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Eric XI
Hans Knieper - Painting - NG.M.00296a - National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design
Eric XI
King of Denmark and Viken
Reign 17th January, 1570 - 9th September, 1605
Predecessor Cnut VIII
Successor Eric XII
Emperor of 'The Protestant States of Germania and Scandinavia'
Reign 12th November, 1570 - 9th September, 1605
Predecessor Cnut
Successor Eric II
Born 28th July, 1551
Copenhagen, Denmark
Died 9th September, 1605
Kiel, Denmark
Spouse Hedwig of Jever

Katharina Louise of Calenburg

Issue Eric XII

several others

House Estridsson
Father Cnut VIII
Mother Charlotte Sophia of Münsterberg-Oels

Eric XI was King of Denmark and Emperor of the 'Protestant States of Germania and Scandinavia' at the end of the 16th century.

Eric was the eldest legitimate son of Cnut VIII and on Cnut's death in January 1570 was quickly crowned. Further ceremonies invested him with the crowns of Viken and Rugia. It took longer to affirm him as Schmalkaldic Emperor, mainly as there was no established mechanism for elections in the breakaway Empire. Certain states had been designated as 'Electorates' but who exactly was eligible had not been established. Many wished a complete break from the traditions semi-inherited from the Catholic Holy Roman Empire but others saw merits in the way things had always been. Chiefly the debate narrowed down to how long an emperor should be in place; should it be for life or merely for a certain allotted time to prevent the empire being being dominated by a single country for a generation or two. In the end the choice came down to Eric who more or less championed the status quo or Julius Frederick of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel who advocated a 7-year term of office. Liberal use of bribery alongside support from the Kalmar electors delivered Eric the Imperial crown and the cause of reform in the empire largely subsided.

Eric was only 18 years old on his succession, and his youth and inexperience was only really recognised as a liability after the death of the aged Christoffer Kaas soon after the imperial coronation. Eric was stubborn and absolutely convinced of his own genius; he was of course unwilling to cede power or to those who might have steered policy better than he. This led to Danish politics being almost completely devoid of talented administrators, a short-sighted foreign policy and an increasingly decentralised government. Like his father, overall Eric neglected his patrimony in favour of the German empire. He mostly ignored the vast palace his father had constructed at considerable cost in Copenhagen and spent most of his time in Kiel, extending the old Kiel Castle into a large palace complex, then employing an army of artisans to fill it with opulent artworks and foreign luxuries. Governors in the regions were mostly allowed to get on with business undisturbed, which led to corruption and systemic abuse of the system. Tax revenues dwindled as By the end of his reign the Danish army and navy were in a poor state. Luxembourg had taken a lead in the Baltic trade, earning a good income for the crown in Sound Tolls but thinning merchant incomes at home.

He would meet with Henry VIII of Luxembourg in Munster in 1571, in an attempt to lessen tensions. Henry had recently converted to Lutheranism and was eager to broker some sort of alliance with Denmark or the Schmalkaldic Empire. Eric was convinced Henry was after the Imperial crown had little interest in ceding any influence over the North German states but allowed Luxembourg's army free access to the Empire, thereby providing a vital link to its Brandenburg territories and potentially Bohemia beyond. They did agree however to keep out of the religious civil wars raging in Wessex and Anglia. Relations with Luxembourg slipped as Henry VIII and Henry IX grew more distrustful of Danish control and they would ally with the increasingly paranoid Gustav I of Svealand.

Whilst most of the German states could not care less what Wessex did they were critical of Eric's casual abandonment of Anglia and this cost him a great deal of political capital. Worried that Luxembourg's alliance with Svealand could spell trouble it seems the furthest Eric would go was to give the Lutheran faction in Anglia blanket trading rights whilst blocking the Catholic side from the important Baltic trade.

The bulk of Danish trading activity was with Leifia, though certainly overshadowed by ... Further afield Danish merchants were beginning to inch into the lucrative Indian trade but a lack of support from Copenhagen meant they were mostly private ventures, often with places bought from the larger Iberian trade fleets to protect from piracy.

Family and Succession[]

Eric was married twice and he had 20 children, all but one surviving into adulthood. This abundance of heirs (King Jan II of Poland disparagingly called them 'the deluge') were married off into the Empire securing its unity and Danish hold over it for another generation.

  • Hedwig of Jever
    • Elizabeth (1570 - 1625)
    • Eric XII (1572 - 1629)
    • Sophie (1574 - 1600)
    • Christian (1575 - 1611)
    • Christoffer (1575 - 1638)
    • Leonora (1577 - 1641)
  • Katharina Louise of Calenburg
    • Anna Katherina (1580 - 1623)
    • Olaf (1581 - 1647)
    • Valdemar (1583 - 1590)
    • Hedwig (1584 - 1621)
    • Ulrick (1585 - 1660)
    • John (1587 - 1617)
    • Kristina (1588 - 1633)
    • Dorothea (1589 - 1640)
    • Maria (1591 - 1636)
    • Richeza (1593 - 1666)
    • Augustus (1594 - 1629)
    • Jacob (1596 - 1648)
    • Eudoxia (1598 - 1650)
    • Alexandra (1600 - 1670)

Eric died in 1605 and was succeeded by his eldest son Eric who would oversee the 'Danish miracle' just in time for descent into Europe's fifty-year cataclysm.



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