ERIC is the Scandinavian form of the name Henricus, Enrico, and Henry of south ern nations. Many kings of the name reigned separately in Denmark and Sweden, and some ruled over the whole of Scandinavia after the union of Calmar. The memory of the two earliest rulers of the name in Denmark merits our notice from their association with the introduction of Christianity. Erie I., who died in 860, protected the Christians in the latter part of his reign, and, under the direction of the missionary Angsar or Anscharius, founded the cathedral of Bibe, the first Christian church in the land. In his time, the Northmen began those incursions into more southern countries, which were destined to 'exercise so permanent an influence on European history. Eric II. followed in the steps of his father, and permitted Ansgar to prosecute the labor of con verting and civilizing the people, which won for him the title of the tutelar saint of the north. To Eric II. is ascribed the reorganization of those guilds which finally merged in the municipal corporations of the middle ages, but which were, at first, a mere modification of the heathen brotherhoods of the Scandinavian heroic ages, and constituted associations, whose members were a privileged class, separated by distinct laws, rights, and duties from the rest of the people. Denmark suffered in the 12th c. in an equal degree from the two Erics who ruled over her, for while Eric, surnamed Emun, exhausted the strength of the land by the indomitable pertinacity with which he endeavored, by force of arms, to compel the Vandals and other piratical neighbors to accept the Christianity which he thrust upon them, Eric " the Lamb" crippled the powers and resources of the crown by his pusillanimous subserviency to the clergy. The three Erics (Eric VI., VII., and VIII.) who occupied the throne, with only the inter mission of a few years, from 1241 to 1319, are associated with one of the most disas trous periods of Danish history. Long minorities, the suicidal practice of dismembering the crown-lands in favor of younger branches of the royal house, and futile attempts to restrain the ever-increasing encroachments of the church, combined to bring the country to the brink of destruction. Eric VI. (Plogpenning) and Eric VII. (Glipping) were both assassinated, the former at the instigation of a brother, and the latter in revenge for a private injury. Eric VIII., the last of the name before the union of Calmar, died childless, and was succeeded, in 1319, by his ambitious brother Christopher, who saw himself compelled to repay his partisans at the expense of almost all the prerogatives and appana'es which still belonged to the crown.
In Sweden, the first of the name who merits our notice is king Eric, surnamed the Saint, who was slain in battle in 1131, after a short reign, which was signalized, in that age of anarchy, by the foundation of many churches and monasteries, and by the
promulgation of an excellent
on the death of the great Margaret, her relative, Eric of Pomerania, succeeded to the triple crown of Scandinavia, in accordance with the articles of the famous treaty of Calmar. The noble heritage that had been bequeathed to Eric required a firmer hand and a braver spirit than his to keep it in check; and his reckless disregard of treaties and oaths, his neglect of his duties, and his misdirected ambition, led, after years of dissersions, maladministration, and disaffection, to the inevitable result that Eric was declared to have forfeited the respective thrones of the several kingdoms, which pro ceeded to elect rulers of their own. The intestine wars to which this condition of things gave rise, plunged the whole of Scandinavia into anarchy, and sowed seeds of dis sension among the three kindred nations, which bore fatal fruits in subsequent ages. The last ten years of Eric's life were spent in the exercise of piracy in the island of Gethland, whither he had retired with his mistress and a band of followers, and from whence he sent forth piratical expeditions to pillage both friends and foes. Eric mar ried Philippa, daughter of Henry IV. of England, whose memory is still cherished in the north, on account of the many noble deeds with which local tradition associates her name. Eric XIV., the last of the name who reigned in Sweden, had the distinction of being at once one of the worst and one of the most unhappy of the name. He succeeded, in 1'560, to the throne of his father, Gustaf Vasa, who was perhaps the greatest and worthiest monarch that ever reigned over Sweden, and immediately on his accession, he made known the difference that was so unfavorably to distinguish his reign from that of his father, by quarrelling with his brothers, thwarting the nobles, and opposing the lower orders. His fickleness and extravagance were displayed in a succession of embassies, which were in turn sent to almost every European court to demand a consort for this vacillat ing monarch, who usually changed his mind before his envoys had time to fulfill their missions. Elizabeth of England and Mary of Scotland were more than once the objects of his matrimonial schemes: but when the resources of the country had been seriously crippled by these costly and absurd expeditions, Eric married a Swedish peasant-girl, who ultimately acquired an influence over him which was ascribed by the superstitious. to witchcraft, since she alone was able to control him in the violent paroxysms of blind fury to which lie was subject. It is probable that Eric labored under remittent attacks of insanity, and that to this cause may be attributed the bloodthirsty cruelty with which he persecuted those of his own relatives or attendants who fell under his suspicion. His capricious cruelties at length alienated the minds of his subjects, who, wearied with the continuous wars and disturbances in which his evil passions involved them, threw off their allegiance in 1568, and solemnly elected his brother John to the throne. For nine years, the unhappy Eric suffered every indignity at the hands of the keepers appointed by his brother to guard him, and in 1577, he was compelled to terminate his miserable existence by swallowing poison; in obedience to his brother's orders. Singular to say, this half madman was a person of cultivated understanding, and he solaced his cap tivity with music and the composition of psalms, and in keeping a voluminous journal.