Canute I, Swedish

Swedish language

Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...

: Knut Eriksson (Old Norse

Old Norse

Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....

: Knútr Eiríksson), (born before 1150 – died 1195/96) was king over all of Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 from 1173 to 1195 (rival king since 1167). He was a son of King Eric the Saint

Eric IX of Sweden

Eric "IX" of Sweden, , also called Eric the Lawgiver, Erik the Saint, Eric the Holy and in Sweden Sankt Erik meaning Saint Eric was a Swedish king c.1155 – 1160...

 and Queen Christina, who was a granddaughter of the Swedish king Inge the Elder

Inge I of Sweden

Inge the Elder was a King of Sweden.-Biography:Inge was the son of the former King Stenkil and a Swedish princess. Inge shared the rule of the kingdom with his probably elder brother Halsten Stenkilsson, but little is known with certainty of Inge's reign...

.

After killing Charles Sverkerson

Charles VII of Sweden

Charles "VII" also Carl , or Karl Sverkersson in Swedish , was ruler of Gothenland, and then King of Sweden from circa 1161 to 1167, when he was assassinated....

 in 1167, Canute, who had just returned home after ten years in exile, started fighting for power against Sverker the Elder

Sverker I of Sweden

Sverker I or Sverker the Elder was King of Sweden from about 1130 till his death.-Biography:Sverker was a mighty landowner from Östergötland...

's sons Kol

Kol Sverkerson

Kol Sverkerson was a claimant to the throne of Sweden from 1167 to his death a few years later. His patronymic comes from the assumption that he was an extramarital son of king Sverker the Elder...

 and Boleslaw Sverkerson

Boleslas Sverkerson

Boleslaw was the son of Sverker the Elder, King of Sweden and his second wife Richeza of Poland, and was the younger brother of King Charles and Earl John Sverkerson. The boy was named in honor of his maternal grandfather Duke Boleslaw III of Poland...

. Only in 1173 could he call himself king of the whole country.

Canute's able jarl

Jarl in Sweden

In Sweden, members of medieval royal families, such as the House of Stenkil and House of Bjelbo, held the title of jarl before their accession to the throne. Since the early 12th century, there usually was only one holder of the title at a time, second only to the King of Sweden.For special...

 (earl) from 1174 was 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...

 (died in 1202)

Canute built a castle on the island of Stockholm

Stockholm

Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...

 in 1187, one of many such fortifications made necessary by heathen incursions from the Baltic lands.

Skáldatal

Skáldatal

Skáldatal is a short prose work in Old Norse. It is preserved in two manuscripts: DG 11, or Codex Uppsaliensis, which is one of the four main manuscripts of the Prose Edda , and AM 761 a 4to , which also contains Skaldic poems...

names two of Knut Eriksson's skald

Skald

The skald was a member of a group of poets, whose courtly poetry is associated with the courts of Scandinavian and Icelandic leaders during the Viking Age, who composed and performed renditions of aspects of what we now characterise as Old Norse poetry .The most prevalent metre of skaldic poetry is...

s: Hallbjörn hali and Þorsteinn Þorbjarnarson.

Family

Married around 1160, the name of his wife is unknown but traditionally taken to be Cecilia Johansdotter of Sweden

Cecilia Johansdotter of Sweden

Cecilia Johansdotter of Sweden, , is the traditional name of the Queen Consort of King Canute I of Sweden and mother of King Eric X of Sweden.- Biography :...

.

Children:

1. Jon Knutsson (slain November 1205 at Älgarås)
2. Knut Knutsson (slain November 1205 at Älgarås)
3. Joar Knutsson (slain November 1205 at Älgarås)
4. Erik Knutsson
   Eric X of Sweden
   Eric "X" of Sweden, Swedish: Erik Knutsson; Old Norse: Eiríkr Knútsson was the King of Sweden between 1208 and 1216. Also known as Eric the Survivor when he became King, he was the only remaining son of King Canute I of Sweden and his queen of an undetermined name, who probably was Cecilia...
   
   , who would defeat Sverker the Younger
   Sverker II of Sweden
   Sverker II was King of Sweden from 1196 to 1208.-Biography:...
   
    and become King of Sweden in 1208.
5. daughter, NN Knutsdotter (possibly Sigrid, or Karin), who is said to have married either jarl Knut Birgersson (and become mother of Magnus Broka), or married Magnus Broka himself (and with Magnus had a son Knut Magnusson, or, Knut Katarinason, claimant of Swedish throne and killed in 1251). Existence of this daughter is based on unclear mentions in old saga and chronicle material, and is to an extent accepted in research literature, to explicate Knut Magnusson's hereditary claim to the throne. This daughter was by necessity born in 1170s or 1180s. She is also proposed by old romantical-looking genealogies as mother of a Duke's daughter Cecilia Knutsdotter
   Cecilia Knutsdotter
   Lady Cecilia Knutsdotter was a medieval Swedish mighty and wealthy noblewoman of high nobility. She is known as hertigsdotter, Duke's daughter....
   
   (by necessity born near 1208 at earliest), whose parentage however is fully shrouded in mists of history.