Algot Magnuson of Revsnes

The knight Algot Magnuson, Lord of Revsnes (c. 1355 – c. 1426) was a medieval Swedish magnate, and castellan of Styresholm.

Life

Algot Magnuson (first mentioned in historical sources in 1374) was born as son of LORD Magnus Anundson Sture and Karin Algotsdotter who belonged to the ancient Westrogothian dynasty of justiciars.

The family byname Sture, already of his father (this was an exceptional case of a hereditary byname, surname, being in real use in medieval Sweden), was not used of Algot. Instead he was usually known as knight Algot in Revsnes.

Through his marriage with Marta Bosdotter of Rigshult, Algot got new positions and moved from ancestral Westrogothia to the east-coast regions of Sweden: Ostrogothia and provinces around the Lake Mälaren.

Algot's wife was a first cousin of the High Justiciar Bo Jonson of Gripsholm (d. 1386), the then head of the High Council of Sweden and real leader of the country. Bo Jonson built his power base also by having trusted relatives in important positions. Algot became one of such loyal henchmen.

Bo Jonson obtained in c. 1383 the Westrogothian fortresses Öresten and Öppensten. Algot was appointed as his governor there.

In 1388 Algot was the first Swedish aristocrat to start support Margaret I of Denmark against the then king Albert of Sweden, a Mecklenburger. Soon, by 1389, Albert was deposed of Sweden and incarcerated, while the Dowager Queen Margaret became the new ruler.

In 1392-1393 Algot was castellan of Örebro, and the winter 1393-1394 he held power in all Uplandia and led the siege of Stockholm, the "capital" town yet in hands of the deposed king Albert's representatives (led by the bailiff Herbrekt Königsmark). King Albert himself was kept imprisoned in the castle of Lindholm in Skaane.

Algot played a key role in the lengthy peace negotiations in Lindholmen and Helsingborg, which ended with the release of Albert, in exchange for his vow to either give up Stockholm within three years, or pay a large sum in compensation to Margaret. After the three years, Albert chose to have Stockholm surrender.

At the latest by 1400 lord Algot became owner of Revsnes (Räfsnäs) in Sudermannia, where he then mainly lived.

In 1403-1404 Algot had command of the expedition to Gotland, to regain the island from the Teutonic Order, but the campaign was unsuccessful.

Algot was in 1405 fiefed for life as castellan of Styresholm and governor over Angermannia in Swedish Norrland. In 1419 Algot received the Gripsholm castle, which he exchanged in 1423 for the castle of Nyköping.

In his last years the councillor Algot of Revsnes accompanied King Eric XIII on journeys to other lands. Algot died on 7 March 1425 or 1426, and was buried at Vadstena convent.

Family

About 30 August 1381 Algot married Märta Bosdotter of Ringshult, scion of an Ostrogothian important family and widow of castellan Christopher Mikelsdorp. Her father was lord Bo Bosson of Ringshult, and grandmother had been Cecilia Knutsdotter of Aspanes, descendant of several dukes.

The couple had four historically known surviving children:

When Marta's son Johan Erikson Ummereise died in c 1440 as last of his line, the Ummereise inheritance became inherited by his surviving cousins. Algot Gustavson Sture from Lagmansö became lord of Björnö.

Karin Algotsdotter had one known daughter from both of her marriages. When the elder, Birgitta Karlsdotter of Ulvåsa, died at the approximate age of nine, bringing to extinction her paternal grandfather's entire line, the surviving mother Karin Algotsdotter inherited Ulvåsa, St. Bridget's family seat. Karin's younger daughter (who inherited Ulvåsa from the mother) married and had children, one of whom married but her children did not survive, and Ulvåsa ended to Ellen Gisladotter of Geddeholm, a half-sibling of these last ones.

Whereas lineages from both sons survive to the present day. One son's family produced, among others, the regent Sten Sture the Elder and his nephews, while the Lagmansö branch on the other hand cognatically continued through short-lived branches of families of Oxenstierna, Tillbakaseende Ulv, Thott, Färla and Gera to barons Oxenstierna.

References

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