Ericke (or Eohric) King of East Anglia (11)
- Birth: about 970
- Death: 1005
Father: Harold VIII (10)
Mother:
Spouse:
- Sex: M
Biography Notes…
An earlier King Ericke or Eohric
A Danish Chief. He invaded England during the reign of Alfred. He and his followers lost the battle and were forced to live in the waste lands of East Anglia (now Leicestershire). He was the head of the government as a fief of the crown. He then tried to incite Danish power against the English (overthrow the government) but was defeated by Edward (899-924), son of Alfred (871-899).
From Holinshed’s Chronicle, Sixt Booke, page 680:
Anno 911 ” After this, other of the Danes assembled themselves togither, and in Staffordshire, at a place called Tottenhall, fought with the Englishmen, and after a great slaughter made on both parties, the Danes were overcome, and so likewise were they afterwards at Woodfield, or Woodenfield. And thus King Edward put the Danes to the woorse in each place commonlie where he came; and hearing that those in Northumberland went to breake the peace, he invaded the countrie, and so afflicted the same, that the Danes which were inhabitants there, gladly continued in rest and peace.”
From Polydore Virgil:
“But in the mean time, Ericke,· the King of those Danes which held the countrie of East Angle, was about to procure new warre, and to allure other Danes to join with him against the Englishmen, that with common agreement they might set upon the English nation and utterly subdue them. King Edward having intelligence thereof, proposed to prevent him, and thereupon entering with an army into his countrie, cruelly wasted and spoiled the same. King Ericke having alreadie his people in armour, through displeasure conceived hereof, and desire to be revenged, hasted foorth to encounter his enemies, and so they met in the field, and fiercelie assailed each other. But as the battell was rashlie begun on King Erick’s syde, so was the end very harmfull to him, for with small adoo, after great losse on both sides, he was vanquished and put to flight.
” After his coming home, bicause of his great overthrow and fowle discomfiture, he began to govern his people with more rigour and sharper dealing than beforetime he had used. Whereby he provoked the malice of the East Angles so highlie against him, that they fell upon him and murthered him; yet they did not gaine so much hereby as they looked to have doone, for shortlie after, they being brought lowe, and not able to defend their countrie, were compelled to submit themselves to King Edward.
Thus he was killed by his own people for alleged severities in his government. (from Knowltons, 1897 and Lord- Locke 1836).
Conversely Blackwell has the following:
The only certain report of Eohric is that of his death. Eohric, along with other Scandinavian leaders in eastern Britain, supported the ætheling (meaning Anglo-Saxon prince or nobleman) Æthelwold against Edward the Elder. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reports in its entry under the year 905, probably to be dated to between 902 or 904 AD, that some time after October of that year the East Anglian army with Æthelwold and Eohric raided over the River Thames into Edward’s lands. Edward took an army from Kent into East Anglia, ravaging as far north as the Devil’s Dyke and the River Wissey. Eohric’s East Anglians met Edward’s army while it was returning home and a battle followed. Edward’s army was victorious and Eohric and Æthelwold were among the dead.