Bengt Algotsson

Bengt Algotsson (Latin: Benedictus, d. 1360) was a Swedish nobleman and a favourite of King Magnus Eriksson. A member of the high nobility with royal ancestry, he rose quickly in rank. After serving as a squire on Magnus's crusade against Novgorod in 1350, he was knighted in 1351, appointed to the Privy Council in 1352, and made duke of Finland and Halland around 1353–55. He is the only non-royal in Swedish history to have been granted a ducal title.

His extraordinary advancement and the king's anti-aristocratic policies and increased taxation, enforced by Bengt, provoked strong hostility among the other magnates. They rebelled in 1356, forcing Bengt into exile and raising Magnus's son Erik as co-king. Although Magnus was compelled to swear that Bengt would never return, he re-entered Scania in 1360 and was killed.

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