Margaret of Sweden, Queen of Norway
| Margaret of Sweden | |
|---|---|
Christina Björnsdotter |
Margaret of Sweden (Norwegian: Margrete Eriksdotter; c. 1155 – 1209) was Queen of Norway as the spouse of King Sverre of Norway.
Biography
Margaret was the daughter of King
She became a widow in 1202, returned to her native Sweden, and retired to her estates in
On 1 January 1204, two days after she had returned to Norway, her stepson, King Haakon III of Norway, died with obvious symptoms of poisoning. Margaret became a suspect of the crime, and one of her servants tried to prove her innocence in a trial by ordeal which failed. The servant was drowned and Margareta fled back to Sweden.
Margaret returned to Norway in 1209 for her daughter's wedding. Her daughter married co-regent Filip Simonsson, the Bagler party candidate to the throne of Norway. Margaret took part in the wedding. Immediately after the wedding she became ill, and died a few weeks later.[2]
In popular culture
Lia Boysen portrays a fictionalized Margaret in the 2016 film The Last King. Margaret is portrayed as having an affair with a fictional Bagler aristocrat and poisons Haakon in a conspiracy to become queen again.
References
Other sources
- Magerøy, H. Soga om birkebeinar og baglar (1988)
- Imsen, Steinar Våre dronninger: fra Ragnhild Eriksdatter til Sonja (Oslo: 1991)
- Koht, Halvdan Norske dronningar (in "The Old Norse Sagas", 1931)