Stenkil

Who was Stenkil?

Stenkil was a King of Sweden who ruled c. 1060 until 1066. He succeeded Emund the Old and became the first king from the House of Stenkil. He was not from Uppsala, but probably from Västergötland and related to the previous dynasty by marriage to Emund's daughter.

He supported the Christianization of Sweden and cooperated with bishops from the Archbishopric of Hamburg-Bremen. However, when Adalvard the Younger at Sigtuna wanted to destroy the Temple at Uppsala, Stenkil stopped Adalvard's plans, as he feared a pagan insurgence. The fears were probably motivated. According the Hervarar saga, Stenkil's son Inge the Elder was deposed and exiled for wanting to cancel the pagan sacrifices at the temple.

Stenkil resided mainly in Västergötland where he was long remembered as the king who "loved West Geats before all his other subjects", and he was lauded as a great archer whose hit marks were long shown with admiration.

The tradition that Stenkil was beloved by the Geats appears to be supported by Snorri Sturluson's Heimskringla. In a speech by Thorvid, the lawspeaker of Västergötland before a battle with Harald Hardrada, the lawspeaker expresses the Geats' loyalty to Stenkil: