Eadric Silvaticus (‘the wild’), who rebelled against king William I in the years after the Norman Conquest of 1066, has become something of a mythical figure. Alongside Hereward ‘the Wake’ and Robin Hood, he is imagined as part of a rich history of brave and almost painfully ‘English’ outlaws. But what about the real Eadric; are these myths well founded? And what of his remarkable nickname - ‘the Wild’; what might have been intended by its use?