Eric IX of Sweden

Eric IX, called Saint Erik (c. 1125–1160), ruled Sweden from about 1156 as founder of the House of Erik. Legend credits him with leading the first Swedish crusade to Finland and codifying the laws known as King Erik's Law.

On Ascension Day, 18 May 1160, after hearing Mass near Uppsala, he was set upon by rebels backing the Danish prince Magnus Henriksson, stabbed and beheaded. Venerated as a martyr, he became Sweden's patron saint; his son Canute I took the throne in 1167.