Eadric the Wild
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Eadric the Wild was a leader of English resistance to the Norman Conquest. He campaigned in the regions of Shrewsbury[1] and Hereford. In Latin he is called Edric Sylvaticus. He was a Mercian aristocrat, said to have been Earl of Shrewsbury,[2] and is thought to have been a nephew of Eadric Streona.[3]
He is mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.[4]
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[edit] In culture
Eadric is mentioned in connection with the Wild Hunt, and in the tale of Wild Edric.[5]
[edit] Trivia
The Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup character Edric Forrester is a probable allusion (Sylvaticus being 'of the woods').
[edit] Notes
- ^ In 1069, the town was besieged by Edric Sylvaticus, and Owain Gwynedd, Prince of Wales; but was relieved by King William, who advanced from York, and defeated the assailants with great slaughter.[1], (date accessed: 15 December 2006). Edric's allies included Bleddyn ap Cynfyn and Rhiwallon; the Owain mentioned might be Owain ab Edwin, Lord of Flint.
- ^ The ancient barony of Wigmore, in the reign of Edward the Confessor, belonged to Edric Sylvaticus, Earl of Shrewsbury, who, after the Conquest refusing to submit to the Norman yoke, and being vanquished and taken prisoner by Ranulph de Mortimer, was deprived of all his extensive possessions, which were then granted to Ranulph..., [2]. But here William FitzOsbern, 1st Earl of Hereford may have been the beneficiary.
- ^ See [3]. Even after the Conquest, one of Streone's nephews, Edricus Sylvaticus, is mentioned (Simon. Dunelm.) as "a very powerful thegn".[4], extract from Bulwer-Lytton's Harold, Last of the Saxon Kings.
- ^ In the D version of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle he is said to have joined the Welsh in attacking the garrison of Hereford in 1067 and to have inflicted great losses. Here he is described as Eadric cild' but Plummer and Earle suggest that 'cild' is, given the context, probably a slip for 'Se wilda'.' The Worcester chronicle, written fairly early in the twelfth century but based on a lost version of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, has a little more information, which seems to reflect local knowledge: Eadric cognomento silvaticus', a 'praepotens minister', was the son of Aelfric brother of Eadric Streona. Because he refused to surrender, the Norman garrison of Hereford, with Richard fitz Scrob, frequently laid waste his lands while he as often attacked them.[5]
- ^ See [6]. Katherine Briggs, The Fairies in Tradition and Literature (p. 6 and 60 in 2002 edition) gives Walter Map as originator of the tale of Edric and his fairy wife, surviving as a tradition in the nineteenth century in Shropshire and the Welsh borders.
