Sancta Ragnildis

by Anders Fröjmark

Sancta Ragnildis. Lay saint, queen, and pilgrim (eleventh to twelfth centuries), buried in Södertälje. Her cult is known from the fifteenth century.

Of particular interest as a testament to her veneration is the text De sancta Ragnilde in Thelgis epitaphium, "Epitaph of St. Ragnhild of Tälje". This is an epitaph of hagiographic character, celebrating the memory of an otherwise little known Swedish queen from c.1100 or the early twelfth century.

De sancta Ragnilde in Thelgis epitaphium

Title

The work is headed by the title De sancta Ragnilde in Thelgis epithaphium. The final sign has also been read as an “-s” to give “epitaphis”, but after consultation with Latinists Elin Andersson and Erika Kihlman (February 2026), the conclusion is to read it as an abbreviation for “-um”.

In a strict sense, this title applies only to the two versified parts of the work (24 lines), and not to the five lines in prose.

Incipit

Sweuorum domina Ragnildis flos sine spina.

Explicit

Nobis summa bona procures alma patrona.

Metre

Quantitative leonine hexameter with lines of thirteen to fifteen syllables and with a marked caesura in the pentameter. Deviations from classical quantitative rules are few.

Size

The text consists of two versified parts with a short commentary (five lines) in between. The first versified part consists of seven lines. After line five at least one line is missing. The second versified part is formed of three groups of six lines each. The final line of the second group is missing, so that only seventeen lines remain.

Editions

• BENZELIUS, J. 1703: Palæstina. Sive de Terra Promissionis, & Singulis in ea Tribubus; item Fatis Variorum Incolarum; & Sveonum Gothorumque Expeditionibus Sacris dissertationes duæ, geographico-historicæ, Upsaliæ, 150–52,
• BENZELIUS, E. in VASTOVIUS, J. 1708: Vitis aquilonia. Sive Vitae sanctorum regni Sveo-Gothici. Emendavit et notis illustravit Ericus Benzelius filius, Annotationes, Upsaliae, 80.
• ALM, H. 1931: ‘Drottning Ragnhild och hennes gravskrift i Tälje’, Sörmlandsbygden 2, 70–71.
• ODENIUS, O. 1973: [Review of] T. Lundén, Svenska helgon, Fornvännen 68, 61.
• LUNDÉN, T. 1983: Sveriges missionärer, helgon och kyrkogrundare. En bok om Sveriges kristnande, Storuman, 283–84.
• UUB (Uppsala University Library), Fragm. ms & lib. lat. 326: “Epitafium över Ragnhild av Södertälje (fragment),” edition in facsimile in Alvin: Platform for digital collections and digitized cultural heritage urn:nbn:se:alvin:portal:record-384245. Accessed on February 19, 2026.

All editions except the facsimilia contain errors. A new edition is projected.

Translations

• (Swedish) ALM, H. 1931: ‘Drottning Ragnhild och hennes gravskrift i Tälje’, Sörmlandsbygden 2, 71–72.
• (Swedish) WEHNER, R. 1959: ‘S:ta Ragnhild i sitt tidevarv’, Credo. Katolsk tidskrift 40, 25–26.
• (Swedish) LUNDÉN, T. 1983: Sveriges missionärer, helgon och kyrkogrundare. En bok om Sveriges kristnande, Storuman, 284.
• (Swedish) MARTLING, C. H. 2001: En svensk helgonkrönika, Skellefteå, 114–115.

Date and place

The text is known from one manuscript copy originally written down on the inside of the back cover of an incunable belonging to the Strängnäs Cathedral Library (ANDERSSON 2021, 62). The incunable in question was printed in Cologne in 1474, and the copy of the epitaph was made in a late fifteenth-century hand. The sheet containing the epitaph has been removed from the book in recent times, and was acquired by the University Library of Uppsala in 1932 (Fragm ms lat 326).

The versified parts are two versions of the epitaph of Ragnhild, a Swedish (according to one source Swedish and Norwegian) queen who is said to have lived c.1100. The fact that Ragnhild is hallowed as a saint in the epitaph leads us to the conclusion that it was made at some distance in time from her death. The epitaph does not mention on which day or in which year St Ragnhild died. This is, indeed, a common characteristic of the early Christian grave monuments or epitaphs in Sweden, but it might just as well be seen as an indication that the epitaph was composed in a time when these dates were no longer known. In this respect, it resembles some late medieval epitaphs in the abbey church of Varnhem commemorating ancient Swedish kings.

According to Bernhard BISCHOFF (quoted by WEHNER 1959, 72, note 4), the epitaph may not be dated earlier than the middle of the thirteenth century.

The commentary between the two versified parts seems to be the copier's remarks. This commentary is clearly a later composition than the versified parts.

Summary of contents

In the first versified part, Ragnhild is referred to as queen of the Swedes (Sweuorum domina /.../ Regni regina). She is said to have made a pilgrimage to Rome and Jerusalem. In this way she has become the like of St Helen (mother of Constantine). Finally, the author addresses Ragnhild as the alma patrona, patron of souls, of the citizens of Tälje (present day Södertälje south of Stockholm).

The second, longer, versified part, equally celebrates Ragnhild as the queen of Sweden, having made a pilgrimage to Rome and Jerusalem. In addition, she is said to have founded the church of Tälje and to have enriched it with land and other gifts. As for her descent, she is called Halsteni filia, the daughter of Halsten (or perhaps daughter-in-law; cf. ANDERSSON 2021, 66). In the final lines, she is described as the alma patrona who is impelled by the faithful to come to the assistance of those who are ill.

Of special interest is the comparison that is made between Ragnhild and three other women. As a pilgrim, Ragnhild is first contrasted to the wandering Dinah (Genesis 34), and then compared to St Helen. When St Helen is mentioned in the first part of the epitaph, this clearly refers to the finder of the True Cross. Here, in the second part, we might also think of another pilgrim in Swedish hagiography, St Helen (or Elin) of Skövde (cf. Sancta Helena de Skövde). This association is strengthened by the fact that the third woman referred to is the prophetess Huldah (Oldan; 4 Rg 22,14; 2 Par 34, 22), who figures also in the late-thirteenth-century office of St Helen of Skövde.

The copier's commentary mentions that St Ragnhild rests in Tälje, where, he says, she coruscates with many miracles. During her pilgrimage she was plundered by robbers, but she was then clad by angels. He then comments upon the descent of St Ragnhild. It is written, he says, that she was the wife of King Inge. She was also the daughter of King Halsten, he further states, basing this on the second versified part of the epitaph.

The copier thus adds information that he has gathered from other sources. St Ragnhild's marriage to a king named Inge, her burial in Tälje, and her reputation for holiness are pieces of information that can be gathered from two chronicles of Swedish kings from the 1450s. These are, in fact, the first datable mentions of St Ragnhild.

Nevertheless, the copier's commentary adds confusion to the tradition of St Ragnhild. While the chronicles make her the wife of King Inge Halstensson (c.1110–1120/25), the copier seems to have had King Inge Stenkilsson (c.1079–1110) in mind. To further complicate matters, neither of these could have been married to Ragnhild if she was the daughter of King Halsten. In such a case, Inge Stenkilsson would have been her uncle, and Inge Halstensson her brother. The epitaph and the chronicles reflect different and incompatible traditions concerning the descent and marriage of St Ragnhild, which the copier tries in vain to unite.

Sources

The original epitaph in the church of Tälje is, just like the tomb of St Ragnhild, gone without a trace. They may have been victims of cultic purge in the late sixteenth century.

The sources for the copier's commentary have been discussed above.

A tradition of St Ragnhilds holiness exists both in the epitaph and in the chronicles from the 1450s, but the possible dependence between them can not be ascertained.

No liturgical celebration of the memory of St. Ragnhild is known. The seventeenth-century church historian Johannes Baazius sets forth that St Ragnhild's name was inscribed in the calendar as a saint, but the basis for his assertion is unknown and probably non-existent.

The source for the statement in the second versified part of the epitaph that makes Ragnhild the daughter of Halsten – probably King Halsten – is unknown.

Purpose and audience

The author, or authors, of the two versified parts of our text are celebrating the local saintly patron of the Church of Tälje, in which her grave was also found. She is portrayed as a worthy saint to whom the faithful may justly address their prayers. She is also a former Swedish queen and – at least to the author of the second part – the founder and original benefactor of the church.

The copier may have been a cleric from the episcopal see at Strängnäs who had the task of gathering information concerning the local tradition about St Ragnhild in Tälje. In his commentary, he has added some statements about the saint, while trying to reconcile different traditions concerning her background and marriage.

Medieval reception and transmission

In the middle of the fifteenth century, St Ragnhild of Tälje found her way into the Swedish historical litterature. She is briefly mentioned in the Lilla rimkrönikan, a rhymed chronicle (ed. G. Klemming 1865 in Svenska medeltidens rim-krönikor, vol. 1, 225–226), and in a 1457 manuscript of the Prosakrönikan (ed. G.E. Klemming 1868–1881 in Småstycken på forn svenska, 234–235). The Uppsala Canon Ericus Olai mentions her in his Chronica regni Gothorum (ca 1470; ed E. Heuman & J. Öberg 1993, 63, 69). The Cronica Swecie, an early sixteenth-century prologue to Erikskrönikan (ed. G. E. Klemming 1865, Svenska medeltidens rim-krönikor 1, 195), includes her in its enumeration of Swedish saints. Johannes Magnus, Olaus Petri, and other sixteenth-century historiographers followed.

Yet, it is not the epitaph's tradition that was transmitted to new generations. For all that we know, it may well have stayed inside the walls of the Strängnäs Cathedral Library until it was rediscovered by Eric Benzelius and Johan Peringskiöld in the late seventeenth century. Instead, it is the chronicles' version that forms the base for the literary tradition of St Ragnhild.

Bibliography

• ALM, H. 1931: ‘Drottning Ragnhild och hennes gravskrift i Tälje’, Sörmlandsbygden 2, 70–78.
• ANDERSSON, E. 2021: “S:ta Ragnhilds epitafium: Försvunnet och återfunnet,” in Biblis: Tidskrift för bokhistoria, bibliografi, bokhantverk, samlande, No 94, 62–67.
• BAAZIUS, J. 1642: Inventarium ecclesiæ sveo-gothorum, Lincopiæ, 113. [Improbable statement of a liturgical celebration of St. Ragnhild.]
• COLLMAR, M. 1977: Strängnäs stifts herdaminne 1: Medeltiden, Nyköping, 488–89.
• ELLIS NILSSON, S. 2015: Creating Holy People and Places on the Periphery A Study of the Emergence of Cults of Native Saints in the Ecclesiastical Provinces of Lund and Uppsala from the Eleventh to the Thirteenth Centuries, Gothenburg.
• ERICUS OLAI. 1993: Chronica regni Gothorum, ed. E. Heuman & J. Öberg. Stockholm, 63, 69.
• FRÖJMARK, A. 1996: ‘Ragnhild’, Svenskt biografiskt lexikon 29, 613–15. [Includes select bibliography.]
• JOHANNES MAGNUS, 1554: De omnibvs Gothorvm Sveonvmqve regibvs, Romæ, 587–88.
• MAPPING LIVED RELIGION PROJECT (2019–2025), “Ragnhild of Tälje”, Mapping Saints Research Resource, Retrieved on February 23, 2026, from https://saints.dh.gu.se/explore/saints/256.
• MARTLING, C. H. 2001: En svensk helgonkrönika, Skellefteå.
• OLAUS PETRI. 1917: En swensk cröneka, ed J. Sahlgren, Uppsala, 51.
• VASTOVIUS, J. 1708 (1623): Vitis aquilonia, ed E. Benzelius, Upsaliae, 60–61; annotationes cc. 47–48, 80.
• WEHNER, R. 1959: ‘S:ta Ragnhild i sitt tidevarv’, Credo. Katolsk tidskrift 40, 15–35, 55–72.
• WILHELMSSON, C. 2025: The Queens and Royal Women of Sweden, c. 970–1330: Their Lives, Power, and Legacy. London & New York, 105–112.
• ZIEGLER, J. 1536 (1532): Terrae sanctae ... Syriae, Arabiae, Aegypti et Schondiae ... descriptio, 103v, xxxxxx. [First mention in printed form of the tradition of St. Ragnhild.]