Adam of Bremen, Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum II xxv (§ 22), tr. Francis J. Tschan, History of the Archbishops of Hamburg-Bremen. New York, 1959. pp 70–1. Here I set up a pole of insult against King Eirik and Queen Gunnhild" – then, turning the horse head towards the mainland – "and I direct this insult against the guardian spirits of this land, so that every one of them shall go astray, neither to figure nor find their dwelling places until they have King Eirik and Queen Gunnhild from this country." Larrington, Carolyne. "Egill’s longer poems: Arinbjarnarkviða and Sonatorrek." In Introductory Essays on Egils saga and Njáls saga, ed. J. Hines and D. Slay, London: The Viking Society for Northern Research, 1992

Clare Downham notes the existence of an otherwise unrecorded Eltangerht, whose coins were minted at York and date from about the same time, but nothing is known of him from other records. [75] Archbishop Wulfstan and the charters [ edit ] Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (MSS D, E) 954. Henry of Huntingdon, Historia Anglorum: "King Eadred, in the seventh year of his reign, was once more received in the kingdom of Northumbria." Downham, Clare (2003). "The Chronology of the Last Scandinavian Kings of York, AD 937–954". Northern History. 40: 25–51. doi: 10.1179/007817203792207979. S2CID 161092701. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (MS E) 949. The E-text of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle describes Edmund's death two years too late and accordingly, some doubts may be cast over the dating of Amlaíb's arrival in 949 and his expulsion in favour of Eric in 952. However, a solid terminus post quem for Amlaíb's second reign at York is provided by the entry for 948 in the D-text and by the Irish entries for Amlaíb's defeat in Slane in 947.Sawyer, Peter (1995). "The last Scandinavian rulers of York". Northern History. 31: 39–44. doi: 10.1179/007817295790175462. J.M. Lappenberg (tr. B. Thorpe), A History of England under the Anglo-Saxon Kings. 1845. 152. Cf: J.H. Todd, The War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill. London, 1867. 266–7. Caithréim Chellacháin Chaisil, ed. Alexander Bugge, Caithream Ceallachain Caisil. The Victorious Career of Cellachan of Cashel. Christiania, 1905. saga Tryggvasonar en mesta ( Longer saga of Óláf Tryggvason), ed. Ólafur Halldórsson, Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta. Copenhagen, 1958; ed. Hèr hefr upp Sögu Ólafs konúngs Tryggvasonar. available from Saganet [ permanent dead link]; tr. John Sephton, The Saga of Olaf Tryggwason. London, 1895 (based on edition in Fornmanna sögur).

The following is based on 'Wulfstan 14, fl. 931–956', Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England. Accessed: 6 February 2009. Determining the date and length of Eric's reign (before and after his father's death) is a challenging and perhaps impossible task based on the confused chronology of our late sources. [49] It is also unfortunate that no contemporary or even near contemporary record survives for Eric's short-lived rule in Norway, if it is historical at all. The comes Osulf who betrayed Eric was high-reeve of the northern half of Northumbria, centred on Bamburgh, roughly corresponding to the former kingdom of Bernicia. He clearly benefited from his murderous plot against Eric. The Historia regum says that the province of Northumbria was henceforward administered by earls and records the formal appointment of Osulf as earl of Northumbria the following year. [96] Likewise, the early 12th century De primo Saxonum adventu notes that "[f]irst of the earls after Erik, the last king whom the Northumbrians had, Osulf administered under King Eadred all the provinces of the Northumbrians." [97] In the 19th century, a case had also been made for Harald Bluetooth King of Denmark (d. 985) as being Eric's true father. J.M. Lappenberg and Charles Plummer, for instance, identified Eric with Harald's son Hiring. [17] The only authority for this son's existence is Adam of Bremen, who in his Gesta ( c. 1070) claims to cite the otherwise unknown Gesta Anglorum for a remarkable anecdote about Hiring's foreign adventures: "Harald sent his son Hiring to England with an army. When the latter had subjugated the island, he was in the end betrayed and killed by the Northumbrians." [18] Even if Eric's rise and fall had been the inspiration for the story, the names are not identical and Harald Bluetooth's floruit does not sit well with Eric's. Egill Skallagrímsson, Lausavísur, stanza 25: "I [Egill] dabbled my blade / In Bloodaxe’s boy [ Blóðøxar ... blóði, lit. 'Bloodaxe's blood'], / In one galley Gunnhild’s son", tr. H. Pálsson and P. Edwards, Egils saga ch. 56, pp. 147–8; Eyvindr Finnsson skáldaspillir, Lausavísur, stanza 1 (written in dróttkvætt): "Valkyrie's-game, avengers – / awaits not sitting still now – / wish to awake 'gainst you, / warring for death of Blood-Axe [ Blóðøxar]", tr. Lee M. Hollander, Heimskringla ch. 28, p. 118.Contemporary or near-contemporary sources include different recensions of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Eric's coinage, the Life of St Cathróe, and possibly skaldic poetry. [5] Such sources reproduce only a hazy image of Eric's activities in Anglo-Saxon England. Eiríksmál, ed. R.D. Fulk, Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages; tr. Alison Finlay, Fagrskinna: A Catalogue of the Kings of Norway. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 2004. pp.58–9. Historia Regum (Anglorum et Dacorum), ed. Thomas Arnold, Symeonis Monachi Opera Omnia. 2 vols: vol 2. London, 1885. 1–283; tr. J. Stevenson, Church Historians of England. 8 vols: vol. 4 (part 2: The Historical Works of Simeon of Durham). London, 1853. 425–617.

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (MS E) 952. Henry of Huntingdon, Historia Anglorum, assigns it to the fourth year of Eadred's reign. Theodoricus monachus, ch. 2, suggest that Haakon sailed to Norway on the invitation of disgruntled noblemen. Heimskringla, on other hand, explains Haakon's return to Norway merely as a response to news of his father's death.The Chronicle of the Kings of Alba records that shortly thereafter, in 948 or 949, Malcolm (I) of Scotland and Cumbria, at Constantine's instigation, raided Northumbria as far south as the River Tees and returned with many cattle and captives. [69] Marios Costambeys suggests that it "may have been directed against, or mounted in favour of, Eirik, though the protagonist could just as easily have been Óláf Sihtricson." [70] Eric's second reign (952–954) [ edit ]