Ericus Olai

Ericus Olai or Erik Olofsson (d. 1486), Uppsala ecclesiastic, theologian and liturgical poet, was the first to write a Latin history of the Swedish realm from the birth of Christ to his own time ( c .1471), the Chronica regni Gothorum. see also Olavus Johannis Guto The date and the place of his birth are not known. However, his matriculation at the University of Rostock in the year 1447 as “Ericus Olaui de Upsalia” suggests that he was born in the later 1420s, and had his first education at the cathedral school of Uppsala. His grave slab (now lost) bore no indication of a noble birth. In 1452 Ericus passed his degree of magister artium in Rostock, and he possibly also obtained his Baccalaureate in Theology there a few years later. In his later years, in 1475, Ericus travelled to the University of Siena in Italy where he was made Master of Theology. Ericus was a prolific author. His known works cover areas of historical writing, liturgical poetry, biblical hermeneutics, and commentaries on Scripture and theological writings. His doctoral oration in Siena, Oracio de laudibus sanctissime theologie, is known to us only by name. At least five of his theological texts are however preserved through lecture notes taken by one of his students in Uppsala, Olavus Johannis Guto (ed. PILTZ 1977). Ericus commented on the New Testament (Matthew), Bonaventura’s Breviloquium, Hugh of St. Victor’s De tribus diebus, and on Peter of Blois’s De confessione. The commentaries on the Sunday Gospels and on Revelation preserved by this student are possibly also by his hand. In his most original contribution in the field of theology, the Regulae sacrae theologiae (ed. STEGMÜLLER 1953), Ericus puts forth a set of rules to apply in the interpretation of Scripture. In this text, he emphasizes ecclesiastical authority as the ultimate basis of the credibility of revelation. Ericus also wrote poetry. He composed a sacred song in Swedish, Een rikir man (A wealthy man; ed. princeps Uppsala ca. 1515). The Latin historia (a versified officium) in honour of the patron saints of Sweden, Festum patronorum regni Suecie (Iocundare mater ecclesia; ed. HELANDER 1989), is anonymously transmitted but probably his work. MESSENIUS, J. 1615: Historia Suecorum Gothorumque, Stockholm. LOCCENIUS, J. 1654: Historia Suecorum Gothorumque, Stockholm. FANT, J. 1828: "Chronica Erici Olai", in SRS 2. HEUMAN, E. & ÖBERG, J 1993: Ericus Olai Chronica regni Gothorum. Textkritische Ausgabe, Stockholm. (Swedish) SYLVIUS, J. 1678: The Swenskes och Göthers Historia, Stockholm. (Swedish) BERGGREN, P.G. 1901: Svensk historia enligt samtida skildringar, ser. 2, Stockholm, 7-42 (extract: the Engelbrekt uprising). (Swedish) AILI, H., FERM, O., GUSTAVSON, H. 1990: Röster från svensk medeltid, Stockholm, 304-21 (extracts from the prologue and the Engelbrekt uprising). An allusion to the Battle of Brunkeberg in 1471 at the end of the narrative marks that year as a terminus post quem for the last section of the Chronica. The more precise dates of origin and completion of the work, and the questions of its possible instigators and of the intended audience, remain debatable. FERM (1993) polemized with the traditional idea that King Karl Knutsson (r.1448-1457, 1464-1465, 1467-1470), supported by the Archbishop Jöns Bengtsson, ordered the Chronica to be written with European readers in mind, and with the consequent dating of its completion to the years 1467-1470. Instead, he argued that the Chronica was completed in the years 1471-1477, that the initiative came from the new archbishop, Jakob Ulfsson, and that the purpose of writing was to instruct the clergy of the Cathedral of Uppsala. ÖBERG (1995) argued for a protracted time of production of the text, begun in the 1450s and carried on until the years between the death of King Karl Knutsson 1470 and Ericus’s own journey to Siena in 1475. ÖBERG held that Ericus was inspired in this undertaking by the archbishop of his youth, Nicolaus Ragvaldi (d. 1