Eric, Saint

Saint, king of Sweden. He ruled 1150-1160. His reign is noted for a crusade against the heathen Finns. He was slain in a battle with the Danes under Magnus Hendrikson near Upsala.

Eric the Red, the founder of a Norse settlement in Greenland. He was born in Norway about 950. According to the current account, tradition rather than history, he fled from Norway to Iceland on a charge of murder. He was driven from Iceland for a similar outrage. He found a sheltered harbor in Greenland, but returned after three years to Iceland, whence he led a band of his followers to Greenland and founded a permanent settlement about 985. His son Leif Ericson introduced Christianity. The colony existed about 400 years, and was then wiped out by the Black Death.

Eric XIV (1533-1577), king of Sweden. He succeeded his father, Gustavus Vasa, in 1560. He appears to have made overtures to Elizabeth of England and to Mary, Queen of Scots, and finally made a peasant girl his queen. He was a licentious man, given to violent paroxysms of fury, in which his wife alone was able to control him. His subjects, unable to endure misgovernment, shut him up in prison and seated his brother John on the throne. The captive Eric was fond of books, of writing, and of music. He died from a cup of poison.