General Notes

EARLDOM of ORKNEY [NOR] - subject to King of Norway until after 1379

Eric Bloodaxe, b. circa 885, son of King Harald I Haarfagri (b. 854, d. 934), on the abdication of his father (932) became Over-King of Norway, but was so unpopular that when his young half-brother Hakon the Good (b. 919) returned in 936 from England, he was unable to hold Norway against him and fled, in 937, to Orkney. Here he seems to have established himself as King and "because he had little land" took to piracy. In 939 King Athelstan made him Vassal King of Northumbria; but as Athelstanís brother and successor, King Edmund I the Elder (940-946), was hostile, Eric withdrew from York in 940 and "went into western piracy,"again making Orkney his base. In Northumbria a Danish revolt led to the recall of King Eric in 948, but he was driven out in 949 by Anlaf or Olaf Cuaran, the King of Dublin, The Northumbrian Danes deposed King Anlaf in 952 and Eric became for the third time King of Northumbria. In 954 Northumbrians rose against King Eric, who was defeated and killed, with Arnkel and Erlend of Orkney, at Stainmore in Westmorland, by Maccus, son of Harald Sihtricsson, King of Limerick (896-922), who then made himself King of Man (954-976). On King Ericís death his widow Gunnhild and her sons returned to Orkney, where Thorfinn was then sole Jarl, and remained there until they went to Denmark in the spring of 955. King Eric Bloodaxe m. Gunnhild, dau. either of Gorm the Old, King of Denmark (899-936), or of Azur Tot or Lafskeg of Halogaland, and had issue 8 sons and 1 daughter.  [Complete Peerage, X:Appendix A:5]