Arvid Gustavsson, Lord of Vik
Encyclopedia
Arvid Gustavsson, Lord of Vik (died c. 1379/1380) was a medieval Swedish
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 magnate and justiciar
Justiciar
In medieval England and Ireland the Chief Justiciar was roughly equivalent to a modern Prime Minister as the monarch's chief minister. Similar positions existed on the Continent, particularly in Norman Italy. The term is the English form of the medieval Latin justiciarius or justitiarius In...

 of Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

. His principal seat was his manor of Vik in Balingsta, Uppland. Through his paternal grandmother Ramborg Israelsdotter And, younger Arvid descended from the And family. His grandfather Arvid Gustavsson had the same name and coat of arms.

Younger Arvid Gustavsson's father was Gustav Arvidsson, knight and member of the Privy Council of Sweden
Privy Council of Sweden
The High Council of Sweden or Council of the Realm consisted originally of those men of noble, common and clergical background, that the king saw fit for advisory service...

, justiciar of Södermanland
Södermanland
', sometimes referred to under its Latin form Sudermannia or Sudermania, is a historical province or landskap on the south eastern coast of Sweden. It borders Östergötland, Närke, Västmanland and Uppland. It is also bounded by lake Mälaren and the Baltic sea.In Swedish, the province name is...

, whose seat probably already was Vik. Arvid's mother probably (but not certainly, because some history gives him as son of a second wife of his father, of whose existence and name there are however no contemporary evidence) was Kristina Petersdotter of the tre rutor family, daughter of Birgitta Jonsdotter, possibly of the Aspenäs family, and certainly widow of Erengisle Näskonungsson, Lord High Constable of Sweden
Lord High Constable of Sweden
The Lord High Constable was a prominent and influential office in Sweden, from the 13th century until 1676, excluding periods when the office was out of use. The office holder was a member of the Swedish Privy Council and, from 1630 and on, the head of the Swedish Council of War...

.

The younger Arvid Gustafsson was member of the Privy Council of Sweden
Privy Council of Sweden
The High Council of Sweden or Council of the Realm consisted originally of those men of noble, common and clergical background, that the king saw fit for advisory service...

 from 1362, and from 1366 lawspeaker
Lawspeaker
A lawspeaker is a unique Scandinavian legal office. It has its basis in a common Germanic oral tradition, where wise men were asked to recite the law, but it was only in Scandinavia that the function evolved into an office...

 of Finland, Swedish province.

His wife was Helena Magnusdotter, daughter of Birgitta Knutsdotter of the Algotssöner family and Magnus Gislason, PC, Lord of Aspnäs, who also bore spar as his Coat of Arms, and is therefore also dubbed as "Sparre" (Sparre of Aspnäs) in genealogies. Magnus Gislason's line and Gustav/Arvid line may well have been of the same origin, but there exists no evidence of that.

Helena and Arvid inherited the manor of Örby when her parents' inheritance was divided between her and her full sister (whose family received Aspnäs). Her half-sister ha been the first wife of Charles Ulvsson, Lord of Tofta
Charles Ulvsson, Lord of Tofta
knight Charles of Tofta, a.k.a Karl Ulfson was a 14th century Swedish magnate and High Constable of Sweden.Lord Charles always signed himself as "of Tofta", which has given his whole ancestral lineage its later genealogical name, although his paternal grandfather for example did not possess Tofta...

, thus a brother-in-law of Arvid.

Arvid and Helena had an only surviving child, daughter Margareta Arvidsdotter (died on 9 April 1415), who became their heiress. Margareta married sir Ture Bengtsson (of the Bielke, died 20 November 1414), PC, justiciar of Uppland. Their descendants inherited Vik, Örby etc, a veritable bunch of properties in Uppland, which ultimately ended to their descendants the Vasa, and its scion, the king Gustav I.

Justiciar Arvid died either in 1379 or 1380. His father's first name was given to his 7th-generation descendant who became Gustav I of Sweden
Gustav I of Sweden
Gustav I of Sweden, born Gustav Eriksson of the Vasa noble family and later known simply as Gustav Vasa , was King of Sweden from 1523 until his death....

and because of whom, the name Gustav has since remained in common names of Swedish royal families.

Source

  • Äldre svenska frälsesläkter, by Folke Wernstedt, 1965
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