Roos af Hjelmsäter


Roos af Hjelmsäter is a Swedish noble family of Norwegian noble and royal origin. It is among the few of Norway's medieval noble families still living.

Sudreim clan in Norway

The Sudreim clan was originally a part of the Norwegian nobility. Its progenitor, lendmann Åge Varg of Sørum in Romerike, was married with a daughter of King Harald IV Gille of Norway.
Åge Varg was the paternal grandfather of Olav Mokk, Sysselmann of Hedmark, who himself was the father of lendmann Ivar Olavsson of Skedjuhov. The latter's son, Jon Raud Ivarsson of Sudreim, was the father of Havtore Jonsson, who married King Håkon V's daughter Agnes Håkonsdotter. Their sons were Jon Havtoresson of Elingård and Sigurd Havtoresson of Sudreim.
Jon Havtoresson married Birgitta Knutsdotter and was the father of Håkon Jonsson, who through inheritance and marriage, received extensive landlord in eastern Norway as well as in western Norway. Håkon Jonsson was suggested as King of Norway after the death of King Olaf IV in 1387. He became the progenitor of the Roos af Hjelmsäter family of Swedish nobility.
Sigurd Havtoresson married Norway's richest heiress, Ingeborg Erlingsdotter, daughter of Erling Vidkunsson. He thereby came to possess the Giske and Bjarkøy Estate. Their daughter was Agnes Sigurdsdotter, who married the Swedish nobleman Jon Marteinsson . She was the mother of Sigurd Jonsson of Sudreim, Giske, and Bjarkøy. Sigurd Jonsson was Regent of Norway. As a royal descendant, he was offered the throne but rejected these suggestions. His son junker Hans Sigurdsson was the family's last man in Norway.

Roos af Hjelmsäter in Sweden

Jon Havtoresson and Birgitta Knutsdotter were the parents of at least five children. According to Adelsvapens genealogi it was not their son Håkon Jonsson but rather his younger brother Brynjulf Jonsson who became the progenitor of the Swedish noble family Roos af Hjelmsäter.
The family was in 1625 introduced at the House of Nobility under the name Roos af Hjelmsäter as noble family no. 51. A branch was in 1705 created barons under the name Roos as baronial family no. 186. This line became extinct in 1765.

Coat of arms

The family's coat of arms featured a red rose on a golden field.

Prominent members