Everything about Eadric Streona totally explained
Eadric or
Edric Streona (died
1017) was an
ealdorman of the
Saxon Mercians. "Streona" appears to have meant "the Grasper".
Royal favour
According to Florence of Worcester, Eadric was of non-noble birth but advanced to high dignity through the favour of the
English Saxon King Ethelred the Unready. However the
Anglo Saxon Chronicle states that his brother was Brihtric(aka "
Beorhtric") and
Wulfnoth Cild was Brihtric's nephew. Wulfnoth's father was Aethelmaer se Greata (usually translated as "the Great", but more correctly "the Fat") and he was the son of Aethelweard the Historian, a descendant of
Ethelred I. Florence was probably insulting Eadric.
William of Malmesbury describes Eadric Streona as "the refuse of mankind and a reproach unto the English". Other parentage advanced for Eadric are Wulfric Spot (which would make
Aelfhelm of York - whom he assassinated, his own uncle) or Aethelric, Ealdorman of Mercia - who was his predecessor as Ealdorman. Since he was sacked in disgrace (due to betraying naval secrets to the Danes) and his son Aelfgar blinded, this is very unlikely.
In
1007 he became Ealdorman of the
Mercians, and subsequently married Ethelred's daughter Eadgyth. As Ealdorman, Eadric achieved a victory over the
Welsh, for reasons unknown to history. (See the
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle). He is described by Sir Frank Stenton as someone "to whom unknown crimes may be safely attributed". He appears to have endeared himself to Ethelred II- to whom he was on the whole loyal - by arranging the assassinations of his internal opponents.
Treachery
In the struggle between the English and the
Danes he appears in the character of an arch-traitor. When Ethelred in 1009 proposed a great attack on the Danes, Eadric dissuaded him from carrying it into effect. Again, on the invasion of the
Kingdom of England by
Canute the Great in 1015 Eadric deserted
Edmund II of England and joined Canute. After the
Battle of Otford he returned to Edmund, but only by his treachery at the
Battle of Ashingdon to secure the utter defeat of the national Saxon cause. He is said to have killed a soldier who looked like Edmund II (Ironside) and held up his head, only to find his mistake (despite being supposedly on the same side). Eadric appears to have acted as a go-between for Ethelred and the Danes, attempting to rescue St Alphege (Alfheah) in 1012 by collecting a ransom. He was probably involved in other payments of Danegeld, as his (probable) father Aethelweard the Historian and Bishop Alphege were extensively involved in diplomacy with the Danes. Subsequent to the unauthorised murder of
St.Alphege ("Alfheah") at
Greenwich by
Thorkell the Tall's men, Thorkell defected to Ethelred possibly through Eadric's agency.
Although loyal to Ethelred, he'd a personal enmity towards Ethelred's son,
Edmund Ironside, who favoured a confrontational policy towards the Danes, while Eadric Streona was a major proponent of the payment of Danegeld (and no doubt the opportunities for corruption it offered).
This was sealed when Edmund rebelled against his father and married Aelgifu, the daughter of one of Eadric Streona's victim's in his role as Ethelred's hitman, giving him a northern power base. Despite his policy of appeasement he's said to have persuaded Ethelred to undertake the genocide of Danish civilians in the
St. Brice's Day Massacre although this is uncertain, prompting
Sir Frank Stenton's footnote about his being the usual suspect for unknown crimes.
Death
King Canute restored to Eadric the Earldom of Mercia. During Canute's reign, Eadric accompanied the
Queen consort Emma of Normandy, widow of Ethelred and wife of Canute, to the
Duchy of Normandy. At
Christmas, 1017, fearing further treachery, Canute had Eadric slain, "very rightly" according to the
Saxon Chronicle. According to
the
Encomium Emmae,
Eric of Hlathir performed the execution. This is said to have been as a result of Eadric beating Canute at chess and refusing (evidently unwisely) to change the rules in Canute's favour. During the ensuing row Eadric is said to have argued that he'd assassinated King
Edmund Ironside for Canute's benefit - a fact of which Canute had been unaware - and Canute had him axed down on the spot. The later chronicler
Geoffrey Gaimar relates the story of
Edmund Ironside being murdered on the privy by the sons of Eadric Streona using a crossbow positioned in the midden pit to fire through the toilet seat. It is said that the missile passed so far into his body that it couldn't be extracted. The first reference to crossbows in England was from a record of wages paid to crossbowmen at the
Battle of Hastings in
1066.
However, Eadric Streona was at this time a close associate of one of the
Jomvikings,
Thorkell the Tall, who had fought in the
Battle of Hjorungavagr in 985, in which a primitive crossbow, known as the
Skåne Lockbow was used and so might have had access to such an infernal device.
Eadric Streona's head was said to have been placed on London Bridge and his body thrown into the Thames.
Legacy
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