Nils Blake () was a

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

n, probably Swedish nobleman. Although his life is not known in any detail, he had a dynastic importance within the ruling families 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 ...

and

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. Nils Blake, also known as Nils or Nikolas Blaka, married Katarina Eriksdotter, a daughter of the Swedish king Erik the Saint, probably after Erik's violent fall in 1160. Some older historians assumed that he was a Norwegian lord, son of the grandee and King

Harald Gille Harald Gille (, c. 1102 − 14 December 1136), also known as Harald IV, was king of Norway from 1130 until his death. His byname Gille is probably . Background Harald was born ca. 1102 in Ireland or the Hebrides, more likely the former. Accord ...

's daughter, but this has been disproven. The daughter of Nils and Katarina, Kristina Nilsdotter, is known as "Kristina the Swedish" or "the Swedish lady" in Norwegian sources, implying that Nils was a Swede, too. Kristina was married to Jarl Håkon Galen in January 1205, presumably in the presence of her cousin

Erik Knutsson 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 queen ...

, who sought and received Norwegian support to gain the throne of Sweden. Since Kristina Nilsdotter later returned to

Västergötland Västergötland (), also known as West Gothland or the Latinized version Westrogothia in older literature, is one of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden (''landskap'' in Swedish), situated in the southwest of Sweden. Vä ...

and remarried there, Nils Blake may have owned land in this province.

References

Literature

* * {{authority control 12th-century Swedish nobility