Erik III. (Denmark)
Erik III. Håkønssøn Lam (* around 1100–1105 on Funen ; † August 27, 1146 in Odense ) was King of Denmark from 1137 until his abdication (abdication) in 1146 . He was the son of Håkon Jarl and Ragnhild, the daughter of Erik I. Ejegod (Immergut) , and thus the nephew of Erik II. Emune .
He is first mentioned in the sources at the Battle of Fodevig , where he led a contingent of knights in the army of his uncle Erik Emune. After his uncle Erik II Emune had been killed on a thing in Urnehoved near Ribe by the nobleman Sort Plov, Erik III entered. as the oldest living male relative to the throne. During his reign there was peace for most of the time, interrupted only by a campaign against Oluf Haraldsson, the only son of Erik Emune's brother Harald Kesja, who had escaped being assassinated by Erik Emune in 1135. Oluf claimed the throne in 1139, but Erik was able to defeat and kill him near Helsingborg in 1141 . He was supported by Eskil von Lund .
Erik Lam also interfered in the throne disputes in Norway when in 1139 he made a fleet available to the expelled King Magnus the Blind and the pretender Sigurd Slembe . Magnus and Sigurd, however, were defeated by the sons of Harald Gille in the battle of Holmengrå .
Erik III. was the first Danish king who was strongly influenced by the German culture. He spent his childhood in the environment of German knights, from whom he adopted the ideals of knightly society for his later reign. The solution from the Archdiocese of Lund was also supposed to be served by the marriage with Luthgard von Salzwedel , the sister of Bremen Archbishop Hartwig I von Stade from the Udonen family , which he entered into in 1144 . Shortly before, she had been divorced from Friedrich II von Sommerschenburg . The marriage presumably remained childless and was dissolved in 1146. After Erik's death the following year, she entered into a third marriage with the divorced Count Hermann II von Winzenburg .
Contemporary chronicles contradict each other in the accounts of Erik's reign, which is sometimes described as passive and indecisive, then again brave and combative. His name Lam means "lamb", which is interpreted here as "gentle" and "humble" rather than "lame" and thus weak.
The reason for his abdication, the only one by a Danish king, is unknown. He entered the Sankt Knud monastery in Odense and died that same year of complications from an illness. After his death, the civil war between the descendants of King Niels and Erik Emune flared up again.
See also
Web links
- Erik Lam on danmarkshistorien.dk (Danish)
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| Erik II. Emune |
King of Denmark 1137–1146 |
Sven III. and Knut V. Magnusson |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Erik III. |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Erik Lam |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | King of Denmark |
| DATE OF BIRTH | around 1100 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | on Funen |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 27, 1146 |
| Place of death | Odense |