Eadric Streona
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Eadric or Edric Streona (died 1017) was an ealdorman of the Mercians.
Eadric was of non-noble birth but advanced to high dignity through the favor of the English king Ethelred the Unready. In 1007 he became ealdorman of the Mercians, and subsequently married Ethelred's daughter Eadgyth. As Ealdorman, Eadric achieved a smashing victory over the Welsh, for reasons unknown to history. (See the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle).
In the struggle between the English and the Danes he appears in the character of an archtraitor. 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 Edric 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 cause.
King Canute restored to Eadric the earldom of Mercia. During the 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.
Contents |
[edit] Trivia
- In 2005, he was selected by the BBC History Magazine as the 11th century's worst Briton. (BBC)
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
