Inge the Elder

Inge the Elder
Monument over King Ingi's family grave (with a 16th-century stone for his son Reginald) at Vreta Abbey
Died	c. 1105-1110
Burial	Hånger then moved to Varnhem Abbey
Spouse	Helena
Issue	Christina, Grand Duchess of Kiev Ragnvald Ingesson Margaret, Queen of Norway and Denmark Katarina Ingesdotter
House	Stenkil
Father	Stenkil
Mother	Ingamoder Emundsdotter

Inge the Elder (Swedish: Inge Stenkilsson; Old Norse: Ingi Steinkelsson) (died c. 1105-1110) was a King of Sweden. In English literature he has also been called Ingold. While the sources do not allow us to paint a full picture of his term of kingship, he is known to have led a turbulent but at length successful reign of more than two decades. He stands out as a devoted Christian who founded the first abbey in Sweden and acted harshly against pagan practices. The kingdom was still an unstable realm based on alliances of noblemen, and Inge's main power base was in Västergötland and Östergötland; one of the earliest chronicles that mention his reign knows him as rex gautorum, King of the Geats.

Inge was the son of the former King Stenkil and a Swedish princess. Inge shared the rule of the kingdom with his probably elder brother Halsten Stenkilsson, but little is known with certainty of Inge's reign. According to the contemporary chronicler Adam of Bremen and the writer of his scholion, the former king Stenkil had died and two kings named Eric had ruled and been killed. Then an Anund Gårdske was summoned from Kievan Rus', but rejected due to his refusal to administer the blóts at the Temple at Uppsala. A hypothesis suggests that Anund and Inge were the same person, as several sources mention Inge as a fervent Christian. All that can be said is that a Håkan the Red ruled in c. 1075 (when Adam concluded his chronicle) and that Inge was enthroned under unknown circumstances shortly before 1080.