Kingdom of Sweden (800–1521)
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Viking Age
Until the 9th century, the Scandinavian people lived in small
Voyages to foreign countries
The
During the 9th century, extensive
The Varangians accumulated great wealth from their foreign trades. A centre of trade in northern Europe developed on the island of Birka, not far from where Stockholm was later constructed, in mid-latitude Sweden. Birka declined drastically by 960, but archaeological finds indicate it was wealthy in the 9th and 10th centuries. Thousands of graves, coins, jewelry and other luxury items have been found there.[6]
Early rulers
Medieval Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic and Anglo-Saxon sources tell of
In a mythological sense, the first king of Sweden is said to have been Odin as the founder of the house of Yngling. (See also List of legendary kings of Sweden.)
The earliest kings whose names appear in different traditions (Beowulf and Ynglingatal) are three kings from the 6th century, starting with Ongentheow or Egil. The first kings attested in a contemporary source are those mentioned in Rimbert's Vita Ansgarii, from the 9th century.
Before the 10th or 11th century, there were many different petty kings, who ruled over different parts of the future Sweden and a lot of fighting and disputes between different tribes, such as the
Middle Ages
Christianization
During and before the Early Viking Age, the people in what is now Sweden were primarily believers in Norse mythology, which dominated most of southern Scandinavia. Swedes had contact with Christianity from their early travels. Christian influence on burials can be traced to the late 8th century in some parts of Sweden. Additionally, Irish missionary monks were most likely active in some parts of Sweden, as demonstrated by Irish saints that were honored in the Middle Ages. Sweden is traditionally considered to be the last country out of Sweden, Denmark and Norway to adopt Christianity and held on to their pagan beliefs the longest, with rulers such as Blot-Sweyn.
From the
When
There are large gaps in the knowledge of the earliest Swedish regents. However, the last king who followed the old Norse religion was
It was not until
After the introduction of Christianity the importance of Uppsala began to decline steadily, and the kings no longer made it their residence.
Consolidation
In the 11th and 12th centuries, the sources state how Sweden more or less consisted of self-governing provinces. It is established that Olof Skötkonung was king of Svealand and at least parts of Götaland, but it is uncertain whether his realm extended to include all of it. And after Olof, the reign of the country was on several occasions divided between different rulers. King Sverker I of Sweden (1134–55) is said to have permanently integrated Götaland and Svealand.[12]
The following centuries saw rivalry between two houses: the House of Sverker in the Östergötland province, and the House of Eric in the Västergötland province.
13th century
The greatest medieval statesman of Sweden, and one of the principal architects of its rise as a nation,
The formation of separate orders (classes of society), or estates, was promoted by Magnus Ladulås, who extended the privileges of the clergy and practically founded the formal Swedish nobility (see Ordinance of Alsnö, 1280). Founded with this institution was a heavily armed cavalry, the kernel of the national army. The Knights (new nobles) and Burghers became distinguishable from the higher nobility. This period saw the rise of a prominent burgess class, as the towns now began to acquire charters. At the end of the 13th century, and the beginning of the 14th, provincial codes of laws appear and the king and his council also executed legislative and judicial functions.[11]
Although Swedish-speaking culture had been expanding eastwards through
Union between Sweden and Norway
The first union between Sweden and Norway occurred in 1319 when the three-year-old
Kalmar Union
In 1388, at the request of the Swedes, Albert was driven out by Margaret I of Denmark and at a convention of the representatives of the three Scandinavian kingdoms (held at Kalmar in 1397), Margaret's great-nephew, Eric of Pomerania, was elected the common king, although the liberties of each of the three realms were expressly reserved and confirmed. The union was to be a personal, not a political union. Neither Margaret nor her successors observed the stipulation that in each of the three kingdoms only natives should hold land and high office, and the efforts first of Denmark (at that time by far the strongest member of the union) to impose her will on the Union's weaker kingdoms soon produced secessions. The Swedes first broke away from the Union in 1434 under the popular leader Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson, and after his murder they elected Karl Knutsson Bonde as their king with the title of Charles VIII in 1436. In 1441 Charles VIII had to abdicate in favour of Christopher of Bavaria, who was already king of Denmark and Norway; however, upon the death of Christopher in 1448, a state of confusion ensued in the course of which Charles VIII was twice reinstated and twice expelled again. Finally, on his death in 1470, the three kingdoms were reunited under Christian II of Denmark, the prelates and higher nobility of Sweden favouring the union.[11]
See also
- Provinces of Sweden
- History of Scandinavia
- List of runestones
- Swedish History Museum
- Garðar Svavarsson
Notes
- ^ The classification and dates are found in Harrison (2002), pp. 12–14, and Weibull (1997).
- ^ One of the earliest kings, Fjölnir was considered to have lived at the time of the Roman emperor Augustus, see Grottasöngr.
- Hervarar sagafrom the 13th century.
- ^ Another important primary source is found in the legend of Saint Eskil, written a few centuries later.
References
- ^ Birgit Sawyer, Medieval Scandinavia: From conversion to reformation, circa 800-1500 (U of Minnesota Press, 1993).
- ^ "The Vikings at home". Archived from the original on 4 May 2020. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
- ^ "worldhistory.org". Archived from the original on 14 April 2021. Retrieved 23 April 2021.
- ^ "The Vikings (780–1100) | Essay | the Metropolitan Museum of Art | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History". Archived from the original on 23 April 2020. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
- ^ "Viking Tours Stockholm, 20 Historical Cultural Transported Tours". Archived from the original on 28 March 2020. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
- ^ Andersson (1975), p. 34
- ^ Sävborg, Daniel (2015). "Kungalängder och historieskrivning: Fornsvenska och fornisländska källor om Sveriges historia" [King lists and historiography: Old Swedish and old Icelandic sources on Swedish history] (PDF). Histrorisk Tidskrift (in Swedish). 135 (2): 201–235. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 August 2021. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
- ^ Andersson (1975), p. 40–41
- ^ "C14-analys 2007". Västergötlands museum. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 17 March 2011.
- ^ Beck 1911, p. 198.
- ^ a b c d e Beck 1911, p. 199.
- ^ Weibull (1997), p. 18
Further reading
- Lagerås, Per. "Environment, society and the Black Death: an interdisciplinary approach to the late-medieval crisis in Sweden." Environment, Society and the Black Death (2016): 1-208.
- Pulsiano, Phillip. Medieval Scandinavia: an encyclopedia (Taylor & Francis, 1993).
- Sawyer, Birgit. Medieval Scandinavia: From conversion to reformation, circa 800-1500 (U of Minnesota Press, 1993).
- Weibull, Jörgem, Swedish History in Outline (Trelleborg, 1993 [1997])
In Swedish
- Andersson, Ingvar, Sveriges historia, 7th edition (AB Kopia, Stockholm, 1975), ISBN 91-27-06598-7
- Harrison, Dick, Sveriges historia medeltiden (Falköping, 2002)
- Rosén, Jerker, Svensk historia, fourth edition (Arlöv, 1983 [1963]), ISBN 91-24-29227-3
- Jan Cornell (ed.), Den svenska historien, vol 1 (1966), vol 2 (1966)
- public domain: Beck, Frederick George Meeson (1911). "Sweden". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 26 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 188–221. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the