Eadric the Grasper: Sons of Mercia: 1

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John of Worcester states that Cnut feared that Eadric would prove to be as treacherous to him as he had been to Æthelred and Edmund. When Cnut, the Dane, invaded England in the summer 1015, Ædric raised an army and joined forces with Æthelred’s son Edmund Ironside. She brings to life the violence and skullduggery of the age in exciting scenes of action and intrigue, while vividly rendering the mindsets and motives of this distant era. To read this tale in another format, such as Epub, Mobibook (for Kindle Readers), or Pdf, go here: http://www.

It is simplistic, but good in that Woods explains roles and terms while telling her story without detracting from it.

A good man, forced by situations far beyond his control, makes the the best decisions possible, but they lead him down the dark rabbit hole . One of them was older and more rugged than the other, his wolfish hair and beard shaded gray, his large hand on the hilt of his sword as he yelled, “Make way for Thegn Eadric!

After getting reinforcements Edmund drives off Cnut’s second attack on London and then defeats Cnut in Kent, Cnut then crosses the river Thames and moves into Essex. I agree that Eadric probably became a convenient scapegoat , though most historians seem to be in agreement about his involvement in the major events that turned the tables, so to speak, on Edmund Ironside. History suggests that Eadric was retained by Aethelred to perform the more distasteful tasks of rule, one of which was the murder in 1006 of a nobleman, Ealdorman Aelfhelm.His gloved fingers clutched the sword at his belt, a heavy thing that normally seemed presumptuous for a boy thirteen years of age, but now seemed the only thing capable of saving his life. This was sealed when Edmund rebelled against his father and married Edith of East Anglia, the daughter of Sigeferth, one of Eadric's victims in his role as Ethelred's butcher, giving him a northern power base. In 1007 Eadric was made Earl of Mercia, at the time Earl Ulfcytel controlled East Anglia and Earl Uhtred controlled Northumbria.

At Christmas, 1017, fearing further treachery, Canute had Eadric slain, after a row in which Eadric claimed that he had assassinated Edmund Ironside for Canute's benefit - of which Canute had been unaware. Take the example of Earl Uhtred of Northumbria, Thurbrand murdered him, Uhtred’s son Ealdred killed Thurbrand, Thurband’s son Carl killed Ealdred and Ealdred’s grandson Waltheof then killed nearly all Carl’s sons and grandsons. 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. Edmund's forces did flee initially, but when they realised he was still alive, fought with him until dusk.In 2005, Eadric Streona (Streona is not his real last name, rather a nickname assigned to him meaning ‘grasper’ or ‘acquisitor’), a little known man to most, was voted the worst Briton of the 11 th century in a poll conducted by BBC History Magazine.

King Cnut then divides England into four parts, Wessex for himself, and East Anglia for Thorkell, Mercia for Eadric and Northumbria for Eric of Hlathir. Edmund then succeeded in rescuing London from the invaders, driving Eadric and Cnut out of the city and defeating them after crossing the Thames at Brentford; but he suffered heavy losses. The crafty and treacherous Eadric Streona, plotting to deceive the noble Ealdorman Ælfhelm, prepared a great feast for him at Shrewsbury at which, when he came as a guest, Eadric greeted him as if he were an intimate friend. On and on they plodded, until the sun sank below the canopy and shadows flooded the ground with black.Eadric must pit his wits and sword against the crafty masked figure, but doing so traps him in a dark web of lies and deception. 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). Lost Tales of Mercia by Jayden Woods is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.