Ingeborg of Norway

Ingeborg of Norway
Duchess of Södermanland, Halland, and Estonia
Duchess Ingeborg's bust at Linköping Cathedral
Born	1301 Norway
Died	1361 (aged 59–60)
Spouse	Eric, Duke of Södermanland Canute Porse, Duke of Halland
Issue	Magnus VII of Norway Euphemia, Duchess of Mecklenburg Haakon, Duke of Halland Canute, Duke of Halland
House	Sverre
Father	Haakon V of Norway
Mother	Euphemia of Rügen

Ingeborg of Norway (Old Norse Ingibjörg Hákonardóttir, Swedish Ingeborg Håkansdotter, Norwegian Ingebjørg Håkonsdatter; 1301 – 17 June 1361), was a Norwegian princess and by marriage a Swedish royal duchess with a position in the regency governments in Norway (1319–27) and Sweden (1319–26) during the minority of her son, King Magnus of Norway and Sweden. In 1318-1319, she was Sweden's de facto ruler, and from 1319 until 1326, she was Sweden's first de jure female regent.

Ingeborg was born as the only legitimate daughter of King Håkon V of Norway from his marriage with Euphemia of Rügen. As a child, she was first betrothed to Magnus Birgerson, the son and designated heir of Birger, King of Sweden. Soon afterwards the engagement was however broken for altered political reasons, and in 1305 she was betrothed to Eric, Duke of Södermanland, a younger brother of King Birger, thus uncle of her first betrothed. In 1312, Ingeborg and Eric were formally married in a double wedding in Oslo; at the same time, her cousin Ingeborg Eriksdottir of Norway, married Eric's brother duke Valdemar Magnusson. At her wedding, her mother Queen Euphemia had published the recently translated (by her command) famous poems, the Euphemia songs. The couple had two children before Duke Eric was murdered.

Upon the imprisonment of her spouse and her brother-in-law, she and her cousin and sister-in-law, Ingeborg Eriksdottir, became the leaders of their spouses' followers. On 16 April 1318, the two duchesses Ingeborg made a treaty in Kalmar with the Danish duke Christoffer of Halland-Samsö and archbishop Esgar of Lund to free their husbands and not to make peace with the kings of Sweden and Denmark before they agreed to this, and the two duchesses promised to honor the promises they gave in return in the names of their husbands. Later the same year, their husbands were confirmed to have died.