Such activities are also connected with Erik Segersäll (‘the Victorious’) at the end of the
tenth century. About him we have more records than any previous king in Sweden. He
was partly a typical seafaring Viking king, with plundering and predatory activities in
foreign areas. Erik is also connected with Uppland. He was probably the king that
founded Sigtuna as a royal residence around 975. Erik was baptised while in Denmark.
He also allowed missionaries in his realm, but was also blamed by the Christian
chronicler Adam of Bremen for having relapsed into paganism at home. He was, how-
ever, married to a Christian woman, the daughter of the Polish prince Mieszko.
Erik’s son was Olof, often later called OSw Skot-/Skøtkonunger (Sw Skötkonung). He is
known as the first Christian king in Sweden. According to a late tradition he was
baptised at Husaby in Västergötland. During his reign we find the first coinage with a
mint house at Sigtuna. The minting was extensive and the coinage has to be interpreted
as a demonstration of royal power. Inscriptions and symbols testified to the intent to
promote Christianity (Malmer 1996 ). Olof is also connected with the promotion of the
bishopric at Skara in Västergötland. Although there is but a small number of sources,
Olof was a king who strove for a new form of kingship, legitimised through Christianity.
After Olof his sons Anund Jakob and Emund followed as kings. In the middle of the
1020 s Anund Jakob was defeated by King Canute the Great of Denmark, who for a
period was in control over Sigtuna. After Emund a new dynasty emerged. A Stenkil was
c. 1060 recognised as king. In the sources he is mostly associated with Västergötland.
His origin is unknown, but evidently he legitimised his title through marriage to a
daughter of Emund. Four of Stenkil’s sons are known to have followed him as kings. The
kingdom was fragile and contested and co-regency between brothers evidently occurred.
In the 1070 s a certain King Håkon is, however, known to have exercised power in at
least the province of Västergötland.
Even if there were kings with ambition to be rulers of Sweden, they seldom held
power over the two main parts of Sweden. A dynastic principle prevailed, although the
kingship was elective. Sweden was throughout the Middle Ages an electoral monarchy.
The election was often more or less formal, but it also implied a weak monarchy. In
the electoral procedures, at least as they were formalised in the late thirteenth and early
fourteenth centuries, the influence of a political elite, the bishops and the law speakers
(Sw lagmän), was great and the authority of the king was restricted. An election of a king
was not just formal, but implied the possibility of the aristocracy restricting royal
authority.
The 1120 s in particular seem to have been a period when internal struggles cul-
minated. No king was recognised for the whole realm of the Svear, but possibly local
kings were to be found in some regions. A consolidation of royal power started from
c. 1130. Sverker I was evidently an aristocrat who became recognised as king. His
position was partly legitimised through marriage with the widowed queen of King
Inge II. With the active support of Sverker and Queen Ulfhild the Cistercians were
established in Sweden. This was the great introduction of monasticism in Sweden. One
of the great spiritual and cultural organisations thus gained a foothold in Sweden.
The connections between the royal power and the Cistercian houses were close. The
collaboration between the kingship and the Church, especially the bishopric of
Linköping, and hereby the papacy as well, was good in Sverker’s days.
King Sverker was murdered in 1156 and after him an Erik became king. His ancestry
is unknown, but he represented another dynasty. From the middle of the twelfth century
–– Thomas Lindkvist––