Folkvid the Lawspeaker

Who is Folkvid the Lawspeaker?

Folkvid was the lawspeaker of Värmland during the last half of the 12th century. He is only known from the so-called Bagler sagas, where he is only mentioned by virtue of his marriage to Cecilia, the bastard daughter of the Norwegian king Sigurd Munn. The marriage was arranged by the earl Erling Skakke and it was annulled in 1184 by the archbishop of Nidaros, on the initiative of Cecilia's half-brother, king Sverre I of Norway.

He was the father of Haakon the Crazy, an earl whose son was a claimant for the Norwegian throne.

Most Swedish historians have refused to accept the historical existence of Folkvid, which probably is due to lack of information in the poor Swedish sources from the time.