Karl the Deaf (; died 1220) of the

House of Bjälbo The House of Bjälbo, also known as the House of Folkung ( or ), was a Swedish family that produced several medieval bishops, jarls and kings of Sweden. It also provided three kings of Norway and one king of Denmark in the 14th century. Na ...

(''Folkungaätten'') was the

jarl Jarl was a rank of the nobility in Scandinavia during the Viking Age and Early Middle Ages. The institution evolved over time and varied by region. In Old Norse, it meant "chieftain", specifically one appointed to rule a territory in a king's stea ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

from 1216 to 1220.

Biography

His father was magnate Bengt Snivil. He was the brother of Magnus Minnesköld and jarl

Birger Brosa Birger Brosa (Old Norse: ''Birgir Brósa''; died 9 January 1202) was the Swedish jarls, jarl of Sweden from 1174 to 1202. Biography He was a son of Bengt Snivil and a member of the powerful House of Bjälbo. In medieval texts, he is either cal ...

and father of jarl

Ulf Fase Ulf Fase (died 1247) was the jarl of Sweden from until his death in 1247. Biography Ulf Fase was probably the son of jarl Karl the Deaf (''Karl Döve'') and member the House of Folkung (''Folkungaätten''). After jarl Karl had been killed d ...

. Karl died at the

Battle of Lihula The Battle of Lihula or Battle of Leal was fought between invading Sweden, Swedes and Estonians for the control of a castle in Lihula, Estonia in 1220. The exact date remains uncertain, though some historians suggest that the battle took place ...

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

on August 8, 1220.Lindström, p 274. The seal of Karl, discovered in the early 1990s, is dated to the end of the 12th century and thus the oldest preserved personal object in Swedish history. Personal seals were normally broken to pieces at the death of the owner in order to prevent later abuse, and the intact seal of Karl is therefore unique.Auktionsverket The

Swedish Museum of National Antiquities The Swedish History Museum () is a museum located in Stockholm, Sweden, that covers Swedish archaeology and cultural history from the Mesolithic period to present day. Founded in 1866, it operates as a government agency and is tasked with preservi ...

bought it in 2001 for SEK 800,000.Rötter

References

Sources

* * * 1220 deaths Swedish military personnel killed in action 13th-century Swedish nobility Year of birth unknown Swedish jarls {{Sweden-mil-bio-stub