Bishop Benedict, Duke of Finland ( sv, Bengt Birgersson; fi, Bengt Birgerinpoika; 1254 – 25 May 1291) was a Swedish

prelate A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Christian clergy who is an ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which means 'carry before', 'be set above or over' or 'pref ...

bishop and

duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ran ...

Early life

Bengt Birgersson was a member of the

House of Bjelbo The House of Bjelbo ( sv, Bjälboätten), also known as the House of Folkung (''Folkungaätten''), was an Ostrogothian Swedish family that provided several medieval Swedish bishops, jarls and kings. It also provided three kings of Norway and o ...

(''Folkungaätten''). He was the youngest son of Birger Magnusson ''(

Birger Jarl Birger Jarl, also known as ''Birger Magnusson'' (21 October 1266), was a Swedish statesman, ''jarl'', and a member of the House of Bjelbo, who played a pivotal role in the consolidation of Sweden. Birger also led the Second Swedish Crusade, whi ...

)'', de facto ruler of

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

from 1250 to 1266. His mother was Princess Ingeborg of Sweden, daughter of

Eric X of Sweden Eric "X" (Swedish: ''Erik Knutsson''; Old Norse: ''Eiríkr Knútsson''; – 10 April 1216) was the King of Sweden between 1208 and 1216. Also known as ''Eric the Survivor'' (Swedish: "Erik som överlevde"), he was, at his accession to the thro ...

and sister of King

Eric XI of Sweden Eric "XI" the Lisp and Lame Swedish: ''Erik Eriksson'' or ''Erik läspe och halte''; Old Norse: ''Eiríkr Eiríksson'' (1216 – 2 February 1250) was king of Sweden in 1222–29 and 1234–50. Being the last ruler of the House of Eric, he stood ...

. Two of his brothers, Valdemar and Magnus III, later became kings of Sweden.

Career

He pursued an ecclesiastical career. While he was Archdeacon of

Linköping Cathedral Linköping Cathedral ( sv, Linköpings domkyrka) is an active Lutheran church in the Swedish city of Linköping, the episcopal seat of the Diocese of Linköping in the Church of Sweden. One of the largest Gothic cathedrals in Europe, it is situat ...

, he became chancellor to his brother, King Magnus. In 1284, some time after the death of his next-elder brother Eric of Småland, and during the reign of Magnus, he was made

Duke of Finland Duke of Finland (in Finnish ''Suomen herttua''; Swedish ''hertig av Finland'') was an occasional medieval title granted as a tertiogeniture to the relatives of the King of Sweden between the 13th and 16th centuries. It included a duchy along with ...

. He was the first known holder of that title and

appanage An appanage, or apanage (; french: apanage ), is the grant of an estate, title, office or other thing of value to a younger child of a sovereign, who would otherwise have no inheritance under the system of primogeniture. It was common in much o ...

. In 1286 he was elected

Bishop of Linköping Bishops of the Diocese of Linköping, Sweden. Before the reformation * Herbert (bishop), Herbert? * Rikard (bishop), Rikard? * 1139–1160s Gisle (bishop), Gisle * 1170–1171 Stenar (bishop), Stenar * 1187–1195/96 Kol (bishop), Kol * Johannes ( ...

. Linköping's chronicle of bishops from 1523 tells of him: "''Scriptores rerum suecicarum medii ævi''". There exist at least two of his wills, from 1287 and 1289. He died from the

plague Plague or The Plague may refer to: Agriculture, fauna, and medicine *Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis'' * An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural) * A pandemic caused by such a disease * A swarm of pes ...

Ancestry

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Benedict, Duke Of Finland 1254 births 1291 deaths House of Bjelbo Benedict 1254 People of medieval Finland 13th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Sweden 13th-century deaths from plague (disease)