Erik XIV 1533-77
King of Sweden

Born in Stockholm, the eldest son and successor of Gustav I Vasa, he ruled from 1560 to 1568. Tutored by a German Lutheran nobleman, he had the outlook of a Renaissance prince, although he was highly unstable. Suspicious of others to the point of paranoia, he imprisoned his half-brother, Johan, for treason (1563), and launched a war against Denmark for control of the Baltic ports, which ended inconclusively with the Peace of Stettin (1570). He had several of his courtiers butchered on suspicion of treason and, after various attempts to marry Queen Elizabeth I of England and Mary, Queen of Scots, he married a soldier's daughter, Karin M�nsdotter, who alone seemed capable of controlling his paroxysms of fury. Her coronation (1568) provided a pretext for rebellion. He was dethroned (1568) in favour of his brother Johan III, and spent the rest of his life in captivity, listening to music and writing psalms, until he died, probably of arsenic poisoning.