Bure kinship
The Bure kinship (Swedish: Bureätten) is a renowned Scandinavian kinship, centered during the late Middle Ages strongly in the Skellefteå (historically "Heletti" in Finnish) area, today's Bureå in Northern Sweden.
The Bure family lineages can be confirmed from various sources and by much evidence fairly reliably from the end of the 15th century onward, although already long before the modern critical approach the family lineages were extended and recorded also all the way back to the Viking Age.
Some Bure family lines and individuals have acquired the names Bure, Burman and Burensköld. Some Bure family lines – as well as individuals from other family lines – are noble.
Viking Age Bure lineages
During the Viking Age, spanning from the 8th century to the late 11th century, influential Bure family members were born in the important trading centers of Sigtuna and Birka in Uppland, a part of the modern-day central Sweden. Based on primary sources, Uppland's Bure kinship members included the Viking prince ("herse") Herse Bure (born in c. 940); his son the Viking chieftain ("stor hövding", "storman") Tord I Byr (born in 975 in Byr, Sko, Sigtuna, Uppland); and his son King ("herse, kung") Gunnar Haursi (Herse / Bure), a Viking merchant (born in 1010 Skokloster, Sko, Sigtuna, Uppland / died in Birka, Björkö, Mälaren, Uppland).
According to old written records and medieval evidence such as the rhimestone Burestenen, the Bure kinship also inhabited during the late Viking Age some coastal areas in what today is the Province of Medelpad, by the Gulf of Bothnia, in the south-central part of Norrland, north of the historical province of Uppland. The areas with a significant Bure kinship presence there included the community named 'Bure' in the township of Selånger in the modern-day area of Sundsvall, where Thord Jerker Bure (born in c. 1035, Birka, Uppland), a son of King Gunnar Haursi, died in the return of the 11th century. Thord's son Erik Thordsson Bure was born in Bure in 1060 and Erik's son Herser Eriksson Bure in 1085.
Herser's son, Justice of the Peace ("landsdomare") Fale Hin Gamle Bure, was also born in the modern-day area of Sundsvall, in Byrestad (modern-day "Birsta") in the township of Skön ("Sköns socken") in 1115. He died in May 16, 1161, in Fale Bro, Uppsala, Uppland. The following seven generations of the direct male lineage descendants, the offspring of Fale Hin Gamle Bure, were also all born in Byrestad, in the area of the modern-day City of Sundsvall. The town was chartered in 1621, and the first urban plan for Sundsvall is believed to have been created by Olof Bure in 1642, less likely in 1623.
From the latter half of the 14th century onward, the center of gravity of the recorded Bure kinship began shifting northbound, to the area today known as the Province of Västerbotten in northern Sweden. In the late Middle Ages, the center of the Bure kinship there was located in the area of Skellefteå (historically known as "Heletti" in Finnish), and particularly in the community of Bureå there.
The Bure family lineages can be confirmed from various sources and by much evidence fairly reliably from the end of the 15th century onward, although already long before the modern critical approach the family lineages were extended and recorded also all the way back to the Viking Age. From the late 12th century on, the Bure family is well documented.
Genealogical records
The earliest known extensive Bure family genealogy was written in the beginning of the 17th century by Johannes Bureus, in his manuscript Om Bura namn och ätt. In his study, Bureus included all the family ancestors and descendants, whether male or female and regardless of what social standing or legitimacy each family member might have represented, thus making it possible for many modern-day families to trace their ancestry back to the Bure kinship.
The manuscript Om Bura namn och ätt is located at Riksarkivet ("State Archives"), and also at the Uppsala University Library (numbers X36 and X37).[1]
The history of the Bure kinship is complemented by the studies of Nils Burman (1705–1750), who wrote about the Bure family history until the middle of the 18th century. Some Bure family lines and individuals have acquired the names Bure, Burman and Burensköld. Some Bure family lines - as well as individuals from other family lines - are noble. [2]
The cultural importance of the Bure family genealogy in Sweden is demonstrated e.g. by the novel The Knight Templar trilogy by Jan Guillou, which in part compares with the early Bure family ancestry. The trilogy features fictional events on fictional setting fitted upon the framework of the Bure kinship.
See also
References
- ↑ Hans Gillingstam, "Genealogiska manuskript från vasatiden och stormaktstiden som källor för svensk medeltidsforskning och äldre arkivhistoria". Personhistorisk tidskrift årgång 70, häfte 3-4, 1974, utgiven av Personhistoriska samfundet.
- ↑ Carl Henrik Carlsson, "Släkten Burman i svenskt biografiskt lexikon - en släkt eller två? - Eller tre?". Individ och Historia - Studier tillägnade Hans Gillingstam. Stockholm, 1989.