Erik Årsäll: Difference between revisions

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'''Eric of Good Harvests''' or '''Eirik Arsale''' ([[Swedish language|Swedish]]: ''Erik Årsäll'', [[Old Norse]]: ''Eiríkr hinn ársæli'') was a semi-historical king of [[Sweden]] during the last decades of the [[11th century]]. andHe was the son of the pagan Swedish king [[Blot-Sweyn]].<ref name=Nordisk>[http://runeberg.org/nfbg/0412.html ''Erik'', an article in ''Nordisk familjebok'']</ref>. Like his father before him, Eric administered the [[blót]]s at the [[temple at Uppsala]].<ref name=Nordisk>[http://runeberg.org/nfbg/0412.html ''Erik'', an article in ''Nordisk familjebok'']</ref>. However, Eric does not appear in any Swedish or Danish primary sources.<ref name=svenska>[http://runeberg.org/swkyrhis/1/0382.html ''Svenska kyrkans historia'' (1838)]</ref>.

The [[13th century]] historian [[Snorri Sturlusson]] wrote in the ''[[Heimskringla]]'' that Blót-Sweyn and Eric had renounced Christianity and still ruled a largely pagan Sweden:

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{{cquote|At that time there were many people all around in the Swedish dominions who were heathens, and many were bad Christians; for there were some of the kings who renounced Christianity, and continued heathen sacrifices, as Blotsvein, and afterwards Eirik Arsale, had done.<ref>[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Heimskringla/Saga_of_Sigurd_the_Crusader_and_His_Brothers_Eystein_and_Olaf ''Saga of Sigurd the Crusader and His Brothers Eystein and Olaf'' (c. 1225)].</ref>}}

Eric was the contemporary of [[Inge I of Sweden|Inge the Elder]],<ref name=Nordisk>[http://runeberg.org/nfbg/0412.html ''Erik'', an article in ''Nordisk familjebok'']</ref>, and this suggests that Eric was the last high priest ([[goði]]) of the Temple at Uppsala, and that he was killed or deposed by Inge the Elder.

Eric is mentioned by a plausible source as the father of [[Sverker the Elder]],<ref name=Nordisk>[http://runeberg.org/nfbg/0412.html ''Erik'', an article in ''Nordisk familjebok'']</ref><ref name=svenska>[http://runeberg.org/swkyrhis/1/0382.html ''Svenska kyrkans historia'' (1838)]</ref>, which suggests that his true name was either Kol<ref name=Nordisk>[http://runeberg.org/nfbg/0412.html ''Erik'', an article in ''Nordisk familjebok'']</ref><ref name=svenska>[http://runeberg.org/swkyrhis/1/0382.html ''Svenska kyrkans historia'' (1838)]</ref><ref>The name of Sverker the Elder's father according to ''[[Skáldatal]]'' (c. [[1300]]).</ref> or Cornube<ref>The name of Sverker the Elder's father according to the ''[[Westrogothic law]]'' (c. [[1250]]).</ref> might have been his true name. ''Eric Årsäll'' would then be a description of him as a "king during whose reign there were good harvests".<ref>Steinsland, Gro, ''Den hellige kongen'', Oslo 2000. side 54 ISBN 82-530-2227-1</ref>.

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