The earliest historically attested Swedish royal dynasty, which produced the first Christian king and Sweden’s first coins.
The House of Munsö is the first Swedish royal line that can be placed in history rather than legend. Its founder, Eric the Victorious, ruled the Svear from the region around Uppsala and, according to tradition, defeated his nephew Styrbjörn at the battle of Fýrisvellir around 985.
Sweden at this time was still largely pagan, centred on the great temple at Uppsala, and the kings ruled a loose realm of the Svear and Götar rather than a unified state.
Eric’s son Olof Skötkonung became the first Swedish king to accept Christianity, was baptised, and struck Sweden’s earliest coins at Sigtuna. His conversion was partial — the pagan cult at Uppsala continued — but it began the long Christianisation of the Swedes.
Olof allied by marriage with the Norwegian and Danish royal houses, and his reign drew Sweden into the wider politics of the Viking-age North.
Olof’s sons Anund Jacob and Emund the Old ruled in turn. Anund Jacob joined Norway’s Olaf Haraldsson against the empire of Cnut the Great, while Emund quarrelled with the Church over the organisation of the Swedish bishoprics.
Emund died around 1060 without a male heir, ending the Munsö dynasty; the magnates then chose Stenkil, a Götar lord married into the royal family, beginning the House of Stenkil.