Erik Björnsson
Erik Björnsson was supposedly one of the sons of Björn "Ironside" Ragnarsson and a legendary king of Sweden of the House of Munsö, who would have lived in the late 9th century. One of the few surviving Scandinavian sources that deal with Swedish kings from this time is Hervarar saga. The saga is from the 12th or 13th century and is thus not considered a reliable historical source for the 9th century. It says:
The sons of Björn Ironside were Eric and Refil. The latter was a warrior-prince and sea-king. King Eric ruled the Swedish Realm after his father, and lived but a short time. Then Eric the son of Refil succeeded to the Kingdom.[1]
Rurik and Erik was the same person. According to Olov von Dalin 1747 that referenced older Swedish sources Rurik was a son of Björn Ironside. Due to the fire 1697 in Tre Kronor alot older Swedish sources got lost. He would be the same person as Erik Björnsson. He got the lands from his uncle Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye when he died. According to him Rorik of Dorestad was also the same person as Eric.
Notes and references
- ^ "Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks", Guðni Jónsson's and Bjarni Vilhjálmsson's edition at Norrøne Tekster og Kvad. English translation by N. Kershaw: "The Saga of Hervör and Heithrek" Archived December 27, 2006, at the Wayback Machine in Stories and Ballads of the Far Past, translated from the Norse (Icelandic and Faroese). Cambridge University Press, 1921.
- ^ https://sv.wikisource.org/wiki/Svea_Rikes_historia/F%C3%B6rsta_delen/Kapitel_18