Editing Eric Bloodaxe (section)

==King of Norway (sagas)==
The dominant theme of the sagas about Harald's numerous sons is the struggle for the Norwegian throne, in particular the way it manifests itself in the careers of Haakon and his foil Eric. According to ''Heimskringla'', Harald had appointed his sons as client kings over the various districts of the kingdom, and intended Eric, his favourite son, to inherit the throne after his death.<ref name="ftn29">''Heimskringla'' ''(Haraldar saga)'' ch. 33.</ref> At strife with his half-brothers, Eric brutally killed Ragnvald (Rögnvaldr), ruler of [[Hadeland]] on his father's orders, and [[Bjørn Farmann]], ruler of [[Vestfold]].<ref name="ftn30">''Heimskringla'' ''(Haraldar saga)'' ch. 34–5.</ref> Some texts maintain that towards the end of his life, Harald allowed Eric to reign together with him (''Heimskringla'', ''Ágrip'', ''Fagrskinna'')''.'' When Harald died, Eric succeeded to the realm, slaughtered the combined forces of his half-brothers [[Olaf Haraldsson Geirstadalf|Olaf]] and Sigrød, and gained full control of Norway.<ref name="ftn31">''Heimskringla'' ''(Haraldar saga)'' ch. 42–3.</ref> At the time, however, Eric's younger and most famous half-brother Haakon, often nicknamed ''Aðalsteinsfóstri'', had been staying at the West-Saxon court, having been sent there to be reared as fosterson to King Æthelstan (r. 924–939).<ref name="ftn32">E.g. ''Fagrskinna'' ch. 4. There is no contemporary English evidence for this. The least that can be said is that some form of diplomatic contact may have existed between England and Norway. Writing in the 12th century, [[William of Malmesbury]] records that Æthelstan received an embassy from "a certain Harold, king of the Norwegians" (''Haroldus quiadam, rex Noricorum'') at York and was given a ship. ''Gesta regum'' II ch. 135. See R.I. Page, ''Chronicles of the Vikings''. p. 33–4. A more detailed but fictitious account of Harald's relations with Æthelstan is set out in ''Fagrskinna ''ch. 4.</ref> Eric's rule was reputedly harsh and despotic and so he fell rapidly out of favour with the Norwegian nobility. At this propitious time, Haakon returned to Norway, found a nobility eager to accept him as king instead and ousted Eric, who fled to Britain.<ref name="ftn33">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.</ref> ''Heimskringla'' specifies that Haakon owed his success in large part to Sigurd, earl of Lade.

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.<ref name="ftn34">The sources differ on the length of Eric's reign in Norway and on whether it was preceded by one of joint rule at all, although a number of them appear to agree on a total of five years (''Nóregs konungatal'' stanza 10, ''Ágrip'' ch. 5). Eric's period of joint rule with his father, if given at all, varies between two years (''Ágrip'' ch. 5) and three years (''Fagrskinna'' ch. 5, ''Heimskringla (Haraldar saga)'' ch. 42.). The ''Historia Norwegiæ'' notes only one year of rule and Theodoricus monachus (ch. 2) uniquely distinguishes between two years of single rule and one of joint rule with his brother.</ref> 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.