Sverkerseken

Sverkerseken, on Visingsö, is a memorial to the regicide of King Karl Sverkersson in 1167.

The event occurred when Sweden was not yet a unified kingdom and the struggle for the throne was fierce. Regicide was then a clear manifestation of the political instability of the early Middle Ages. A local legend tells that King Karl was murdered on Visingsö as he was returning from church. The story has lived on for generations and illustrates how history and myth are often intertwined. To honour the memory of the event, the Visingsö Local Heritage Society planted an oak tree in 1956, which was named Sverkerseken. Sverkerseken is an example of how places and stories are used to remember and interpret historical events. It also provides an opportunity to hold conversations about royal power, violence, critical sources and the gap between historical facts and legends in medieval Sweden.

Visingsö Local Heritage Society