Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Edric the Wild

1161956Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 16 — Edric the Wild1888William Hunt

EDRIC or EADRIC (fl. 1067), called the Wild (cognomento Silvaticus, Flor. Wig.; Guilda, id est Silvaticus, Orderic; Salvage, Domesday), and described by the title of Child (A.-S. Chron., 1067), the son of Ælfric, brother of Eadric or Edric Streona [q. v.], was a powerful thegn, who in the time of Eadward the Confessor held lands in Herefordshire and Shropshire. Along with the lords of middle and northern England he submitted to the conqueror at Barking, but in August 1067 joined with the Welsh kings Bleddyn and Rhiwallon in making war on the Normans in Herefordshire, wasted the country as far as the Lugg, and did much mischief to the garrison of Hereford Castle. He kept the western march in a state of insurrection, and in 1069, in alliance with the Welsh and the men of Chester, besieged Shrewsbury and burnt the town. In the summer of the next year, after the Danish fleet had sailed away, Eadric submitted to William, and appears to have become one of his personal followers, for in August 1072 he accompanied the king on his expedition against Scotland.

The story that at a later date Eadric held Wigmore Castle against Ralph of Mortemar and was condemned by William to perpetual imprisonment is untrue.

[Orderic, Duchesne, 506, 514; Florence of Worcester, ii. 2, 7, 9 (Engl. Hist. Soc.); A.-S. Chron., 1067; Dugdale's Monasticon, vi. 349; Freeman's Norman Conquest, iv. 21, 64, 110, 514, 738–40.]

W. H.