Claims To Swedish Throne
The Dukes of Mecklenburg pursued from 14th century a claim to inheritance in Sweden. The Duke of Mecklenburg was a descendant and the heir of two women whom legends tied to Scandinavian royal houses.
- Lord Henry II of Mecklenburg's paternal great-grandmother, a Scandinavian noblewoman named Christina, who was the wife of Henry Borwin II, Lord of Mecklenburg (d 1226), was a daughter of King Sverker II of Sweden by his first wife. Christina was the mother of John I of Mecklenburg, whose son was Henry I, Lord of Mecklenburg.
- Lord Henry II of Mecklenburg's maternal grandmother, a lady named Marianna, who was the first wife of Duke Barnim I of Pomerania (d. 1278), Lord of Wolgast, was a sister of King Eric XI of Sweden. Marianna had given birth to an only surviving child, daughter named Anastasia of Pomerania, who then became the wife of Henry I of Mecklenburg (d. 1302) and mother of Henry II.
The Sverker dynasty had long been extinct, having lost the throne ultimately to Eric XI. The male dynasty of Eric X was also now extinct, and issue of his other daughters had been sidestepped by Birger Jarl, the husband of his daughter (the only who yet in 1250 lived), Ingeborg Eriksdotter of Sweden. Birger took care to secure the kingship to his own sons.
Claim became reality for a brief reign: Henry II's son Albert II, Duke of Mecklenburg (1318–79) married a kinswoman, a Scandinavian heiress Euphemia of Sweden and Norway (born 1317 and died 1370). The couple's second son duke Albert III deposed his uncle from the Swedish throne, and ascended as King.
The Regent-Queen Margaret chose Eric of Pomerania as her heir. Eric descended from the elder brother of Albert III. Monarchs of the Kalmar union were all cognatic descendants of the House of Mecklenburg.
The agnatic House of Mecklenburg, descended from Euphemia's youngest son Magnus I, Duke of Mecklenburg, continued to keep their claim to the throne, and occasionally stirred the situation in Scandinavia.
Read more about this topic: House Of Mecklenburg
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