Royal kin and queens · Kingdom of the Swedes and the Götar · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Queen Margareta's estates

A Swedish king's daughter who is queen of Norway.

After her death (1209) she was reported to have held considerable property, goods and wealth in Värmland and Västergötland, which the Bagler king Philip Simonsson secured for her daughter Kristin (Store norske leksikon). These estates are her own on Swedish ground, run in her absence by stewards who are not named. They make her a channel between Sverre's court and the Erik house's friends in Västergötland, and a refuge: after Sverre's death in March 1202 she goes back to Sweden, and in 1204, suspected of poisoning King Haakon, she flees there again.

Who he is

Name
Margareta (Margrete) Eriksdotter
Title
queen of Norway, King Sverre's wife; daughter of St Erik of Sweden
Since
her inheritance as a king's daughter (not pinned)
Born
about 1155 (Store norske leksikon), so about 44
Family
Daughter of King Erik the Saint and Queen Kristina Björnsdotter; sister of the late King Knut Eriksson, so aunt of Knut's sons at Sverker's court. Married King Sverre in 1185 (Store norske leksikon; other accounts 1189); mother of Kristin Sverresdotter, stepmother of Haakon Sverresson.
Confidence
medium

Store norske leksikon (Margrete Eriksdatter); the now sheet's Norway record.

Overlord

King Sverker II for the land; she herself is Sverre's queen

What it holds

  • estates, goods and wealth in Västergötland and Värmland (not located)

How it was acquired

Probably by inheritance from the Erik house (not pinned).

Allies and rivals

King Sverre, her husband; her nephews, Knut's sons; Jarl Birger Brosa, the Birkebeiner's friend. Sverker is of the rival house.

How things stand that morning

In Norway with Sverre; her Swedish estates are held for her.

Wealth

Farms and goods in Västergötland and Värmland.

Military

None recorded.

Threats

  • Sverre's war with the Bagler and the interdict on his kingdom
  • Sverker's goodwill towards the Erik house's property

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

  1. after 9 March 1202 (after this year)On Sverre's death she returns to Sweden, to these estates.Depends on: Sverre's death (on its date unless play changes it)

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The estates are known from the report of her property after her death (Store norske leksikon); none is named or located.

On the map: Not drawn: no estate is named or located.

Primary sources for Sweden

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

  • The Danish annals of Lund, Ryd and other houses (12th and 13th centuries; Lund continued to 1307, Ryd to 1288). Short dated entries from Lund, the archbishop's seat, and from Ryd in Schleswig. Read online
  • Deeds of the Danes, Saxo Grammaticus (about 1185 to 1208). Saxo was writing at Lund in 1200 under Absalon, who died in March 1201, and his last books are an insider's history of Valdemar I and Knud VI to 1185: the Wendish wars, the taking of Rügen, the submission of Pomerania in 1185, the Danish fleet, Absalon's power and the Danish quarrel with the Empire. Read online
  • The saga of King Sverre of Norway, Karl Jónsson and a continuator (begun about 1185 under Sverre's own supervision, completed about 1210 to 1220). The king's own authorised saga. Read online
  • The sagas of the Baglers (about 1210 to 1220, in a shorter and a longer version). Begins with Sverre's death in March 1202 and the reigns of Hákon Sverrisson, Guttorm and Inge Bårdsson against the Bagler kings Erling Steinvegg and Philippus, so it has nothing for 1200 itself. Read online
  • The Registers of Pope Innocent III for 1199 to 1201, Innocent III and the papal chancery (22 February 1199 to 21 February 1201). The pope's outgoing letters for the year, in his chancery's own copy, touching nearly every realm in the atlas. Read online
  • The Danish diplomatarium: charters and letters concerning Denmark, with Danish translation (documents of 789 to 1448; the online edition is continuing). Twenty-seven documents are dated to 1200: Innocent III's letters of February and March 1200 to Philip Augustus and Queen Ingeborg and his order for the interdict on France, Otto IV's letter to the pope expecting King Knud VI to move into Saxony, the reports of the legate Octavian and the French bishops on the lifting of the interdict in September, the pope's letters to Knud VI asking him to send advocates for his sister, Knud VI's ordinance on manslaughter for Skåne of 28 December 1200, and private gifts to Roskilde and Næstved. Read online
  • The Swedish diplomatarium and its main register, SDHK (documents of 817 to 1540). The register of every known Swedish medieval letter, with full texts for the early centuries. Read online
  • The law of the Gotlanders; The saga of the Gotlanders (Guta lag about 1220, Guta saga about 1220 to 1275; manuscript of about 1350). The law and the short history of the self-governing island. Read online

Sources and studies

  1. Store norske leksikon: Margrete Eriksdatter
  2. Wikipedia: Knut Eriksson

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.