Eric Christoffersen of Denmark

Who is Eric Christoffersen of Denmark?

Eric Christoffersen was king of Denmark from 1321 until his death, jointly with his father, King Christopher II. He was a member of the House of Estridsen

Eric was the eldest son of King Christopher II and Euphemia of Pomerania. In 1321, he was elected king and crowned in alongside his father as his junior co-ruler in 15 August 1324. In 1325, his father asked him to halt the Counts of Holstein and their allies, but was deserted by his troops, taken prisoner and confined in Haderslev Castle. His father was forced to abdicate and go into exile, while the 12-year-old Duke Valdemar of Southern Jutland was made king of Denmark under the regent, Count Gerhard III of Holstein. After a period of chaos in the "magnates’ republic" of Denmark, King Christopher was restored as a puppet monarch in 1329 through the help of his half-brother Count John III. Eric was released in 1330, on the condition he married Elizabeth of Holstein-Rendsburg, dowager duchess of Saxe-Lauenburg and sister of his father's enemy, Count Gerhard III, by whom he had no children. The marriage was dissolved the next year as war again erupted between his father and Count John III and his brother-in-law Gerhard III.