King of Sweden Erik X Knutsson 
King of Sweden Erik X was born in 1180 in Stockholm, Sweden. King of Sweden Erik X's father was King of Sweden Knut I Eriksson and his mother was Cecilia Blanka Johansdotter. His paternal grandparents were King of Sweden Eric IX "the Saint" Jedvardsson and Christina Björnsdatter. He had two sisters named Sigrid and Kristina. He was the second oldest of the three children. He died at the age of 36 on April 10th, 1216 in Visingsho, Jhonkhoping, Sweden.General Notes
Erik X ( c 1180 – 1216), Erik Knutsson (Eric son of Canute) was the King of Sweden between 1208 and 1216. He was the son of Knut Eriksson and his queen, whose name is unknown, but who very probably was a high-born Swedish noblewoman. He was born around 1280 in Eriksberg royal manor.
When his father, King Canute I, died peacefully in 1295, all his sons were only children. Eric apparently was not the eldest of them. Due to the influence of the mighty second-of-the-realm, Jarl Birger Brosa, Sverker II, the head of the rival dynasty was chosen as King of Sweden, over the underaged boys.
King Canute's sons continued to live in the Swedish royal court, until 1203, when his brothers and family brought forward claims to the thorone, and Sverker did not acquiesce, at which point Eric and his brothers escaped to Norway. In 1205, the brothers returned to Sweden with Norwegian support, but lost the battle of Älgarås, where three of Eric's brothers were killed.
In 1208 Eric returned to Sweden with Norwegian troops and won Sverker in the battle of Lena. Eric became thus chosen the king of Sweden.
Sverker attempted to reconquer the throne, but was won and killed in battle of Gestilren in 1210. The banner under which King Eric's troops fought, was preserved by his kinsman Justiciar Eskil Magnuson of Bjelbo clan in Skara, who in 1219 gave it as honorary to the visiting Icelandic justiciar Snorre Sturlasson.
At that time, king Eric X married princess Richeza of Denmark, daughter of the late Valdemar I of Denmark, and sister of the then reigning Valdemar II the Victorious. This was to make up relations with Denmark, which had traditionally supported the Sverker dynasty, against the Norwegian-supported dynasty of Eric.
Eric X was the first Swedish king who was crowned.
He died suddenly in fever in 1216 in the castle of Näs on the island of Visingsö. He was buried in the Varnhem Abbey Church.
His marriage produced several daughters, at least three and possibly as many as five, and one and only son, born posthumously, the future Eric XI of Sweden. Daughters: Helena?, Sophia?, Marianna?,
Märta of Sweden, married with Marshal Nils Sixtensson (Sparre)
Ingeborg of Sweden, possibly the youngest daughter.
Some later pretensions claim that one of his daughters would have been Marianna, who married a duke of Pomerania, becoming an ancestress of the House of Mecklenburg.
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Ancestor Pedigree Chart
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*There are earlier generations for the ancestor(s) indicated. See their page(s) for details (click name)
- b.1120 in Stockholm, Sweden d.1160 in Uppsala, Sweden
- b.~ 1150 in Stockholm, Sweden d.08 Apr 1196 in Varnhem, Varnhems Klosterkyrka, Sweden
- b.~ 1083 in Slangerup, Denmark d.1135 in Skibet, Denmark
- b.~ 1110 in Slangerup, Denmark
- b.1073 in Bergen, Norway d.1103 in Ireland
- b.~ 1093 in Bergen, Norway
- b.~ 1076 in Uppsala, Uppsala, Sweden d.04 Nov 1130 in Cathedral, Roskilde, Roskilde, Denmark
- b.~ 1130 in Slangerup, Denmark
- b.~ 1100 in Uppsala, Uppsala, Sweden
- b.1180 in Stockholm, Sweden d.10 Apr 1216 in Visingsho, Jhonkhoping, Sweden
- b.~ 1160 in Stockholm, Sweden d.08 Apr 1196 in Varnhem, Varnhems Klosterkyrka, Sweden
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Details of King of Sweden Erik X's family with Princess of Denmark Richiza Valdemarsdatter
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