Magnus Eriksson

Magnus Eriksson (1316–1374) was three years old when Swedish nobles elected him king at Mora in July 1319 to bar his uncle Birger Magnusson from returning to power. In August Norway acknowledged him too, as the grandson of Haakon V, and two crowns sat on one child.

His declaration of majority in 1331 provoked a Norwegian noble rising. In 1332 he bought Scania from Duke Johan of Holstein; the purchase raised taxes and brought war with Denmark, which retook the province in 1360. In 1335 he outlawed thralldom for Christian-born children, and his reign gave Sweden its first countryside law code and mining charters. Critics such as Bridget of Sweden called him weak and ruled by favourites.

In 1364 Swedish nobles brought in Albert of Mecklenburg, who was crowned king. Magnus withdrew to Norway, where his son Haakon had reigned since 1355, and drowned in a shipwreck in 1374.