 Abt 0980 - Abt 1020 (40 years)
-
| Name |
ERIKSSON Olof Skötkonung |
| Birth |
Abt 0980 |
Scandinavia (Sweden)  |
| Gender |
Male |
| Death |
Abt 1020 |
Scandinavia (Sweden) |
| Notes |
- Olof Skötkonung (fornnordiska: Óláfr skautkonungr), född cirka 980 (alt. på 960-talet), död sannolikt under vintern 1021-1022, var kung av Sverige cirka 995–1022. Han var son till Erik Segersäll.
Olof är den förste kung som bevisligen regerade över både Mälardalen och Västergötland och han är också den förste sveakung som döptes (1008), förblev kristen och bidrog till Sveriges kristnande. Olof Skötkonung var dessutom först med att prägla mynt i Sverige.
Biography
Preceded by
Erik Segersäll/the Victorious King of Sweden
995 - 1021-22 Succeeded by
Anund Jakob
Olof is considered a historically proven person
We know for certain that Olof Skötkonung existed since he had coins made during his reign. He is the first Swedish ruler to be christened and remained christian throughout his life.
Name(s)
Modern Swedish: Olof Skötkonung
Old Swedish: Olawær Skotkonongær
Olaf III - Erik XIV Vasa was very interested in genealogy and had people research his origins and also list all the kings before him. This is how the Swedish kings got their regnal numbers. Olof Skötkonung was never called Olaf III in his own time.[1]
Old Icelandic: Óláfr sænski - The Icelandic "Óláfr sænski" means "Olaf the Swedish", an epithet used to distinguish him from the Norwegian kings Olaf Tryggvasson and Olaf Haraldsson.[2]
Old Norse: Óláfr skautkonungr
MedLands mentions he was christened Jacobus.
The byname Skötkonung
One of many explanations for the name Skötkonung is that it is derived from the Swedish word "skatt", which can mean either "taxes" or "treasure". The latter meaning has given the interpretation "tributary king" and one English scholar speculates about a tributary relationship to the Danish king Sweyn Forkbeard, who was his stepfather.[3] This explanation is however highly speculative as it is not supported by any evidence or historical sources. Another possible explanation of the name is that it means "treasure king" and refers to the fact that he was the first Swedish king to stamp coins.[4][2]
Birth
Olof Skötkonung, also known as Olaf Eiríksson was born no later than the early 980's, most likely in Uppsala.
Parents and siblings
His father was the former king of Sweden and Denmark Eirikr Björnsson a.k.a. Eric the Victorious. Who his mother was is not as clear.
She was according to Icelandic sources, Sigrid Storrada a.k.a. Sigrid the Haughty but later research shows that that is to be considered fairy tale construction.
See also Wikipedia on Sigrid the Haughty.
Marriage and Children
Olof was married to the West Slavic princess Estrid, a.k.a. Estrid of the Obotrites. With her he had children:
Ingrid Olafsdotter - She was used as an intermediary to effect a reconciliation between her father and Olav Haraldson King of Norway, and that her marriage to the Norwegian king was proposed. She is referred to as IRINA or Anna in Russian sources. m (1019) as his second wife, IAROSLAV I Vladimirovich Grand Prince of Kiev, son of VLADIMIR Grand Prince of Kiev & his first wife Rognoda of Polotsk ([978]-20 Feb 1054).
Anund Jakob Olafsson - He succeeded his father in 1022 as ANUND JAKOB King of Sweden. Married, as her first husband, GUNHILD Svensdatter, daughter of Jarl SVEN Haakonsson & his wife Holmfrid of Sweden (-1060 or after). She married secondly (1052) as his first wife, Svend II King of Denmark.
It is also thought he had a mistress named Edla, her origin is not quite clear.
She was a Vendic princess who, as the same time as Estrid, was taken back to Sweden as a war-prize. Olaf fell in love with her and treated her and their children well. Together they had:
Astrid Olafsdatter - married (Feb 1019) OLAV II King of Norway, son of HARALD "Grenske" King of Vingulmark, Vestfold and Agder & his wife Asta Gudbransdatter (maybe posthumously 995-killed in battle Stiklestad 29 Jul 1030, buried in a sandbank in the river at Trondheim, transferred to St Clement's church which later became Trondheim Cathedral).
Emund II 'The Old' Olafsson - He succeeded in 1052 as EMUND Slemme "den Gamle/the Old" King of Sweden. Married firstly a woman whose name is unknown. Married secondly as her second husband, ASTRID Njalsdotter, widow of RAGNVALD Ulfsson Jarl of Västergötland, daughter of NJAL.
Holmfrid
In a Viking expedition to Wendland, he had captured Edla, the daughter of a Wendish chieftain, and she gave him the son Emund (who was to become king of Sweden), and the daughter Astrid -later wife of Olaf II of Norway. He later married Estrid of the Obotrites, and she bore him the son Anund Jacob and the daughter Ingegerd Olofsdotter.[2][5]
King of Sweden
Olav succeeded his father in the fall of 994 or early 995 as king of Sweden. He was a grown man and already a Christian according to Adam of Bremen. He had been christened by Sigfrid at the Brigida spring in Husaby, Västergötland and he let his whole family and all his servants be christened in 1008.
He soon had coins made at a mint in Sigtuna, a city his father had founded a few years earlier. Mint masters were brought over from the area of York, England.
Olof Skötkonung was the first ruler documented to have been accepted both by the Svear around Lake Mälaren and by the Götar around Lake Vättern.
People were not happy with Olof as king for different reasons and he was forced to let his son Anund Jakob become co-regent.
Wars
Olof started his reign as king of Sweden by waging war against Sven Tveskägg of Denmark in order to get hold of the kingdom too. He soon accepted Sven as king of Denmark and together they fought against the king of Norway Olav Tryggvason in the battle of Svolder. Olof and Sven won and split Norway between them, land that Olof lost in 1015 when Olav Haraldson was declared king of Norway.
Death and Burial
Olof died sometime during the winter 1021-1022. Maybe martyred when he refused to make sacrifices to the old gots. He was, according to tradition, buried at his estate Husaby, in the parish of Husaby, in the province of Västergötland. There is a tomb just outside of the church in Husaby that is claimed to belong to Olof Skötkonung[2]
Research Notes
Relationships between historical figures could have been simplified or even fabricated in the text to give the impression that succession remained within the same family….Precise chronology is also difficult to assess from the Sagas….The conclusion must be that the tight family network described in the Sagas is unlikely to be correct and that the relationships shown below should be treated with considerable caution.
Sources
↑ Wikipedia on Regnal number
↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Wikipedia on Olof Skötkonung
↑ Sawyer, Peter (1997). The Oxford Illustrated History of the Vikings. Oxford University Press, 1997
↑ Myntkabinettet: Olof Skötkonung
↑ http://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olavi_Sylikuningas
Alex Svensson, "Sveriges Regenter under 1000 år", Svenskt Militärhistoriskt Biblioteks Förlag (2010)
Lars O. Lagerqvist, "Sveriges Regenter från forntid till nutid", Stockholm: Norstedts Förlag (1997)
Ulf Sundberg, "Sveriges Krig 1050-1448", Svenskt Militärhistoriskt Biblioteks Förlag (2010)
Dick Harrison, "Jarlens Sekel", Stockholm: Ordfront Förlag (2002)
See also;
https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olof_Sk%C3%B6tkonung
Sources from uploading
These are sources that ended up on this profile through the up-loading of several different files and through merging.
Note NI2316!SOURCES: 1. Konigf.--Gen. Hist. Tab., Denm 2, Tab. 12, p. 150-51
2. Nordisk Familjebok, Swdn 47, v. 1, p. 1134, v. 6, p. 762-63, v.
15, p. 226-27
3. The Plantagenet Ancestry, Eng. 116, p. 26
4. Keiser und Koenig Hist., Gen. Hist. 25, pt 1, p. 142-43
5. Anderson's Royal Gen., Eng. 132, p. 424
6. Betham's Gen. Tab., Eng. 133, Tab.
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| Person ID |
I58695 |
Freeman-Smith |
| Last Modified |
27 Jan 2026 |
| Family 1 |
|
| Children |
| | 1. OLAFSDOTTIR Astrid, b. Abt 1005, Uppsala, Sweden d. 10 Feb 1050, Kyyiv, Kiev, Ukraine (Age 45 years) [Father: natural] |
|
| Family ID |
F347477 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
| Last Modified |
27 Jan 2026 |
| Family 2 |
OBOTRITES Estrid, b. Abt 0979 d. Abt 1035, Sverige (Age 56 years) |
| Marriage |
0999 |
Uppsala, Sweden |
| Children |
| | 1. OLOFSDOTTIR Ingegerd Ирина, b. 1001, Sigtuna, Stockholm, Sweden d. 10 Feb 1050, Kyyiv, Ukraine (Age 49 years) [Father: natural] [Mother: natural] |
|
| Family ID |
F26133 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
| Last Modified |
27 Jan 2026 |
|
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