Not a prince or a duke. I believe he was just a successful farmer in Jämtland, Sweden. He was born in 1430, and died in 1483. He was 53 years old.
What is remarkable is that he married quite young, and stayed married, having 5 children. His wife was Karin Svarte-Skåning Jensdatter. Her last name tells everyone that her father’s name was Jens. Her middle name was the farm or the area that she was from. A lot can be said with Scandinavian naming traditions. The same can be said for Henrik, his father was Peder, and he was from the Maneskjold clan.
Henrik was my 14th great grandfather, and Karin was my 14th great grandmother from another line.
In the Middle Ages family was everything. It still is today, but there is so much more to swallow your time. Back then it was known that the Manesskjold clan was from a royal line. They might be farmers now, but once they were kings!
And Karin’s family were not unknown, but maybe the connection wasn’t as easily made. These two people were from two powerful families that were no longer “famous”. He was from a line of kings from Sweden, she was from a line of kings from Denmark.
There are no photos of them, but here is where they lived, and the crests of their royalty.
Royal crest of Denmark
Royal crest of Sweden
Google Earth of Sweden
