Recent research done on the remains of a Swedish man prove to go hand-in-hand, with the terrible stories that were once thought to have been just made up. That man was known as Eric the Lawgiver, Erik the Saint, and Eric the Holy. The legend is that he was a king who died a dramatic death in a battle just outside a church in Uppsala, Sweden after having just celebrated mass. The researchers looking at the remains reveal that his death was, in fact, brutal.
The research project is headed by the Uppsala University. They have been given special access to look into the remains of King Erik XI. He has rested in his grave since 1257. The only documented information about his life is this legend. That writing has been in preserved form since the 1290’s. No other sources mention Erik Jevardsson, the Swedish king who was later sainted.
Obviously, legends such as his are most often unreliable. However, Erik’s legend is actually based on an older legend, which has since been lost. It is possible that the longer legend may even be older than researchers believe it to be. The preserved legend discusses how Erik was chosen to be a king. He ruled fairly and was known as a devoted Christian. He even led a crusade against Finland in support of the church. King Erik was killed in 1160 in his tenth year of rule, by a Danish claimant to the throne. His remains have been resting in reliquary since 1257.
The remains hadn’t been touched since a thorough analysis of the skeleton was done in 1946. Now that there are new methods of analyzing old remains such as King Erik’s, researchers hope to find some new information and evidence about how he was actually killed. Opening up the reliquary, researchers from several different universities and groups worked together to run tests on the remains in order to learn more about the medieval king. After two years of thorough research, the team of researchers is allowed to make their findings public. Some of the tests done were made by orthopaedists, radiologists, genealogists, isotopanalys, and forensics experts.
The reliquary contained 23 bones and all appeared to have been from one person. The interesting thing was that the remains were accompanied by an unrelated shinbone. After radiocarbon dating of the bones, the measured values proved that he had, in fact, died in 1160. The osteological analysis showed that the bones belonged to a man who ranged from the age of 35 to 40 years old and was about 171 centimeters tall.
The bones were then examined by computer tomography at the University Hospital in Uppsala, however, they did not find any noticeable medical conditions. There were DXA and pQCT measurements done on the bones, which concluded that Erik did not suffer from osteoporosis or have brittle bones. In fact, his bones were quite the opposite for his age. His bone density had about 25 percent above the average of a young adult today, proving that King Erik was well-nourished, strong, and lived a physically active life.
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