Eric IV of Denmark

Eric IV Ploughpenny
Church fresco in St Bendt's Church, Ringsted.
King of Denmark
Co-reign Solo-reign	1232–1241 1241–1250
Coronation	30 May 1232
Predecessor	Valdemar II the Victorious & Valdemar the Young
Successor	Abel
Senior King	Valdemar II
Duke of Schleswig
Reign	1216–1232
Predecessor	Valdemar II the Victorious & Valdemar the Young
Successor	Abel
Born	c. 1216
Died	10 August 1250 (aged 33–34) on the bay of the Schlei, near Gottorf Castle
Burial	first at Schleswig Cathedral, then St. Bendt's Church
Consort	Jutta of Saxony
Issue among others...	Sophia, Queen of Sweden Ingeborg, Queen of Norway Jutta, Abbess of St. Agneta Agnes, Abbes of St. Agneta
Full name Eric Valdemarsen
House	Estridsen
Father	Valdemar II the Victorious
Mother	Berengaria of Portugal
Religion	Roman Catholicism

Eric IV, also known as Eric Ploughpenny or Eric Plowpenny (Danish: Erik Plovpenning), (c. 1216 – 10 August 1250) was king of Denmark from 1241 until his death in 1250. He was the son of King Valdemar II by his wife, Berengaria of Portugal, and brother of King Abel and King Christopher I.

Eric was born in 1216 as the second legitimate son of King Valdemar II by his second wife Berengária of Portugal. In 1218, when his older half-brother Valdemar was crowned king as their father's co-ruler and designated heir, he was created Duke of Schleswig. After the premature death of Valdemar in 1231, Eric in his turn was crowned king at Lund Cathedral 30 May 1232 as his father's coruler and heir. Subsequently, he ceded the Duchy of Schleswig to his younger brother Abel. When his father died in 1241, he automatically acceded to the throne.

His rule was marked by bitter conflicts and civil wars against his brothers. Especially he fought his brother, Duke Abel of Schleswig who seems to have wanted an independent position and who was supported by the counts of Holstein. Eric also fought the Scanian peasants, who rebelled because of his hard taxes, among other things, on ploughs. The number of ploughs a man owned was used as a measure of his wealth (more ploughs, more farmland). This gave the king the epithet "plough-penny", Danish, Plovpenning).

Eric had only been king for about a year when he first came into conflict with his brother, Duke Abel of Schleswig, in 1242. The conflict lasted for two years before the brothers agreed on a truce in 1244 and made plans for a joint crusade to Estonia.

At the same time Eric faced trouble from the religious orders who insisted that they were immune from taxes that Eric might assess. Eric wanted the church lands taxed as any other land holder would be. The pope sent a nuncio to negotiate between the king and the bishops at Odense in 1245. Excommunication was threatened for anyone, great or small who trespassed upon the ancient rights and privileges of the church. It was a clear warning to Eric that the church would not tolerate his continued insistence at assessing church property for tax purposes.