The Götar dynasty that ruled Sweden after the Munsö line and firmly established Christian kingship.
When the Munsö line failed around 1060, the Swedes elected Stenkil, a powerful lord of Västergötland who had married a daughter of Emund the Old. His accession shifted the centre of royal power toward the Christian Götar lands in the south-west.
Stenkil was a firm supporter of the Church, and his short reign helped entrench Christian kingship in a realm where the old religion remained strong.
Stenkil’s son Inge the Elder is the best-remembered king of the line. According to later tradition he was driven from the throne for refusing to sacrifice to the old gods at Uppsala, replaced by his pagan brother-in-law "Blot-Sweyn", but returned to kill the usurper and restore Christian rule.
The story, recorded much later, dramatises the real struggle between Christianity and the Uppsala cult that marked Inge’s reign.
Inge the Elder was followed by his nephews Philip and Inge the Younger, sons of his brother Halsten, who ruled jointly. Their reigns are thinly documented, and with the death of Inge the Younger around 1125 the Stenkil dynasty ended.
The crown then fell into a long contest between the rival houses of Sverker and Erik.