Bloodaxe
Eirik, Son of Harald Fairhair, Last Viking King of York
There is perhaps no figure whose name calls to mind the violence, bravado and (arguably, in some cases, misplaced) romance of the Viking Age as that of Eirik Bloodaxe (Old Norse Blóðöx). One does not attain the moniker “Bloodaxe” in the 10th Century CE without seriously earning it, and Eirik earned it with gusto.
“Thanks to his lurid nickname–earned because of his brutal rulership rather than his prowess in battle–Erik Bloodaxe is probably the most famous of all Viking leaders.” - John Heywood, Northmen: The Viking Saga 793-1241 AD
At the time of Eirik’s exploits, the political and cultural climates of Scandinavia and Britain were tumultuous, to say the least, especially in Norway, where Eirik’s father, Harald Fairhair, had only recently consolidated power. The Danelaw, an area of Britain where Scandinavian laws and customs were practiced over those of the Anglo-Saxons, had crumbled under relentless assault by the descendants of Alfred the Great of Wessex and their allies. The Danelaw had been established by the influx of Norse settlers that followed the conquering efforts of “The Great Army”, and a generation of Norse speaking, culturally Scandinavian people had grown up on English soil. Its new absence was felt by everyone in the region.
For more on the Danelaw and the Great Army, read:
Wessex’s victory over the Danelaw was, as a result, hard-won, and not entirely complete. York, Northumbria’s most prominent settlement, was still controlled by the Viking Sea-King Olaf Sihtricsson, who ruled a substantial trade kingdom from his seat of power in Dublin. Despite Wessex’s success elsewhere throughout England, the burgeoning nation’s Viking troubles would not come to an end for some time yet.
In Norway, King Harald Fairhair had spent a long campaign of power consolidation that ended with the Battle of Hafrsfjord at the end of the 9th Century. He, his family, and his followers now controlled the south and west of Norway; a seemingly unshakable powerbase, despite harrying from outside forces, such as Denmark. However, by the time Harald had finally secured his throne, he was quite old, and the question of succession loomed ever-present in his and the minds of his children. Soon, King Harald decreed that his freshly unified kingdom would be divided amongst his sons, but that Eirik, who had not yet earned the name “Bloodaxe” would rule over his siblings as High King of Norway. This did not please Harald’s sons, who, after their father’s abdication in favor of Eirik, immediately began a fierce and brutal power struggle.
Eirik would not see his father’s legacy be brought to ruin by his unruly siblings, and, one by one, he murdered almost every single one of them, of which there are believed to have been as many as twenty. He reestablished centralized power with wrath and did not endear himself to the people of Norway in the process. He was dubbed “Bloodaxe” for his ruthless, tyrannical, and cruel reign. His wife, Gunnhild, according to sagas like Egils Saga Skallagrímsson, played no small part in Eirik’s campaign of power.
“His consort, Queen Gunnhild, was almost as notorious, rumoured to be a sorceress and shape-changer of exceptional viciousness.” - Neil Price, Children of Ash and Elm: A History of the Vikings
Gunnhild was believed to be a völva, or seeress, who would work evil curses against Eirik’s enemies. She was sometimes referred to as the “Witch Queen” and was known to be as ruthless and cunning as her husband, if not more so. She is rarely cast in a favorable light, no matter the source. A colorful “power couple” indeed.
It was not long before Norwegian nobles and their followers, once loyal to Eirik’s father, began to look for a way to oust Eirik Bloodaxe for good. A solution presented itself in the survival of Haakon Adelsteinfostre, (later known as “Haakon the Good”, a fascinating and probably deliberate contrast to his famous brother’s brutal epithet), Eirik’s brother, who had been sent to England to be fostered by King Athelstan, by political arrangement between Athelstan and Harald Fairhair. The disenfranchised Norwegian nobility wasted no time in inviting Haakon home to Norway to lay claim to his father’s throne, and he accepted.
“King Eirik ruled Norway for one year after the death of his father, before another of King Harald’s sons, Hakon, arrived in Norway from England, where he had been fostered by King Athelstan. This was the same summer that Egil Skalla-grimsson went to Iceland. Hakon went north to Trondheim, and was accepted as king there. That winter, he and Eirik were joint kings of Norway. The following spring, they both gathered armies, and Hakon’s was by far the more numerous. Eirik saw that he had no option but to flee the country, and left with his wife, Gunnhild, and their children.” - Leifur Eiriksson, Egils Saga Skallagrímsson (Bernard Scudder Translation)
Upon Haakon’s return to Norway, it became readily apparent to Eirik Bloodaxe that he had garnered very little support amongst the prominent people of Norway. When Haakon presented his own legitimate claim to the throne, those who had tenuously bowed to Eirik’s will defected en masse, leaving Eirik with almost no real fighting force. There was now no realistic way for Eirik to hold on to power in Norway, and so he retreated, without bloodshed, to the Orkney Isles off the coast of Scotland, along with Gunnhild and their children, as well as the few followers who remained loyal to him, where he ruled uncontested for over a decade.
It was during his time in Orkney that Eirik truly earned the title “Viking King”. Historians (myself included) often use the term “Viking” to simply describe early medieval Scandinavian people, especially those who were part of the diaspora that spanned from eastern and northern Europe far into the North Atlantic. The truth, however, is that not all of them actually were Vikings. Most of them, in fact, were not. Eirik Bloodaxe was a Viking in the most quintessential sense of the word. Orkney became not only Eirik’s home, but it also serves as a staging ground for a series of raids on Scotland, the Scottish Isles, and throughout the Irish Sea that would become the stuff of legend.
These raids likely brought him into direct conflict with the Norse kingdom of Dublin and York, which controlled trade and shipping throughout the region. All of the islands of the Irish Sea, as well as the coasts of Ireland and parts of Britain were the territory of King Olaf Sihtricsson, who ruled from the Viking stronghold of Dublin, which had been established by Vikings long before Eirik terrorized their seas. Olaf also ruled the Northumbrian city of York, though he did so by proxy most of the time, since he did not frequently leave Dublin for extended periods of time. Perhaps King Olaf’s absence from Northumbria presented an opportunity to Eirik, because it wasn’t long before Bloodaxe made his presence known on the English mainland.
For more on the Norse history of Ireland, Scotland, and their surrounding islands, read:
As stated above, the Kings of Wessex had been well on their way towards the unification of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms since the rule of Alfred the Great, who contributed greatly to the national identity of England in its infancy. The Danelaw was no more, despite the continued presence of many ethnically and culturally Scandinavian people. Most of the Norse people who remained in Anglo-Saxon lands likely considered themselves English at this point and had done their best to integrate into local society, albeit having changed that society considerably over the course of their occupation. there were, however, still many within the “borders” of the former Danelaw who would have greatly preferred a Scandinavian ruler over an Anglo-Saxon one.
Olaf’s lack of presence in York likely did not sit well with those Norse who would see a return to power for the Vikings of the Danelaw. Eirik Bloodaxe, aside from ruling Orkney, was largely a landless Sea-King, no more than a step above a pirate chieftain after his exile from Norway. York presented a very desirable target Eirik and his followers. Somewhere around 952 CE, many years after his ouster from Norway and his arrival in Orkney, Eirik expelled Olaf Sihtricsson’s followers, including the King’s brother, from York, severing the Dublin/York powerbase for good. Eirik Bloodaxe was now King of York, perhaps the most truly “Viking” ruler in the city since its establishment.
During his brief rule of York, Eirik seemed to have felt no need to settle in and enjoy his newfound power. He and his followers continued to raid, especially in Scotland and among the more poorly defended Anglo-Saxon settlements of the region. The victims of his pillaging might have been considered, by English custom, to be his own subjects. This did not make Eirik popular among the Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norse population of Northumbria, who simply wished to be left in peace after generations of violence on the Island of Britain. It was not long before rebellious sentiments began to foment.
The problem that Eirik Bloodaxe presented was not lost on the powers-that-be in England. King Eadred of Wessex, son of Edward the Elder and grandson of Alfred the Great, had taken up the torch of English Unification from his forebears, and a Norse-ruled York was a thorn in his side. York was the last stronghold of the Danelaw, and, up until Eirik’s arrival there, had been a difficult nut to crack. The prosperous Dublin/York trade network and its Scandinavian controllers had been popular among the Anglo-Norse, and Dublin’s military strength was considerable. Eirik may have succeeded in ousting Olaf and his brother, but if the English didn’t act fast, it was likely only a matter of time before Dublin again came calling at York. Ereik, despite his ruthlessness and bleak reputation, posed a lesser threat.
Eadred knew what needed to be done. Sensing the Northumbria’s discontent with their new ruler, he began working with a local nobleman by the name of Osulf of Bamburgh to orchestrate a coup against Eirik. It was not hard for them to find support for this effort among the locals, and in the end, Eadred didn’t need to commit many resources at all to Eirik’s removal. In 954, Eirik Bloodaxe and his family were driven from York and forced to flee into the hills of Scotland, where he was relentlessly tracked down and killed, along with all of his remaining followers. His family fled to Orkney, where they would eventually cause trouble for Norway, but the man himself was no more.
In the wake of Ereik Bloodaxe’s death, the deeply rooted Norse dominance in York, and England in general, was finally broken. Wessex prevailed, and her sons would very shortly unite England under one banner at last, starting with King Eadred himself. Eirik was the last true Viking King in York. The Viking Age was not yet over in England, but its twilight had well and truly set in.
As for Eirik Bloodaxe, he himself was the living embodiment of the changes already beginning in Europe at the time. He was almost certainly a tyrant who brutalized his subjects and murdered his siblings, all in the name of power. He was also an “old school” Viking in a time when history seemed to longer have room for them. Gone were the days when a successful raid or two could make one a true powerbroker in the halls of Scandinavia or England. The measure of a person could no longer be weighed in how much silver and gold they could carry home on their ships, but in how they fit in the ever-evolving political landscape of medieval Europe. The modern Scandinavian states were being forged, England was verging on true nationhood, the rest of Europe had grown wise to Viking tactics, and Christianity continued its ceaseless march towards dominance in the North. Eirik was the product of a bygone era, and the tides of progress were rising.
I found this very interesting.