Everything about Swedes Germanic Tribe totally explained
The
Swedes (;
Old Norse:
svíar;
Old English:
Sweonas;,
Suehans or
Sueones) were an ancient
North Germanic tribe in
Scandinavia. As the dominions of their kings grew, their land slowly evolved into the modern
Swedish nation.
According to early sources, such as the
Norse sagas, and especially
Heimskringla, the Swedes were a powerful tribe whose kings claimed descendence from the god
Freyr. During the
Viking Age they constituted the basis of the
Varangian subset, the
Vikings that travelled eastwards (see
Rus').
Their privileged position within the Swedish kingdom was abolished in the mid-13th century. Until then, the Swedes had had semi-aristocratic status being only obliged to provide the
King of Sweden with ships, warriors and their provisions during wars, whereas other nations within the kingdom, such as
Geats and
Gotlanders were tributary nations who were regularly taxed. Although this distinction is convention in modern Norwegian, Danish and Swedish,
Icelandic retains the traditional terminology and call both
Svíar.
Location
Their primary dwellings were in eastern
Svealand, for example the traditional
Folklands of
Attundaland,
Tiundaland,
Fjärdhundraland and
Roslagen in the area of the present cities of
Uppsala and
Stockholm and the modern province of
Gästrikland. Their territories also very early included the provinces of
Västmanland,
Södermanland and
Närke in the basin of
Mälaren which constituted a bay with a multitude of islands. The region is still one of the most fertile and densely populated regions of Scandinavia.
Their territories were called
Svealand (
the Voyage of Ohthere:
Swéoland),
Suithiod (
Beowulf:
Sweoðeod),
Svíaveldi or
Svea rike (Beowulf:
Swéorice), and the unknown moment when they subjugated, or united politically with, the
Geats in
Götaland, sometime between the
6th century and the
11th century is nowadays often regarded as the birth to the
Swedish kingdom, although the Swedish kingdom is named after them,
Sverige in
Swedish, from
Svea rike - for example the kingdom of the Suiones. The English name
Sweden is derived from an old name for Sweden and the land of the Suiones:
Sweoðeod (
the people of the Suiones).
The
Ásatrú Aesir-cult centre in
Gamla Uppsala, was the religious centre of the Swedes and where the Swedish king served as a priest during the sacrifices (
blóts). Uppsala was also the centre of the
Uppsala öd, the network of royal estates that financed the Swedish king and his court until the
13th century.
Some dispute whether the original domains of the Suiones really was in
Uppsala, the heartland of
Uppland, or if the term was used commonly for
all tribes within Svealand, in the same way as old
Norway's different provinces were collectively referred to as
Nortmanni.
Etymology
The form
Suiones appears in the Roman author
Tacitus's
Germania. A closely similar form,
Sweon(as), is found in
Old English and in the work of
Adam of Bremen about the Hamburg-Bremen archbishops who are denoted
Sueones.
According to one theory (Schagerström 1931), the name is derived from
Proto-Germanic *
saiwi- meaning "lake" or "sea" resulting in *
siwíoniz and later *
swi-oniz meaning the "sea people". However, this root isn't known to have produced any other derived names, and is considered unlikely.
Noréen (1920) proposed that
Suiones is a Latin rendering of
Proto-Germanic *
Swihoniz, meaning "one's own (tribesmen)", derived from the same
Proto-Indo-European root as the
Latin suus (for example not from Latin but from the same
reflexive pronominal root, a root also existing in Slavic languages). In modern Scandinavian, the same root appears in words such as
svåger (brother-in-law) and
svägerska (sister-in-law). The form *
Swihoniz would in
Wulfila's
Gothic become *
Swaíhans, which later would result in the form
Suehans that
Jordanes mentioned as the name of the Swedes in
Getica. Consequently, the
Proto-Norse form would have been *
Swehaniz which following the sound-changes in Old Norse resulted in Old West Norse
Svíar and Old East Norse
Swear. However, this root hasn't gained wide acceptance, which leads to the oldest theory of which the proposed root is widely accepted.
According to a third theory (v. Friesen 1915), it isn't derived from the root *
swih, but from the root *
Swe and being originally an adjective,
Proto-Germanic *
Sweoniz, meaning "kindred". Then the Gothic form would have been *
Swians and the H in
Suehans a
pleonasm. The
Proto-Norse form would then also have been *
Sweoniz which also would have resulted in the historically attested forms.
Although, scholars differ on the origins of the name, they agree that
Suiones is the same name as
Old Norse svíar and
Old English Sweon(as). Even though the
n has disappeared in the plural noun
svear/
svíar, it's still preserved in the old adjective which has become the noun designating modern Swedes:
svensk.
The name became part of a compound, which in Old West Norse was
Svíþjóð, (The Suione People), in Old East Norse
Sweþiuð and in
Old English Sweoðeod. This compound appears on
runestones in the locatives
i suiþiuþu (
Runestone Sö Fv1948;289, Aspa Löt,
Sörmland),
a suiþiuþu (
Runestone DR 344, Simris,
Skåne) and
o suoþiauþu (
Runestone DR 216, Tirsted,
Lolland). The
13th century Danish source
Scriptores rerum danicarum mentions a place called
litlæ swethiuthæ, which is probably the island
Sverige (Sweden) near Stockholm. The earliest instance, however, appears to be
Suetidi in
Jordanes'
Getica (
6th century).
The only Germanic nation having a similar naming was the
Goths, who from the name *
Gutans (cf.
Suehans) created the form
gut-þiuda.
The name
Swethiuth and its different forms gave rise to the different Latin names for Sweden,
Suethia,
Suetia and
Suecia as well as the modern English name for the country.
A second compound was
Svíariki, or
Sweorice in
Anglo-Saxon, which meant "the realm of the Suiones". This is still the formal name for Sweden in
Swedish,
Svea rike and the origin of its current name
Sverige with the "k" in the old form "Sverike" changed to a "g" through Danish influence.
In contemporary Latvian the word
zviedri means "Swedes" and the word
Zviedrija (originating from
Svea rike) is the name for Sweden, showing the very old relations between the ancestors of Swedes and Latvians since the first scandianavian settlements in
Grobiņa and
Apuole in 6th century AD.
History
The history of this tribe is shrouded in the mists of time. Besides
Scandinavian mythology and Germanic legend, only a few sources describe them and there's very little information, in spite of the fact that the tribe existed already during the first century A.D.
Romans
There are two sources from the
1st century A.D that are quoted as referring to the Suiones. The first one is
Pliny the Elder who said that the Romans had rounded the
Cimbric peninsula (
Jutland) where there was the
Codanian Gulf (
Kattegat?). In this gulf there were several large islands among which the most famous was
Scatinavia (
Scandinavia). He said that the size of the island was unknown but in a part of it dwelt a tribe named the
Hillevionum gente, in 500 villages, and they considered their country to be a world of its own.
What strikes the commentators of this text is that this large tribe is unknown to posterity, unless it was a simple misspelling or misreading of
Illa Svionum gente. This would make sense, since a large Scandinavian tribe named the
Suiones was known to the Romans.
Tacitus wrote in AD
98 in that the Suiones were a powerful tribe (
distinguished not merely for their arms and men, but for their powerful fleets) with ships that had a
prow in both ends (
longships). Which kings (
kuningaz) ruled these Suiones is unknown, but
Norse mythology presents a long line of legendary and semi-legendary kings going back to the last centuries BC.
After Tacitus' mention of the Suiones, the sources are silent about them until the
6th century as Scandinavia still was in pre-historic times. Some historias have maintained that it isn't possible to claim that a continuous Swedish
ethnicity reaches back to the Suiones of Tacitus. According to this view the referent of an ethnonym and the ethnic discourse have varied considerably during different phases of history.
Jordanes
In the 6th century
Jordanes named two tribes he calls the
Suehans and the
Suetidi who lived in
Scandza. The
Suehans are considered to be the Suiones, and they were famous for their fine horses.
Snorri Sturluson wrote that the contemporary Swedish king
Adils (Eadgils) had the finest horses of his days. The Suehans were the suppliers of black fox skins for the Roman market. Then Jordanes names a tribe named
Suetidi a name that's considered to refer to the Suiones as well and to be the Latin form of
Sweþiuð. The Suetidi are said to be the tallest of men together with the
Dani who were of the same stock.
Anglo-Saxon sources
There are three Anglo-Saxon sources that refer to the Swedes. The earliest one is probably the least known, since the mention is found in a long list of names of tribes and clans. It is the poem
Widsith from the
6th or the
7th century:
» Wald Woingum, Wod þyringum,
:Sæferð Sycgum, Sweom Ongendþeow, » Sceafthere Ymbrum, Sceafa Longbeardum,
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» Wald [ruled] the Woings, Wod the Thuringians,
:Saeferth the Sycgs, Ongendtheow the Swedes, » Sceafthere the Umbers, Sceafa the Langobards,
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On line 32,
Ongentheow is mentioned and he reappears in the later epic poem
Beowulf, which was composed sometime in
8th,
9th and the
10th centuries. The poem describes
Swedish-Geatish wars, during the
6th century, involving the Swedish kings
Ongentheow,
Ohthere,
Onela and
Eadgils who belonged to a royal dynasty called the
Scylfings. These kings were probably historical kings as they appear in many Scandinavian sources as well (see
Swedish semi-legendary kings). There appears to be a prophecy by
Wiglaf in the end of the epic of new wars with the Swedes:
» Þæt ys sio fæhðo and se feond-scipe,
:wæl-nið wera, þæs þe ic wen hafo, » þe us seceað to Sweona leode,
syððan hie gefricgeað frean userne » ealdor-leasne, þone þe ær geheold
wið hettendum hord and rice, » æfter hæleða hryre hwate Scylfingas,
folcred fremede oððe furður gen » eorl-scipe efnde.
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» Such is the feud, the foeman's rage,
:death-hate of men: so I deem it sure » that the Swedish folk will seek us home
for this fall of their friends, the fighting-Scylfings, » when once they learn that our warrior leader
lifeless lies, who land and hoard » ever defended from all his foes,
furthered his folk's weal, finished his course » a hardy hero.
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When more reliable historic sources appear the Geats are a subgroup of the Swedes.
The third Anglo-Saxon source is
Alfred the Great's translation of
Orosius'
Histories, where are told the voyages of
Ohthere from Hålogaland and
Wulfstan of Hedeby, who in the
9th century described the
Sweon and
Sweoland.
Ohthere's account is limited to the following statement about Swēoland:
» Ðonne is toēmnes ðǣm lande sūðeweardum, on ōðre healfe ðæs mōres, Swēoland, oð ðæt land norðeweard; and toēmnes ðǣm lande norðeweardum, Cwēna land.(
Excerpt presented by the University of Victoria
» Then Sweden is along the land to the south, on the other side of the moors, as far as the land to the north; and (then) Finland (is) along the land to the north.(
Translation of the University of Victoria
Wulfstan only mentions a few regions as being subject to the Sweons (in translation):
» Then, after the
land of the Burgundians, we'd on our left the lands that have been called from the earliest times
Blekingey, and
Meore, and
Eowland, and
Gotland, all which territory is subject to the Sweons; and Weonodland was all the way on our right, as far as Weissel-mouth.
(External Link)
Frankish sources
During the
8th century and
9th century Suione traders and raiders settled in the north of eastern Europe, a country of rivers and Baltic, Slavic and Finnish tribes.
The
Annales Bertiniani relate that a group of
Vikings, who called themselves
Rhos visited
Constantinople around the year 838. Fearful of returning home via the steppes, which would leave them vulnerable to attacks by the
Magyars, these Rhos travelled through
Germany. They were questioned by the
Frankish Emperor Louis the Pious somewhere near
Mainz. They informed the emperor that their leader was known as
chacanus (the
Latin for "
Khagan") and that they lived in the north of Russia, but that they were
Sueones.
Adam of Bremen
Dealing with Scandinavian affairs,
Adam of Bremen relates in the
11th century that the
Sueones had many wives and were severe on crime. Hospitality was an important virtue and refusing a wanderer to stay over the night was considered shameful. The visitor was even taken to see the hosts' friends.
It is interesting that even if 1000 years separate Adam of Bremen from Tacitus both describe the
Suiones as being composed of many tribes, probably identical to the traditional provinces of eastern
Svealand. Like Tacitus, he also notes that they're powerful warriors at sea, a power that they use to keep their neighbours in order. Their royal family is of an old dynasty (see
House of Munsö), but the kings are dependent on the will of the people (the
Ting). What has been decided by the people is more important than the will of the king unless the king's opinion seems to be the most reasonable one, whereupon they usually obey. During peacetime, they feel to be the king's equals but during wars they obey him blindly or whoever among them that he considers to be the most skillful. If the fortunes of war are against them they pray to one of their many gods (
Aesir) and if they win they're grateful to him.
Norse sagas
The
Norse sagas are our foremost source for knowledge and especially
Snorri Sturluson who is probably the one who has contributed the most (see for instance the
Heimskringla). His descriptions concur to a large extent with those of the previous sources.
For a continuation, see
Early Swedish History.
Notes and references
Sources
- Larsson, Mats G (2002). Götarnas Riken : Upptäcktsfärder Till Sveriges Enande. Bokförlaget Atlantis AB ISBN 9789174866414
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