Håkan the Red

Who is Håkan the Red?

Håkan the Red was a king of Sweden, reigning for about a decade in the second half of the 11th century. There is little information on him, and it is mostly contradictory. Nothing is known about his reign.

Swedish historian Adolf Schück has asserted that, rather than Blot-Sweyn being an individual king, there are indications that that may have been another name for King Håkan.

His cognomen the Red comes from the regnal list of the Westrogothic law, written in early 13th century. The same source claims that he was born in Levene, in Västergötland.