Talk:Birger jarl

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[edit] Several questions

Several questions:

  1. Who was Fr. Hedberg?
  2. Is it true that Mechtild was the mother of Bengt in 1254 even though she wasn't married to Birger until 1261?
  3. Who is the king who was Ingeborg Eriksdotter's father? Is it the Erik Eriksson who's mentioned in the next sentence?
Ingeborg Eriksdotter's father was Erik Knutsson (d. 1216). Ingeborg's brother was Erik Eriksson (a.k.a. Erik the lame) who made his brother-in-law (i.e. Birger) Jarl in 1248. Erik "the lame" Eriksson was the last of the House of Erik.

-- Zoe

1. Havent the slighest these were old thing, which I didnt wrote. 2. Really have to check this up, thanks for noticing. She was married to Abel of denmark before, well see into this. 3. As above stated, Erik Knutsson was Ingeborgs father, not her brother.

So now Id be most interested to know

  1. In what source did you find Erik Knutsson as Ingeborgs brother?

Glad for your interest in scandinavian genealogy. // :) Dan Koehl

I just put in what 217.215.99.203 wrote in response to my 3rd question above. If this is wrong, who WAS her brother? -- Zoe
As named above (by 217.215.99.203) Erik Eriksson. Erik Knutsson was the father to both of them, that why they are sister and brothers. I was really thinking, because yesterday actually someone asked for genealogy information, that I should make someting more graphical. Is there any standard for such things, or can I just make a /link to genealogy? Dan again.
You might consider creating a page Kings of Sweden and indicating the relationships there. -- Zoe
Theres already a list List_of_Swedish_monarchs. I meant a graphical thing/Dan

Now noticing that someone has written that Birger married the daughter of Abel, with whom she was actually married with. It sure isnt easy to put this in order, when so many want to write so much, but wrong...Dan Koehl 23:47 Dec 9, 2002 (UTC)

It is better not to name the family that Birger jarl belonged to as "Folkunga", nowadays most historians namen it "Bjälbo-ätten" (Bjälbo-family) as Folkunga in their time was an opposition of Birger jarl and his sons. First in the 17th century, due to some confusion the historians started to name Bjälbo as Folkunga.

[edit] One source added

Today I added one source to the article and removed the templates from the top of the page (to add them to two sections needing attention). More sources and some copy-editing is still necessary though.
/ Mats Halldin (talk) 09:17, 12 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Date of birth

The source I used for the article clearly say he must have been older than 50 (...han kan knappast ha varit född så sent som 1216. Fadern Magnus Minnesköld antas nämligen ha dött senast 1210. En hyfsad gissning är att Birger fötts något eller några år innan faderns bortgång.) I don't claim the Lindström brothers are the ideal NPOV reference, but preferably another source should be used before replacing the information in the article.
Thanks
/ Mats Halldin (talk) 11:33, 12 June 2007 (UTC)

Sorry about this. Added reference. The traditional dating mentioned in the article would have made him around 60 at the time of his death, however recent publications take 10 years off from his age after the examination of his bones. I don't know on which grounds his father has been though to have died before 1210, but that seems to be incorrect then. --Drieakko 11:54, 12 June 2007 (UTC)
I'd also point out the fact that Birger was very interested in getting more offspring his entire life and binding other dynasties to his own. He had his first daughter in 1238. Assuming that he was born already before 1210, that would make him closer to 30 then, which sounds uncharacteristic. Putting him closer to 20 sounds more believable. --Drieakko 12:00, 12 June 2007 (UTC)
OK, sounds believable. The source I used, which admits itself the information is "a fair guess", is however still used for the Early life section, so the information in the article is still contradictory. Maybe it perfectly well illustrates how much is knowledge and/or speculations concerning Sweden during the 13th century. I don't understand Finnish, but I'll gladly assume your reference is more credible than mine, so, please, feel free to substitute information I've added.
/ Mats Halldin (talk) 12:35, 12 June 2007 (UTC)
The contradiction is difficult to tackle since Magnus Minnesköld is regarded Birger's father on fairly strong grounds, but he is also usually regarded to have died in 1208. All the pieces don't add up, so someone has it wrong, we just don't know for sure who. Perhaps Magnus Minnesköld, born around 1150, had another son, Magnus, who has been merged together with his father and who would have been the actual father of Birger. --Drieakko 12:41, 12 June 2007 (UTC)
Mm, I tried to make this clear in the article by shovelling things around a bit. Again, don't hesitate to rework it.
/ Mats Halldin (talk) 16:01, 12 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] The foundations of a Swedish kingdom?

I lifted out the assertion that Birger Jarl's reforms laid the foundations for a Swedish kingdom[1]. I know there is a tendency among some Swedish historians to put everything as late as possible, and I guess they still have an axe to grind against gothicismus and national romanticism. A kind of antithesis to what they perceive as fusty old stuff. However, there are scholars who disagree with their way of presenting Swedish history, e.g. Mats G. Larsson who deals with Sweden's past as a Germanic kingdom. On WP we have to follow NPOV and we have to have a functional terminology in English. This means that we have to be very careful with what a particular Swedish historian means with "kungarike" in a specific context and with how this should be translated into English. IMHO, it is a trifle pathetic to have a statement that implies that there was still no Swedish kingdom in the early 13th century while we have a List of Swedish monarchs that begins with Eric the Victorious (10th century).--Berig 17:05, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

There were Swedish monarchs before him, but they were typically mentioned as kings over the Suiones. The English article Eric the Victorious mentions him as king over Swedes, but the Swedish article calls him Sveakung. As the reference given in the article describes it (and as I know Swedish history), Birger Jarl was the first to rule both Svealand and Götaland and therefore the first Swedish king in the modern sense of the word (i.e. the first king over what was to become the Kingdom of Sweden). That is, there were several kingdoms in present-day Sweden before Birger. I don't understand what is lost in translation.
/ Mats Halldin (talk) 18:02, 5 July 2007 (UTC)
We cannot and must not translate word for word from Swedish to English (no professional translator does that), and above all we have to handle each historian critically like they handle each other. There are several ways of understanding what the "kingdom of Sweden" is and I maintain that we have follow:
1) The mainstream regnal list of Sweden, where it is either Eric the Victorious or Olof Skötkonung who begin as "Kings of Sweden" in the 10th century. The only reason why it does not begin earlier with kings such as Björn at Haugi is that all the preceding sources are contradictory.
2) The mainstream translation of Svear into English, which is Swedes and Swedish, and this is something we have to abide by here.
The notion that [Sverige= Svealand + Götaland] is *one way* of defining the Sweden of the high middle ages, while there is another: Svearike/Svitjod=Sverige (my own point of view, BTW). Moreoever, the first king to rule Svealand and Götland is unfortunately unknown, and it was certainly not Birger Jarl.--Berig 18:25, 5 July 2007 (UTC)
OK, I must admit my knowledge don't permit me to argue much more about this. However, the first part of that section is still saying "thus making [Birger Jarl] the last Swedish jarl ever and the first truly Swedish king" using the same source as the section where you removed this information. So the article is sort of contradictory at this time. Maybe there is a need for a second source here?
/ Mats Halldin (talk) 18:59, 5 July 2007 (UTC)
It must be changed since Birger Jarl was never a king, at least not formally.--Berig 19:28, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

Just a side note: any information why almost all the Christian kings in the Svea rike seem to have been from Geatish clans, while the election of the king was still a privilege of the Svea nobles? --Drieakko 18:57, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

When the old dynasty died out, the man who was closest in succession was Stenkil, a Geat whose family had married into the royal dynasty. After Stenkil, there were naturally many Geats who were close in succession. Mats G. Bengtsson in Götarnas riken makes the interpretation that it was the strong Swedish presence among the noblemen of Västergötland that is behind it. Toponymic evidence shows that there were enclaves of Swedes in Västergötland, who were there more or less to enforce loyalty. So it is only natural that the Swedish royal dynasty had many close relatives in Västergötland.--Berig 19:03, 5 July 2007 (UTC)
AFAIK, there were many attempts to bring the svear and götar closer to each other (basically to fight the Danes more successfully). These attempts failed as old hierarchies prevented the amalgamation of the two. A compromise was to allow the svear to elect their leaders, while picking them from among the götar made the political situation more stable.
/ Mats Halldin (talk) 19:10, 5 July 2007 (UTC)
That is a very simple and realistic explanation.--Berig 19:28, 5 July 2007 (UTC)
Thanks to both, sounds very reasonable. --Drieakko 04:24, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

The thing is that we don't exactly know how kings were elected. For example, traditionally it has been said that Ragnvald Knaphövde was first chosen by people in Mälardalen, but we have no proof for that, and the only sources that actually says something about it, says that he was chosen in Östergötland. In short, it might well happen that people in Mälardalen had nothing to say in who was to become king around the year 1130. Further, labels of ethnicity are not so easy to work with, and very early on we find examples were words like Svía and Sveær should be translated as Swedes. See for example Håkon Håkonssons saga and äldre västgötalagen. In short, the premise is not defined, and therefore it is not a good question. Mats G. Larsson is a right wing provincialist, and does not represent main stream thoughts. Åke Hyenstrand and Carl Löfving are far better choices if one wants to learn about this time period.85.224.196.136 (talk) 14:26, 22 February 2008 (UTC)

Right, but I guess this does not affect the article in question, does it? To my knowledge, Berig gave a great summary of various ways to interpret "Swedishness" during the Middle ages. However, as you say, ethnicity is always problematic to work with, the article Swedish people is a good example but far from the most problematic of course. A few questions: What "is not a good question"? Does "mainstream thoughts" mean commonly accepted interpretations in Sweden?
/ Mats Halldin (talk) 16:19, 22 February 2008 (UTC)

That is right Mats. I just wanted to explain since Drieakko asked a question. Possibly I didn't phrase it very well. What I mean with "not a good question", is that the premises of the question are unproven or undefined. Yes, mainstream thoughts are those held by the majority of historians today. Simply put, the problem with many of the articles about Swedish history is that they lag some 20-30 years. Today, discontinuity is emphasized, also when medieval historians speak of Sweden they have to define it in some measurable way, or they are off into the land of myths. So when we talk of Sweden it has to be understood that we are talking of different kinds of Sweden :) It is often misunderstood since we use the same word all the time. Books can be written about this, but I'll try to be brief and explain. What present day research seems to tell us is that for some 100 years we have been having a myth of a dynamically growing Sweden from a base in Mälardalen, and that in reality this cannot be proven. Rather, there are very strong evidences saying that an eventual kingdom in Mälardalen was subjugated under Danish/Geatish power in the tenth century. We should not be surprised to find that this was the case. It is enough to understand that power was frail, and that the individual could create his own fortune. Add to this that we are talking about some 700 years of history, and that we actually have evidence of changing fortunes. Presently there is work on a new Swedish history, it will be published by Norstedts and there will be programs on tv4. Hopefully, with it, the provincial view will finally be buried. I hope this made some sense to you Mats. It is rather difficult to explain a very vast subject in a short article like this :) mvh, Marcus 85.224.197.20 (talk) 23:58, 28 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Birger jarl or Birger Jarl

Should this article be "Birger jarl" or "Birger Jarl"? Robert Greer (talk) 20:05, 27 December 2007 (UTC)

"Birger jarl" is more correct, but "Birger Jarl" is much more common. I think the former is the best name for this article.
/ Mats Halldin (talk) 18:20, 21 February 2008 (UTC)