Charles VII of Sweden
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Charles VII Sverkersson, or Karl Sverkersson in Swedish, was ruler of Gothenland, and then King of Sweden from circa 1161 to 1167, when he was assassinated.
He was known as Charles Sverkersson during his reign and is the first historically known king of Sweden with the name Charles.
[edit] Life
Charles had rivalled Eric IX of Sweden (whom later generations dubbed martyr and saint) and held some power in Gothenland ("jarlship") already during Eric's reign. It has been claimed that Eric's murder by minions of their rival Magnus Henricson was also backed by Charles.
After the fall of Magnus, Charles got recognized generally in Sweden as king.
During the reign of Charles VII, Sweden got its Archbishop of Uppsala.
In the spring of 1167, King Charles was killed on Visingsö (in lake Vättern) by underlings of Knut Eriksson, head of the rival Eric dynasty, who so overtook the throne. Charles was buried in Alvastra monastery.
Starting from Charles' death, his kinsmen (probably his half-brothers) Burislev and Kol together opposed Canute's kingship and were rival kings, recognized in some Gothenlander parts of Sweden; but last of them was killed in 1173, after which Canute's government got recognized overall.
[edit] Family
Charles' wife was Kirsten Stigsdatter, a Danish lady, daughter of Stig Hvitaleder, a Seelander magnate, and his wife who was sister of Valdemar I of Denmark. Their sole historically attested child was a boy Sverker Karlsson (who was little when Charles himself died), who became chosen king Sverker II of Sweden after the death of Charles' rival king Canute I.
[edit] Ordinal number
Charles VII was the first Swedish king with the name Charles. The earlier six Charleses were inventions of Johannes Magnus in the 16th century, in his book Gothorvm sveonvmqve historia, which provides a basically fictitious list of Swedish kings since the Fall of man. The first Swedish monarch to actually use a regnal number was Erik XIV in 1560.
| Preceded by Eric the Saint or Magnus II of Sweden |
King of Sweden | Succeeded by Canute I |
