House of Bjelbo
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The Family of Bjälbo or, House of Bjelbo, is the dynastic name cited in research literature for a particular line of medieval Swedish kings and jarls (nobles). In later, non-scientific literature, beginning with 15th century accounts of the family, they also came to be referred to as the house or dynasty of Folkunge, though, this gives rise to unfortunate terminological confusion, and inaccuracy.
The dynastic name, Bjelbo, comes from the family's oldest-known, important manor, which was located in the area known as Ostrogothia, outside of Skänninge, in the present-day commune of Mjölby.
Though some believe or have believed the name Folkung is derived from that of the dynasty's first jarl, Folke the Fat, and/or his mythical grandfather Folke Filbyter (the latter is not actually an historically-attested person), in medieval parlance iot meant a loose political party of high nobility which opposed centralizing royal power. Thus, the name Folkung as applied to this dynasty is an historical misconception, whose original meaning referred, correctly, to a party of Swedish nobles, and not to a Swedish dynastic house.
In point of fact, the family in question had no fixed surname. Historically, they were normally known by an accompanying patronymic, as was the customary usage among members of the Swedish nobility of the period.
The House of Bjelbo produced most of the jarls of Sweden in the 12th and 13th centuries. Different branches of the family were often rivals for the office of jarl ('jarlship', cognate with, but not equivalent to, the English term, 'earldom').
Folke the Fat, Birger Brosa, Charles the Deaf, Ulf Fase, and Birger jarl were the most renowned members of the dynasty who held the office of jarl of Sweden.
Folke the Fat of Bjälbo became a jarl under King Inge I of Sweden, and was married to a daughter of King Canute IV of Denmark. According to legends, he was the first of his family so elevated.
Nothing is known of any of Folke's collateral relatives, though it is well-established that several of his sons' descendants were important lords. Thus, he, and not Folke Filbyter, was the actual progenitor of the Bjelbo dynasty.
Sometime in early 13th century, some members of the family moved to Norway, and had the office of jarl there.
In or after 1127, a man named Arnulf appeared in Flanders, claiming the succession of the childless Charles I, Count of Flanders, on basis of being (alleged) son of his sister Ingegerd, wife of Folke the Fat, and thus a member of this House of Bjellbo. Arnulf did not succeed in his claims (the ultimate winner was Thierry of Alsace), otherwise this House may have got the rulership of Flanders too. Actually, Arnulf was probably an impostor (and relied on Scandinavia being too distant for effective checks of his parentage), because contemporary Scandinavian sources which list Ingegerd's all sons, do not mention any Arnulf or Ulf among them.
The later Royal House which stemmed from this lineage of nobles and jarls, was started by two sons of Birger jarl (Folke's great-grandson), who ascended, successively, the Swedish throne, making Birger as the most recent common ancestor of the Royal line.
The male-line family reigned in Sweden until 1364 (the deposition of Birger jarl's great-grandson) and in Norway until 1387 (the death of Birger jarl's great-great-grandson). Almost all subsequent monarchs of Sweden, Norway and Denmark descend from Bjellbo dynasty through females.
[edit] Unclarities in genealogy
Particularly, several persons conventionally assigned as sons and grandsons to Benedict Snivel, son of Folke the Fat, may actually be related to him in a different way. Conventional assignations stretch two generations to cover a hundred years, which is probably not realistic, and three generations over 150 years. It is unfortunate that many of the relationships are not said in positive terms in contemporary sources, leaving genealogists just to reconstruct lineages.
