Eric Haakonsson

Eric Haakonsson (960s – 1020s) was Earl of Lade, Governor of Norway and Earl of Northumbria. He was the son of Earl Hákon Sigurðarson and brother of the legendary Aud Haakonsdottir of Lade. He participated in the Battle of Hjörungavágr, the Battle of Svolder and the conquest of England by King Canute the Great.

Eric is referred to in various ways in the medieval sources and by modern scholars. He most commonly witnessed charters as Yric dux ("Duke Eric") but his name is also spelled Yric, Yrric, Iric, Eiric or Eric in 11th-century Latin and Old English sources. In Old Norse sources, using normalized orthography, he is most commonly Eiríkr jarl ("Earl Eric") or Eiríkr jarl Hákonarson, but sometimes as Eirekr. Modern historians usually use a variant of Eiríkr/Eirik/Eric and his patronym, Hákonarson/Hakonarson/Hakonson, meaning "son of Haakon". In modern Norwegian, it would be Eirik Håkonsson. Some English works prefer Eric of Hlathir, referring to his Norse earldom, or Eric of Norway.

Principal sources on Eric's youth are Fagrskinna and Heimskringla. They relate that Eric was the son of Hákon Sigurðarson and a woman of low birth whom Hákon bedded during a sojourn in Oppland. Hákon cared little for the boy and gave him to a friend of his to raise. On one occasion when Eric was eleven or twelve years old he and his foster father had harboured their ship right next to earl Hákon. Then Hákon's closest friend, Skopti, arrived and asked Eric to move away so that he could harbour next to Hákon as he was used to. When Eric refused, Hákon was infuriated by the boy's pride and sternly ordered him away. Humiliated, Eric had no choice but to obey. In the following winter he avenged the humiliation by chasing down Skopti's ship and killing him. This was Eric's first exploit, as commemorated by his skald Eyjólfr dáðaskáld who mentions the incident in his Bandadrápa. The sagas say that after killing Skopti, Eric sailed south to Denmark where he was received by king Harald Bluetooth. After a winter's stay in Denmark, Harald granted Eric earldom over Romerike and Vingulmark - areas in the south of Norway long under Danish influence. In Heimskringla this information is supported with a somewhat vague verse from Bandadrápa.

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