he was a man, indeed, of low origin, but his smooth tongue gained him wealth and high rank, and, gifted with a subtle genius and persuasive eloquence, he surpassed all his contemporaries in malice and perfidy, as well as in pride and cruelty. Henry of Huntingdon says that Eadric's head was "placed upon a pole on the highest battlement of the tower of London". Many of them are 12th century rehashes, and I suspect that it simply becomes easy to blame Edric for everything that goes wrong. But others declared that he was killed by Eadric Streona, who hid in the king’s privy and drove a hot poker through his nether regions (sounds like propaganda).

However, he betrayed his father-in-law in 1015, joining the Dane Cnut, the son of Sweyn Forkbeard, against England. 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. To read this tale in another format, such as Epub, Mobibook (for Kindle Readers), or Pdf, go here: http://www. Eadric the Grasper by Jayden Woods brings homicidal Vikings, ferocious lovers, and frequent murder most foul to brilliant life in literary 3D. The crews of the Danish ships in the Trent, who had previously supported Sweyn, immediately swore their allegiance to his son Cnut; but leading English noblemen sent a proposal to Æthelred to negotiate Æthelred's restoration to the throne.William of Malmesbury says Eadric was strangled in the chamber where they sat, and thrown out of the window into the river Thames. e., “Tha’s goen’ nohvar” for "You’re going nowhere")—slows the reading down at first but ends up drawing readers more deeply into the world of Barrøy and its prickly, intensely alive inhabitants. The ‘beheading’ incident, I believe was at an earlier battle – Penselwood or Sherston, I can’t remember which.

In the struggle between the English and the Danes, Eadric Streona appears in the character of an arch-traitor. At a great council at Oxford King Ethelred has Earl Eadric arrange the deaths of two north Mercian thegns, Sigferth and Morcar, with the hope of confiscating their property. As long as Dunstan lived, things were a little better; but when he was gone, all the badness and weakness of Ethelred’s character came out. Earl Eadric then goes with King Ethelred, who is sick and dying, to Wiltshire where Eadric raises an army. 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.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.

Prince Edmund assembled an army to face them, but his Mercian forces refused to fight the Danes and disbanded. Legend has it that Eadric, once again at the side of King Edmund, suggested that both chieftains resolve their dispute by single combat. And summoning Erik, his commander, he said ‘Pay this man what we owe him, that is to say, kill him lest he play us false. A treaty was drawn up, partitioning the country which would remain in force until the death of one of the participants to the treaty, at which time all lands would revert to the survivor.As they neared the pedestrians, the riders gave half-hearted tugs on their horses’ reins, but gave no indication that they would slow down to an agreeable pace. His knowledge of the London area and his obvious gratitude to Edmund for saving London from Cnut’s army would imply he was a Londoner. If we had stayed on the main road,” said the executioner, “then at least we might have found a place to stay for the night.

The interesting point to note is the mention of Magesaeton, roughly modern Herefordshire, as that is an area too far away from most Danish raids but exactly the area Edmund was ravaging a few months before. Edmund went on to assemble another army and, with the assistance of Earl Uhtred of Northumbria, plundered Eadric's lands in Staffordshire, Shropshire, and Cheshire. Changes do occur in men’s and women’s roles, reflected in part by who gets a literal chair to sit on at meals, while world crises—a war, Sweden’s financial troubles—have unexpected impact. Yet the drama here occurs in small increments, season by season, following nature’s rhythm through deaths and births, moments of joy and deep sorrow. He is generally considered an archtraitor in the struggle between the English and the Danes for sovereignty over England.He would not feel good again until he was back in his own stronghold with fresh food at his fingertips, a gleeman to serenade him, and a lovely wife to lead him to bed. He could not remember the last time he had felt so sticky, filth-ridden, and uncomfortable unless he reached back into his early memories of being a swineherd. After an invasion of the Danes in 1009, Aethelred was prepared to retaliate with force but was persuaded by Eadric to take a different course.