Prince Johan Sverkersson of Sweden

John, Prince of Sweden (12th century)

John (modern Swedish: Johan Sverkersson den äldre; in Old Icelandic sources called Jón jarl Sørkvisson), who died between 1150 and 1153, was the eldest son of King Sverker I of Sweden of Sweden and his queen Ulvhild Håkansdotter. He had a role in the outbreak of a war between Sweden and Denmark in the 1150s.

Background and family

Prince John was born in the early 1130s as the son of the recently elevated King Sverker I and Queen Ulfhild, the former wife of King Niels of Denmark. Most probably he was the eldest son of the king, his junior siblings being Karl Sverkersson, Helena Sverkersdotter and Ingeborg Sverkersdotter. According to the Danish chronicler Saxo Grammaticus, he was "a very valiant but not very courteous man".[1] Preserved lists of donations to the Catholic Church indicate that he married a lady called Ragnhild, probably a relative of Guttorm who was jarl under the reign of Karl Sverkersson (1161-1167).[2] According to a medieval genealogy John must have been the father of the two subsequent contenders for the Swedish throne, Kol of Sweden and Burislev, and another man named Ubbe the Strong.[3] This has been accepted by some historians, such as Adolf Schück,[4] and Lars O. Lagerqvist and Nils Åberg.[5] Some conclude from circumstantial evidence that John also had a son called Knut, born around 1152 and mentioned as late as the 1190s,[6] and a daughter Cecilia, speculated to have been the consort to Canute I of Sweden. According to a seventeenth-century source, John might have had another son, called Alf, who died young and, like Burislev, was interred in Vreta Abbey.[7] John is known in Icelandic sources as Jón jarl, and in Swedish genealogies as Johannes dux. Saxo mentions him without a title.[8]

Catalyst of conflict and death

John's mother Ulfhild died before 1150 and Sverker I remarried with Richeza of Poland. According to Saxo Grammaticus, the Danish pretender Canute V, Richeza's son in a previous marriage, fled to the court of Sverker in 1150. Sverker received his stepson friendly at first, but Canute was soon forced to sell land that he owned in Sweden in order to maintain himself. Saxo alleges that John wrote a lampoon of Canute, where he teased him for being hapless in warfare and a coward. Canute took offence, bought some ships and provisions, and sailed over to Poland and later Germany before re-entering Denmark.[9] (Later on, after John's demise, Canute became Sverker's son-in-law by marrying his daughter Helena of Sweden.)

Not long afterwards, the Danish governor of Halland, Karl, was absent from his jurisdiction. According to Saxo, Prince John desired Karl's wife and her sister, who was a widow. He therefore took the opportunity to abduct them and brought them to Sweden where they were sexually abused. John forced them to have sex with him in turns, every second night, "and thus violated these chaste women by employing the vilest excesses with them". This behaviour enraged Sverker and the population, and John was eventually forced to return the two sisters to Denmark. However, the damage had been done and the Danish King Sweyn III used the incident as a justification for his preparation to invade Sverker's realm.[10] While this served as a pretext, the hostility of Sweyn was mainly due to Sverker's support of his rival Canute V.[11]

Some time later, in about 1152 or 1153, Prince John appeared at a Thing where he was killed by an enraged peasantry. He cannot have been much more than 20 years of age when he met his violent end. The incident might have been caused by his recent transgressions. As a result of the killing, a conflict arose between Sverker and his people. Sweyn III took advantage of the turmoil and intervened in the southern province Småland in 1153–54. The war was not a success, however.[12]

Sources

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John,_Prince_of_Sweden_(12th_century)

1- Saxo Grammaticus, Danmarks krønike, http://heimskringla.no/wiki/Svend,_Knud_og_Valdemar

Nils Ahnlund, "Till frågan om den äldsta Erikskulten i Sverige", Historisk tidskrift 68 (1948), pp. 317-8.

2-Hans Gillingstam, Svenskt biografiskt lexikon, s.v. Jon jarl, http://www.nad.riksarkivet.se/sbl/Presentation.aspx?id=12185.

3- Adolf Schück, 'Från Viby till Bjälbo, studier i Sveriges historia under 1100-talets senare hälft', Fornvännen (1951), p. 199.

4- Lars O. Lagerqvist and Nils Åberg, Litet lexikon över Sveriges regenter ISBN 91-87064-43-X pp. 13 and 51.

5- Wilhelm Karl von Isenburg, Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europäischen Staaten II (Marburg: 1965), table 77.

6- Magnus Borænius, Klostret i Vreta i Östergötland (1724, repr. 2003), p. 31.

7- Hans Gillingstam, Svenskt biografiskt lexikon, s.v. Jon jarl, http://www.nad.riksarkivet.se/sbl/Presentation.aspx?id=12185.

8- Saxo Grammaticus, Danmarks krønike, http://heimskringla.no/wiki/Svend,_Knud_og_Valdemar

9- Philip LIne, Kingship and state formation in Sweden 1130-1290. Leiden: Brill (2007), p. 88.

19- Saxo Grammaticus, Danmarks krønike, http://heimskringla.no/wiki/Svend,_Knud_og_Valdemar

20- Snorri Sturluson, Edda Snorra Sturlusonar: Edda Snorronis Sturlaei, ed. by Jón Sigurðsson et al. 3 vols (Copenhagen: Legatum Arnamagnaeanum, 1848-87; rprt. Osnabrück: Zeller, 1966), III, 252, 254-5, 258, 260, 262-3, 267, 272, 276-7, 283; cf. III, 367-70, cited at http://abdn.ac.uk/skaldic/db.php?table=text&id=1272&if=default.

21- Philip LIne, Kingship and state formation in Sweden 1130-1290. Leiden: Brill (2007), p. 493.

, svenska prinsar 1. J. Sverkersson i Nordisk familjebok (andra upplagan, 1910)

Noter

^ Hans Gillingstam. ”Jon jarl”. Svenskt biografiskt lexikon. Läst 24 november 2012.

^ Schück, Adolf i Från Viby till Bjälbo, studier i Sveriges historia under 1100-talets senare hälft, Fornvännen 1951 s. 199

^ Lagerqvist, Lars O. & Åberg, Nils Litet lexikon över Sveriges regenter ISBN 91-87064-43-X pp. 13 &51

^ Wilhelm Karl von Isenburg Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europäischen Staaten II Marburg 1965 tabell nr 77

^ Borænius, Magnus i Klostret i Vreta i Östergötland 1724 (utgivet igen 2003) s. 31

https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johan_Sverkersson_den_%C3%A4ldre

Blev dräpt och ihjälslagen av bönder på tinget i början av 1150-talet.

Johan Sverkersson den äldre

Johan Sverkersson, i isländska källor kallad Jon jarl, död mellan 1150 och 1153, var son till kung Sverker den äldre och drottning Ulvhild och kallades Junker Jon. Han ska hall rövat bort och haft könsumgänge med två högättade danska kvinnor, vilket orsakade ett krig varvid den danske kungen Sven Grate inföll i Småland 1153–1154. Johan skall vid denna tidpunkt redan ha slagits ihjäl av uppretade bönder vid ett ting. Enligt Saxo Grammaticus, som nämner honom utan titel, skall Johan ha skrivit en nidvisa om Knut V av Danmark, som hade blivit Sverkers svärson.

Enligt en medeltida genealogi skall Johan ha varit far till de två tronpretendenterna Kol och Burislev, samt ytterligare en man vid namn Ubbe (Ulf). Ibland anses kungakrävarna istället vara söner till Sverker, baserat på en uppgift ur Valdemar Sejrs jordebok som meddelar att Sverker hade en son vid namn Burislev. Åsikten att Johan var deras far omfattas av t.ex. Adolf Schück samt Lars O. Lagerqvist och Nils Åberg. Johans makas identitet är okänd. ( Hon var definitivt i varje fall inte hans mor!!! )

Johan Sverkersson den äldre skall också ha haft en son Knut, född omkring 1152 och död ung samt en dotter av okänt namn, möjligen Cecilia, maka till kung Knut Eriksson. Enligt en 1700-talskälla ska Johan även ha haft en son som hette Alf, död ung och liksom Burislev gravsatt i Vreta.

Källor

Johan, svenska prinsar 1. J. Sverkersson i Nordisk familjebok (andra upplagan, 1910)

Noter

^ Hans Gillingstam. ”Jon jarl”. Svenskt biografiskt lexikon. Läst 24 november 2012.

^ Schück, Adolf i Från Viby till Bjälbo, studier i Sveriges historia under 1100-talets senare hälft, Fornvännen 1951 s. 199

^ Lagerqvist, Lars O. & Åberg, Nils Litet lexikon över Sveriges regenter ISBN 91-87064-43-X pp. 13 &51

^ Wilhelm Karl von Isenburg Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europäischen Staaten II Marburg 1965 tabell nr 77

^ Borænius, Magnus i Klostret i Vreta i Östergötland 1724 (utgivet igen 2003) s. 31

https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johan_Sverkersson_den_%C3%A4ldre