Erik IX.

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Erik IX. in the third seal of Stockholm

Erik IX. the saint , Swedish Erik Jedvardsson (also St. Erik or Erik den helige ), (* around 1120 in Västergötland ; † allegedly May 18, 1160 near Uppsala ) was King of Sweden from 1156 to 1160 and is considered the patron saint of Sweden . His feast day (Roman Catholic, also for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ) is May 18th (July 10th in Germany).

origin

His father's identity is unknown. One hypothesis based on the name Jedvard is that he was English. According to a literary source, the father's name is said to have been Jedvard Bonde , possibly from Uppland . However, this assumption is not supported by historical writings. In any case, he had strong connections to Västergötland , possibly through the properties of his wife Kristina, the granddaughter of Inge I. Erik had a brother, Joar Jedvardsson .

In a Swedish annal from around 1300 his mother is said to have been called Cecilia and was the daughter of Blot-Sven and sister of Ulf Jarl and Kol, certainly a mixture with Kol Sverkersson from Sweden. It is obviously a construction of Icelandic and local genealogical material and contains obvious contradictions. Facts cannot be derived from it.

Reports of his life

All statements about Erik's rule are historically controversial and possibly just legends . Most of the information comes from the legends of the saints from the 13th century. There is no news from his own lifetime. It is unclear how and when he came to the throne and the extent of his empire. A certificate from his son Knut Eriksson names him as king. In a list of kings from the middle of the 13th century he is listed behind Sverker I , in the row of kings from Uppsala before Magnus Henriksson , in the row of kings of Västgötalag before Karl Sverkersson . This source also mentions his violent death, which is confirmed by a papal bull to Canute.

Around 1150 he is said to have undertaken a crusade to Finland together with Henrik von Uppsala. He had turned back and left Bishop Henrik behind. He was killed immediately and made a martyr. It was placed in a shrine and first brought to Nousis and then to Åbo Cathedral . This report from Erik's legend is likely to have its basis in the fact that it was wanted to be ascribed the honor of having initiated the Swedish policy of conquest to the east, which was current at the time of writing.

He first appeared in 1156 or earlier as King of the Svear. In 1158 Erik was elected King of Västergötland, but never in Östergötland, where Karl Sverkerson was preferred. During his reign, the old cathedral church of Uppsala was completed, which Erik inaugurated together with Bishop Henrik . He probably became king of the entire Swedish empire in 1155 or 1156. Within his empire there was still widespread pagan resistance to Christianization, but this was almost completely eliminated under Erik.

In a Danish monastery chronicle from the end of the 12th century, it is described that the couple founded two Cistercian monasteries in Sweden in 1143 . One of them came to Varnhem , where a wealthy relative of Kristina named Sigrid gave the monks a piece of land with rich accessories. But after Sigrid's death Kristina challenged the estates as inheritance and incited the people against the monks so much that they moved to Vitskøl in Jutland in 1158 . But later the king and Kristina changed their minds and monks from Alvstara repopulated Varnhem. This representation shows Erik around 1158 as king in Västergötland. 1158, a year before Vitskøl Monastery was founded, is a more precise fixed point in King Erik's chronology.

The Church Congress in Linköping was also an important stage on the path to Christianization . Erik and his sons were involved in disputes with the Sverker family for rule over Sweden.

The St. Eriks legend reports that on Ascension Day, May 18, 1160, he was killed by the Danish prince Magnus Henriksson near the Trinity Church of Östra Aros (Uppsala) . An idealized image of Erik the Saint was incorporated into the Stockholm city ​​arms .

On the death of Erik the Holy

Shrine in Uppsala Cathedral

The legend describes some curiosities that are said to have taken place at Erik's death and at his grave. It is said that at the place where Erik fell there was a spring . The source is still there today on the north side of the new Uppsala Cathedral . It is marked with a large cast iron pump. In those days, when a saint died, the creation of a spring was essential. However, none of the usual miracles are reported for this source.

Marriage and offspring

Erik IX. married before 1158 Kristina Björnsdotter (* around 1120/25, † 1170) from the house Estridsson - the family of the kings of Denmark. Kristina's father was the Danish prince Björn Haraldsen “Eisseite” († 1134) - who was a son of the Danish prince Harald Kesja († 1135) and the Ragnhild of Norway, a daughter of Magnus III. Olavsson "Barefoot" was King of Norway (1095–1103) and a grandson of Erik I. Ejegod was King of Denmark (1095–1103). Kristina's mother was Katharina Ingesdotter of Sweden, a daughter of Inge I. Stenkilsson , King of Sweden (1080–1101) and Helena, who was probably a sister of Blot-Sven (Sacrificial Sven) (* around 1050, † around 1087) was who ruled Sweden as a pagan regional king from around 1084 to 1087. Erik was therefore related by marriage to the Danish, Norwegian and the former Swedish royal family of the Stenkils.

Erik left several children:

Research debate

To this day it is controversial which of the deeds attributed to Erik is real and which is legend. There is only one Danish monastery chronicle from shortly before 1200, which can be taken as contemporary confirmation that Erik actually existed. All other statements about his rule are only passed down as legends. The information in the Swedish annals that Erik was killed on May 18, 1160 after ten years in government has no decisive evidential value, although it was recorded in the second half of the 13th century. This also applies to the year of his death, which is based on a medieval annalistic-chronological construction.

Erik's bones have been examined. The cervical vertebrae had been severed from the front by a strong blow. The osteologists determined that she was around 40 years old. The skeleton is 167 cm long, which is slightly less than the average at the time. The grave crown was made of gilded copper. Relic robbers have broken off the tips. It is the oldest surviving royal crown.

The fact that Saxo Grammaticus does not mention Erik at all in his descriptions of the 12th century suggests that he was of no particular importance in his time. Saxo's descriptions of the time and tradition within the Sverker dynasty complicate the explanation of events. Saxo says that Magnus Henriksson initiated the murder of Sverker I and became king before Karl Sverkersson , who succeeded his father. According to the tradition of the Sverker dynasty, Erik Knutsson's predecessor is said to have murdered Sverker. Sverker's son followed this directly on the throne. Obviously Erik was not noticed at all during the period of unrest that lasted from Sverker's I death around 1155 to Knut Eriksson's final victory in the 1170s. Erik's importance for Sweden does not lie in his government activity, but in his capacity as the progenitor of a ruling dynasty and as a national saint.

The Swedish historian Knut Stjerna (1874–1908) began to re-imagine Erik's image through source-critical investigations. It was about an insignificant person, a usurper, who had managed for a few years to maintain an unstable position of power in part of the empire. Because of his wife, who thought Stjerna was a daughter of Blot-Sven, and his anti-monk policies, he even considered him to be identical to Erik Årsäll, who is described in the Heimskringla as the last representative of paganism, who only became hostile to the church towards the end of his life gave up. With this, Stjerna opposed a deeply rooted tradition, which soon aroused opposition. Its main critic was the archivist Carl Mauritz Kjellberg. He criticized Stjerna's premature and unfounded conclusions. He categorically rejected the identification of Erik the Saint with Erik Årsäll. He cited a letter from Erik Knutsson, in which he confirmed the gifts of his predecessors, including Erik, to the Nydala monastery , and a papal bull from the 1170s in which the Svear spoke of a person venerated as a saint who died of her drunkenness. This should prove that Erik ruled Småland and promoted monasteries and that there was a Swedish crusade against Finland in the 1170s. That is incompatible with Stjerna's image of Erik. The following scientific discussion dealt essentially with the interpretation of the papal bulls of the time, in which Erik is not mentioned by name.

Knut Bernhard Westman (1881–1967) chose a different approach, who examined Erik's description against the background of the church-political situation at the time and the religious contradictions. He saw in the early anti-church attitude of Erik and his descendants no lukewarm Christianity and no sympathy for paganism, like Stjerna, but a conservative national church-oriented attitude, while the kings of the Sverker dynasty were close to the Gregorian church reform . In this context, he gave the Eriks legend a high source value. He also paid tribute to Erik as the founder of a royal dynasty.

Lauritz Weibull (1873–1960) pursued an approach that was particularly critical of sources. His result was that both Stjerna's portrayal of Erik as close to paganism and Westman's portrayal as close to conservative national church efforts should be rejected as unprovable. He thought a picture of Erik as a whole was impossible. Except for a few episodes, nothing certain can be made out. The historian must be satisfied with that.

The cult of Erik

The cult of St. Erik is to be seen in connection with the Olav cult in Nidaros . The Archdiocese of Uppsala was founded in 1164, 10 years after the Archdiocese of Nidaros . In contrast to the Norwegian Archdiocese, the Swedish Archdiocese remained subordinate to the Danish Archdiocese of Lund . This had Pope Alexander III. expressly so determined. This weakened the archbishop's authority in Uppsala, and so in the Middle Ages there was a constant effort to break away from the supremacy of Lund. For this purpose, a separate cult of saints should also be used, which would also lead to its own income from the pilgrimage. The earliest written record that a feast of saints was held in honor of Erik is contained in a liturgical calendar from 1198, the Vallentuna calendar . There the feast of St. Erik is noted for May 18th. Before that, the cult can only have been very local. Erik does not mention the written material about the cathedral in Old Uppsala in the first half of the 13th century. Instead of him, St. Lars (= Laurentius) emerges. In a letter from 1232 the Pope calls the cathedral "titulo beati Laurentii Martiris insignita ". One reason for this is seen in the fact that Uppsala Cathedral lacked a separate cathedral chapter for a long time , which could have endeavored to cultivate saints. There is talk of a cathedral chapter for the end of the 12th century, but no one knows how big it was or how it was organized. It must have been dissolved soon, because the Pope stated in a letter from 1224 that a cathedral chapter was missing in Uppsala. It was not until the middle of the 13th century that energetic efforts were made to establish an Erik cult. In 1256 the Archbishop Lars von Uppsala wrote to the Pope asking for indulgence to visit the grave of St. Erik. Now Erik has also been made the church patron of the cathedral. This happened in connection with the relocation of the archbishopric from Old Uppsala to Östra Aros , as today's Uppsala was then called. Old Uppsala was too remote and the cathedral there had too few visitors. It was only on the occasion of this resettlement that Östra Aros was discussed as the place where Erik died. There is no evidence that Östra Aros had any relevance to Erik's death prior to the relocation of the bishopric. Rather, it can be assumed that the historical place of death had long been forgotten and that the clergy of the cathedral church had a free hand to determine the place of death themselves. The driving force was the archdeacon and later Archbishop Folke Johansson from the powerful Ängel family, a relative of the royal family. In 1273 the solemn translation of the relics from Gamla Uppsala to Ostra Aros took place. Something similar had already been done with the holy King Edmund of East Anglia. On this occasion the sacred spring was also discovered; because in northern Europe holy sources were necessary for the establishment of cults. You can find them widespread as far as Iceland. However, it was not possible to anchor the source in the cult. It is not mentioned in any miracle report about Erik and had no other meaning.

The Dominicans and Franciscans in particular were the driving forces behind the establishment of the Erik cult . Archbishop Lars , during whose term of office the Erik cult is mentioned for the first time, was himself a Franciscan. The author of the Erik legends was the prior of the Dominican monastery in Sigtuna . Archbishop Johannes , who was the first to put Erik in his seal, had also been prior in Sigtuna, and people from the two mendicant orders appear in many miracle reports. In addition to the clergy, the royal power was also interested in the Erik cult. Birger Jarl's claim to the royal throne for his son Valdemar was based on his relationship with Saint Erik, derived through his mother. The new dynasty generously endowed the cathedral and the chapter with donations. A miracle story in connection with Birger Jarl shows the competition to Olav the Saint: Birger Jarl was seriously ill in early 1290. His closest confidante, Karl Tyske, approached St. Erik for help after drawing lots to determine which saint he should call on, Olav or Erik or St. Nicholas . Of course, the lot fell on Erik, and after a vow for a pilgrimage, Birger recovered. This Karl was the brother of the future Archbishop of Uppsala Nils Kettilsson . The clergy, the royal power and the aristocracy of Uppland formed a network around the Uppsala cathedral and the local Erik cult. The Upplands aristocracy placed particular emphasis on some kind of relationship with Erik the Saint, and the saintly legends around him mention many aristocrats from these families.

Despite these efforts, the Erik cult could not spread beyond the heartland in Uppland. The northern areas of the archbishopric remained almost unaffected by the cult. The overrepresentation of the clergy and aristocrats among traditional pilgrims suggests that the Erik cult remained an elite cult that never found roots in the common people.

literature

  • Sture Bolin with a contribution (about Erik in cult and in the liturgy) by Bengt Hildebrand: "Erik den helige" in: Svensk Biografisk Lexikon .
  • Ingrid Lundegårdh: Kampen om den norrländska Olavskults . In: Lars Rumar (Red.): Helgonet i Nidaros. Olavskult och kristnande in the north . Riksarchivet, Stockholm 1997, pp. 115-137, ISBN 91-88366-31-6 (summary in English).
  • Arne Jönsson: St. Eric of Sweden. The drunken saint? In: Analecta Bollandiana , 109, 331-346 (1991), ISSN  0003-2468 .
  • Lars O. Lagerqvist: Sverige och des regenter under 1000 år . Norrtälje 1976. ISBN 91-0-041538-3 . P. 51.
  • Lars O. Lagerqvist: Sveriges regenter. Från forntid till nutid . Norsteds Förlag AB Stockholm 1996. ISBN 91-1-963882-5
  • Tore S. Nyberg: Erich IX. the saint . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages (LexMA). Volume 3, Artemis & Winkler, Munich / Zurich 1986, ISBN 3-7608-8903-4 , Sp. 2143 f.

Web links

Commons : Erik IX. Sweden  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Lagerqvist (1976) p. 51.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Bolin.
  3. ↑ a b Lagerqvist (1996) p. 55.
  4. ↑ Detlev Schwennicke: "European Family Tables" New Series Volume II, Plate 99
  5. ↑ Detlev Schwennicke: "European Family Tables" New Series Volume II, Plate 115
  6. ↑ a b Lagerqvist (1996) p. 57.
  7. ↑ Detlev Schwennicke: "European Family Tables" New Series Volume II, Plate 115
  8. ↑ For this and the following: Lundegårdh pp. 115–137
predecessor Office successor
Sverker I. King of Sweden
1156–1160 		Charles VII
personal data
SURNAME Erik IX.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Erik IX. the Saint; Erik Jedvardsson; St. Erik; Erik the Helige '
BRIEF DESCRIPTION King of Sweden; Patron saint of Sweden
DATE OF BIRTH around 1120
PLACE OF BIRTH Västergötland
DATE OF DEATH at May 18, 1160
Place of death at Uppsala