Biography
Eric was born around 1090, to king Eric I of Denmark and an unknown concubine. He was given some Danish isles by his half-brother Canute Lavard, and was jarl of Møn, Lolland, and Falster. When Lavard was murdered in 1131, Eric joined his half-brother Harald Kesja in a rebellion against the responsible king Niels of Denmark. Eric was elected Danish Antiking in Scania in April 1131, which prompted Kesja to support Niels in jealousy.
Eric's army lost several battles against Niels and his son Magnus the Strong, including Jelling in Jutland in 1131 and Værbro on Zealand, and he fled to Scania. His retreat earned him the nickname Harefoot. Eric unsuccessfully tried to convince Lothair III, Holy Roman Emperor to support his bid for kingship, and had no luck asking Magnus IV of Norway for help. He returned to Scania in 1134, where Archbishop Asser of Lund joined his cause, and Lothair eventually supported him as well. In 1134, he defeated king Niels' entire army at the Battle of Fotevik in Scania, with the crucial help of German mounted mercenaries, and Niels died within the year.
Read more about this topic: Eric II Of Denmark
Famous quotes containing the word biography:
“Just how difficult it is to write biography can be reckoned by anybody who sits down and considers just how many people know the real truth about his or her love affairs.”
—Rebecca West (1892–1983)
“As we approached the log house,... the projecting ends of the logs lapping over each other irregularly several feet at the corners gave it a very rich and picturesque look, far removed from the meanness of weather-boards. It was a very spacious, low building, about eighty feet long, with many large apartments ... a style of architecture not described by Vitruvius, I suspect, though possibly hinted at in the biography of Orpheus.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“A biography is like a handshake down the years, that can become an arm-wrestle.”
—Richard Holmes (b. 1945)