Erik Björnsson was supposedly one of the sons of Björn "Ironside"Ragnarsson and a legendary king of Sweden of the House of Munsö, who would have lived in the late 9th century. One of the few surviving Scandinavian sources that deal with Swedish kings from this time is Hervarar saga. The saga is from the 12th or 13th century and is thus not considered a reliable historical source for the 9th century. It says:
The sons of Björn Ironside were Eric and Refil. The latter was a warrior-prince and sea-king. King Eric ruled the Swedish Realm after his father, and lived but a short time. Then Eric the son of Refil succeeded to the Kingdom.[1]
Notes and references
edit- ^ "Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks", Guðni Jónsson's and Bjarni Vilhjálmsson's edition at Norrøne Tekster og Kvad. English translation by N. Kershaw: "The Saga of Hervör and Heithrek" Archived December 27, 2006, at the Wayback Machine in Stories and Ballads of the Far Past, translated from the Norse (Icelandic and Faroese). Cambridge University Press, 1921.