Background
He was born around the year 1470 to Johan Kristiernsson Vasa and Birgitta Gustafsdotter Sture in a village named Örby in the province of Uppland, Sweden.
He was born around the year 1470 to Johan Kristiernsson Vasa and Birgitta Gustafsdotter Sture in a village named Örby in the province of Uppland, Sweden.
He was one of four children from Johan and Birgitta. Johan was first cousin of Charles VIII of Sweden"s father, Knut. Erik Johansson Vasa was a faithful adherent of the Stures, a powerful and influential family in Sweden from the late 15th century to the early 16th century, and was notorious for his irritable and arbitrary temper.
He assisted the Stures in fighting against the Danes, who controlled most of Sweden during the early 16th century.
When the Danes, under Christian II, conquered Sweden and took the capital, Stockholm, in 1520 several members of the Sture party were executed in the Stockholm Bloodbath in November of that year, among whom was Erik Johansson.