Meet the Middle Ages
BackA medieval family tree
All those competing for power in the Nordic countries at the end of the 14th century, were related to one another. We will try to explain how they were related.Let us look at a medieval family tree.
Queen Margareta was married to the King of Norway, Håkon, who succeeded to the throne after his maternal grandfather. King Håkon was the son of the Swedish King Magnus Eriksson. Margareta and Håkon had a son, Olaf, who was elected King of Denmark when his maternal grandfather died. When Olaf ´s father Håkon died, Olaf succeeded to the Norwegian throne.
Magnus Eriksson´s other son, Erik, competed with his father for the Swedish Crown. When young Erik suddenly died, in 1359, his father ruled the country on his own. Magnus was on bad terms with the leading men of Sweden. They, in their turn, decided to ask Albrekt of Mecklenburg to become the new King of Sweden. Albrekt was the nephew of King Magnus. In 1363, Albrekt arrived in Sweden with his soldiers and had Magnus dethroned.
However, Albrekt was disliked by the nobility, who asked Margareta to be their Queen. She accepted, but realised that she would need an heir, since her only son, Olaf, had died in 1387. Therefore, she adopted her niece ´s son, six-year old Bogislav from Pommern in northern Germany. She changed his name to Erik. Erik was crowned King over the three Nordic countries in 1397. However, Queen Margareta was the actual ruler until 1412.