Erik XIV of Sweden

Erik af Vasa ( Erik XIV ) (December 13rd, 1533 - February 26th, 1577) was king of Sweden of 1560 with its deposition in 1568.

He is the son of Gustave Erikson I {{er}} Vasa, king Sweden and Finland (1523- † 1560) and of Catherine of Saxony Lauenburg.

He was also monarch of Estonia after his conquest by Sweden in 1561.

He was intelligent and artistically gifted, just as politically ambitious. However, it showed at the beginning of its reign of signs mental instability, which finally leads it to the Folie.

Reign

The foreign politics of Erik was dominated by its efforts to make of Sweden a great power. With the difference of his/her father, who had been generally satisfied to control an independent state, Erik tried to extend its influence in the Baltic area and in Estonia. It took share with the conflict which opposed between them the Denmark, Sweden, the Poland and the Russia following the collapse of the capacity of the Latvian knights in the Baltic provinces, each one of these countries taking advantage of its rights on these areas. Its expansionism made him be confronted with his/her cousin, Frederic II of Denmark (1559- † 1588). In the search of useful political alliances, Erik made also proposals for a marriage remained without success inter alia with Elisabeth Ire of England (1558- † 1603) and Marie Ire of Scotland (1542- † 1567), just as Renata of Lorraine (1544- † 1602) and Christine de Hesse (1543- † 1604).

In interior policy, the ambitions of Erik were strongly thwarted by the Swedish nobility, including by his/her half-brother, Jean III of Sweden (1568- † 1592). Jean rebelled, but was captured and judged for high treason in 1563. The major part of the reign of Erik XIV was dominated by the Scandinavian Guerre Seven Years against the Denmark, during which it successfully pushed back the majority of the Danish attempts at conquests, but where it was not able to preserve its own conquests. During these years, its madness worsened; its reign became all the more autocratic and marked attacks, among which the slaughter of several family members of the Sture in 1566. In 1568 it was relieved and imprisoned by Jean who seized the power. The most faithful adviser of Erik, Jöran Persson (sometimes “Goran”), was condemned for the majority of the actions undertaken against the nobility during the reign of Erik and was carried out little time after the accession with the throne of Jean III.

Erik XIV died in prison with the castle of Örbyhus: according to the rumor, its last meal was pea a poisoned soup bowl. A document signed by his/her brother Jean III of Sweden and noble, Bengt Bengtsson Gylta, gave to its guards the authorization to poison it if whoever tried to make it escape. Its skin was exhumed later; analyzes updated the proof of poisoning at the Arsenic.

Family and descendants

Erik XIV is the brother of:

Jean III King Denmark Norway and Sweden († 1583), wife Catherine Jagellon of Poland
Charles IX king of Denmark and of Norway († 1611)
Cecile († 1627), wife of Christophe de Bade
Magnus Duke of Ostrogothie († 1575)
Anne Marie, wife of Georges Jean Ier, count de Veldenz.

Erik XIV had several adventures before its marriage.

With Agda Persdotter it had four girls:

Margareta Eriksdotter (1558- † 1618), married in 1592 in Olov Simonsson.
Virginia Eriksdotter (1559- † 1633) (downward still in life)
Constantia Eriksdotter (1560- † 1649) (downward still in life)
Lucretia Eriksdotter (1564 - † ~1574) dead young person.

With Karin Jacobsdotter:

a nonmarried child, deceased towards 1565.

Eric XIV married finally Karin Månsdotter (Catherine Maansdatter) (1550-1612), the July 4th 1568, one of rare the commoners of the Swedish royal line, and their children were:

Sigrid (1566- † 1633) (born before marriage)
Gustaf (1568- † 1607) (born before marriage)
Henrik (1570- † 1574)
Arnold (1572- † 1573)

Erik XIV in the popular culture

The life of Erik XIV is the subject of a part of 1899 by the Swedish author August Strindberg.

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