Ingeborg Eriksdotter of Sweden
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Duchess Ingeborg Eriksdotter (c 1212 - c 1254) was first wife of Birger jarl, eldest sister of king Eric XI of Sweden, and since 1250 sort of Queen Mother of Sweden.
Ingeborg was born as eldest daughter of king Eric X of Sweden and his wife Rikissa of Denmark. She lived her youth in exile in Denmark.
Ingeborg Eriksdotter's marital engagement (and move to Sweden) in c 1234 took place in connection of her brother Eric XI resuming the Swedish throne from the 'usurper' Canute II of Sweden, in order to have the mighty House of Bjellbo as their allies.
Ingeborg bore a vast number of children to her husband dux Birger, and in 1250 she became (sort of) Queen Mother when her eldest son Valdemar was chosen to succeed her brother Eric on the throne. Ingeborg is recorded to have inherited her brother Eric's private property upon his death, as his only living sibling. Even in her forties, she continued to give birth to children, and her death is believed to have occurred because of childbirth complications, possibly giving birth to twins.
[edit] Children
Her following children survived to adulthood:
- Rikissa Birgersdotter of Sweden.
- Valdemar Birgersson, King of Sweden 1250-1275, Lord of Gothenland until 1278
- Magnus Birgersson "Ladulås", King of Swedes and Goths from 1275
- Kristina Birgersdotter
- probably her daughter: Karin (Katarina) of Sweden, married Siegfried, Count of Anhalt
- Erik Birgersson, Duke of Sweden ("Hertig af Småland")
- probably her daughter: Ingeborg of Sweden, married John of Saxony, Duke of Lauenburg
- Benedict, Duke of Finland, Bishop of Linköping, born c 1254, seems to have been Ingeborg's last child
