Birger Brosa
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Birger Brosa (Brosa means "smiling"), earl of Sweden 1174-1202, d. 9 January 1202 on Visingsö, was a son of Bengt Snivil and a member of the powerful Folkung party. In the medieval texts he is either called the earl of the Swedes or the earl of the Swedes and the Geats.
He appears to have administered the whole Swedish kingdom and he was appointed earl during the reign of Knut Eriksson and he maintained the position during Knut's successor Sverker II until his death in 1202.
Before 1170, Birger was married to Brigit Haraldsdotter, the daughter of the Norwegian king Harald Gille, and who had formerly been married to the Danish impostor Magnus Henriksson, who ruled in Uppsala 1160-1161.
Birger appears to have maintained peace in Sweden during the civil wars that ravaged Denmark and Norway. Many of the pretenders in these kingdoms sought refuge with Birger, and among them the Birkebeiner chieftains Eystein Meyla and Sverre Sigurdsson who were Birgit's kinsmen.
Birger owned estates in Ostrogothia, Nerike, Vermland and Södermanland. He was a great donor to the convent of Riseberga in Nerike, where Birgitta spent her last years after Birger's death.
As soon as he was dead civil war broke out. The bloody rebellion against king Valdemar in 1251 was in a large part incited by Birger's descendants.
[edit] Children
- Folke jarl, Folke Birgersson, Jarl in Sweden
- Filip Birgersson (d. 1200) was one of Sverre's most staunch supporters and his earl.
- Knut Birgersson, earl of Sweden. He was married to king Knut Eriksson's daughter Sigrid, and died in 1210 at the Battle of Gestilren.
- Ingegerd Birgersdotter was marrid to Sverker II and the mother of king Johan Sverkersson.
- Kristina Birgersdotter
- Margareta Birgersdotter
