_Eric Knutsson_ now came to undisturbed possession of the throne and thus remained until his death in April, 1216, his reign being short and uneventful. He was the first king of Sweden of whom it is known with certainty that he was anointed and crowned, thus placing himself under the protection of the Church. His queen, Rikissa, a sister of Valdemar II., returned to Denmark after his death, there giving life to a son, who was named Eric, after his father. King Valdemar tried in vain to have this royal babe placed on the Swedish throne. _John Sverkersson_ succeeded King Eric, being, on account of his fifteen years of age, first surnamed the _Young_, later _the Pious_. By confirming and extending the rights of the Church which his father granted he won the favor of the ecclesiastics, and the attempts made by Valdemar to have his consecration prohibited proved futile. Toward the end of his short reign (in 1220) King John undertook a crusade to Esthonia, where he left behind him his jarl, Charles, a brother of Birger Brosa, and Bishop Charles of Linkœping, with a part of the army. These all perished in an onslaught made on them by the heathen in August of the same year, and the ravages by Esthonians continued as before. King John died in the island of Visingsœ, in Lake Vetter, in 1222, like several of his predecessors, and was, like them, buried in the monastery of Alvastra. _Eric Ericsson_ now became king of Sweden. The royal babe was then six years of age, a halting and lisping little creature. The Church took him under its protection, but there was no powerful man to take hold of the government during his minority. A pretender rose in the person of _Knut the Tall_, a great grandson of St. Eric, like the king himself. He defeated Eric’s troops at Olustra, in 1229. Eric fled to Denmark, where he remained until the short and restless reign of Knut came to an end through his death, in 1232. Eric resumed the reins of government, with the Folkung, Jarl Ulf, at the helm. Pope Gregory IX., in 1230, gave commandment to the Swedish bishops to rouse the people to opposition against the ravages of the heathen in the Baltic provinces in the further parts of Finland. In 1237 he commands the Swedish bishops to have a crusade started against the heathen Tavasti in the interior of Finland. This crusade took place under the leadership of Birger Magnusson, who converted the barbarous Finns by the sword and erected a fort on the site of the later Tavastehus. Birger, according to Russian testimony, tried to extend the dominion of Swedish supremacy as far as to the river Neva, but was repulsed by the Russians. Peace had reigned in Sweden for some time when new conflicts ensued. The peasants of Upland made an uprising in 1247, but were conquered at Sparrsætra and punished by heavier taxes. A pretender rose in the person of Holmger, the son of Knut the Tall. He was captured and beheaded in 1248.