Magnus Minnesköld

Magnus Minnisköld
Spouse(s)	Ingrid Ylva
Noble family	House of Bjelbo
Father	Bengt Snivil
Born	c. 1175
Died	1208?

Magnus Minniskiöld (also spelled Minnisköld or Minnesköld, circa 1175—1208?) was a medieval Swedish magnate from the House of Bjelbo. For posterity, he is best known as the father of the renowned statesman Birger Jarl, and the ancestor of the later Swedish kings. He is sometimes believed to have perished in the Battle of Lena in 1208, though the evidence is not conclusive.

His earliest known ancestor is thought to be Folke the Fat, a powerful Swedish leader of the early 12th century, who married Ingegerd Knudsdatter, daughter of Canute the Saint of Denmark and Adela of Flanders, a descendant of Charlemagne. Ingegerd and her sister Cecilia both went to Sweden after the death of Adela and married there, and Folke and his kin were therefore close to the ruling elite of the Kingdom of Denmark.

A medieval Swedish genealogy states that "Folke the Fat was the father of Benedictus (Bengt) Snivil, and that Benedictus sired Jarl Birger, Jarl Charles, and Magnus who was called Minniskiöld". While his older brother Birger Brosa held the office of Riksjarl between 1174 and 1202, the younger Magnus lived at the family estate Bjälbo, in the current Mjölby municipality, Östergötland, Sweden. It has been assumed that he was the Lawspeaker of Östergötland, though this is not documented. He married the noblewoman Ingrid Ylva, of possible royal descent, and fathered several sons who would influence early Swedish history, most notably Birger Jarl. He is mentioned in two contemporary diplomas (DS 70, 116), as the brother of Birger Brosa, as well as by King Magnus Birgersson, who in a letter in 1280 called him "grandfather".

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