Inge the Younger

Inge the Younger
King of Sweden
with Filip
Reignc. 1110–c. 1118
PredecessorFilip
SuccessorHimself (as sole ruler)
King of Sweden
Reign1118–1125
SuccessorRagnvald Knaphövde
(as King of Sweden)
Magnus the Strong
(as King of Gothenland)
HouseStenkil
FatherHalsten Stenkilsson
16th century gravestone of Inge the Younger of Sweden.

Inge the Younger was King of Sweden in c. 1110–c. 1125 and probably the youngest son of king Halsten.[1][2] According to unreliable traditions, Inge would have ruled together with his brother Philip Halstensson after the death of their uncle, Inge the Elder.[1][2] In English literature both have also been called Ingold.[3]

Hallstein's sons were Philip and Ingi, and they succeeded to the Kingdom of Sweden after King Ingi the elder. (The 13th century Hervarar saga)[4]

Other sources say that after the death of Philip (1118), Inge the Younger was the sole king of Sweden,[1] but the year of his own death is unknown.[2] According to the regnal list in the Westrogothic law, Inge was poisoned with an evil drink in Östergötland:[2]

Niunði war Ingi konongær, broðher Philipusær konongs, oc heter æptir Ingæ kononge, Halstens konongs brødhær. Hanum war firigiort mæð ondom dryk i Østrægøtlanði, oc fek aff þy banæ. Æn Sweriki for e wæl, mædhæn þer frænlingær rædhu.[5]

The tenth (Christian king) was king Inge, the brother of king Philip, and he was named after king Inge (the Elder). He was killed by evil drink in Östergötland and it was his bane. But Sweden fared forever well, while these kinsmen ruled.[6]

It is not known whether Inge was still alive when the Norwegian king Sigurd I of Norway invaded Småland in the Kalmar Crusade in 1123, but when Inge died, it was the end of the House of Stenkil.[1][2]

Inge is reported to have been married to Ulvhild Håkansdotter who was the daughter of the Norwegian Haakon Finnsson and who would later marry the Danish king Nils Svensson and even later the Swedish king Sverker the Elder.[2] A story that has her assassinating King Inge with a poisoned beverage[7] cannot be substantiated. According to another tradition, he was also the husband of Ragnhild of Tälje.

  1. ^ a b c d The article Inge d.y. in Nationalencyklopedin (1992).
  2. ^ a b c d e f The article Inge, section 2. I. den yngre in Nordisk familjebok (1910).
  3. ^ Gary Dean Peterson Warrior Kings of Sweden: The Rise of an Empire in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries ISBN 978-0-7864-2873-1 p. 8
  4. ^ "Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks" Archived 2007-05-08 at the National and University Library of Iceland, Guðni Jónsson's and Bjarni Vilhjálmsson's edition at Norrøne Tekster og Kvad. English translation by N. Kershaw: "The Saga of Hervör and Heithrek" Archived 2006-12-27 at the Wayback Machine in Stories and Ballads of the Far Past, translated from the Norse (Icelandic and Faroese). Cambridge University Press, 1921.
  5. ^ The regnal list of the Westrogothic law at a personal site., retrieved January 20, 2007.
  6. ^ Translation provided by Wikipedia editors.
  7. ^ Lagerquist & Åberg in Kings and Rulers of Sweden ISBN 91-87064-35-9 p. 14