At the turn of the XIII-XIV centuries, the history of Sweden made a double circle. Twice the younger brothers united against the elder, trying to overthrow him. In the first case, it worked. And when the situation threatened to repeat itself, King Birger Magnusson took on the sin of fratricide without hesitation.
Before Birger's eyes stood the example of his father, Magnus I Ladulos (translated as "barn castle"), who, with the help of his younger brother Eric, after several years of war and intrigue, overthrew his older brother Valdemar I. The rebels won a decisive victory in 1275 in the battle under Hove. In 1277, Valdemar ceded the throne to Magnus, bargaining for possession in Gotaland.
Magnus's youth
Magnus himself married Countess Helwig of Holstein in 1276, and the wedding fun in Kalmar led to a fire that destroyed the entire city. Despite this grim omen, Magnus's reign was generally quite successful. But he died in 1290, when his son Birger was only 10 years old.
The dowager queen, who was considered a model of virtue, retired to her estate Dove, where she spent the subsequent years allotted to her, having outlived all her children, except for the youngest daughter Rikitsa (who became the abbess of the Stockholm monastery of St. Clara). Another daughter, Ingeborga, married King Eric VI of Denmark. Birger, on the other hand, was under the supervision of the regent appointed to him by his father - Marshal Torgils Knutsson.
Inside the country, Torgils led a fairly competent tax policy, but he was much more remembered for his foreign policy. Firstly, by the fact that he withdrew part of the taxes due to the Roman Church, and secondly, he founded the Vyborg fortress, marking a kind of intermediate line of Swedish claims in the east.
Then the claims increased, and in 1300, the Swedes, under the personal command of the Marshal, founded the Landskronu fortress at the mouth of the Neva (on the territory of modern Petersburg). True, the next year the Novgorodians destroyed it, which badly affected the reputation of Torgils.
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Meanwhile Magnus married the daughter of the Danish king, Princess Martha, in 1302 he was declared an adult, was crowned, and began to rule on his own.
Two brothers - Eric and Valdemar - got the titles of Dukes of Södermanland and Finland, respectively. But this was not enough for Eric: he considered himself more talented and educated Birger and managed to win Waldemar over to his side.
The defeat of King Valdemar I with princes Magnus and Erik took place in front of Torgils, and the marshal did not want his pupil to find himself in a similar situation. Eric and Valdemar of the second generation, in turn, dreamed of getting rid of the marshal, who was the most reliable support of the reigning monarch.
Marshal on the scaffold
On the advice of Torgils, the king invited the brothers to Aranas castle, where after a good feast they were explained: if they want to leave the castle, they must sign a paper with obligations - not to travel outside Sweden, not to establish contacts with foreign powers, not to come to visit the king without invitations; in general, sit up straight and not tweet.
The brothers signed a pledge and, having been released, immediately fled to Norway. There, Eric enlisted the support of King Hakon V, promising to marry his daughter Ingeborg.
With the help of the Norwegians and having a fair number of supporters, Eric and Waldemar forced Magnus to cancel their earlier obligations, expand their land holdings, and most importantly - get rid of Torgils, who, with his intrigues, allegedly interfered with the mutual consent of the three brothers. It is difficult to say what arguments they gave, but, probably, the arguments of the power-hungry wife of King Martha of Denmark and the fact that Birger himself was burdened by the Marshal's tutelage played a role.
Torgils was arrested at his estate and, having been taken to Stockholm, was imprisoned, where he spent three months without waiting for any intelligible accusations. On February 10, 1306, the marshal's head rolled into the pit. They buried him without any honors, but later on the grave they wrote: "Here lies the royal marshal Torgils, whose head was innocently chopped off." The king, in fact, having betrayed his mentor, lost his support.
Feast in Nychetting
It did not take long to wait for reckoning. On September 29, 1306, when the king with his family was at his estate in Khotun, brothers unexpectedly came to visit him. The brothers had a larger retinue, and Birger had to curry favor with the guests. And they were all impudent. What is known as "Hotun Fun" ended with the imprisonment of the king and his family in Nykoping. The condition for the liberation was the actual division of Sweden into three kingdoms.
The Danish king Eric VI, who was both his son-in-law and brother-in-law, stood up for Birger and achieved his release. The rebel brothers were supported by the Norwegian king Hakon, and with his help they still achieved what they wanted, which was recorded by the peace in Helsingborg (1310). Then, in the Norwegian capital, a double wedding ceremony took place, in which Prince Eric married the 11-year-old daughter of Hakon, and Valdemar - with her relative Ingeborg Eriksdottir.
Birger felt redundant at this celebration of life and, of course, dreamed of revenge. And it came to pass when in 1317 the king invited the brothers to Nykoping - the very castle in which they put him after the "Hotun fun".
Oddly enough, Eric and Valdemar did not sense the trap and arrived with small squads. First, they were fed and watered heartily, and then taken into custody. The retinue was disarmed, but they did not kill - they only took horses and weapons as trophies.
Eric and Valdemar were taken to the dungeon. Birger addressed them with a farewell speech, recalling the "Khotun fun" and saying that all these years he had been waiting for revenge. Then he personally locked the door and threw the key into the river flowing under the window.
Death of an exile
The medieval "Chronicle of Eric" tells about the brothers' torment:
Duke Eric, as I was told, nine days did not drink or eat.
I'm surprised how he put up with it!
My brother lasted eleven days, later, in torment, he parted with life.
Duke Eric suffered more.
He gave his soul to the Lord earlier.
So the king starved them to death.
Few of those who would praise him.
God, take their souls with you.
Give them peace for a cruel death!"
Perhaps the king would have gotten away with this if in domestic politics he was as wise as the late Torgils. But, having dealt with the brothers and ignoring the information background around the events in Nykoping, Birger immediately raised taxes.
The people, of course, supported the supporters of the murdered dukes, who proclaimed the one-year-old Magnus, the son of Prince Eric, as the new monarch. The king was defeated, and his son, also Magnus, surrendered to the rebels in captivity under guarantees of personal immunity.
The deposed monarch fled to Denmark, but even here the situation was unfortunate for him. Birger's sister and wife of the Danish king Ingeborg finally gave birth to an heir. When the baby was shown to the crowd, the baby boy slipped out of the mother's hands, fell onto the pavement and crashed to death. The couple were so shocked that in 1319 they died with an interval of three months.
The brother of the late Christopher II, who, speaking of Swedish affairs, did not sympathize with Birger, came to the Danish throne.
The position of the Norwegian king Hakon (father-in-law of Prince Eric who was tortured in Nykoping) was all the more obvious. In May 1319, Hakon died, and his three-year-old grandson Magnus was declared king not only of Sweden, but also of Norway.
Birger finished off the news of the execution in Stockholm of his captured son and heir Magnus. In 1321, one of the most unfortunate Swedish kings, who stained himself with reprisals against his loyal minister and brothers, died.
It is curious that in his homeland the attitude towards him is rather sympathetic and no one considers him a special villain. But the name Birger was never given to Swedish kings again.
Dmitry MITYURIN