Editing Eric Bloodaxe (section)

===Mother and half-brothers (sagas)===
Further details on his family background are provided solely by the Icelandic and Norwegian sources of the 12th and 13th centuries, which are of limited and uncertain historical value and should therefore be treated with due circumspection.<ref>See Sverrir Jakobsson, „„Erindringen om en mægtig Personlighed": Den norsk-islandske historiske tradisjon om Harald Hårfagre i et kildekritisk perspektiv", ''[[Historisk Tidsskrift (Norway)|Historisk tidsskrift]]'', 81 (2002), 213–30.</ref> Harald 'Fairhair' is usually portrayed as a polygamous and virile king, the number of his sons varying between 16<ref name="ftn13">''Historia Norwegiæ'', tr. Kunin, pp. 14–5.</ref> and 20.<ref name="ftn14">''Ágrip'' ch. 2; ''Heimskringla ''ch.</ref> While Eric's mother remains anonymous in the synoptic histories (''Ágrip'') and most of the Icelandic sagas,<ref name="ftn15">''Ágrip'' ch. 2; ''Fagrskinna'' ch. 3.</ref> the ''Heimskringla'' (''c''. 1230) claims that she was [[Harald Fairhair|Ragnhildr]], daughter of Eric, king of (South) Jutland.<ref name="ftn16">''Heimskringla'' (''Haraldar saga'') ch. 21; likewise, ''Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta'' ch. 2. Three ninth-century kings of Jutland called Eric appear in Rimbert's ''Life'' of Anskar (introduction and ch. 26).</ref> The possibility that Harald had married a Danish princess may find some support in a skaldic stanza which is usually assigned to [[Þorbjörn Hornklofi]]'s ''[[Hrafnsmál]]'', a eulogy on Harald's deeds in the form of a conversation between a raven and [[valkyrie]]. It tells that Harald "chose the lady from Denmark [''konu danska''] / broke with his Rogaland loves / and his lemans of Horthaland, / the maidens of Hálogaland / and of Hathaland eke."<ref name="ftn17">''Haraldskvæði (Hrafnsmál)'', ed. R.D. Fulk. [http://skaldic.arts.usyd.edu.au/db.php?table=poems&id=436 Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070901083235/http://skaldic.arts.usyd.edu.au/db.php?table=poems&id=436 |date=1 September 2007 }}, tr. Hollander, ''Heimskringla'' ''(Haraldar saga)'' ch. 21. The stanza is ascribed to Þorbjörn Hornklofi in ''Heimskringla (Haraldar saga)'' ch. 21 and ''Flateyjarbók'', but to Þjóðólfr of Hvinir later on in ''Flateyjarbók''.</ref> In the ''Flateyjarbók'', it is preceded by another stanza which refers to the "handmaidens of Ragnhildr" (''ambáttir Ragnhildar'') as witnesses of the event. However, it is uncertain whether her name was already in the original composition, as another manuscript reading has the metrically regular ''ambáttir Danskar''.<ref name="ftn18">Note that Fulk has adopted the reading ''Ragnhildar''.</ref> The account of ''Heimskringla'', which claims that Harald had enjoyed the company of eleven consorts before Ragnhildr, and that of ''Egils saga''<ref name="ftn19">''Egils saga ''ch. 36, which says the Eric was relatively young when most of Harald's sons were of mature age.</ref> are at variance with the suggestion elsewhere that Eric was one of the oldest (''Fagrskinna''), if not the eldest son of Harald (''Historia Norwegiæ'', ''Ágrip'').<ref name="ftn20">''Fagrskinna ''ch. 3; ''Historia Norwegiæ'', tr. Kunin, p. 14; ''Ágrip'' ch. 2 (specifying in ch. 5 that Haakon was nearly twenty when he returned to Norway); ''Orkneyinga ''Saga ch. 8. The succinct account by Theodoricus ch. 2 has nothing to say on the matter.</ref> Whatever one makes of the discrepancy, the sagas – including ''Heimskringla''&nbsp;– are unanimous in making Haakon Eric's younger half-brother and successor.