King of Sweden. Of the Upsala Dynasty, a collective name used here for the ancient line of Swealand rulers, he may have been King Eric V and his son King Olaf V, but they have never been counted thus officially. An Eric (IV) son of another Olaf, earlier in his century, and a disputed Eric (III) Weatherhat, dead in 882, may have been his more immediate namesake predecessors. Born approximately 945 he is the first king generally named by most historians to head an unbroken list of factually existing kings of Sweden. His name Eric is one of the very oldest still common among the Swedes, Day (Dag), that of a legendary 4th century ruler, being the oldest of all. Eric was victorious in that, when he died in 995, he is said to have also conquered and ruled Denmark for a time, though the Danes do not agree with the claim. He did win a great battle against a rebel nephew, Beorn the Strident-and-Strong (Styrbjörn Starke), on the Fyris Fields near Upsala. His queen was Gunnilda Swiatoslawa, a Polish princess and sister of Boleslaw I. Many modern historians have become increasingly convinced that the legendary Queen Sigrid the Haughty actually was the same person as Gunnilda, not a first consort of Eric's. By Eric the queen (whatever her name was) had the future King Olaf Scotking and probably a daughter Holmfrid. After his death she went on to marry Denmark's King Sweyn I, there becoming the mother of England's future King Canute the Great and of Princess Estrith Margaret who founded a new royal Danish dynasty. Most experts have agreed that Eric's grave is somewhere among the smaller tumuli at Old Upsala, a community which still was hanging on as the seat of the Norse religion of all of northern Europe when he died.
King of Sweden. Of the Upsala Dynasty, a collective name used here for the ancient line of Swealand rulers, he may have been King Eric V and his son King Olaf V, but they have never been counted thus officially. An Eric (IV) son of another Olaf, earlier in his century, and a disputed Eric (III) Weatherhat, dead in 882, may have been his more immediate namesake predecessors. Born approximately 945 he is the first king generally named by most historians to head an unbroken list of factually existing kings of Sweden. His name Eric is one of the very oldest still common among the Swedes, Day (Dag), that of a legendary 4th century ruler, being the oldest of all. Eric was victorious in that, when he died in 995, he is said to have also conquered and ruled Denmark for a time, though the Danes do not agree with the claim. He did win a great battle against a rebel nephew, Beorn the Strident-and-Strong (Styrbjörn Starke), on the Fyris Fields near Upsala. His queen was Gunnilda Swiatoslawa, a Polish princess and sister of Boleslaw I. Many modern historians have become increasingly convinced that the legendary Queen Sigrid the Haughty actually was the same person as Gunnilda, not a first consort of Eric's. By Eric the queen (whatever her name was) had the future King Olaf Scotking and probably a daughter Holmfrid. After his death she went on to marry Denmark's King Sweyn I, there becoming the mother of England's future King Canute the Great and of Princess Estrith Margaret who founded a new royal Danish dynasty. Most experts have agreed that Eric's grave is somewhere among the smaller tumuli at Old Upsala, a community which still was hanging on as the seat of the Norse religion of all of northern Europe when he died.
Bio by: Count Demitz
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