Suggest an Edit — Eric

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Biography

Short Description

Eric IX of Sweden, known in Swedish as Erik den helige (Eric the Holy) and also as Erik Jedvardsson, was a mid-twelfth-century king of Sweden who became that country's principal medieval royal saint. Contemporary documentation of his life is extremely sparse. The main narrative source is a Latin saint's legend composed in the later thirteenth century, long after his death, supplemented by later vernacular chronicles. Historians therefore treat many biographical details as traditional rather than securely attested. His year and place of birth are unknown. He is generally thought to have belonged to the family later called the House of Eric and to have been a son of a man named Jedvard, but even that parentage rests on later tradition rather than on a contemporary record.

He is usually regarded as having become king of Sweden around the mid-1150s, after the murder of King Sverker the Elder. His reign lasted only a few years and coincided with the still incomplete Christianization of the Swedish kingdoms, especially in Uppland. Later tradition portrays him as a devout Christian ruler, a supporter of the Church, and a lawgiver. The same tradition associates him with an expedition to Finland undertaken together with Bishop Henry of Uppsala. Modern scholarship regards this so-called First Swedish Crusade as poorly documented and possibly legendary in the form given in the saint's legend. Traditional accounts name his wife as Christina Björnsdotter (often called Christina of Denmark). His son Knut Eriksson (Canute I of Sweden) is historically well attested and later became king.

According to the medieval legend, Eric was killed on 18 May 1160 at Östra Aros, the settlement that developed into the city of Uppsala. He is said to have been attending Mass when enemies led by the Danish pretender Magnus Henriksson attacked him; after being wounded he was dragged from the church and beheaded. A spring was later claimed to have risen where his blood fell. The year 1160 is the date given by the traditional account and is the date used in standard historical literature, although the late character of the sources means that some circumstances of the killing remain uncertain. He was first buried at Old Uppsala. In the late thirteenth century relics attributed to him were translated to the new cathedral at Uppsala, where a reliquary associated with him is still preserved.

Eric's son Knut Eriksson later won the Swedish kingship and actively promoted his father's cult, which served both religious and dynastic purposes for the House of Eric. Eric was never formally canonized by a pope, but he was venerated as a saint in the medieval Swedish Church, and his feast was kept on 18 May. He became the patron saint of Sweden and of Stockholm; his crowned figure appears on the coat of arms of Stockholm. After the Reformation his liturgical cult declined in Sweden, yet he remained a national historical figure, and his relics and legend continued to be associated with Uppsala Cathedral. Because the surviving narrative is late and hagiographic, historians distinguish the well-attested facts of a short-lived twelfth-century king and a subsequent royal cult from the fuller legendary portrait of the lawgiving crusader-martyr.

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