Consolidation of Sweden

Categories: History of Sweden | History of Finland

Unlike Norway and Denmark, there is no specific time that is generally agreed on concerning when Sweden can be called unified. Depending on perspective, Sweden has been said to have been unified in the 7th century by Ingjald illråde ("ill-ruler") when he burnt a number of subordinate kings to death inside his hall. Others do not consider this to have happened until a thousand years later, in the 17th century, when all the present territories became Swedish.

Another approach attributes this role to those kings who can be proven to have been kings of both Svealand and Götaland in the 12th century.

However, this approach provides a very narrow definition, as it excludes other Swedish regions such as Norrland, Skåneland and Gotland. It is also anachronistic because the territory labelled Svea Rike - Sverige has evolved during the centuries and originally only referred to Svealand.

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 testament that the kingdom consisted of Swerige (Sweden, i.e. Svealand), Österland (i.e. Finland) and Göthaland (i.e. Götaland).

To complicate the matter, it can also be argued that the first unification of Sweden happened when the Suiones appeared as a tribe, based on Tacitus who described them as several tribes (Suionum hinc civitates) with one king.

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.sv:Sveriges historia: Unionstiden