Eric VI of Denmark

Eric VI Menved (1274 – 13 November 1319) was

Regency

Eric Menved's rule was a central period during the "Age of Decay" in Denmark 1241–1340. His early reign – during which he was led by his mother and her German relatives – was affected by the unrest and wars that followed the murder of his father. ^[2]

The first act of the new government was to settle the case of the former king's murder at a court convened at Nyborg at Whitsun 1287. Twenty-seven honorable men were appointed to decide the case. Marshal Stig Andersen Hvide and Jacob Nielsen, Count of Halland and seven others were accused. After a one-day trial, the jury found all the accused guilty. The properties and incomes of the condemned were declared forfeit and they were exiled from Denmark on pain of death. Even the pope became involved when he excommunicated those who had been judged guilty. ^{[3] [4]}

The verdict was questionable on several counts. None of the accused could be proven to be in the immediate vicinity when the king was stabbed to death. The accused were not allowed to swear their innocence before the court or have other honorable men swear as to their innocence, a right granted to them by law. Despite the unclear circumstances surrounding Eric V's death, the jury only took one day to arrive at a guilty verdict. The accused had all belonged to Erik V's inner circle; it is uncertain what they were supposed to gain by the king's death.

For these reasons historians

Andersen and the others fled to Norway where they were welcomed by King Eirik who gladly supported enemies of the Danish king. He gave Andersen the fortress of Kongshelle near the border with Denmark. Andersen became a pirate who harried the coast of Denmark for years. The exiles managed to build forts on Samsø, Hjelm, Sprogø, and Helgenæs. No ship was safe and no coastal town immune from Stig Andersen Hvide. The high point of his depredations occurred in 1289 when he landed with a small Norwegian army at Stubbekøbing on Falster. Wizlau II of Rűgen, Denmark's regent, used his Wendish fleet to drive Andersen back to Norway. Andersen's activities sparked four decades of conflict and warfare between the Nordic kingdoms.

Reign

At the same time an ecclesiastical conflict appeared because of the ambitious new Archbishop of Lund

Erik had a great love of tournaments, and money poured out of the treasury for his entertainments. At one knightly tournament at Rostock, wine, mead, and beer "flowed" for an entire month for any who wished to drink. The king paid for the upkeep of all the horses and livestock at the tournament including a mountain of oats for any and all. He crafted new and unusual taxes to squeeze peasants and nobles alike. When the tax money didn't cover his expenses, the king borrowed money heavily from various German nobles, going so far as to mortgage pieces of Denmark to them. Erik sent several expeditions to Germany to win new territories in an attempt to recover Denmark's position as a Scandinavian great power. Through alliances with German princes, among them the Duke of Mecklenburg he managed to become the formal lord of several Hanseatic cities which meant fighting Brandenburg and some other minor states. He also intervened in Sweden in order to support his brother-in-law against the opposition in 1305 and again in 1307–1309 while fighting in Germany at the same time, hiring German troops to turn the tide in his favor.

In 1312 famine struck Denmark and when the king demanded the same taxes as before, the peasants on Zealand rebelled. Erik put down the rebellion fiercely, hanging hundreds of peasants outside Copenhagen. The very next year at the

In 1313 King Erik surrendered all crown property in southern Jutland to the Duke for cash. From 1315 to 1317

When Erik died in 1319 having survived all his 14 children; Denmark was bankrupt. He was succeeded by his younger brother Christopher (1276–1332) who ruled Denmark as King Christopher II between 1320 and 1326.^[12]

Judgements

Traditionally the rule of Eric VI has been regarded one of the few bright spots of the period because of his attempt to recover Denmark's far-flung empire. He has been hailed in Danish romantic literature. Viewed today, however, his policies began the dissolution of the Danish empire in the Baltic and northern Europe that followed during the next generation.

The nickname of King Eric has been much discussed. A popular explanation is that it is an abbreviation of his alleged favourite oath (“ved alle hellige mænd” – Eng.: by all holy men). Another explanation is that it derives from the elder Danish “menvett” (Eng.: bird of ill omen).

Children and family

Married in June 1296 to Ingeborg Magnusdotter of Sweden. She was the daughter of King Magnus III of Sweden and sister of Birger, King of Sweden. The couple had eight sons who died as children, as well as six miscarriages, although the sources differ between eight and fourteen children: her many pregnancies led to miscarriages, or the birth of children who died soon after.^[13]

• Valdemar (d. 1302)
• Eric
• Magnus
• An unnamed son (b. & d. 1318); according to tradition, Queen Ingeborg was so happy to finally have a live born child, she took the boy out for a carriage ride to show him off, holding him out the window, where she lost her grip on him, and he fell and broke his neck. Queen Ingeborg subsequently entered the Convent of St. Clare in Roskilde where she died the following year.

Evidence also indicate Eric VI may have had an illegitimate son,or possibly a son of Ingeborg later in life named Erik Sjællandsfar (ca. 1300–1364) at Orebygård on Zealand, buried in Roskilde Cathedral with a crown. However, other theories indicate that he was a son of King Valdemar IV of Denmark.^[14]

References

Other sources

• Arup, Erik (1951) Danmarks historie (Copenhagen: Hagerup)
• Fagerland, Tor Einar (2006) Krigføring og politisk kultur i nordisk middelalder, (NTNU)
• Hørby, Kai (1989) Gyldendals og Politikens -danmarkshistorie. 1250-1400 (Copenhagen: Gyldendal)

Media related to Eric VI of Denmark at Wikimedia Commons