Sverker I of Sweden

Sverker I or Sverker the Elder (Old Swedish: Swærkir konongær gambli), murdered 25 December 1156, was King of Sweden from about 1132 till his death. Of non-royal descent, he founded the House of Sverker, the rulers of which alternated with the rival House of Eric over the next century.

Sverker was a large landowner from Östergötland. According to the Westrogothic law (c. 1240), his father's name was Cornube, but according to the Icelandic Skáldatal, his father's name was Kol. A later pedigree has the filiation Kettil - Kol - Kornike (Cornube) - Sverker. He rose to power after the extinction of the House of Stenkil in the 1120s. The Danish prince Magnus the Strong was acknowledged as king in Götaland for a while, although the extent of his actual power is not clear. However, Magnus's involvement in the civil strife in his homeland gave opportunities for Sverker to act. According to the partial account of Saxo Grammaticus, "the Swedes, when they heard that Magnus was busy with war in Denmark, took one of their fellow countrymen, a man of modest ancestry by the name of Sverker, as their king; not because they appreciated him in particular, but since they would not stand under the rule of a foreigner." From the order of events in Saxo's chronicle, this took place in c. 1132.

It appears that Sverker was only slowly recognized by the various provinces of the kingdom. Norwegian sources speak of several separate actions taken by the elite of Västergötland in the 1130s, indicating a high degree of separatism. The jarl of Västergötland, Karl of Edsvära, settled the Norwegian-Geatish border with King Harald Gille in 1135 and is even termed "king" in a source. The same goes for the provinces around Lake Mälaren where Magnus still had adherents. Bishop Henrik of Sigtuna was expelled from Sweden and fell at the side of Magnus in the Battle of Fotevik in 1134. Sverker was acknowledged in the Mälaren provinces by 1135, when he received the Danish pretender Oluf Haraldsen, whom he supported in his quest for power in Skåne. At least by the 1140s the authority of Sverker was generally acknowledged in the loosely structured kingdom. The basis of his power was the central plain of Östergötland with the church of Kaga, Alvastra Abbey and Vreta Abbey as religious supporting sites.

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