Ragnvald Knaphövde

Who is Ragnvald Knaphövde?

Ragnvald Knaphövde was a King of Sweden whose reign is estimated to the mid-1120s or c. 1130. His cognomen Knaphövde is explained as referring to a drinking vessel, the size of a man's head or meaning "round head" and referring to his being foolish. Ragnvald is mentioned in the regnal list of the Westrogothic law as the successor of King Inge the Younger.

His parentage is uncertain: King Inge the Elder of Sweden had a son named Ragnvald, and historian Sven Tunberg has suggested him as identical with Ragnvald Knaphövde. However, another tradition presents King Ragnvald as the son of an Olof Näskonung, and the regnal list of the Westrogothic law does not mention that Ragnvald had any connection with the old line of kings.