Ingegerd Birgersdotter of Bjelbo
Encyclopedia
Sverker II of Sweden
Sverker II was King of Sweden from 1196 to 1208.-Biography:...
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Ingegerd was born in to one of Sweden's most powerful noble
Nobility
Nobility is a social class which possesses more acknowledged privileges or eminence than members of most other classes in a society, membership therein typically being hereditary. The privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be...
families, the Bjälbo family, as the child of Birger Brosa
Birger Brosa
Birger Brosa , jarl of Sweden 1174-1202, d. 9 January 1202 on Visingsö, was a son of Bengt Snivil and a member of the powerful House of Bjälbo...
and the Queen Dowager
Queen Dowager
A queen dowager or dowager queen is a title or status generally held by the widow of a deceased king. In the case of the widow of a deceased emperor, the title of empress dowager is used...
Brigida Haraldsdotter
Brigida Haraldsdotter
Brigida Haraldsdotter was a medieval Swedish Queen consort, spouse of King Magnus of Sweden.Brigida Haraldsdotter was the illegitimate daughter of King Harald IV of Norway. Her mother is unknown, but she was possibly Tora Gudmundsdotter, long-term lover of her father and the mother of King...
; her mother was the child of King Harald Gille of Norway and had in her first marriage herself been the Queen of Sweden in 1160-1161.
In 1200, she was married to King Sverker after the death of his first consort and became Queen of Sweden directly upon her marriage. Through her connections, she was to play an important part in her husband's politics. In 1202, her father died, and queen Ingegerd and her husband proclaimed their one year old son Prince Johan as the heir and head of the Bjelbo clan through her. In 1204, a conflict broke out between her husband and her family, and in 1205, her family broke with her after the death of the sons of King Canute I of Sweden
Canute I of Sweden
Canute I, Swedish: Knut Eriksson , was king over all of Sweden from 1173 to 1195...
at the Battle of Älgarås
Battle of Älgarås
The Battle of Älgarås took place at the royal estate of Älgarås in northernmost Västergötland in November 1205 between the House of Sverker and the House of Erik fighting for the Swedish crown. The brothers Jon, Joar, Knut and Erik Knutsson were staying at the estate when the Sverker clan attacked...
. She acted as mediator between the king and her family, but failed to reconcile them, and in 1210, her husband was killed at the Battle of Gestilren
Battle of Gestilren
The Battle of Gestilren took place on July 17, 1210. The battle was fought between the exiled King of Sweden Sverker and the ruling King Eric. Sverker had been beaten in the previous Battle of Lena, but had returned with new forces. Sverker was killed in the battle...
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The later life of queen Ingegerd is not known, nor is the year of her death. In 1216, her son was made king. Historians suggest that she spent her later life with her brother Magnus, in Scania
Scania
Scania is the southernmost of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden, constituting a peninsula on the southern tip of the Scandinavian peninsula, and some adjacent islands. The modern administrative subdivision Skåne County is almost, but not totally, congruent with the...
or in Denmark. The year of 1230 is suggested as the date of her death.