Erik XIV

Erik XIV or Eric XIV (13 December 1533 – 26 February 1577) became King of Sweden following the death of his father, Gustav I, on 29 September 1560. During a 1568 rebellion against him, Erik was incarcerated by his half-brother John III. He was formally deposed by the Riksdag on 26 January 1569. Erik was also ruler of Estonia, after it placed itself under Swedish protection in 1561.

While Erik has been regarded as intelligent and artistically skilled, as well as politically ambitious, early in his reign he showed signs of mental instability, a condition that eventually led to insanity. Some scholars claim that his illness began early during his reign, while others believe that it first manifested with the Sture murders.

Erik, having been imprisoned and deposed, was most likely murdered. An examination of his remains in 1958 confirmed that he probably died of arsenic poisoning.

Erik XIV was born at Tre Kronor Castle, the morning of 13 December 1533. His mother, Catherine of Saxe-Lauenburg, died before he reached the age of two. In 1536, his father, Gustav I (Gustav Vasa), married Margaret Leijonhufvud, a Swedish noblewoman.

Erik's first teacher was the learned German Georg Norman, whose services were shortly thereafter needed elsewhere within the Swedish state. He was replaced by French Calvinist Dionysius Beurraeus (1500–67). Dionysius taught both Erik and his half-brother John, and seems to have been appreciated by both. Erik was very successful in foreign languages and mathematics. He was also an informed historian, a good writer and familiar with astrology.

When Erik started to appear in public, he was referred to as "chosen king" (Swedish: utvald konung) and after the meeting of parliament in Stockholm in 1560, he received the title of "hereditary king" (Swedish: arvkonung). In 1557, Erik was assigned the fiefdoms of Kalmar, Kronoberg and Öland. He took up residence in the city of Kalmar.

Against his father's wishes, Erik entered into marriage negotiations with the future Elizabeth I of England and pursued her for several years. Tensions between Erik and his father grew. Erik also made unsuccessful marriage proposals to, among others, Mary, Queen of Scots (1542–1587), Renata of Lorraine (1544–1602), Anna of Saxony (1544–1577) and Christine of Hesse (1543–1604).

Erik learned of his father's death as he was on the point of embarking for England to press his suit for the hand of Queen Elizabeth I. Back in Stockholm he summoned a Riksdag, which met at Arboga on 15 April 1561. There he adopted the royal propositions known as the "Arboga articles", considerably curtailing the authority of the royal dukes, his half-brothers John and Charles, in their respective provinces. He was crowned as Erik XIV, but was not necessarily the 14th king of Sweden named Erik. He and his brother Charles adopted regnal numbers according to Johannes Magnus's partly fictitious history of Sweden. There had, however, been at least six earlier Swedish kings with the name of Erik, as well as pretenders about whom very little is known.