House of Eric

The dynasty of Eric or House of Erik was one of the two noble families, dynasties, which rivalled for the kingship of Sweden between 1150 and 1220. The first king of this dynasty was Eric IX of Sweden whom the later world has dubbed as Saint Erik. The other dynasty was the House of Sverker.

The dynasty of St Erik favored the Varnhem Abbey, and several of its members lay interred there.

Foremother of the dynasty was Eric IX's wife Christina Björnsdatter, whom legends claim to have been maternal granddaughter of king Inge I of Sweden.

Female first name Catherine seems to have been favored within the Eric dynasty.

In 1226, two branches of the dynasty itself drove to conflict between each other: Canute the Tall, the adult heir allegedly of Filip, younger son of Eric IX, deposed the underage Eric XI, the Lisp and the Lame ("läspe och halte"), who only in 1234 resumed the kingship, and himself died in 1250. Conflict continued between the royal, senior branch and Canute's sons until the latter were executed in 1248 and 1251, respectively.

Eric XI was the last king of agnatic line of this dynasty and he died apparently without surviving children (though some romantic genealogies and by such influenced later research, however in minority view, have attributed one or two daughters to him - those ladies were more likely daughters of his sister and Birger jarl).

Eric XI's nephew, the then underage son of his sister Ingeborg, was elected king Valdemar I of Sweden, under regency of his father Birger Jarl.

Almost all the subsequent kings of Sweden have been descendants of the Erik dynasty. Descent from this house was regarded such hard currency in medieval and early modern powergames that some aspirants (most notably, Charles VIII of Sweden) even fabricated a descent (see Tofta) to show that also they would be heirs of Erik dynasty.