Ingegerd Birgersdotter of Bjelbo

Ingegerd (or Ingegärd) Birgersdotter of Bjelbo (or Bjälbo), (ca. 1180–7 April after 1210, possibly 1230), was a Swedish Queen Consort, second spouse of King Sverker II of Sweden.
Ingegerd was born into one of Sweden's most powerful noble families, the Bjälbo family, as the child of Birger Brosa and the Queen Dowager Brigida Haraldsdotter; her mother was the child of King Harald Gille of Norway and had in her first marriage herself been the Queen of Sweden in 1160–1161.
In 1200, she was married to King Sverker after the death of his first consort and became Queen of Sweden directly upon her marriage. Through her connections, she was to play an important part in her husband's politics. In 1202, her father died, and queen Ingegerd and her husband proclaimed their one-year-old son Prince Johan as the heir and head of the Bjelbo clan through her. In 1204, a conflict broke out between her husband and her family, and in 1205, her family broke with her after the death of the sons of King Canute I of Sweden at the Battle of Älgarås. She acted as mediator between the king and her family, but failed to reconcile them, and in 1210, her husband was killed at the Battle of Gestilren.
The later life of queen Ingegerd is not known, nor is the year of her death. In 1216, her son was made king. Historians suggest that she spent her later life with her brother Magnus, in Scania or in Denmark. The year of 1230 is suggested as the date of her death.

Children

• John I of Sweden, (1201?–1222), king 1216–1222.

Ancestry