Eric XII ( Swedish: ''Erik Magnusson''; 1339 – 21 June 1359) was King of Sweden and lord of Scania in 1344–1359. He was a co-ruler with his father, King Magnus IV, from 1356 until his death in 1359. Referring to Erik Magnusson as King Eric XII is a later invention, counting backwards from Eric XIV (1560–68). He and his brother Charles IX (1604–1611) adopted numerals according to a fictitious history of Sweden. The number of Swedish monarchs named Eric before Eric XIV (at least seven) is unknown, going back into

prehistory Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The us ...

. It would be speculative to try to affix a mathematically accurate one to this king.

Biography

Erik was the son of King Magnus Eriksson (1316–1374) and the grandson of

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 ...

(c. 1282–1318). In 1343 Eric and his brother, Haakon, were elected heirs to the thrones of

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

and

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...

, respectively. He was married to Beatrix of Bavaria (1344-1359), daughter of

Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor Louis IV (german: Ludwig; 1 April 1282 – 11 October 1347), called the Bavarian, of the house of Wittelsbach, was King of the Romans from 1314, King of Italy from 1327, and Holy Roman Emperor from 1328. Louis' election as king of Germany ...

. Håkon received the Norwegian throne in 1355 and this led to the prior union between those countries being dissolved. In 1357 a Swedish rebellion forced King Magnus to share the rule of Sweden with his son Erik, who was allowed domain over most of Scania and Finland. Joint rule of Sweden was established again in 1359 when father and son became reconciled and co-ruled Sweden until Eric's death a few months later. Quite soon after his death his wife, Beatrix, died as well. It is generally believed that they both died of the

Black Death The Black Death (also known as the Pestilence, the Great Mortality or the Plague) was a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Western Eurasia and North Africa from 1346 to 1353. It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causi ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eric 12 of Sweden 1339 births 1359 deaths 14th-century Swedish monarchs Rulers of Finland 14th-century deaths from plague (disease) Sons of kings