Erik Segersäll

Erik Segersäll

Erik Segersäll (from Old Norse Eiríkr sigrsæli ), German Erik VIII., The joyful of victory or Erik the victorious , Latinized Hericus Victor (* at the latest in 945; † around 995 due to an illness), was king of the Svear and between 992 and 993 Danish king . The count goes back to Johannes Magnus .

His father is said to have been the legendary legendary king Björn der Alte , but his historically tangible parents cannot be determined with certainty. The Swedish historian Sture Bolin considers the version of Adam von Bremen most likely that the father was Edmund Eriksson, whom Adam names as the predecessor.

Some old chroniclers count him as the King of Sweden , who was the first to unite the areas of Svealand , Östergötland and Västergötland , i.e. all of medieval Sweden . Today this merit is often attributed to his son Olof Skötkonung . He is said to have been married to Sigrid the Proud . However, it is also doubted that this woman existed. The oldest sources only report that he was married to a Slavic princess and that Sven Gabelbarts' wife was also a Slavic woman and was called Gunhild . Since it was Erik's widow, her name should have been Gunnhild and she should have been the daughter of Prince Miezko. Sigrid would then have been a free invention of the early historians, whose name was taken from the Danish crown estate in Sweden at that time, which was called Sigridslev in the 13th century . However, this name suggests that there actually was a Sigrid. It could be that Erik was married twice. This is supported by the fact that Olof Skötkonung was grown up when he became king, but his "mother" was still very young.

According to the available sources, Icelandic Sagas , which were written quite late, and the Chronicle of Adam von Bremen , Erik ruled together with his brother Olof when he came to power around 970 . In this decade Sigtuna ("Segertuna", the 'settlement of the victorious') was founded. This makes Erik the first known king to have founded a city in Sweden.

When Olof, who was perhaps only a tribal chief in southern Sweden, died in 975, Erik became sole ruler. According to the Icelandic sagas, Olof's son, " Styrbjörn the Strong", wanted to take over the throne of his father and did not recognize his uncle Erik as the rightful Swedish king. He therefore turned out of the country across the Baltic Sea to Pomerania and there became one of the leading chiefs of the Jomswikings , who were stationed on Wollin in the Gau Jom , among other places . With this reinforcement and a Danish aid contingent, Styrbjörn went to Uppland by sea to drop Erik. Around 983 or 986, the two armies met on the Fyrisvallarna plain on the Fyris River south of Old Uppsala . Styrbjörn and numerous Jomswikings fell in the battle. Erik's warriors won, after which he is said to have received the nickname "the victorious".

After Adam von Bremen, Erik is said to have carried out a conquest to Denmark as revenge for the Danish support of Styrbjörn. Some sources mention the year 992 and others a year earlier. Erik is said to have expelled King Sven Gabelbart and ruled for a year, but then an illness forced him back to Old Uppsala. He probably died in his royal court in 995 and is believed to have been buried on the southwestern grave field of Old Uppsala. His underage son Olof Skötkonung succeeded him as king. Erik also had a daughter - Holmfrid Eriksdotter .

Marriages

Erik Segersäll should either Sigrid Storråda , the daughter of a ruler ( storman ) from Vastergotland, or Świętosława of Poland (also known as Gunhild ), daughter of Prince Mieszko I have been married.

The sources disagree about who Erik's wife was. The Icelandic sagas and the Dane Saxo Grammaticus indicate Sigrid Storråda , who therefore receives a lot of attention in the reports. Adam von Bremen noted, however, that it was a nameless Slavic princess who was named Gunhild in a later part of his book . For a long time, historians considered the reports about Sigrid Storråda to be invented and they believed that the names Sigrid or Gunhild were a modification of the Polish name Świętosława . In more recent times, the view is that Adam von Bremen made a misunderstanding and thus Sigrid Storråda is considered more likely.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Lagerqvist (1996) p. 27.
2. ↑ Lagerqvist (1976), p. 23.
3. ↑ Bolin
4. ↑ Lagerqvist (1996) p. 29.
5. ↑ Hans Jeske: Sigtuna: Ett ortnamm - försök till dess tolkning. In: Medical historical messages. Journal for the history of science and specialist prose research. Volume 34, 2015, pp. 97-103 (English and German summary: pp. 101 f.), Here: p. 102.

literature

• Sture Bolin : "Erik Segersäll" in: Svensk Biografisk Lexikon , accessed on December 5, 2012.
• Lars o. Lageqvist: Sverige och des regenter under 1000 år . Sporrong. Norrtälje 1976. ISBN 91-0-041538-3
• Lars o. Lageqvist: Sveriges regenter. Från forntid till nutid . Norsteds Förlag AB Stockholm 1996. ISBN 91-1-963882-5
• Johannes Brøndsted : The great time of the Vikings . Translated from the Danish by Karl Kersten. Neumünster: Karl Wachholtz Verlag 1964
• Joachim Herrmann u. a .: Vikings and Slavs. On the early history of the Baltic peoples. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag (GDR) 1982
• Lutz Mohr : Dragon ships in the Pomeranian Bay. The Jomswikinger, their Jomsburg and the Gau Jom . (edition rostock maritime). Edited by Robert Rosentreter . Rostock: Ingo Koch Verlag 2013, ISBN 978-3-86436-069-5

predecessor	Office	successor
Bjorn the old man	King of Sweden around 970–995	Olof Skötkonung