Inge Stenkilsson (Old Norse Ingi Steinkelsson) was a king of Sweden. He was the son of the former king Stenkil and died c. 1100.^[1] He shared the rule of the kingdom with his probably elder brother Halsten Stenkilsson^[2][3], but little is known with certainty of Inge's reign^[2]. According to the contemporary chronicler Adam of Bremen and the writer of his scholion, the former king Stenkil had died and two kings named Eric had ruled and been killed^[2]. Then an Anund Gĺrdske was summoned from Kievan Rus', but rejected due to his refusal to administer the blóts at the Temple at Uppsala^[2]. A hypothesis suggests that Anund and Inge were the same person, as several sources mention Inge as a fervent Christian, and the Hervarar saga describes how Inge also was rejected for refusing to administer the blóts and that he was exiled in Västergötland^[2]:

In a letter to Inge from Pope Gregory VII, from 1080, he is called "king of the Swedes", but in a later letter probably dated to 1081, to Inge and his brother Halsten, they are called kings of the West Geats^[1][2]. Whether this difference reflects a change in territory is not certain since the two letters concern the spreading of Christianity in Sweden and the paying of tithe to the Pope^[2].

However, he returned after three winters to kill Blot-Sweyn and reclaim the throne^[1][2]:

A similar story also appears in the Orkneyinga saga, but in this account, Sweyn stays indoors and is burnt to death:

Inge and the Norwegian king Magnus Barefoot were at war, but they signed a peace agreement at Kungahälla^[1][2] in 1101 together with Eric Evergood of Denmark^[2]. At this meeting he gave his daughter Margareta as wife to king Magnus^[2]. In Snorri's Magnus Barefoot's Saga, a part of the Heimskringla, there is a description of the appearance of Inge:

According to the Westrogothic law, Inge ruled Sweden with virility and he never broke the laws that had been accepted in the districts^[2]. The Hervarar saga, tells that he died of old age^[3], but the date of his death is not known^[2].

Together with his wife Helena, Inge founded the monastery of Vreta^[2]. Inge had spent much of his youth in Russia at Staraja Ladoga. While in Russia he married his wife, Helena. Her origin is unknown but she was probably Russian or Greek. Their children were:

1. Kristina, married Grand Duke Mstislav I of Kiev^[2], and ancestress of several Kievan and Novgorod princes.
2. Ragnvald, who died before his father and who was the father of Ingrid who first was married to the Danish prince Eric Skatelar and later to the Norwegian king Harald Gille^[2]. She was the mother of pretender (and alleged murderer) Magnus Henriksson
3. Margareta Fredkulla, married (1) Magnus Barefoot king of Norway, and later to king Niels of Denmark^[2]; through her second marriage, she was the mother of King Magnus the Strong of Västergötland and claimant of Denmark
4. Katarina, married a Danish "Son of King", Björn Ironside Haraldsson^[2] with whom she had a daughter Christina Bjornsdatter who married the future Eric IX of Sweden.

An Icelandic skald named Markús Skeggjason was one of his court poets, according to Skáldatal. Markús was later the lawspeaker of Iceland.

He was succeeded by his two nephews Philip and Inge the Younger.^[3]

Notes and references

1. ↑ ^{a b c d}
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r} The article ''Inge'' in ''Nordisk familjebok'' (1910).
3. ↑ ^{a b c} The ''Saga of Hervör and Heithrek'', in ''Stories and Ballads of the Far Past, translated from the Norse (Icelandic and Faroese)'', by N. Kershaw.Cambridge at the University Press, 1921.

Bibliography

• Soloviev, Sergei. The History of Russia from the Most Ancient Times, 1959-1966
• William, Abbot of Ebelholt. Scriptores Historiae Danicae Minores, 1195
• Hervarar saga http://www.northvegr.org/lore/oldheathen/029.php

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