House of Stenkil

The House of Stenkil is a modern name for the royal dynasty that ruled over Sweden from around 1060 to the 1120s. It has received its name from its first king, Stenkil, who according to the Westrogothic Law's king list originated from Västergötland and who was probably married into the old royal dynasty that died out around 1060. Stenkil died c. 1066 and our knowledge of the following two decades is very uncertain and sparse. Immediately after his death, civil wars are said to have broken out between two claimants to the throne, both named Erik, one of whom may possibly have been Stenkil's son. Sometimes Håkan the Red is also identified as Stenkil's son. What is certain is that Stenkil was the father of kings Halsten and Inge the Elder. Halsten was in turn the father of kings Philip and Inge the Younger. When the latter died, the Stenkil dynasty died out in the male line.
It is not unlikely that all kings during the 12th century were in one way or another related to the Stenkil dynasty. The connections that are known went through Inge the Elder's children. Margareta's son Magnus Nilsson laid claim to the Swedish throne in the 1120s and succeeded in being elected king by the Geats. Katarina became mother-in-law to Erik the Holy, who was the ancestor of the House of Erik. Ragnvald became maternal grandfather to the Danish prince Magnus Henriksson, who laid claim to Sweden's throne around 1160 and killed both Sverker the Elder and Erik the Holy. No close connection between the Stenkil dynasty and the Sverker dynasty is known, but Kristina Ingesdotter became great-grandmother to Karl Sverkersson's wife.

Parentage of Stenkil

The Hervarar saga describes Stenkil as the son of Ragnvald the Old and Astrid Njalsdotter, the daughter of Njal Finnsson from Hålogaland in Norway and a cognatic descendant of Harald Fairhair. Later historians have identified the father of Stenkil as Ragnvald Ulfsson who was the earl of Ladoga and the grandson of the legendary Viking Skoglar Toste, but this presumed family-connection is not supported by any other sources and must therefore be regarded as very uncertain. The Icelandic sagas mention a wife and two sons of Ragnvald Ulfsson but none are identified with Stenkil and his mother Astrid. The contemporary chronicler Adam of Bremen says Stenkil was the nephew or stepson of the former King Emund the Old, while the Hervarar saga asserts that he was related to the previous dynasty by marriage to Emund's daughter.

Kings of the Stenkil Dynasty

Cognatic offshoots:

Portrait	Name	Reign	Succession	Marriage	Life details
	Magnus I "the Strong" Magnus Nilsson	c. 1125 – 1130 or c. 1130 – 1134	Grandson of Inge the Elder. Attested only as a pretender in the Gesta Danorum; perhaps never recognized as king.	Richeza of Poland	Died in 1134 Elected king but failed to establish his power; killed in 1134 at the Battle of Fotevik.
	Magnus II Magnus Henriksson	18 May 1160 – 1161	Great-grandson of Inge I. Seized power after murdering Eric IX.	Bridget Haraldsdotter	Died in 1161 Killed in battle against Charles VII.