Sverker II. (Sweden)

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Sverker II (also Sverker the Younger, Swedish Sverker den yngre Karlsson ; * around 1160 , † July 17, 1210 ) was King of Sweden from 1196 to 1208 . He fell in the battle of Gestilren .

Sverkers parents were King Karl Sverkersson and Kristina Stigsdotter Hvide. After his father was killed by Knut Eriksson on Visingsö in 1167 , the minor Sverker was brought to Denmark , where he grew up with his mother's family. After Knut's death , Sverker was installed as king in 1196 thanks to the mediation of Jarl Birger Brosa . Knut's own children were still minors at the time. Sverker pursued a church-friendly policy to get the church's support for the election of his son as king. His letter of privilege for the church and its archbishop Valerius is the oldest known church privilege in Sweden . The church received tax exemption for its lands and jurisdiction in special spiritual courts. There is no evidence that Sverker was crowned, but there is some evidence that it was on the occasion of the Privilege Letter.

Sverker was married twice, namely to Benedikta Ebbesdotter, daughter of Ebbe Sunesen from the family of Hvide and, like Sverker himself, related to Archbishop Absalon von Lund , and to Birger Brosa's daughter Ingegerd. The order of the marriages is not known, but the first marriage was probably the one with Benedikta. With her, Sverker had three daughters. One daughter was named Helena . She was married to the large landowner Sune Folkesson in Östergötland , a grandson of Birger Brosa. From this marriage came the daughter Katarina, wife of King Erik Eriksson . With the other two daughters Kristina and Margareta, the genealogists are not sure whether they were really Sverker's daughters. The only thing that is certain is that they were married to North German princes. His son Johann Sverkersson from his second marriage to Ingegerd Birgersdotter (Bjälbo) became King of Sweden in 1216.

Like his predecessor, Sverker also tried to secure the throne for his son. To this end, he made the one-year-old Johann a jarl and enfeoffed him with a large estate, which he managed himself. Johann was ridiculed as the "pantsless Jarl".

This led to the uprising of Knut Eriksson's sons. They were defeated at Älgerås in November 1205 . Three of the king's sons fell, but the eldest, Erik Knutsson , managed to escape to Norway. Supported by the Folkung people , he returned to Sweden three years later, where the battle of Lena (now Kungslena) against Sverker and his Danish auxiliaries took place. After his defeat, Sverker fled to his relatives in Denmark. One of Birger Brosa's sons became Jarl, but died immediately. He was succeeded by a man named Folk, who is said to have been Birga's brother and the father of the aforementioned Sune Folkesson. Sverker and his supporters, who had fled with him, including Archbishop Valerius, were preparing for the reconquest. In the summer of 1210 the battle of Gestilren broke out . Sverker fell in the fight, as did one of his fiercest opponents, Jarl Folke.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Lagerqvist p. 62.
  2. ↑ Lagerqvist p. 63.

literature

predecessor Office successor
Knut I. King of Sweden
1196–1208 		Erik X.
personal data
SURNAME Sverker II.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Sverker den yngre Karlsson; Sverker the Younger
BRIEF DESCRIPTION King of Sweden
DATE OF BIRTH around 1160
DATE OF DEATH July 17, 1210
Place of death Style