The ''Eric Chronicle'' (Swedish: ''Erikskrönikan'') is the oldest surviving Swedish
chronicle. It was written by an unknown author (or, less probably, several authors) between about 1320 and 1335.
It is the oldest in a group of medieval rhymed chronicles recounting political events in Sweden. It is one of Sweden's earliest and most important narrative sources. Its authorship and precise political significance and biases are debated, but it is clear that the chronicle's protagonist and hero is
Eric, Duke of Södermanland
Eric Magnusson (c. 1282 – 1318) was a Swedish prince, Duke of Svealand, Södermanland, Dalsland, Västergötland, Värmland and North Halland and heir to the throne of Sweden. His son, Magnus, became king of Norway and Sweden.
Background
E ...
, brother of King
Birger of Sweden.
The chronicle is written in ''
knittelvers'', a form of
doggerel
Doggerel, or doggrel, is poetry that is irregular in rhythm and in rhyme, often deliberately for burlesque or comic effect. Alternatively, it can mean verse which has a monotonous rhythm, easy rhyme, and cheap or trivial meaning. The word is deri ...
, and in its oldest version is 4543 lines long. It begins in 1229, with the reign of
Eric XI of Sweden
Eric "XI" the Lisp and Lame Swedish: ''Erik Eriksson'' or ''Erik läspe och halte''; Old Norse: ''Eiríkr Eiríksson'' (1216 – 2 February 1250) was king of Sweden in 1222–29 and 1234–50. Being the last ruler of the House of Eric, he stood ...
(d. 1250) but focuses on the period 1250-1319, ending in the year when the three-year-old
Magnus IV of Sweden
Magnus IV (April or May 1316 – 1 December 1374; Swedish ''Magnus Eriksson'') was King of Sweden from 1319 to 1364, King of Norway as Magnus VII (including Iceland and Greenland) from 1319 to 1355, and ruler of Scania from 1332 to 1360. By ...
came to the throne. It survives in six manuscripts from the fifteenth century and a further fourteen from the sixteenth and seventeenth.
Example
External links
Original text in Old SwedishTranslation into Modern English*
Carl L. Thunbergbr>
(2012): ''Att tolka Svitjod'', Göteborgs universitet, pp 47-53.
Publications
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References
Scandinavian chronicles
Swedish literature
13th century in Sweden
14th century in Sweden
Works of unknown authorship
{{sweden-hist-stub