Sweden: Origins of Sweden

Origins of Sweden

In early historic times, Svealand was inhabited by the Svear (mentioned as the Suiones by Tacitus in the late 1st cent. a.d.). They engaged in wars with their southern neighbors, who inhabited Götaland and who according to an unproved tradition were the ancestors of the Goths. By the 6th cent. a.d. the Svear had conquered the Götar, with whom they merged. The early Swedes were combined and confused with other Scandinavians (e.g., the piratical Vikings and Norsemen). The Swedes alone, known as Varangians in Russia, extended (10th cent.) their influence to the Black Sea. The Swedish kings warred for centuries with their Danish and Norwegian neighbors.

St. Ansgar introduced Christianity c.829, but paganism was fully eradicated only in the 12th cent. by Eric IX, who also conquered Finland. The royal authority was weakened before the 13th cent. by the rise of an independent feudal class. The Swedish cities also began to acquire wide rights at that time and were strongly influenced by German merchants of the Hanseatic League, active especially at Visby. In 1319, Sweden and Norway were united under Magnus VII, and in 1397 Queen Margaret I effected the personal union of Sweden, Norway, and Denmark through the Kalmar Union.

However, Margaret's successors, whose rule was centered in Denmark, were unable to control the Swedes. Real power was held for long periods by regents (notably those of the Sture family) chosen by the Swedish diet. Christian II, who asserted his claim to Sweden by force of arms, ordered a massacre (1520) of Swedish nobles at Stockholm. This “Stockholm Blood Bath” stirred the Swedes to new resistance; at Strängnäs, in 1523, they made Gustavus Vasa their king as Gustavus I.

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