There was such a Swedish king Eric IX the Saint, he ruled only for a short time - from 1156 to 1160, he did not particularly distinguished himself in anything, therefore, during his lifetime, he did not appear in any chronicles - neither in Swedish, let alone in foreign ones. And it is true that there was something to write about the Swedish kings in those days, they died just like flies, today one, tomorrow another.
I can imagine a conversation between two Danes about this:
- I heard that the Swedes have a king again …
- What happened to him?
- Yes, stabbed.
- Oh, how, well - it happens, but what is the new one?
- But what's the difference - and this too will be stabbed, give a time.
Such is the leapfrog, the right word. Fame came to our king only after his death. The relics of Saint Eric are kept in Uppsala in the cathedral in a beautiful golden shrine along with his crown. Today he is one of the most revered saints in Sweden.
Promotional video:
Cancer with the relics of St. Eric in Uppsala Cathedral
Legend has it that on the day of his death he was attending a service at the cathedral in Uppsala. It was reported to the king that the enemies who wished his death were waiting in large numbers outside. Eric actually had only two options to get at least some minimal chance of survival.
The first is to dwell in the church, mindful of the "right to asylum in the Holy Church," the main thing is to win time until help ripens. Well, what can I say, there was such a right in those days, only it was often violated. Sometimes they will pull out from under the altar, and they will slaughter right on the porch at the exit, then they will really pray, they will repent sincerely, they will donate gold to the needs of the church, the archbishop will forgive his sins, and then, you see, and God will forgive, this is a matter of everyday life.
The second option, for garlic, is even worse than the first. Leave the cathedral, take off the crown, fall on four bones and cry out for mercy, they say, take everything, good people, the crown, the scepter and so on, I need nothing, but I myself immediately renounce and go to the monks this moment. Between us, the way out is so-so - they will still be stabbed, not now, so later, for the ex-monk king is good, but the dead is still safer and calmer for sure.
Both options did not suit our king, and therefore he calmly waited for the end of the mass, crossed himself, pulled up his pants, ugh, fastened his sword and left the cathedral with his friends. Looks - they are waiting for him, the people are abyss and all some unfriendly, look unkindly. However, Eric was a real warrior, a descendant of the Vikings, that is, he was clearly not on friendly terms with his head. He sat on his horse, took out his sword and … aha, into battle.
Far, as you understand, did not leave. He was martyred for the Holy Church, and what does the Church have to do with it - I don’t know, don’t even ask. They tortured him with swords, and then cut off his head.
The king is dead - long live the new king! … oh, yes, I almost forgot, the new king was stabbed to death a year later, they did not drag out.
What am I all for?
We are curious people, to say the least. So, we have a legend, and there are the relics of Saint Eric in the cathedral. Why not try to figure out what's true and what's not? Saint or not, we are purple, but the presence of real remains, much more interesting, here you can and should delve into. Here we were lucky again, in 2014 scientists were just allowed to tinker with them. In Sweden, the church, by the way, is a Lutheran church, between us it is much easier than Catholics and Orthodox Christians, the church fathers gave the go-ahead to scientists for research, they say, check our saint and God help you.
And then to say - maybe the relics, in fact, do not belong to Saint Eric, just John the Baptist had 20-30 pieces of beheadings in different cathedrals, as you know, it is not a fact that all of them were his. Maybe with the relics of Eritka the same parable, but suddenly, like bones, it’s not his at all, but the left. How to check? Yes, it's very simple, maybe the bones are only half a thousand years old from strength, or they are the bones of a 90-year-old old man, or even more so than that young man, according to the chronicles, the king was about 40 years old. Again, it is possible to determine the cause of death from the remains with luck.
Now look:
The relics of Saint Eric and his funeral crown
Let's start with the funeral crown. If it were real, it would be the oldest surviving crown of Swedish kings. But, alas, this is just a gilded copper forgery, most likely it was borrowed from a statue of some medieval saint.
First call for skeptics.
Examination of the remains
In total, 23 bones were found in the cancer, analysis showed that they belong … to one person, with the exception of the shin bones. This is not the second call, but a reason to be wary. Where are other people's bones in the king's tomb?
The bones of the skeleton in cancer are clearly male and, judging by the density, traces of muscle attachment, belonged to a physically developed, very strong man of small stature - 171 cm (for that time, a very decent growth). Its age is determined with the greatest probability in the range of 35-40 years.
Further more interesting: our skeleton has traces of several healed wounds, which indicates that he was a warrior. In addition, scientists have counted at least 9 more post-mortem wounds (without traces of healing), inflicted from different sides.
One of the posthumous wounds is a mark from a blow with a sword on a large femur. It is quite possible that the wound was inflicted on a warrior sitting in a saddle, that is, a rider
On the right is the oldest sculptural image of Eric the Saint, on the left is his skull. Traces of two healed wounds are visible, according to one of the biographies, he received them in a crusade in Finland
In addition, it turned out that his head had been cut off! The blow was struck by a swordsman from the front, on a man lying on the ground. The cervical vertebra and collarbone are cut almost at right angles. When hitting a standing person, the sword always goes obliquely.
Radiocarbon dating gave an age of approximately 850 years, which corresponds to the date of death of King Eric. The isotopic composition of the enamel of the teeth indicated that the deceased man was local - he was born and lived in Sweden, ate very well (he ate a lot of meat, which is typical only for rich people). In addition, it seems that he also observed numerous church fasts, since a lot of place was given to freshwater fish in his diet. Studies of bone DNA have also been conducted. The results of these studies have not yet been published.
As a result, the researchers came to the conclusion that it is very likely that the remains of King Eric the Saint are indeed in the golden shrine.
And what else is left for me, comrades, to say about this? Perhaps, only to agree with the scientists and add that King Eric had truly steel eggs, and how holy he was - so let the Swedes decide for themselves.