Consolidation of Sweden
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It is not known when and how the kingdom of Sweden was born.[1] Unlike Norway and Denmark, there is no specific time that is generally agreed on concerning when Sweden can be called unified. The question of a unification is psychologically important as many would like a clear-cut beginning for Swedish history, which the country lacks. As the scholar goes back, Swedish history blends with legend and legend with Norse mythology. Sweden's earliest history is also an ideological matter fraught with the problem of defining what is and what was Sweden, and most importantly - with what constitutes a reliable source. All sources for the country's earliest history are foreign and/or written fairly late.
Based on the Swedish name for the country Sverige and its older form Svea Rike (kingdom of the Suiones), it can be argued that the first unification of Sweden happened when the Swedes (Suiones) appeared as a tribe, based on Tacitus who described them as several tribes (Suionum hinc civitates) with one king.[citation needed] This was a position commonly taken by an older more patriotic school, e.g. Birger Nerman. However, since the appearance of the hypercritical school, e.g. Curt Weibull, historians have become uncomfortable with this definition, since there is about a millennium between Tacitus' account and the appearance of fuller and more reliable documentation on Swedish history.[citation needed]
The most usuall definition of Sweden which is that Swedes and Geats are ruled under the same king, is not only because of that Swedes came to live in Götaland further on, and Geats also came to live in Svealand, but also because of that Swedes wanted to glorify themselfs as being the same people as the historical Goths, who left Scandinavia, settled close to the mouth of the Vistula river (in present day Poland), and in the 3rd and 4th centuries settled several mighty nations.
However, this is an approach which would probably have surprised contemporary Swedes who did not consider Götaland to be a necessary and sufficient condition for Sweden to be Sweden, albeit Götaland was important. In both Medieval Icelandic sources and in contemporary Swedish sources, Sweden and Götaland were two separate nations. In Sögubrot af Nokkrum[1] for instance, Kolmården between Svealand and Ostrogothia is described as the border between Sweden and Ostrogothia (...Kolmerkr, er skilr Svíþjóð ok Eystra-Gautland...), and in Hervarar saga[2], king Ingold I rides from Westrogothia to Sweden through Smalandia and Ostrogothia: Ingi konungr fór með hirð sína ok sveit nokkura ok hafði lítinn her. Hann reið austr um Smáland ok í eystra Gautland ok svá í Svíþjóð. The lord Bo Jonsson Grip was probably the one who was best acquainted with the geography of the Swedish kingdom since he owned more than half of it. In 1384, he stated in his will that the kingdom consisted of Swerige (Sweden, i.e. Svealand), Österland (i.e. Finland) and Göthaland (i.e. Götaland).
The process of such a unification was however gradual. 19th century scholars saw the unification as a result of wars, and used evidence from the Norse sagas. For example, according to the Norwegian Historia Norwegiae, and the Icelandic historian Snorri Sturlusson, a 7th century king called Ingjald illråde ("ill-ruler") burnt a number of subordinate kings to death inside his hall, resulting in the abolishment of the petty kingdoms.
To solve the problem of having a clearer beginning that coincides with more reliable sources, a group of modern Swedish historians have a narrow definition of stat (based on the concept state), using Christianity as a necessary and sufficient condition for a stat. English and German priests would have brought organizational and administrative skills, which would have made people (including local rulers) used to this abstract concept of a stat, which would have required an important ideological shift. While an Iron Age Germanic king could claim the elective support of his people, and the Norse gods, a crowned Christian king could claim that his rule was divinely inspired. The connection between Christianity and consolidation is clear in other countries where written sources are less scarce, such as England or Harald Bluetooth's Denmark.
Since there are several perspectives on what constitutes Sweden, anyone wanting to establish the date for the unification/beginning/birth of Sweden has to define what they mean by "Sweden" and how they delimit the stages in the evolution of a nation, a country or a state.
What is generally agreed on is that Sweden went through a process of consolidation in the early Middle Ages. The current extent was only reached in the 17th century, with the treaty of Roskilde and the treaty of Brömsebro, annexing all the present territories. The current borders of Sweden, however, were not laid until 1809 with the loss of Finland to Russia in the Finnish War.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Hadenius, S; Nilsson, T and Åselius, G. (1996:13):
Hur och när det svenska riket uppstod vet vi inte. Först under 1100-talet börjar skriftliga dokument produceras i Sverige i någon större uppfattning [...] How and when the Swedish kingdom appeared is not known. It is not until the 12th century that written document begin to be produced in Sweden in any larger extent [...]
[edit] References
- Hagerman, Maja (1996) Spåren av kungens män. (In Swedish).
- Harrison, Dick (2002) Jarlens sekel. (In Swedish).
- Hadenius, Stig; Nilsson, Torbjörn; Åselius, Gunnar (1996) Sveriges historia: vad varje svensk bör veta. Bonnier Alba, Borås. ISBN 91-34-51857-6 (in Swedish)
- Hellström, Jan Arvid (1996) Vägar till Sveriges kristnande. (In Swedish).
- Nerman, Birger (1925) Det svenska rikets uppkomst. Stockholm.
- Sawyer, Peter (1989) The Making of Sweden.
