Bengt Birgersson (1254 – 25 May 1291) was the youngest son of

Birger Jarl Birger Jarl or Birger Magnusson (21 October 1266) was a Swedish statesman and regent, ''Swedish jarls, jarl'', and a member of the House of Bjälbo, who played a pivotal role in consolidating Sweden after the civil wars between the House of Eri ...

. He embarked on an ecclesiastical career, becoming the

Archdeacon An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in the Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, St Thomas Christians, Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox churches and some other Christian denomina ...

of Linköping in 1273, the

Canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...

of Uppsala in 1275, and the

Bishop of Linköping Bishops of the Diocese of Linköping, Sweden. Before the Reformation * Herbert? * Rikard? * 1139–1160s * 1170–1171 * 1187–1195/96 Kol * John * 1216–1220 Karl Magnusson * 1220–1236 * 1236–1258 * 1258–1283 Henrik * 1258–1286 ...

in 1286. When open war broke out between his brothers, King Valdemar and Duke Magnus, Bengt sided with Magnus. After Magnus became King of Sweden in 1275, Bengt served as his

chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

. In 1284, he was granted the title of

Duke of Finland Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they ...

Early life

Bengt Birgersson was a member of the

House of Bjälbo The House of Bjälbo, also known as the House of Folkung ( or ), was a Swedish family that produced several medieval bishops, jarls and kings of Sweden. It also provided three kings of Norway and one king of Denmark in the 14th century. Na ...

(''Folkungaätten''). He was the youngest son of Birger Magnusson ''(

)'', de facto ruler of

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

from 1250 to 1266. His mother was Princess Ingeborg of Sweden, daughter of

Eric X of Sweden Erik Knutsson (; – 10 April 1216), sometimes known as Eric X, was King of Sweden between 1208 and 1216. Also known as ''Erik the Survivor'' (), he was, at his accession to the throne, the only remaining son of King Knut Eriksson and his quee ...

and sister of King

Eric XI of Sweden Erik Eriksson (; 1216 – 2 February 1250), sometimes known as Erik XI or with the epithet the Lisp and Lame (), was King of Sweden from 1222 to 1229 and again from 1234 to 1250. Being the last ruler of the House of Erik, he stood in the shad ...

. Two of his brothers,

Valdemar Waldemar, Valdemar, Valdimar, or Woldemar is an Old High German given name. It consists of the elements ''wald-'' "power", "brightness" and ''-mar'' "fame". The name is considered the equivalent of the Latvian name Valdemārs, the Estonian name ...

and Magnus III, later became kings of Sweden.

Career

He pursued an ecclesiastical career. While he was Archdeacon of

Linköping Cathedral Linköping Cathedral () is an active Lutheran church (building), church in the Swedish city of Linköping, the episcopal seat of the Diocese of Linköping in the Church of Sweden. One of the largest Gothic cathedrals in Scandinavia, it is situat ...

, he became chancellor to his brother, King Magnus. In 1284, some time after the death of his brother

Eric The given name Eric, Erich, Erikk, Erik, Erick, Eirik, or Eiríkur is derived from the Old Norse name ''Eiríkr'' (or ''Eríkr'' in Old East Norse due to monophthongization). The first element, ''ei-'' may be derived from the older Proto-N ...

, and during the reign of Magnus, he was made

. He was the first known holder of that title. It is believed that the title did not include any

fief A fief (; ) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of feudal alle ...

. He is not known to have ever visited Finland, although he may have had responsibilities there related to the defence of Sweden's eastern borderlands. In 1286 he was elected

. Linköping's chronicle of bishops from 1523 tells of him: "''Scriptores rerum suecicarum medii ævi''". There exist at least two of his wills, from 1287 and 1289. When King Magnus died in 1290, Bengt assumed a role in the regency of the underage King Birger. However, he died from the plague just a half year later. He is buried in Linköping Catheral.

External links

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Benedict, Duke Of Finland 1254 births 1291 deaths House of Bjälbo Benedict 1254 People of medieval Finland 13th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Sweden 13th-century deaths from plague (disease)