Eric Magnusson (1268 – 15 July 1299) (

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

: ''Eiríkr Magnússon''; Norwegian: ''Eirik Magnusson'') was the

King of Norway The Norwegian monarch is the head of state of Norway, which is a constitutional and hereditary monarchy with a parliamentary system. The Norwegian monarchy can trace its line back to the reign of Harald Fairhair and the previous petty king ...

from 1280 until 1299.

Background

Eirik was the eldest surviving son of King Magnus the Lawmender of Norway, and his wife, Ingeborg, daughter of King Eric IV of Denmark. In 1273, when he was 5 years old, he was given the title of king, alongside his father, who planned to hold a coronation for Eirik as his subordinate co-ruler in the summer of 1280. However, King Magnus died before this could be arranged, and Eirik became sole king and was crowned as such in

Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...

in the summer of 1280. During his minority, the kingdom was ruled by a royal council consisting of prominent

barons Barons may refer to: *Baron (plural), a rank of nobility *Barons (surname), a Latvian surname *Barons, Alberta, Canada * ''Barons'' (TV series), a 2022 Australian drama series * ''The Barons'', a 2009 Belgian film Sports * Birmingham Barons, a Min ...

and probably also his mother, the dowager queen Ingeborg. After Eirik came of age in 1282, this royal council is still thought to have had a major influence over his reign. Narve Bjørgo, "Eirik Magnusson" in ''Norsk biografisk leksikon'' vol. II, (Oslo, 2000), pp. 436-437 His brother, Haakon, was in 1273 given the title "Duke of Norway", and from 1280 ruled a large area around

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

in Eastern Norway and

Stavanger Stavanger, officially the Stavanger Municipality, is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Norway. It is the third largest city and third largest metropolitan area in Norway (through conurbation with neighboring Sandnes) and the ...

in the southwest, subordinate to King Eirik. The king's main residence was in Bergen in Western Norway. Eirik married Princess Margaret of Scotland, daughter of King

Alexander III of Scotland Alexander III (; Modern Gaelic: ; 4 September 1241 – 19 March 1286) was King of Alba (Scotland) from 1249 until his death. He concluded the Treaty of Perth, by which Scotland acquired sovereignty over the Western Isles and the Isle of Man. ...

in 1281. Margaret died two years later in childbirth, giving birth to

Margaret, Maid of Norway Margaret (, ; March or April 1283 – September 1290), known as the Maid of Norway, was the queen-designate of Scotland from 1286 until her death. As she was never crowned, her status as monarch is uncertain and has been debated by historia ...

, who was to be Queen of Scotland, but she died in 1290. Her death sparked the disputed succession which led to the

Wars of Scottish Independence The Wars of Scottish Independence were a series of military campaigns fought between the Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of England in the late 13th and 14th centuries. The First War (1296–1328) began with the English invasion of Scotla ...

. Eirik briefly and unsuccessfully laid claim to the Scottish crown as inheritance from his daughter. Eirik later married Isabel Bruce, sister of King

Robert I of Scotland Robert I (11 July 1274 – 7 June 1329), popularly known as Robert the Bruce (), was King of Scots from 1306 until his death in 1329. Robert led Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland during the First War of Scottish Independence against Kingdom of Eng ...

. Their marriage did not produce a surviving male heir, although it did produce a daughter, Ingebjørg Eiriksdatter of Norway, who married Valdemar Magnusson of Sweden, Duke of Finland, in 1312 and was then styled Duchess of

Öland Öland (, ; ; sometimes written ''Oland'' internationally) is the second-largest Swedish island and the smallest of the traditional provinces of Sweden. Öland has an area of and is located in the Baltic Sea just off the coast of Småland. ...

Reign

A prominent feature of Eirik's reign was the war with Denmark, called the War of the Outlaws (De fredløses krig), which was waged on and off from 1289 until 1295. A major motivation for this warfare was Eirik's claim on his mother's Danish inheritance. In 1287, he entered into an alliance with a group of Danish nobles, most prominently Jacob Nielsen, Count of Halland and Stig Andersen Hvide, who were outlawed in Denmark for allegedly murdering the Danish king Eric V. Eirik gave the outlaws sanctuary in Norway in 1287. King Eirik himself led a large Norwegian fleet which, along with the Danish outlaws, attacked Denmark in 1289, burning Elsinore and threatening

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

. Renewed naval attacks on Denmark were made in 1290 and 1293, before peace was made in 1295. As Eirik died without sons, he was succeeded by his brother, as Haakon V of Norway. He was buried in the old cathedral of Bergen, which was demolished in 1531. Its site is marked by a memorial, in present-day Bergenhus Fortress.''Eirik Magnusson 1280-1299''
dokpro.uio.no. Accessed 31 December 2022.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eric 02 Of Norway 1268 births 1299 deaths 13th-century Norwegian monarchs Medieval child monarchs Burials at Christ Church, Bergen House of Sverre Fairhair dynasty Competitors for the Crown of Scotland Sons of kings