Swedish King Poisoned!

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• published: 20 Jan 2016
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The Swedish king was poisoned. This fascinating historic case almost reminds you of game of thrones. The king of Sweden was poisoned by his own brothers back in the day! "Caesarion" by Sdwelch1031 - Own work. Licensed under CC0 via Wikimedia Commons "Denderah3 Cleopatra Cesarion" by No machine-readable author provided. Bradipus assumed (based on copyright claims). - No machine-readable source provided. Own work assumed (based on copyright claims).. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons "Falaise chateau guillaume conquerant 2" by Ollamh - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons "Coat of Arms of Edward V of England (1483)" by SodacanDeze Vectorafbeelding is gemaakt met Inkscape. - Eigen werk. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons While the Spanish and Portuguese were exploring the seas and the New World, and the Protestant Reformation spread throughout Europe, there was a handsome king in Sweden named Eric. Known for his aggressive foreign policy, his homicidal tendencies, and paranoia, King Eric has gone down in history as the King who died after eating a bowl of pea soup. Those who liked him said he was quite the playboy back in the day and the ladies loved his good looks and intelligence, just ask his mistresses and band of illegitimate children. His father used to consult him on military matters but while he was away, Eric would take advantage and surround himself with other good looking people and play sports, and have orgies....you know, the usual stuff they did back then...His father was embarrassed by his childish tendency to whine (at 20 years old) and others started noticing his cruel and depressive streak- once you know more you can make up your own mind about him... He was king for 8 years (from 1560 to 1568, although he was deposed and removed from the throne twice by his brother, John III, because of his insanity. You'd think they would have learned after the first time right?) His father, Gustav Vasa, had fought and negotiated his way to be king and is famous for making Sweden a great power. Eric continued that tradition by expanding Sweden's control even further. Here is a map of Sweden's expansion under Eric XIV. [Show color map and highlight territories when I mention them.] See, before Eric, after Eric, before, after. [back and forth]. BUT we're not really here to talk about that so I'll just get to the good stuff. Gustav also did some things at home that were suspiciously unstable himself, like rip his daughter's hair out, and chase a secretary around and around the castle courtyard with a dagger trying to murder him. His brother Magnus was also declared insane....so maybe it runs in the family... Just in case you forgot who we were talking about by now- this is Eric (arrow pointing to Eric's picture) and this is his father Gustav (another arrow pointing to Gustav's picture side by side). Finding a bride became a particular obsession for him, he had a very long list of standards that the ladies must meet. They had to be attractive, number one, and number two, they had to be gracious, polite, well-mannered, powerful, subservient, respectful, and own a large kingdom (I'm sure there were more but you get the idea). For years before he became king he courted Elizabeth I of England via love letters (perhaps you've heard of her but in case you haven't be sure to check out our video). His father was completely against this relationship and apparently so was Elizabeth. She would read his love letters out loud to her court and they would all laugh.....poor Eric. He tried sending diplomats in his place to see if maybe they would be able to convince her but even though Sweden had grown in recent years, Elizabeth still saw Sweden as a second-rate country and not one she had any interest in being linked to by marriage. Good thing too or she might not have ended up so well....Finally Eric got up enough courage to actually go visit her himself but while he was on his way to England his father died and he was forced to go back and be crowned king. Poor guy, right? He was crowned Eric the XIV but he wasn't the 14th king of Sweden named Eric, instead he and his brothers chose their names based off of a book based on the fake history of Sweden, so the numbers were a little flexible. It also made it seem like Sweden had been around for a long time but it still didn't fool Elizabeth... Since things with her didn't really work out and none of his children were actually legitimate, his paranoia worsened and he focused all his energy on finding the perfect bride. He tried Mary, Queen of Scots, Renata of Lorraine, Anna of Saxony, and Christine of Hesse among others. Unsuccessfully I might add. He's already on the edge of insanity and depression, how much rejection can a man take? He also became more and more obsessed with wanting to make