Aspenäs

The Aspenäs family was a high noble house of Östergötland, named by later historians after its seat at Aspenäs and documented from the thirteenth century. Its earliest known ancestor Filip married Cecilia Knutsdotter of the House of Bjelbo, daughter of the Swedish jarl Knut Birgersson, which gave the family royal blood through the female line.

Filip's sons Johan and Birger Filipsson joined the third Folkung uprising of 1278 to 1280 against King Magnus Ladulås and were beheaded at the Great Square in Stockholm in 1280 after its defeat. Later generations served as knights, lawspeakers and members of the council of the realm, and the line ended with Erik Laurensson, who was buried in 1445.