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9. ST. ERIC. 109
riage must have been a matter of arrangement between the
legate and the bishops. It was, I presume, the price paid
for the grant of Peter s-pence. It is almost necessary to
suppose something of the sort, when we recollect what had
been done in Denmark, and note the latter assertion of the
Swedes (in 1213), that they had a papal privilege for their
immunity from the law of celibacy (Innocent III., Reg.
XVI., 118).
9. ST. ERIC, KING IN UPLAND, LAW-GIVER AND CHURCH
BUILDER. HIS CRUSADE. DEATH (ll6o). BE
COMES A POPULAR SAINT.
About this time the rival king of the Sveas, afterwards
known and widely honoured as St. Eric, was establishing
laws and religion in Upland, and doing his best to
Christianize Finland after the manner which the two Olafs,
Tryggvason and Haraldson, had found successful in Nor
way. St. Eric was the son of a large peasant pro
prietor or bonde, not of royal race, but his mother, Cecilia,
was daughter of the heathen Blot-Sven, who had rivalled
King Inge, and she, too, like the rest of that family, was
now a zealous Christian. It is probable that Sverker was
also descended from Blot-Sven ; and, if so, the kings of
Gothland and Svealand were cousins, perhaps first cousins.
Eric was a real benefactor to his country, and his reign is
a landmark in its history. He was at once a law-giver
and a Churchman. To him the married women of Sweden
owe important rights.
The following quaint form was long used by the
father in betrothing his daughter to her suitor.
"
I
give thee this my daughter for honour and house
wife, for half the bed, for doors and keys, and every
third penny in thy goods movable and immovable, and for
all the rights which Upper Sweden hath from St. Eric, and
St. Eric gave. In the name of the Father, and of the Son
and of the Holy Ghost. Amen." (Olaus Magni De gent.
Septent., XIV., c. 5; cp. S. H., Vol. i., p. 381). This
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