Bengt Algotsson

Bengt Algotsson (also Benedictus; d. 1360) was a medieval Swedish lord. He was the Duke of Finland and Halland, as well as the Viceroy of Scania in 1350s.

Ancestry
Bengt Algotsson's grandfather from the paternal side, Brynolf Bengtsson, was likely a son of Bengt Hafridsson, a lawman in Västergötland. Through his grandmother Ingegärd, daughter of Svantepolk Knutsson, he was descended from both the Danish and Swedish royal houses.

His coat of arms was a standing lion; thus, the family has in some later reconstructions been called Lejon. This may also mean they were kin with the Folkunge, his line's ancestress belonging to those siblings of Boberg family who were nephews and nieces of Birger Jarl.

Career
Bengt Algotsson participated in Magnus Eriksson's second crusade to Novgorod in 1350, and was knighted after it. From 1352 he is known to have had a seat in the kingdom's Privy Council.

In about 1353, Bengt was created Duke of Finland and Halland by the King Magnus. The title of Halland came from his descent from Duke Canute of Reval whose male line, which had held Halland as compensation for Reval and Laland, had gone extinct some fifty years earlier. Previous holders of the duchy of Halland had been the king's own father Duke Eric, his mother Duchess Ingeborg, and Ingeborg's second husband Knut Porse, as well as king's half-brothers. According to tradition preserved in Vadstena Abbey, Bishop Hemmingus of Åbo would have prevented the appointment of Bengt as the Duke of Finland. However, Bengt's sigil from 1355 includes the phrase Secretum Benedicti ducis Osterlandiarum et Hallandi, indicating that the possible resistance had been overcome by that time. Bengt was also appointed Viceroy of Scania, the newly acquired group of mostly Danish provinces.

Most probably, the chief reasons the king took these steps were to stop the spiritual and secular frälse, to gain yet more power at royal expense, and Hanseatic power in Nordic commerce. The Viceroy confiscated many of the properties of the Archdiocese of Lund upon the death of Archbishop Peder Jensen in 1355. Hanseatic privileges were also curbed in Skanish ports.

Duke Bengt was married to Ingeborg Ulvsdotter of Tofta, a member of the Sparre family. She was much older than he, possibly already a widow. Ingeborg was the daughter of Ulf Abjörnsson, justiciar of Tiohärad, the younger half-sister of Lord Karl Ulfsson of Tofta, maternal niece of Erengisle, Earl of Orkney, and the aunt of the future Margaret Sparre of Tofta, mother of Karl Knutsson (Bonde) and ancestress of Gustav Vasa.

However, Bengt repudiated his wife sometime in 1356, making his wife's relatives his enemies. A civil war started at about the same time: leaders of Swedish nobility used the king's eldest son Erik as claimant and cited the favorite's exceptional privileges as an insult to the younger king. In 1356 a revolt started, nominally against Duke Bengt, but actually to weaken the king and his centralizing grip.

In 1357, Bengt was exiled and Scania as well as several other Swedish and Finnish provinces were given to the young king Erik who ruled the kingdom together with his father. Duke Bengt's elder brother Knut Algotsson was exiled to Norway with his wife Märta Ulfsdotter, a daughter of St. Bridget of Sweden.

According to tradition Bengt Algotsson was besieged in Rönneholm Castle in Scania and killed by his brother-in-law Karl Ulfsson and Magnus Nilsson Röde.