House of Sverker
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
After the extinction of the House of Stenkil and the coronation of Sverker I of Sweden in 1130, a civil war commenced. In the beginning, there were several pretenders, of whom Sverker I emerged as victorious, for a time. The antagonists in long run were finally the House of Sverker in Ostrogothia and the House of Erik in Uplandia, which alternated on the throne for several generations, until in 1220's, the Eric dynasty got the upper hand and the Sverker dynasty had gone extinct (at least in male line). As usual in medieval succession rivalries, the final outcome combined the blood of rival lines, as in 1250 Valdemar of the Folkungs (then a minor, his father Birger Jarl acting as Regent) ascended the throne, having inherited the Eric dynasty claim from Valdemar's mother (who was sister of Eric XI of Sweden, the last Eric-dynast) and some of the Sverker dynasty claim from Birger's mother (who was daughter of a younger son of Sverker I).

