Swedish prince. Royal status due to mother. Son of the great Duke Birger of Sweden and his royal wife, Princess Ingiburga. In the conflict between his elder brothers King Valdemar and Duke Magnus he sided with Magnus. When Magnus had won and been proclaimed King Magnus III in 1275, he made Eric Duke of Swealand as well as Duke of the Smallands. He was buried at Varnhem together with his father and step-mother.
According to one story, Eric originally called himself "Eirek allz-ekki" Eric Nothing-at-All, because he had no title. Only when Magnus became king did he begin to call himself Duke. When Birger's family grave was opened and examined in 2002, osteologist Torbjörn Ahlström from Lund University confirmed that the tomb contained the remains of three people – probably Duke Birger, his second wife Dowager Queen Matilda of Denmark, and Eric. DNA tests in 2007 and 2011 reconfirmed these findings. His father's skeleton was about 172 cm long, while Eric's was a few inches longer but of a much thinner build and muscular attachments poorly developed. In the vertebrae and sternum there were some signs of pathological changes. He would have been 25 years old when he died in 1275.
A monument elsewhere is his monumental bust in Skara Cathedral.
According to one story, Eric originally called himself "Eirek allz-ekki" Eric Nothing-at-All, because he had no title. Only when Magnus became king did he begin to call himself Duke. When Birger's family grave was opened and examined in 2002, osteologist Torbjörn Ahlström from Lund University confirmed that the tomb contained the remains of three people – probably Duke Birger, his second wife Dowager Queen Matilda of Denmark, and Eric. DNA tests in 2007 and 2011 reconfirmed these findings. His father's skeleton was about 172 cm long, while Eric's was a few inches longer but of a much thinner build and muscular attachments poorly developed. In the vertebrae and sternum there were some signs of pathological changes. He would have been 25 years old when he died in 1275.
A monument elsewhere is his monumental bust in Skara Cathedral.
Swedish prince. Royal status due to mother. Son of the great Duke Birger of Sweden and his royal wife, Princess Ingiburga. In the conflict between his elder brothers King Valdemar and Duke Magnus he sided with Magnus. When Magnus had won and been proclaimed King Magnus III in 1275, he made Eric Duke of Swealand as well as Duke of the Smallands. He was buried at Varnhem together with his father and step-mother.
According to one story, Eric originally called himself "Eirek allz-ekki" Eric Nothing-at-All, because he had no title. Only when Magnus became king did he begin to call himself Duke. When Birger's family grave was opened and examined in 2002, osteologist Torbjörn Ahlström from Lund University confirmed that the tomb contained the remains of three people – probably Duke Birger, his second wife Dowager Queen Matilda of Denmark, and Eric. DNA tests in 2007 and 2011 reconfirmed these findings. His father's skeleton was about 172 cm long, while Eric's was a few inches longer but of a much thinner build and muscular attachments poorly developed. In the vertebrae and sternum there were some signs of pathological changes. He would have been 25 years old when he died in 1275.
A monument elsewhere is his monumental bust in Skara Cathedral.
According to one story, Eric originally called himself "Eirek allz-ekki" Eric Nothing-at-All, because he had no title. Only when Magnus became king did he begin to call himself Duke. When Birger's family grave was opened and examined in 2002, osteologist Torbjörn Ahlström from Lund University confirmed that the tomb contained the remains of three people – probably Duke Birger, his second wife Dowager Queen Matilda of Denmark, and Eric. DNA tests in 2007 and 2011 reconfirmed these findings. His father's skeleton was about 172 cm long, while Eric's was a few inches longer but of a much thinner build and muscular attachments poorly developed. In the vertebrae and sternum there were some signs of pathological changes. He would have been 25 years old when he died in 1275.
A monument elsewhere is his monumental bust in Skara Cathedral.
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