Blanche of Namur

Blanche of Namur (1320–1363), daughter of John I, Marquis of Namur, and Marie of Artois, became queen of Sweden and Norway through her marriage to King Magnus Eriksson. Magnus travelled to Namur to propose in June 1334, and the wedding followed in October or November 1335, possibly at Bohus Castle; she was crowned in Stockholm in July 1336.

She received Tunsberg in Norway and Lödöse in Sweden as wedding fiefs, exchanging Tunsberg for Bohus in 1353. Active and conspicuous in politics as well as at court, she became one of the best-known medieval queens of Sweden and Norway.

Many stories and songs attached to her; the Swedish nursery rhyme about a horse named Blanka is remembered as hers. Her sons were Eric XII of Sweden and Haakon VI of Norway, and she died in 1363.