Riddarfjärden
Riddarfjärden (, "The Knight Firth") is the easternmost bay of Lake Mälaren in central Stockholm. Stockholm was founded in 1252 on an island in the stream where Lake Mälaren (from the west) drains into the Baltic Sea (to the east); today the island is called Stadsholmen and constitutes Stockholm's Old Town.
Prehistory and origin of Stockholm
The first, verified, mention of the name 'Stockholm' is from two letters written in Latin in 1252; the first, written in July, is a letter where the King Valdemar and Birger Jarl offered their royal patronage to Fogdö Abbey; and the other, written by Birger Jarl in August, urged the peasantry in Attundaland to pay their tithes to the Uppsala Cathedral. Both letters were written in Stockholm, but give no further information of the city itself or any explanation on the background of the name. However, it can be assumed at least some sort of dwelling in consistence with the station of a Swedish jarl existed at that time.