quodam Yricio rege super ipsos Scotos statuto "a certain Eric installed as king over the Scots". Downham, Viking kings. p. 116 and 116 n. 49. De primo Saxonum adventu, ed. Thomas Arnold, Symeonis Monachi Opera Omnia. 2 vols: vol 2. London, 1885. 365–84 (Appendix 1); tr. Alan Orr Anderson, Scottish Annals from English Chroniclers A.D. 500 to 1286. Revised and corrected ed. Stamford: Paul Watkins, 1991 (1908). Downham, Clare (2003). "The Chronology of the Last Scandinavian Kings of York, AD 937–954". Northern History. 40: 25–51. doi: 10.1179/007817203792207979. S2CID 161092701.

Historia regum (6th section) AD 952, ed. Arnold, vol. 2, p. 94: 'defecerunt hic reges Northanhymbrorum; et deinceps ipsa provincia administrata est per comites'; Historia regum (section 6) AD 953, ed. Arnold, vol. 2, p. 94: 'Comes Osulf suscepit comitatum Northanhymbrorum'. Jakobsson, Sverrir. "„Erindringen om en mægtig Personlighed“: Den norsk-islandske historiske tradisjon om Harald Hårfagre i et kildekritisk perspektiv.“ "Historisk tidsskrift" 81 (2002): 213–30. He appears as a recurring character in Oathsworn, a series of Viking Age historical novels by Robert Low, beginning with The Whale Road. However, scholars today are usually less prepared to colour the sober records with details from the sagas, preferring to take the view that Eric was assassinated in exile. [104] In sum then, it looks as if Eric, expelled and heading in a north-westerly direction (possibly in search of support), was about to cross over into Cumbria, when in a bid for power, his official Osulf had him killed through the agency of Maccus. Exactly what made this a betrayal ( proditio) in the eyes of the 10th century chronicler or those of Roger of Wendover, is unclear. It is unknown whether Osulf was also behind Eric's expulsion, despite being the main beneficiary, and whether he was expected to grant Eric safe passage and perhaps an escort to guide him safely through that part of Northumbria over which he (Osulf) had jurisdiction. It is equally obscure whether Maccus ambushed his victims, or was part of the escort, betraying them ( fraudulenter) as soon as he saw the opportunity. Snorri Sturluson, Heimskringla, ed. Finnur Jónsson, Snorri Sturluson. Heimskringla. Nóregs konunga sögur. Copenhagen, 1911; tr. Lee M. Hollander, Snorri Sturluson. Heimskringla: History of the Kings of Norway. University of Texas Press, 1964.

Eric's removal cleared the way for Amlaíb [Anlaf Cwiran], who having suffered defeat at Slane (Co. Meath, Ireland) in 947, returned to Northumbria and took the kingship, supposedly in 949, if the E-text is to be trusted. [71] Eadred does not appear to have undertaken any significant action and may even have turned a blind eye on his brother's godson, or so at least the silence of the sources appears to suggest. Sverrir Jakobsson has recently argued that the evidence on Harald Fairhair is circumspect, and he should more properly be treated as a mythological rather than a historical figure, cf. „„Erindringen om en mægtig Personlighed": Den norsk-islandske historiske tradisjon om Harald Hårfagre i et kildekritisk perspektiv", Historisk tidsskrift, 81 (2002), 213–30. Poul Anderson, a Danish-American writer of science fiction and fantasy, wrote Mother of Kings, [119] a fictionalized biography of Queen Gunnhild, including mythological elements as well as historical facts, and telling much of Eric, Gunnhild, and their children, especially their many efforts to regain the throne of Norway as well their long feud with Egill.

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (MS D) 948. Cf: William of Malmesbury, Gesta regum II ch. 146: "...and soon afterwards, when they broke the agreement and set up a certain King Eric [ quodam Iritio rege] over them, he [Eadred] almost wiped them out, and laid waste the whole province with famine and bloodshed." Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (MS E) 949. The E-text of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle describes Edmund's death two years too late and accordingly, some doubts may be cast over the dating of Amlaíb's arrival in 949 and his expulsion in favour of Eric in 952. However, a solid terminus post quem for Amlaíb's second reign at York is provided by the entry for 948 in the D-text and by the Irish entries for Amlaíb's defeat in Slane in 947.

He was escorted by a certain nobleman called Gunderic "a quo perducitur ad regem Erichium in Euroacum urbem, qui scilicet rex habebat conjugem, ipsius Divini Cathroë propinquam". A. O. Anderson (ed.), Early Sources, p. 441. However, later sagas greatly expand upon Eric's activities in the interim between his reigns in Norway and Northumbria, claiming that he initially adopted a predatory lifestyle of raiding, whether or not he was aiming for a more political line of business in the longer run. The jarldom of Orkney, the former Viking base subjected and annexed by Eric's father, came to loom large in these stages of the literary development. Fagrskinna ( c. 1220) mentions his daughter Ragnhild and her marriage to an Orkney earl, here Hávard, but never describes Eric as actually stepping ashore. [51] The Orkneyinga saga, written c. 1200, does speak of his presence in Orkney and his alliance with the joint jarls Arnkel and Erland, sons of Torf-Einarr, but not until his rule in Northumbria was challenged by Olaf (Amlaíb Cuarán). [52] However, a number of later sagas such as the Separate Saga of St. Olaf ( c. 1225), Heimskringla, Egils saga and Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta assert that he sailed directly to Orkney, where he took the joint jarls into vassalage, collected forces and so set up a base which enabled him to organise several expeditions in overseas territory. Named targets include Ireland, the Hebrides, Scotland and England. Eric sealed the alliance by giving his daughter Ragnhild in marriage to the future earl of Orkney, Arnfinn, son of Thorfinn Turf-Einarsson. [53] King of Northumbria [ edit ] Theodoricus monachus, Historia de Antiquitate Regum Norwagiensium, ed. Gustav Storm, Monumenta Historica Norvegiæ: Latinske kildeskrifter til Norges historie i middelalderen. Kristiania, 1880; tr. David and Ian McDougall, Theodoricus Monachus. Historia de Antiquitate regum Norwagiensium. Viking Society for Northern Research. 1998. Historians have reconstructed a narrative of Eric's life and career from the scant available historical data. There is a distinction between contemporary or near contemporary sources for Eric's period as ruler of Northumbria and the entirely saga-based sources that detail the life of Eric of Norway, a chieftain who ruled the Norwegian Westland in the 930s. [1] Norse sources have identified the two as the same since the late 12th century, and while the subject is controversial, most historians have identified the two figures as the same since W. G. Collingwood's article in 1901. [2] This identification was rejected early in the 21st century by the historian Clare Downham, who has argued that later Norse writers synthesized the two Erics, possibly using English sources. [3] This argument, though respected by other historians in the area, has not produced consensus. [4]

Fagrskinna ch. 3; Historia Norwegiæ, tr. Kunin, p. 14; Ágrip ch. 2 (specifying in ch. 5 that Haakon was nearly twenty when he returned to Norway); Orkneyinga Saga ch. 8. The succinct account by Theodoricus ch. 2 has nothing to say on the matter. In spite of the decidedly pagan contents of the poem, Eric may have died a Christian, as some of the sagas suggest. [109] There is no evidence for his religious beliefs, but if ever Eric was to be accepted and consecrated as king, probably with Wulfstan as king-maker, acceptance of the Christian faith would have been set as a condition to royal office. The impression is borne out by Wulfstan's earlier removal of Amlaíb Cuarán and Ragnald on grounds that they had become, in Æthelweard's words, deserti "deserters" (see above). AD 946 (Eadred's reign): S 519–20. In 947, Wulfstan attests six or seven charters (S 522a, 523, 525–26, 528, 542 and the spurious S 521), but he is absent from another four (S 522, 524, 527, 530); in AD 948, it is eight charters (S 531–32, 535, 542, 547 and the spurious S 536–37, 540) against three (S 533–34 and the spurious 538). One may compare Wulfstan's attendance (S 544, 546, 548–550, 552) and non-attendance (S 545, 547, 551) in AD 949. Eric's Northumbrian rule is also corroborated by numismatic evidence. As of 3 February 2009, 31 coins minted at York had been found which bear the inscription of his name. These can be divided into two distinct types of issue: N549, in which the moneyer's name (reverse) is written horizontally and broken up in two, and N550, in which his name is inscribed around the edges and Eric's name (obverse) accompanied by a sword symbol (image above on the right). The two principal moneyers, Ingalger and Radulf, who had also minted coins for Amlaíb, occur on both types. The two types may correspond to his two reigns, but it is not out of the question that both were issued during a single reign. [85] Life of St Cathróe [ edit ]Orkneyinga saga (ch. 8–9 and 17), ed. Finnbogi Guðmundsson, Orkneyinga saga. Íslenzk fornrit 34. Reykjavík: Hið íslenzka fornritafélag, 1965; tr. Hermann Pálsson and Paul Edwards, Orkneyinga Saga: The History of the Earls of Orkney. London: Hogarth Press, 1978. Republished 1981, Harmondsworth: Penguin. Collingwood, W.G. "The battle of Stainmoor in legend and history." Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian Archaeological Society series 2 no. 2 (1902): 231–41. Eiríksmál, ed. R.D. Fulk, Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages; tr. Alison Finlay, Fagrskinna: A Catalogue of the Kings of Norway. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 2004. pp.58–9. Chronicle of the Kings of Alba, ed. W.F. Skene. Chronicles of the Picts and Scots: And Other Memorials of Scottish History. Edinburgh, 1867. 8–10.

Clare Downham notes the existence of an otherwise unrecorded Eltangerht, whose coins were minted at York and date from about the same time, but nothing is known of him from other records. [75] Archbishop Wulfstan and the charters [ edit ]Heimskringla ( Haraldar saga) ch. 21; likewise, Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta ch. 2. Three ninth-century kings of Jutland called Eric appear in Rimbert's Life of Anskar (introduction and ch. 26). In the 19th century, a case had also been made for Harald Bluetooth King of Denmark (d. 985) as being Eric's true father. J.M. Lappenberg and Charles Plummer, for instance, identified Eric with Harald's son Hiring. [17] The only authority for this son's existence is Adam of Bremen, who in his Gesta ( c. 1070) claims to cite the otherwise unknown Gesta Anglorum for a remarkable anecdote about Hiring's foreign adventures: "Harald sent his son Hiring to England with an army. When the latter had subjugated the island, he was in the end betrayed and killed by the Northumbrians." [18] Even if Eric's rise and fall had been the inspiration for the story, the names are not identical and Harald Bluetooth's floruit does not sit well with Eric's.