesbury
William of Malmesbury
William of Malmesbury was the foremost English historian of the 12th century. C. Warren Hollister so ranks him among the most talented generation of writers of history since Bede, "a gifted historical scholar and an omnivorous reader, impressively well versed in the literature of classical,...
and Henry of Huntingdon
Henry of Huntingdon
Henry of Huntingdon , the son of a canon in the diocese of Lincoln, was a 12th century English historian, the author of a history of England, Historia anglorum, "the most important Anglo-Norman historian to emerge from the secular clergy". He served as archdeacon of Huntingdon...
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A significant amount of poetry by Eric's skalds is preserved in the kings' sagas and represents contemporary evidence. The most important are the Bandadrápa of Eyjólfr dáðaskáld
Eyjólfr dáðaskáld
Eyjólfr dáðaskáld was a skald active in the early 11th century. He was the court poet of Eiríkr Hákonarson for whom he composed the Bandadrápa, his only known poem. Eight stanzas and a refrain are preserved of the Bandadrápa in the kings' sagas, primarily Heimskringla, and in Skáldskaparmál...
and the works of Halldórr ókristni
Halldórr ókristni
Halldórr ókristni was a Norse skald, active around the year 1000. The only thing known about him is that he was one of the court poets of Earl Eiríkr Hákonarson. Eight dróttkvætt verses by him are extant, preserved in the kings' sagas. They contain a lively description of the battle of Svolder...
and Þórðr Kolbeinsson
Þórðr Kolbeinsson
Þórðr Kolbeinsson was an 11th century Icelandic skald, or poet. He was the court poet of Eiríkr Hákonarson and some 17 stanzas of his poetry on the earl are preserved in the kings' sagas...
. Other skalds known to have composed on Eric are Hallfreðr vandræðaskáld
Hallfreðr vandræðaskáld
Hallfreðr Óttarsson or Hallfreðr vandræðaskáld was an Icelandic skald. He is the protagonist of Hallfreðar saga according to which he was the court poet first of Hákon Sigurðarson, then of Óláfr Tryggvason and finally of Eiríkr Hákonarson...
, Gunnlaugr ormstunga
Gunnlaugr ormstunga
Gunnlaugr Ormstunga was an Icelandic poet, born ca. 983. His life is described in Gunnlaugs saga ormstungu, where several of his poems are preserved....
, Hrafn Önundarson, Skúli Þorsteinsson
Skúli Þórsteinsson
Skúli Þórsteinsson was an 11th century Icelandic poet and warrior. He was the grandson of Egill Skallagrímsson and a courtier of Jarl Eiríkr Hákonarson...
and Þórðr Sjáreksson
Þórðr Sjáreksson
Þórðr Sjáreksson was an 11th century Icelandic skald. He composed a drápa on Þórólfr Skólmsson, four strophes of which have been preserved in the kings' sagas. He also composed a memorial drápa on Saint Óláfr Haraldsson, called Róðadrápa , one strophe of which is preserved...
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