Sverker II of Sweden Sverker II ( English exonym : " Sweartgar " ; Swedish : " Sverker den yngre " or " Sverker Karlsson " , born before 1167 – died 17 July 1210 ) was King of Sweden from 1196 to 1208 . Biography . Sverker was a son of King Karl Sverkersson of Sweden and Queen Christine Stigsdatter of Hvide , a Danish noblewoman . His parents ' marriage has been dated to 1162 or 1163 . When his father Karl had been murdered in Visingsö in 1167 , apparently by minions of the next king Canute I of Sweden , Sverker was taken to Denmark while a boy and grew up with his mother ' s clan of Hvide , leaders of Zealand . Sverker also allied himself with the Galen clan leaders in Skåne who were close to the Hvide , by marriage through lady Benedikte Ebbesdotter of Hvide . The Danish king supported him as claimant to Sweden , thus helping to destabilize the neighboring country . When King Canute I of Sweden died in 1196 , his sons were only children . Sverker was chosen as the next king of Sweden , surprisingly without quarrel . He returned to his native country , however being regarded quite Danished . His uncontested election was largely thanks to Jarl Birger Brosa whose daughter , Ingegerd Birgersdotter of Bjelbo , Sverker married soon after his first wife had died . Reign . King Sverker confirmed and enlarged privileges for the Swedish church and the Valerius Archbishop of Uppsala . The privilege document of 1200 is the oldest known ecclesiastical privilege in Sweden . " Skáldatal " names two of Sverker ' s court skald s : Sumarliði skáld and Þorgeirr Danaskáld . In 1202 Earl Birger died and the late jarl ' s grandson , Sverker ' s one - year old son John received the title of Jarl from his father . This was intended to strengthen him as heir of the crown . Around 1203 , Canute ' s four sons , who had lived in Swedish royal court , began to claim the throne and Sverker exiled them to Norway . His position as king became unsecured from this point forward . The sons of Canute returned with troops in 1205 , supported by the Norwegian party of Birkebeiner , but Sverker succeeded in winning in the Battle of Älgarås , where three of the sons fell . The only survivor returned with Norwegian support in 1208 and in the Battle of Lena , Sverker was defeated . Sverker ' s troops were commanded by Ebbe Suneson , the father of his late first wife and brother of Andreas Sunesen , Archbishop of Lund . King Eric X of Sweden drove Sverker to exile to Denmark . Pope Innocentius III ' s attempt to have the crown returned to Sverker did not succeed . Sverker made a military expedition , with Danish support , to Sweden , but was conquered and killed in the Battle of Gestilren in 1210 . The ancient sources state that " he was killed by the Folkung clan " . Family . With his first wife , the Danish noble Benedicta Ebbesdatter ( Galen , apparently not Hvide as otherwise alleged , b . c . 1165 / 70 , d . 1200 ) , whom he married before 1190 when yet living in Denmark , Sverker had at least one well - attested daughter , Helena Sverkersdotter , as well as possibly further children , such as Karl ( who died in adolescence at the latest , if ever lived ; but his existence is from the record that he is alleged to have married a daughter of king Sverre of Norway ) , and possibly even two other daughters ( if they existed , their names are given by reconstructive history research as Margaret and Kristina – however they may just have been Sverker ' s first wife ' s kinswomen ) . Later pretensions of the House of Mecklenburg claim that Sverker ' s daughter ( if he had such ) Christina was their ancestress , wife of Henry II of Mecklenburg ( " Henry Borwin " in some later texts ) . The second marriage in 1200 with Ingegerd Birgersdotter of Bjelbo , daughter of the Folkunge Jarl Birger Brosa produced a son and heir , Jon ( 1201 – 1222 ) , who was chosen king of Sweden 1216 as John I of Sweden . His certain daughter Helena Sverkersdotter married ( earl ) Sune Folkason of the family of Bjelbo , justiciar of Västergötland . Their daughters Catherine of Ymseborg and Benedicta of Ymseborg became pawns in marriages to gain Swedish succession after 1222 , when the Sverker dynasty went extinct in male line . Catherine was married to the rival dynasty ' s heir Eric XI of Sweden but they remained apparently childless . Benedikte married Svantepolk of Viby and had several daughters , who married Swedish noblemen . Several Swedish noble families claim descent from Benedikte .