Erik Eskilsson

Who is Erik Eskilsson?

Erik Eskilsson was a Sami who was accused of blasphemy alongside the Sami Amund Thorsson during the Swedish Christianization of the Sami in the late 17th century. Their case was a notable one and is often referred to in Sami history.

During this period, the Sami people generally kept two religions in parallel; the attended church regularly, but still maintained the Sami religion at home. Erik Eskilsson, as well as Thorsson, belonged to the more wealthy of the Sami in Norrbotten and thereby felt secure to maintain their religion due to the taxes they could afford to give to the crown. During a Christian sermon, were the vicar preached against the Sami religion, Eskilsson and Thorsson commented that they found the hostility against the Sami religion strange, and that they would obviously not abandon the faith of their ancestors. Afterward, the vicar visited them in the company of the Christian Sami. He vandalized the Pagan altar and stole the Sami drum by use of violence. Eskilsson and Thorsson followed him and retrieved the drum. The vicar defended his actions and wondered if Thorsson's father had been repentant for being a pagan.