Erik Magnusson ^{1 2 3}

  General Notes:

Eric Magnusson was the son of Magnus Ladulås and queen Helvig. He was born ca 1282 and became the duke of Södermanland and a part of Uppland in 1302. He was betrothed to Ingeborg Håkonsdotter, the one-year-old daughter of King Håkon V of Norway.

Erik was more skilled and intelligent than his elder brother Birger Magnusson. He was also bold and ambitious, and his social skills won him many allies. His younger brother Valdemar Magnusson, the duke of Finland, became his close ally and helped him in all his projects.

King Birger, who feared his brothers' plans, forced them to sign a paper, in 1304, so as to render them less dangerous. They then fled to Norway, but in 1305, they reconciled with the king and regained their dukedoms.

Eric was also in possession of Kungahälla, which he had been given during his exile by the Norwegian king, and northern Halland which he had been given by the Danish king Eric VI of Denmark. Duke Eric planned to topple Birger's marshal Torgils Knutsson who was in the way of his ambitious plans. As the clergy were in opposition to the marshal, they joined Eric. They prevailed on the weak Birger to execute Torgils, who was a faithful counsellor in 1306. Little more than half a year later, Birger was imprisoned by his brothers (september 1306), and his brothers took control of Sweden.

Birger's brother-in-law, the Danish king Eric VI of Denmark arrived with his army to support Birger. The Norwegian king Håkon, however, was on the side of the usurpers. In 1308, Eric and Valdemar were forced by the Danish king to liberate Birger, but they did so under humiliating conditions. When Birger was free, he sought aid in Denmark, and the strife began anew. The course of events turned against Eric. By concluding a peace treaty with the Danish king, unbeknownst to the Norwegian king Håkon, Eric lost Håkon's trust. Håkon wanted to have Kungahälla back, but Eric refused.

A war broke out between the Norwegian king and Eric in 1309, and the kings of Norway and Denmark concluded peace, and allied against the dukes. Through his strategic skills, Eric managed to ride out the storm, and defeated the Norwegians, and also the Danes who arrived as far as Nyköping in 1309.

He attacked Norway and reconquered Kungahälla, which he had lost to Håkon, in 1310. Finally, there was peace at Helsingborg, in which Sweden was divided between Birger and his brothers. Eric received Västergötland, Dalsland, Värmland and Kalmar County, as well was northern Halland as a fief from Denmark, but he promised to return Kungahälla to Norway.

In spite of the fact that Eric never returned Kungahälla, and broke almost all his promises to Håkon, he managed to win his approval. In 1312, he married Håkon's 11 year old daughter Ingeborg Håkonsdotter, who, in 1316 gave him a son, the future king Magnus II of Sweden.

Eric seemed close to reaching his goals: he was now in possession of realm consisting of parts of all the three Scandinavian kingdoms, he had a son who was the heir apparent of the kingdom of Norway, and he was the de facto ruler of Sweden.

However, his career was stopped and his life was shortened by the treachery of his brother King Birger, the de jure ruler of Sweden. During a call on his brother in Nyköping, he and his brother Valdemar were arrested and chained, the night between the 10th and 11th of December 1317. No one knows for certain what happened to the two brothers. They either starved to death or were slain, in the early summer of 1318.

In all of Scandinavia, their deaths caused great dismay and sorrow, which caused people to forgive them their misdeeds, and only to remember their qualities. However, Eric's ambitions had caused great troubles for Sweden, and the time of civil war between the brothers were one of the grimmest eras in Swedish history. Eric's life was portrayed in a positive light in Eric's Chronicle, by one of his supporters.

  Medical Notes:

He died in prison.

  Noted events in his life were:

• Acceded: Duke of Südermannland, 1303.

Erik married Ingebjørg Håkonsdatter, daughter of Håkon V Longlegs Magnusson and Euphamia of Arnstein von Rügen, on 29 Sep 1312. (Ingebjørg Håkonsdatter was born in 1301 and died after 1360.)