Defectors

It must have been a shock when Thorkell the Tall, a leader and warrior of the early 12th-century Danish invasion of England, changed his stance and defected to join the English forces of King Æthelred the Unready, taking 45 ships' worth of loyal men with him. There is some reason to believe that Thorkell was married to a daughter of Æthelred, possibly Eadgyth (Edith).

As mercenaries for Æthelred, the Danes fought in 1013 against their former liege lord, King Sweyn Forkbeard of Denmark and his son, Cnut (whom Thorkell had helped raise and educate). Sweyn was successful, forcing Æthelred into exile by the end of 1013. Sweyn died not long after, however, on 2 February 1014, and Cnut was declared his successor.

The remaining English nobles called Æthelred back from the continent to reclaim the throne (Cnut was back in Denmark). While Cnut was preparing a fleet to re-take England, Æthelred's eldest son Æthelstan died, making his second son Edmund Ironside the new heir to the throne of England.

Cnut's invasion arrived in September 1015 with numerous mercenaries and help from Poland and Sweden. Thorkell decided to leave the employ of Æthelred, defecting to join up with Cnut. While they plundered southern England, the elderly and ill Æthelred left leadership of the army to Edmund. Edmund's army was joined by an army raised by Eadric Streona, but Eadric betrayed Edmund and the English, convincing 40 ships to defect with him and join Cnut.

During a Battle of Otford (near the village of Otford in Kent), Eadric defected from Cnut back to the English. This seems to have been simply a ruse, because at the following crucial Battle of Assandun he defected again, leaving Edmund's army alone to fight Cnut. A majority of English nobility were killed, defeated by Cnut. 

For Thorkell's defection back to Cnut, he received East Anglia. Eadric received Mercia, but Cnut knew he could not be trusted. Eadric must have acted true to form for the dastardly fellow he was, because less than two years later Cnut had him beheaded.

Thorkell, again, had some falling out with Cnut, in 1021. Cnut banished Thorkell, who returned to Denmark. Fearing Thorkell's reputation as a powerful leader, Cnut didn't want Thorkell to defect again to join some enemy of Cnut, so he made him an earl of Denmark and foster-father to Cnut's son, Harthacnut.

Mentions of Thorkell end in 1023. The details of his death are unknown. One of his sons was in the retinue of Harthacnut, but after Harthacnut's death Thorkell's wife and sons were expelled from Denmark, suggesting there was suspicion on the family.

Now: mentioned several times but never discussed in detail, let's talk about Cnut's father and Thorkell's lord, Sweyn Forkbeard.

A Noble End

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Alfheah (also called Alphege), was captured during an invasion of Vikings in 1011. Eadric Streona was supposedly sent to negotiate. Unfortunately, Eadric might not have been the ideal negotiator; on the one hand because he seemed to be King Æthelred's "enforcer," and on the other hand if we consider William of Malmesbury's opinion of the man:

...the dregs of mankind and a disgrace to his countrymen, a criminal debauchee and a cunning rascal, whose wealth owed its origin to his rank and had been increased by his skill in speech and his effrontery. A skilful deceiver with a ready invention, he sought out the king's intentions as his faithful servant, and spread them around as a common traitor. Often, when sent on a mission to the enemy to secure peace, he rekindled the war.

It is also possible that Eadric decided not to negotiate very diligently out of cowardice. In fact, when Eadric as Ealdormen of Mercia brought forces to join with Edmund Ironside and Æthelred against Cnut, Eadric abandoned the battle and later pledged his loyalty to Cnut. Cnut recognized that Eadric was untrustworthy and ultimately had him executed.

So Ælfheah was still in the hands of the Vikings. We are told that Ælfheah refused to have a ransom paid for his freedom, but I'm not sure how that information came to be known, and lying and reporting it to the king would be a way for Eadric to shirk the responsibility of effecting Ælfheah's release.

One version of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reports the death thusly:

... the raiding-army became much stirred up against the bishop, because he did not want to offer them any money, and forbade that anything might be granted in return for him. Also they were very drunk, because there was wine brought from the south. Then they seized the bishop, led him to their "hustings" on the Saturday in the octave of Easter, and then pelted him there with bones and the heads of cattle; and one of them struck him on the head with the butt of an axe, so that with the blow he sank down and his holy blood fell on the earth, and sent forth his holy soul to God's kingdom.

The date was 19 April 1012. Pope Gregory VII canonized Ælfheah in 1078 with a feast day of 19 April. Ælfheah's remains were place around the high altar of Canterbury cathedral along with Dunstan's, Ælfheah's friend. (The illustration is a memorial to him in the Church of St. Alphege in Greenwich.)

There was, however, one Viking leader who did not want to see Ælfheah toned, and tried to save him. I'll tell you about him tomorrow.

Eadric Streona

Eadric, the son of Ethelric, started as a relative unknown. His father was at the court of Æthelred the Unready, but was not distinguished. Something in Eadric caused him to get the attention of Æthelred, and he somehow became the king's enforcer.

This seems to have started in 1006 when he arranged the death of Ælfhelm, the Ealdorman of Northumbria. The Worcester Chronicle, which borrowed from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and supplemented the information, says:

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. But on the third or fourth day of the feast, when an ambush had been prepared, he took him into the wood to hunt. When all were busy with the hunt, one Godwine Porthund (which means the town dog) a Shrewsbury butcher, whom Eadric had dazzled long before with great gifts and many promises so that he might perpetrate the crime, suddenly leapt out from the ambush, and execrably slew the ealdorman Ælfhelm.

Eadric was rewarded for his service. In 1007 he was made Ealdorman of Mercia. By 1009 he was married to Æthelred's daughter, Eadgyth.

His job was not only eliminating people. Vikings in 1011 had captured Archbishop of Canterbury Ælfheah. Eadric was tasked with negotiating Alfheah's release. (This was unsuccessful.)

The nickname "Streona" is translated as "The Acquisitive" or "The Grasper" because he was known to appropriate church lands and funds for himself, creating fake charters to support his claims to property. Of course many of the histories that write about him (like the page from Hemming's Cartulary, shown here, collected by a monk named Hemmings around the time of the Norman Conquest) came from clerics and monks, so his actions did not prompt them to write about him in a good light.

William of Malmesbury described him thusly:

the dregs of mankind and a disgrace to his countrymen, a criminal debauchee and a cunning rascal, whose wealth owed its origin to his rank and had been increased by his skill in speech and his effrontery. A skilful deceiver with a ready invention, he sought out the king's intentions as his faithful servant, and spread them around as a common traitor. Often, when sent on a mission to the enemy to secure peace, he rekindled the war.

He also arranged the deaths of two friends of Edmund Ironside, and then most egregiously abandoned the fight against King Cnut at the Battle of Assandun. After Cnut's victory, however, Eadric did not last long. Cnut no doubt realized the man was not trustworthy, and was ordered by Cnut on Christmas Day 1017 to be executed. We are told he was beheaded, his body thrown outside the city to rot, and the head displayed on a pole on the highest battlement of the Tower of London.

But what happened to Alfheah, the Archbishop of Canterbury whose release from the Vikings Eadric failed to gain? Let's find out tomorrow.

Edmund Ironside

Edmund, son of Æthelred the Unready and his first wife Ælfgifu of York, was likely born between 990 and 993, one of several siblings. He was raised in Wessex by his grandmother, Ælfthryth, wife of King Edgar the Peaceable. He might have had an education at Wherwell Abbey, a place important to his grandmother.

In his youth, there were constant raids on England from Vikings. He may have been put into the field early as a soldier, but we don't really have any evidence of his actions until about 1014 when his older brother Æthelstan Ætheling died. Edmund and Æthelstan were still in England, even though his father had taken the family to Normandy to flee from the invasion of Sweyn Forkbeard, King of Denmark. Æthelstan's will left most of his goods to Edmund, including estates and a sword that had belonged to Offa, King of Mercia c.730 - 796.

Edmund became angry with his father when Æthelred allowed the execution of two friends, Sigeferth and Morcar. They were killed by Æthelred's enforcer and son-in-law, Eadric Streona, probably so that the king could seize their lands. Edmund boldly married Sigeferth's widow and occupied the area that had been controlled by Sigeferth. Edmund began issuing charters, in one of which he referred to himself as king.

His revolt against his father didn't last, since Sweyn's son Cnut invaded in the summer of 1015. Edmund was forced to raise an army and fight alongside Eadric and Æthelred, but distrust caused their effort to collapse. After Æthelred died in 1016 the succession passed to Edmund. Edmund was successful in several battles, inspiring all the English to unite. Eadric fled, however, from the climactic Battle of Assandun, and the English were suddenly outnumbered. Edmund was forced to give most of his kingdom to Cnut, leaving himself with only Wessex.

Edmund's total rule was 222 days. Cnut executed or exiled all of Edmund's relatives and consolidated the rest of England under his rule. Although Cnut was his enemy, on the tenth anniversary of Edmund's death, Cnut visited the grave at Glastonbury Abbey and honored it with a cloak of peacock feathers to symbolize Christian resurrection. Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries destroyed Glastonbury and the location of the remains of Edmund are unclear.

Why was he called "Ironside"? The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle refers to a lost history called Life of King Edmund Ironside. We can guess that it was the source for the nickname "Ironside" denoting a strong and relentless warrior. It also is where we find the source to call Eadric "Streona" meaning "The Acquisitive" must originate.

Speaking of Eadric Streona, what an interesting man. Let's talk about him next.