Saint Ingamoder Emundsdotter of Sweden
Encyclopedia
Ingamoder is a name invented in modern times for the wife of King Stenkil of Sweden
Stenkil of Sweden
Stenkil was a King of Sweden who ruled c. 1060 until 1066. He succeeded Emund the Old and became the first king from the House of Stenkil...

.

Ingemo (not necessarily the same person) was a local saint only known from customs at the Ingemo Well near Skövde
Skövde
Skövde is a locality and the seat of Skövde Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden with 34 446 inhabitants .Skövde is situated some 150 km northeast of Gothenburg, between Sweden's two largest lakes, Vänern and Vättern. It sits on the eastern slope of a low mountain ridge Billingen ,...

 in Sweden. Modern genealogical speculation made her the daughter of King Emund the Old who was married to King Stenkil, and whose given name is not known. The name Ingamoder is an Swedish invention which translates to English as "Mother of Inge" (that is of King Inge the Elder).

Biography and legends

Ingemo was a local Swedish saint in Västergötland
Västergötland
', English exonym: West Gothland, is one of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden , situated in the southwest of Sweden. In older English literature one may also encounter the Latinized version Westrogothia....

. However, she was not an officially sanctioned and recognized saint by the Church. Nothing is known about her life. Ingemo's Well is an old holy well where she was venerated, which may originally have been a Pagan era holy site well. It is located between Skövde
Skövde
Skövde is a locality and the seat of Skövde Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden with 34 446 inhabitants .Skövde is situated some 150 km northeast of Gothenburg, between Sweden's two largest lakes, Vänern and Vättern. It sits on the eastern slope of a low mountain ridge Billingen ,...

 and Tidaholm
Tidaholm
Tidaholm is a locality and the seat of Tidaholm Municipality in Västra Götaland County, Sweden, with 7,920 inhabitants in 2005.-History:Early Tidaholm was primarily agricultural. An ironworks factory was established in 1799 at the site of the Holmagarden forge. The ironworks were replaced in 1868...

. The well is walled with stone, its dimensions are 1,2 × 0,6 meter. It is covered with a limestone slab. The well was the goal of pilgrimage
Pilgrimage
A pilgrimage is a journey or search of great moral or spiritual significance. Typically, it is a journey to a shrine or other location of importance to a person's beliefs and faith...

s, where people offered coin
Coin
A coin is a piece of hard material that is standardized in weight, is produced in large quantities in order to facilitate trade, and primarily can be used as a legal tender token for commerce in the designated country, region, or territory....

s for health into the 19th century. The earliest accounts of the customs at the well date from the late 17th century.

Other sources

  • Ohlmarks, Åke Alla Sveriges drottningar (AWE/Geber: 1976) Swedish
  • Ohlmarks, Åke Alla Sveriges prinsessor (AWE/Geber: 1979) Swedish
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