with Karl of the rival House of Sverker. This assumption is supported by a statement in a late medieval chronicle. Unbeknownst to the king, the allies gathered a considerable army and accosted Eric near Uppsala at Östra Aros when he attended Mass on the Feast of the Ascension in May 1160. The king, being informed of the approach of the enemy, heard mass to the end, then armed himself and the few men at hand, and went out to meet Magnus' troops. He was pulled off his horse onto the ground by the swarming rebels, who taunted and stabbed him, then beheaded him. Some of the details of Eric's violent end seem to be corroborated by a scientific investigation of his bones (see below). Otherwise, a papal bull to his son Canute I confirms that he was killed by unspecified enemies. The short chronicle in the Västgötalagen from c. 1240 says: "The twelfth [king] was Eric. He was rashly killed in an unhappy moment. He always gave a good example while he lived, and God rewarded him well. Now his soul is at rest with God and his angels, and his bones rest in Uppsala. And he has, with God's help, made and manifested many precious miracles." In a letter from 1172, Pope Alexander III complains that some people in Sweden had begun worshiping "a man who had been killed in debauchery and feasting". Some scholars have assumed that this alludes to King Eric, and that the celebration of the Ascension Day was accompanied by feasting which enabled the surprise rebel attack. The identification is uncertain, however. Succession After killing Eric, Magnus II was able to take power. (Magnus I, son of Niels, King of Denmark [c. 1064–1134] has been confused with Magnus II, but he did not outlive his father.) However, Magnus' reign proved short and he never fully consolidated the kingdom before likewise dying at rivals' hands in the following year. Likewise his slayer (and possible co-conspirator in Eric's death) Charles VII, was assassinated in 1167 after Eric's son Canute I returned from exile. Canute defeated his Sverker rivals by 1173 and unified the kingdom in the decades before his death in 1195 or 1196. While Eric had been a short-lived and ultimately unsuccessful ruler, Canute established the House of Eric as the ruling dynasty and used the memory of his father to anchor his regime. He was