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Eric (also ''Heirichus'' or ''Ehericus''; died 799) was the
Duke of Friuli The dukes and margraves of Friuli were the rulers of the Duchy and March of Friuli in the Middle Ages. The dates given below, when contentious, are discussed in the articles of the respective dukes. Lombard dukes * 568–c.584 Grasulf I ...
(''dux Foroiulensis'') from 789 to his death. He was the eldest son of Gerold of Vinzgouw and by the marriage of his sister
Hildegard Hildegard is a female name derived from the Old High German ''hild'' ('war' or 'battle') and ''gard'' ('enclosure' or 'yard'), and means 'battle enclosure'. Variant spellings include: Hildegarde; the Polish, Portuguese, Slovene and Spanish Hildeg ...
the brother-in-law of
Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first Em ...
.


Background

An elegy composed by Paulinus II, Patriarch of Aquileia on the occasion of the death of his friend Eric, reveals that Eric had been born at "''urbs dives Argentea''", a Latin name of Frankish Strasbourg."''Versus Paulini de Herico duce,''" in ''L'Oeuvre Poétique de Paulin D'Aquilée.'' Edited by Dag Norberg (Stockholm: Almquist and Wiskell International, 1979), 100. The elegy and another work of Paulinus called the ''Liber Exhortationis,'' a work which draws from the
Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts o ...
and certain
Fathers of the Church The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were ancient and influential Christian theologians and writers who established the intellectual and doctrinal foundations of Christianity. The historical pe ...
to offer instruction on how to live a morally upright Christian life while carrying out secular duties, indicates that Eric was a pious
Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...
. Eric was appointed to the Carolingian
Duchy of Friuli The Duchy of Friuli was a Lombard duchy in present-day Friuli, the first to be established after the conquest of the Italian peninsula in 568. It was one of the largest domains in ''Langobardia Major'' and an important buffer between the Lombard ...
in 789, about two years after the death of the previous duke, Marcarius.


Military Campaigns

Eric governed the Duchy of Friuli from Cividale, the former Lombard capital and also residence of the
Patriarch of Aquileia The highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Catholic Church (above major archbishop and primate), the Hussite Church, Church of the East, and some Independent Catholic Churches are termed patriarchs (and in certai ...
. Much of Eric's tenure as duke of Friuli was occupied by the task of subduing the nearby Avars. In this he was accompanied by
Pepin of Italy Pepin or Pippin (or ''Pepin Carloman'', ''Pepinno'', April 777 – 8 July 810), born Carloman, was the son of Charlemagne and King of the Lombards (781–810) under the authority of his father. Pepin was the second son of Charlemagne by his t ...
and his own father, the margrave of Avaria. In 791, he and Pepin marched a Lombard army into the
Drava The Drava or Drave''Utrata Fachwörterbuch ...
valley and ravaged
Pannonia Pannonia (, ) was a province of the Roman Empire bounded on the north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia. Pannonia was located in the territory that is now wes ...
, while Charlemagne marched along the
Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , ...
into Avar territory. Charlemagne left the campaigning to deal with a Saxon revolt in 792, while Pepin and Eric continued to assault the Avars' ring-shaped strongholds. The great Ring of the Avars, their capital fortress, was taken twice, and the booty was sent to Charlemagne in Aachen and redistributed to all his followers and even to foreign rulers, including King
Offa of Mercia Offa (died 29 July 796 AD) was King of Mercia, a kingdom of Anglo-Saxon England, from 757 until his death. The son of Thingfrith and a descendant of Eowa, Offa came to the throne after a period of civil war following the assassination of Æt ...
. The '' Annales Laurissenses'' relate that in 795/6 Eric sent raiders into Pannonia under Vojnomir, duke of the Pannonian Croats. Meanwhile, he himself and Pepin, allied with the Western Avar '' tudun'', led an attack which both forced the submission of the chief Avar
khagan Khagan or Qaghan (Mongolian:; or ''Khagan''; otk, 𐰴𐰍𐰣 ), or , tr, Kağan or ; ug, قاغان, Qaghan, Mongolian Script: ; or ; fa, خاقان ''Khāqān'', alternatively spelled Kağan, Kagan, Khaghan, Kaghan, Khakan, Khakhan ...
and led to the capture of the ''Hunorum Hringum'', or Ring of the Avars, their chief camp. The khagan was taken to Aachen, where he accepted baptism with the name Theodorus. However, according to the ''
Annales Fuldenses The ''Annales Fuldenses'' or ''Annals of Fulda'' are East Frankish chronicles that cover independently the period from the last years of Louis the Pious (died 840) to shortly after the end of effective Carolingian rule in East Francia with the ...
'', Theodorus was assassinated by his own men when he returned to them.


Final Campaign and Death

In 799, Eric's father died on the eve of battle with what some presumed to be the Avars. Later during the same year, Eric was on campaign in
Liburnia Liburnia ( grc, Λιβουρνία) in ancient geography was the land of the Liburnians, a region along the northeastern Adriatic coast in Europe, in modern Croatia, whose borders shifted according to the extent of the Liburnian dominance at a ...
, leading the Franks against Slavs. Some authors assume he was killed in the Battle of Trsat, even though Trsat was neither located at the coast nor having a city status at the time. According to the Frankish scholar and courtier Einhard, Eric was killed by the treachery of the Tharsatica inhabitants, but Einhard does not give any details. This is quite typical of the times that chronicles would justify lost battles by 'treason' rather than to admit defeat. The site of Eric's battle, ''Tarheste'' or ''Tarsatica'' in Latin, has been traditionally identified with
Trsat Trsat ( it, Tersatto, la, Tarsatica) is part of the city of Rijeka, Croatia, with a historic castle or fortress in a strategic location and several historic churches, in one of which the Croatian noble Prince Vuk Krsto Frankopan is buried. Trs ...
, a hill fort whose ruins today overlook the city of
Rijeka Rijeka ( , , ; also known as Fiume hu, Fiume, it, Fiume ; local Chakavian: ''Reka''; german: Sankt Veit am Flaum; sl, Reka) is the principal seaport and the third-largest city in Croatia (after Zagreb and Split). It is located in Prim ...
. However, it is more likely that the ''Tharsatica'' of Einhard's account was the ''civitas'' (Latin for "city") Tergeste on the Adriatic coast beneath the
Dinaric Alps The Dinaric Alps (), also Dinarides, are a mountain range in Southern and Southcentral Europe, separating the continental Balkan Peninsula from the Adriatic Sea. They stretch from Italy in the northwest through Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and He ...
, which today would be
Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into pr ...
inhabited by Slavs at the time. A year after Eric's death in 799, the Franks attacked Tharsatica again and the site of modern Trsat was actually founded by Tharsatica's surviving inhabitants a year after the siege.


Notes


Sources


Primary

*Einhard
''Vita Caroli Magni''.
translated by Samuel Epes Turner. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1880. *Paulinus II of Aquileia. "''Versus Paulini de Herico duce.''" In ''L'Oeuvre Poétique de Paulin D'Aquilée.'' Edited by Dag Norberg. Stockholm: Almquist and Wiskell International, 1979.


Secondary

* Hodgkin, Thomas. ''Italy and her Invaders''. Clarendon Press: 1895. *Ross, James Bruce.
Two Neglected Paladins of Charlemagne: Erich of Friuli and Gerold of Bavaria.
''Speculum'', Vol. 20, No. 2. (Apr., 1945), pp 212–235. *Wallach, Luitpold.
Alcuin on Virtues and Vices: A Manual for a Carolingian Soldier.
'' Harvard Theological Review'', Vol. 48, No. 3. (Jul., 1955), pp. 175–195. {{Authority control Dukes of Friuli Udalriching dynasty 8th-century births 799 deaths