| Erik af Pommern Erik av Pommern |
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| By the grace of God, King of Denmark, Sweden and Norway, the Wends and the Goths, Duke of Pomerania[1] | |
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| Reign | 1389–1442 (Norway) 1396–1439 (Sweden) 1396–1439 (Denmark) |
| Coronation | 17 June 1397, Kalmar |
| Born | 1382 |
| Rügenwalde (Darłowo) | |
| Died | May 3 1459 |
| Rügenwald Castle | |
| Buried | Rügenwalde |
| Successor | Christopher of Bavaria |
| Consort | Philippa of England |
| Issue | None |
| Father | Wartislaw VII, Duke of Pomerania |
| Mother | Mary of Mecklenburg-Schwerin |
Eric of Pomerania (ca. 1382 – 3 May 1459) was King of Norway (1389–1442), elected King of Denmark (1396–1439), and of Sweden (1396–1439). He was the first king of the Nordic Kalmar Union
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Names
Eric has been known as Erik af Pommern and Erik VII in Danish, as Erik av Pommern and Eirik III in Norwegian, and as Erik av Pommern and Erik XIII in Swedish.
Family
He was a son of Wartislaw VII, Duke of Pomerania and Mary of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. His paternal grandparents were Bogusław V, Duke of Pomerania and his second wife Adelheid of Brunswick-Grubenhagen. His maternal grandparents were Heinrich III of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Ingeborg of Denmark, Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Heinrich was a rival of Olaf Haakonsson in regard to the Danish succession in 1375. Ingeborg was a daughter of Valdemar IV of Denmark and his Queen consort Heilwig of Schleswig. Her maternal grandparents were Eric II, Duke of Schleswig (reigned 1312 - 1325) and Adelheid of Holstein-Rendsburg.
Claim to the throne
Eric was born in 1382 in Rügenwalde (Darłowo). Initially named Bugislav, he was son to the only surviving granddaughter of Valdemar IV of Denmark and also a descendant of Magnus I of Sweden and Haakon V of Norway. In 1387, Olaf, King of Norway and Denmark, died without issue. The next in line of succession to the throne of Norway was the Swedish king, Albert of Mecklenburg, but he was resented by the Norwegian nobility. Denmark was an elected kingdom, with no clear candidates to the throne. Olaf's mother, Queen Margaret of Norway, had herself elected regent of both Denmark and Norway. In Norway it was decided that the inheritance to the throne was to be reckoned from her. Young Bugislav was the grandson of her sister. In 1389 he came to Denmark to be brought up by Queen Margaret. His name was changed to the more Nordic-sounding Erik, or Eric. On 8 September 1389 he was hailed as King of Norway at the thing of Eyrathing in Trondheim. He may have been crowned King of Norway in Oslo in 1392, but this is disputed. In 1396 he was hailed as king in Denmark and then in Sweden. On 17 June 1397, he was crowned as king of the three Nordic countries in the cathedral of Kalmar. At the same time, a union treaty was drafted, declaring the establishment of what has become known as the Kalmar Union. Queen Margaret, however, remained the de facto ruler of the three kingdoms until her death in 1412.
Marriage
In 1402, Queen Margaret entered into negotiations with King Henry IV of England about the possibility of an alliance between the Kingdom of England and the Nordic union. The proposal was for a double wedding, whereby Eric would marry Henry's daughter, Philippa, and Henry's son, the Prince of Wales and future King Henry V, would marry Eric's sister, Catherine. The English side wanted these weddings to seal an offensive alliance between the Nordic kingdoms and England, which could have led to the involvement of the Nordic union on the English side in the ongoing Hundred Years' War against the Kingdom of France. Queen Margaret led a consistent foreign policy of not getting entangled in binding alliances and foreign wars. She therefore rejected the English proposals. The double wedding did not come off, but Eric's wedding to Philippa was successfully negotiated. On 26 October 1406, Eric married the 13-year-old Philippa at Lund. The wedding was accompanied by a purely defensive alliance with England.
Reign
From contemporary sources, Eric appears as an intelligent, visionary, energetic and a firm character. That he was also a charming and well-speaking man of the world was shown by a great European tour of the 1420s. Negatively, he seems to have had a hot temper, a lack of diplomatic sense, and an obstinacy that bordered on mulishness. Almost the whole of Eric’s sole rule was affected by his long-standing conflict with the Counts of Schauenburg and Holstein. He tried to regain South Jutland (Schleswig) which Margaret had been winning but he chose a policy of warfare instead of negotiations. The result was a devastating war that not only ended without conquests but also lost the South Jutlandic areas that he had already obtained. During this war he showed much energy and steadiness but also a remarkable lack of adroitness. In 1424, a verdict of the Holy Roman Empire by Sigismund, King of Germany, recognising Eric as the legal ruler of South Jutland was ignored by the Holsteiners. The long war was a strain on the Danish economy as well as on the unity of the north. Perhaps Eric's most far-ranging act was the introduction of the Sound Dues (Øresundtolden) in 1429 which was to last until 1857. By this he secured a large stable income for his kingdom that made it relatively rich and which made the town of Elsinore flowering. It showed his interest of Danish trade and naval power, but also permanently challenged the other Baltic powers, especially the Hanseatic cities against which he also fought. Another important event was his making Copenhagen a royal possession in 1417, thereby assuring its status as the capital of Denmark. During the 1430s the policy of the king fell apart. The farmers and mine workers of Sweden began a national and a social rebellion in 1434 which was soon used by the Swedish nobility in order to weaken the power of the king. He had to yield to the demands of both the Holsteiners and the Hanseatic League. When the Danish nobility began opposing his rule, he left Denmark in 1439 and settled at his castle Visborg in Gotland, apparently a kind of a “royal strike” which at last led to his deposition.
Duke of Pomerania
In 1440, Eric, having been deposed in Denmark and Sweden, was succeeded by his nephew, Christopher of Bavaria, who had been chosen for the thrones. After he had been deposed as king in Sweden and Denmark, the Norwegian Riksråd remained loyal to him, and wanted him to remain king of Norway only. He reputedly refused the offer by saying it is better to be a pirate chieftain on Gotland than to be the king of Norway. Christopher, his successor, died in 1448, long before Eric himself. The next monarch (reigned 1448–81) was Eric's kinsman, Christian I of Denmark, who was the son of Eric's earlier rival, Count Theodoric of Oldenburg. To him Eric handed over Gotland in return for the permission to leave for Pomerania. From 1449-59, Eric ruled the Duchy of Stolp, part of the Duchy of Pomerania, as Eric I. He died in 1459 at Rügenwald Castle in Pomerania, and was buried in Rügenwalde.
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Eric of Pomerania
Cadet branch of the House of Wittelsbach
Born: 1382 Died: May 3 1459 |
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| Regnal titles | ||
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| Preceded by Margaret I as Queen regnant of Denmark & Queen regnant of Norway & Queen regnant of Sweden |
King of Denmark 1396–1439 with Margaret I (1396-1412) |
Succeeded by Christopher of Bavaria |
| King of Norway 1389–1442 with Margaret I (1389-1412) |
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| King of Sweden 1396–1434 with Margaret I (1396-1412) |
Succeeded by Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson as Regent of Sweden |
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| Preceded by Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson as Regent of Sweden |
King of Sweden 1435–1436 |
Succeeded by Karl Knutsson as Regent of Sweden |
| Preceded by Karl Knutsson as Regent of Sweden |
King of Sweden 1436–1439 |
Succeeded by Karl Knutsson as Regent of Sweden |
