The period succeeding the fall of the Roman Empire is known as the Germanic Iron Age, and it is divided into the early Germanic Iron and the late Germanic Iron Age, which in Sweden is known as the Vendel Age, with rich burials in the basin of Lake Mlaren. 1. Scandinavia's Conversion to Christianity: Get the Facts He became King after defeating rival jarls and taking over their lands. After a 1972 referendum, Denmark became the first Scandinavian member of the European Economic Community, which later paved the way for the EU, in 1973. and the final expansion towards the late Weichselian maximum took place after . The Goi-chieftain orgeirr Ljsvetningagoi was instrumental in bringing this about. In 1016, Cnut became king of England, and after further campaigns in Scandinavia he could claim in 1027 to be 'king of the whole of England and Denmark and Norway and of parts of Sweden'.. The inglorious deaths of many of the Swedish Ynglings; with examples such as murder, burning to death, drowning in mead and being "hag-ridden" to death,[15] might be an attempt by Sturluson to say that the kings who ruled Norway in his time and claimed Yngling descent were not to be taken seriously. In the ninth century, Scandinavians (mainly Norwegians) began to colonize Iceland, an island in the North Atlantic where no one had yet settled in large numbers. Their addition to the saga might thus have been another attempt by Sturluson to undermine royal ideology. They have inhabited the northern arctic and sub-arctic regions of Fenno-Scandinavia and Russia for at least 5,000 years. [2], In medieval Swedish lists of kings, the figure generally represented as the first king of Sweden is Olof Sktkonung,[3] the first Christian king of Sweden and the first Swedish king to mint coins. Rollo is remarkable mostly for his descendants. [7] The Icelandic sources are substantially different from his work, not only in the kings preceding Olof Sktkonung. Who is the first King of Scandinavia? Valhalla - History, Myths & Interpretations | Mythology.net The first Christian missionary was the Anglo-Saxon Willibord (c. 700), who accomplished little. Thank you for visiting Scandinavia Facts. Bernadotte was originally one of Napoleon's eighteen Marshals. [5] Many of the legendary kings would have ruled during the Migration Period (c. 375550) and subsequent Vendel Period (c. 550790), but larger political structures in Scandinavia (i. e. the medieval kingdoms of Sweden, Norway and Denmark) are not believed to have formed and centralized until the Viking Age. BBC - History - Ancient History in depth: Viking Religion Clerc, Louis; Glover, Nikolas; Jordan, Paul, eds. [6], According to the Ynglinga saga, the Yngling dynasty's rule in Sweden was succeeded by Ivar Vidfamne, previously a petty king in Scania, who founded a new royal line. Rollo Rollo became the first ruler of Normandy in the early 10 th century. List of legendary kings of Sweden - Wikipedia More than 96% of the Jewish population was boated to safety in Sweden, while others found refuge with Christian Danish families and organizations. As the climate slowly warmed up at the end of the ice age and deglaciation took place, nomadic hunters from central Europe sporadically visited the region, but it was not until around 12,000 BCE before permanent, but nomadic, habitation took root. Coastal areas were ice-free several times between 75 000 and 30 000 years B.P. The first mention of a King of Norway - as a unified entity - is found upon the Jelling Stones, which were carved runestones from the 10th century in Denmark. Cnut the Great, King of Denmark, England and Norway, was the son of a daughter of Mieszko I of Poland,[20] possibly the former Polish queen of Sweden, wife of Eric. can be found in the traditional lands of the Sami. From this time archaeologists have found swords, shieldbosses, spearheads, scissors, sickles, pincers, knives, needles, buckles, kettles, etc. Norway declared its independence, adopted a liberal constitution, and elected Prince Christian Frederik as king. Olaf Tryggvason started the destruction of pagan cult sites in the late 10th century, but only Olaf Haraldsson achieved the official adaption of Christianity in the 1020s. The same is true for the Hervarar saga, whose sequence of kings is identical to the sequence presented in Langfegatal. Before long other Vikings realized that Frankish rulers were willing to pay them rich sums to prevent them from attacking their subjects, making Frankia an irresistible target for further Viking activity. Apart from the kings found in the Vita Asgari, Adam writes that Eric the Victorious was preceded by Anund/Emund Eriksson, who in turn was preceded by Eric Ringsson and Emund/Anund Ringsson, sons and successors of a king by the name of Ring. Finally under the rule of Charles XI the empire was consolidated under a semi-absolute monarchy.[26]. The second is lighter, adorned with 2,868 diamonds . In 911, the West Frankish king granted Rouen and the surrounding territory by treaty to a Viking chief called Rollo in exchange for the latters denying passage to the Seine to other raiders. Over time they built up their area until they ruled most of the modern-day region of Normandy. Denmark and Norway were also unlike in their cooperation with Germany's genocidal policy. Beowulf was connected to King Cnut, study finds [17] A grave of a warrior-woman dating to the 10th century in Denmark was long thought to belong to a Viking. [14][15][16] In the Middle Ages, a significant amount of ware was transferred from Slavic areas to Scandinavia, and Denmark was "a melting pot of Slavic and Scandinavian elements". hgin, Dith. Petroglyphs and archeological findings such as settlements dating from about 10,000B.C. The bombardment of Copenhagen led to an alliance with France and outright war with Britain, whose navy blockaded Denmark-Norway and severely impeded communication between the two kingdoms and caused a famine in Norway. Viking Kings | Viking Kings Timeline | Famous Viking Kings | VKNG He arrived in Norway on 25 November 1905, taking the name Haakon VII. Vidkun Quisling was installed as Minister-President, a puppet to Berlin's High Command. They also desired Norway for its ice-free ports. The Christianization of Scandinavia was a long and painful process, filled with blood, sweat, and war. Norway's large merchant marine delivered vital supplies to Britain but suffered huge losses in ships and sailors because of indiscriminate attack by the German navy. Eric the Victorious was the first ruler to be accepted by the Greats around Lake Vattern and the original Swedes around Lake Malaren. When King Charles the Bald began defending West Frankia more energetically in 862, fortifying towns, abbeys, rivers and coastal areas, Viking forces began to concentrate more on England than Frankia. During this time there was Scandinavian influence in Eastern Europe. The only sources that mention Ivar are Icelandic sagas from centuries after his death. From c. 9,000 to 6,000 B.P. However, bitterness towards Germany grew, and small sabotages directed against Germany became commonplace. Finland and Iceland are at times, especially in English-speaking contexts, considered part of Scandinavia. The first "king of Norway" in that sense was Hkon Aalsteinsfostri ("Hakon the Foster-son of Athalstein"), who ruled from about 935 to 960. Sweden decided to join the alliance against France in 1813 and was promised Norway as a reward. Odin, also called Wodan, Woden, or Wotan, one of the principal gods in Norse mythology. Several petroglyphs depict ships which could possibly be Mediterranean. It was one of the factors that led Germany to grant the Danes a high degree of autonomy. Germany eventually reacted by eliminating Denmark's representative government and imposing martial law. In some places, names appear (notably kings Ottar and Adils) that might belong to people also attested in other sagas, such as Beowulf (written in the 10th11th century in England, but concerning events in Scandinavia in the 6th/7th century), wherein the Ynglings are called Scylfings (Old Norse: Skilfingar; Swedish: Skilvingar). Ingrid Henriksen and Niels Krgrd. During the 6th millennium BC, southern Scandinavia was covered in temperate broadleaf and mixed forests. The Sami have been recognized as an indigenous people in Norway since 1990 according to ILO convention 169, and hence, according to international law, the Sami people in Norway are entitled special protection and rights. The Slavic and Viking cultures influenced each other: Slavic and Viking tribes were "closely linked, fighting one another, intermixing and trading". The Vita gives no genealogical information in regards to the kings. These seafaring warriors-known collectively as Vikings or Norsemen. Between 1820 and 1920 just over two million Scandinavians settled in the United States. St. Olaf III "Skotkonung", King of Sweden (995-1022) ( Old Norse : lfr skautkonungr) sometimes stylized as . Crawley, ed. In addition, Germany highly valued the Swedish iron ore they received through Norway and could not afford to lose it. Little evidence remains in Scandinavia of the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, or the Iron Age except limited numbers of tools created from stone, bronze, and iron, some jewelry and ornaments, and stone burial cairns. Another notable effect was the Swedish parliament's adoption of a new constitution and a new royal house, that of Bernadotte. These pagan Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish warriors were probably prompted to undertake their raids by a combination of factors ranging from overpopulation at . Greenland, Iceland and The Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic were Norwegian dependencies that were incorporated into the united kingdom of Denmark-Norway. Sacrifice-Svein) ruled between 1084 and 1087. Vikings - History, Origins & Tactics Meta. [30], The Scandinavian Monetary Union was a monetary union formed by Sweden and Denmark on 5 May 1873, by fixing their currencies against the gold standard at par to each other. According to the Old Norse language history of the Viking Age known as the Heimskringla, Harald Bluetooth (ruled c. 958-986) was the first Christian King of Denmark. 10 Most Famous Swedish Kings - Discover Walks Blog Norway, which was in union with Sweden entered the union two years later, in 1875 by pegging its currency to gold at the same level as Denmark and Sweden (.403grams [2]). All three countries developed social welfare states in the early to mid-20th century. No more Danish attempts would be made to re-create the Kalmar Union following this war. Together with Finland and Iceland, almost a third of the population left in the eighty years after 1850. This came about partially because of the domination of the social-democrats in Sweden and Denmark, and the Labour party in Norway. It also helped that the French regent Cardinal Richelieu was willing to pay for a Danish incursion into Germany. The oldest objects were needles, but swords and sickles are found as well. HISTORY.com works with a wide range of writers and editors to create accurate and informative content. [19], The Muns dynasty of kings is the earliest royal lineage that is mentioned not only in Icelandic sagas, but also in medieval Swedish sources. Aud Haakonsdottir of Lade. Bronze continued to be used during the whole period but was mostly used for decoration. Sweden had the short lived colony New Sweden in Delaware in North America during the 1630s and later acquired the islands of Saint-Barthlemy (17851878) and Guadeloupe in the Caribbean. Margaret I | queen of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden | Britannica As a result of the war, Russia supplanted Sweden as the dominant power on the Baltic Sea and became a major player in European politics. His sister, Sophie, gained renown as the first female scholar in Scandinavia. The period began in 1625 and lasted until 1629. Photo: Hugo Burnand. He was elected King on June 6, 1523. By conquering rival jarls (earls) and forcing them into subservient positions, he created the precedent of one ruler for the many districts of Norway. [8], The Ynglinga saga contains no references to chronology (such as specific dates of the reigns of the various kings) with the exception of presenting the rulers in chronological order. Adolf Frederick or Adolph Frederick was the son of Christian August of Holstein-Gottorp, Prince of Eutin, and Albertina Frederica of Baden-Durlach. [12] Most of the sagas known today, the Ynglinga saga included, were composed during a relatively brief period, from the 12th to 13th century, a time when royal power was being consolidated in Norway, Denmark and Sweden. Much of this can be attributed to the ransacking of the Roman Empire by Germanic tribes, from which many Scandinavians returned with gold and silver. Sweden also chartered a Swedish East India Company. Did you know? Mycenaean Greece, the Villanovan Culture, Phoenicia and Ancient Egypt have all been identified as possible sources of influence in Scandinavian artwork from this period. On 17 May 1814 the Constitution of Norway was signed by the assembly, and Christian Frederik was elected as king of independent Norway. For instance, the figure of Aun, described as being driven from Uppsala and taking up court in Vstergtland instead, is similar to the historical Swedish king Inge the Elder (r.c. 10791084, 10871105), who was driven from Uppsala into Vstergtland in the 11th century. The Danes and then Swedes intervened at various points to protect their interests. As with the Yngling kings, precise dates are not presented in the sagas for Ivar Vidfamne or his descendants, but his reign is estimated to have taken place in the 7th century. Odin | Myth & History | Britannica LONDON The first crown King Charles III will wear at his May 6 coronation is a daunting five pounds of solid gold, velvet, ermine and gems. In the writings of his companion Rimbert, the Vita Ansgari, several Swedish kings (who all precede Eric the Victorious) and who they met or heard of at Birka, an important Viking Age trading center, are mentioned. The countries had given up their sovereignty but not their independence, and diverging interests (especially Swedish dissatisfaction over the Danish and Holsteinish dominance) gave rise to a conflict that would hamper it from the 1430s until its final dissolution in 1523.[24]. in Jaime Reis, ed.. Johan den Hertog and Samul Kruizinga, eds. According to later Icelandic histories, some of the early Viking settlers in Greenland (supposedly led by the Viking hero Leif Eriksson, son of Erik the Red) may have become the first Europeans to discover and explore North America. The Swedish intervention began in 1630 and lasted until 1635. He was recognized as the best of the Norsemen that secured the French territory and was recognized as the ruler of the area when the French king ceded it to them in 911. Norway remains outside the European Union to this day after referendums on membership in 1972 and 1994, although it is a signatory of the Schengen treaty and a member of the European Economic Area. What is genuine history and what is myth and legend in the sagas is impossible to determine today, and everything contained in them must as such be regarded as legendary, if not fictional. He later recalled him after Gustavus Adolphus attacked the empire and prevailed in a number of significant battles. Famous Scandinavian Kings from Sweden BBC - History - Overview: The Vikings, 800 to 1066 The nine greatest Viking kings and leaders are: Ragnar Lodbrok Cnut the Great Erik the Red Rollo of Normandy Herald of Norway Olaf Tryggvason Leif Eriksson Ivar the Boneless Gorm the Old These leaders and kings are known for their incredible reigns, legacies, and famous discoveries. First Look With Surveillance: Microsoft, Alphabet. The Western allies sent military assistance, but the campaign was not effectively run. The Danish Jews avoided German persecution until 1943, and Denmark was thus better prepared when the Germans struck. Though only a few examples survive, medieval Swedish lists of kings overwhelmingly begin with Olof Sktkonung, the first Christian king of Sweden, suggesting that he, and not any of the previous legendary figures, was seen as Sweden's first king. Also, Danes were considered fellow Nordics and Aryans by Nazi ideologues, which further helped the country. [17], If some of the Ynglings were real historical figures, they would have ruled during the Migration Period (c. 375550) and the subsequent Vendel Period (c. 550790), predating the Viking Age. During Vasa's reign the right to inherit the Swedish crown was ratified through so called succession agreements. North of the Kongemose people lived other hunter-gatherers in most of southern Norway and Sweden called the Nstvet and Lihult cultures, descendants of the Fosna and Hensbacka cultures. After the war, all of the Scandinavian countries agreed that some form of mutual defense policy was necessary. Initially iron was valuable and was used for decoration. Finland remained as a part of Russian Empire until 1917 at which point it became independent. Nerthus is often suggested to be the same woman as Njrr's unidentified sister, by whom he begat Freyr and Freyja. Heather, the chair of medieval history at King's College London, is the author of Christendom: The Triumph of Religion, AD 300-1300 The Danish intervention began when Christian IV (15771648) the King of Denmark-Norway, himself a Lutheran, helped the German Protestants by leading an army against the Holy Roman Empire, fearing that Denmark's sovereignty as a Protestant nation was being threatened. A relatively large number of ethnic Danes from southern Jutland fought in the German army.[32][33]. The first recorded raid in continental Europe came in 799, at the island monastery of St Philiberts on Noirmoutier, near the estuary of the Loire River. According to Rimbert the archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen in the 9th century, king Olof at Birka was sent a message from King Horik of Denmark to allow the monk Ansgar to introduce Christianity. Even later Yngling rulers are typically not designated as "Kings of Sweden" or "Kings of the Swedes" in the Ynglinga saga, most of them being described as "Kings in Uppsala", an early political center in Sweden. The Nordic countries established the Nordic Council in 1952 and the Nordic passport union two years later. Cnut was a strong ruler and England became . They subsisted by hunting, fishing and gathering. [23] Adam of Bremen's line of kings is thus: The Sparlsa Runestone, created c. 800, mentions several names, including the name Alrkr (Alaric) in an unclear context, the name Eirkr (Eric) in reference to a king at Uppsala and the name Eyvsl as the son of this Eirkr. The proposed union was being discussed by a joint Scandinavian committee during the winter of 19481949, but the Cold War tension between the United States and the Soviet Union, and preparations for a western alliance that would result in the North Atlantic Treaty overshadowed the effort. During the Weichselian glaciation, almost all of Scandinavia was buried beneath a thick permanent sheet of ice and the Stone Age was delayed in this region. Another reason was that they had no real agenda in Denmark. All the International Royals Attending King Charles' Coronation - Insider Sweden joined the EU in 1995; after the fall of the Soviet Union, Sweden felt it could do so without being provocative. We exists to inform people about the people, culture, and history . Catholicism almost completely vanished in Scandinavia, except for a small population in Denmark.[25]. Harolds army was able to defeat an invasion led by the last great Viking kingHarald Hardrada of Norwayat Stamford Bridge, near York, but fell to the forces of William, Duke of Normandy (himself a descendant of Scandinavian settlers in northern France) just weeks later. Were There Ever African Vikings? - Scandinavia Facts Try again Jacobsen designed every little detail of the hotel, from the signature spiral staircase in the lobby to the iconic egg chairs. Kalmar Union - Wikipedia The first monarch of this union was not a king, but a queen cal. Part of the reason for the large exodus was the increasing population caused by falling death rates, which increased unemployment. [11] As a historical source, the Ynglinga saga is much better used as a source on historiography and society during Sturluson's own time than as a source on Sweden's early history. Industrialization of Sweden experienced a boom during the First World War. Through the 5th century and 6th century, gold and silver became more common. The war with Britain was fought at sea in a series of battles, Battle of Zealand Point, Battle of Lyngr, and Battle of Anholt, by the remnants of the Danish fleet in the ensuing years, as the Danes tried to break the British blockade, in what became known as the Gunboat War. Many Scandinavians emigrated to Canada, the United States, Australia, Africa, and New Zealand during the later nineteenth century. What is King Charles's net worth? Coronation highlights royal money [4] The Ynglings are described in the Ynglinga saga as the first royal blood line of the Swedes. The Swedish army was superior in numbers, was better equipped and trained, and was led by one of Napoleon's foremost generals, the newly elected Swedish crown prince, Jean Baptiste Bernadotte. Swedes join Danes and Norwegians in England. [6], The legendary kings of Sweden, as presented in the sagas, covers three legendary dynasties of rulers; the Yngling dynasty, claimed to have been descended from the Norse god Odin, the dynasty founded by Ivar Vidfamne, who conquered Sweden and deposed the Ynglings, and the House of Muns, which succeeded Vidfamne's dynasty. (Middle to Late Mesolithic), Scandinavia was populated by mobile or semi-sedentary groups about whom little is known. The main wave of Scandinavian emigration occurred in the 1860s lasting until the 1880s, although substantial emigration continued until the 1930s. The vast majority of emigrants left from the countryside in search of better farming and economic opportunities. Great ships made for rowing have been found from the 4th century in Nydam mosse in Schleswig. Following growing dissatisfaction with the union in Norway, the parliament unanimously declared its dissolution on 7 June 1905. In Icelandic sources, such as the 12th/13th-century Langfegatal, Olof Sktkonung is regarded as a late ruler of a significantly older dynasty, stretching back to legendary Viking hero Ragnar Lodbrok. Olaf II managed to bring English clergy to his country. From around A.D. 800 to the 11th century, a vast number of Scandinavians left their homelands to seek their fortunes elsewhere. Sturluson would have had access to older (now lost) manuscripts when writing the Ynglinga saga, but this does not necessarily corroborate anything that appears in the Ynglinga saga as true. In 1635 he became Administrator of the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen too.) They granted the Jews that escaped from Denmark asylum and gave notable aid to Finland during the Winter War. Swedish settlers were mostly present in Rus, Livonia, and other eastern regions while the Norwegians and the Danish were primarily concentrated in western and northern Europe[citation needed] . Leaving Wessex, the Danes settled to the north, in an area known as Danelaw. Many of them became farmers and traders and established York as a leading mercantile city. It is not known what language these early Scandinavians spoke, but towards the end of the 3rd millennium BC, they were overrun by new tribes who many scholars think spoke Proto-Indo-European, the Battle-Axe culture. Maria Noyen. Even if it was not initially foreseen, the perceived security led to a situation where the formally separate currencies were accepted on a basis of "as good as" the legal tender virtually throughout the entire area. In February 2020, Secrets of the Ice Program researchers discovered a 1,500-year-old Viking arrowhead dating back to the Germanic Iron Age and locked in a glacier in southern Norway caused by the climate change in the Jotunheimen Mountains. The foreign influence is believed to originate with amber trade, and amber found in Mycenaean graves from this period originates from the Baltic Sea. One son, Jormunagund, was a serpent who grew so large that he stretched all the way around the earth. Their common groundand what made them different from the European peoples they confrontedwas that they came from a foreign land, they were not civilized in the local understanding of the word andmost importantlythey were not Christian. In 844, Vikings stormed Seville (then controlled by the Arabs); in 859, they plundered Pisa, though an Arab fleet battered them on the way back north. Denmark voted no to the Maastricht Treaty in 1992, but reversed the decision after negotiating opt-outs. Apart from raiding, they were also settlers and traders who traveled through much of Europe and Central Asia, trading goods and slaves. By the late 10th century, some Vikings (including the famous Erik the Red) moved even further westward, to Greenland. Updated: June 7, 2019 | Original: November 4, 2009. After a short war with Sweden, Norway had to concede to a personal union with Sweden at the Convention of Moss. This is when pre-Viking-Age Scandanavians likely settled. [14] The presence of Slavs in Scandinavia is "more significant than previously thought"[14] although "the Slavs and their interaction with Scandinavia have not been adequately investigated". [35] Denmark surrendered two hours after invasion, having lost just sixteen men. By the mid-ninth century, Ireland, Scotland and England had become major targets for Viking settlement as well as raids. Both parliaments revoked the Act of Union 16 October, and the deposed king Oscar II of Sweden renounced his claim to the Norwegian throne and recognized Norway as an independent kingdom on 26 October. On the Union of Kalmar, especially its dissolution. During the Weichselian glaciation, almost all of Scandinavia was buried beneath a thick permanent sheet of ice and the Stone Age was delayed in this region.Some valleys close to the watershed were indeed ice-free around 30 000 years B.P. Norway was ceded to the king of Sweden, but Denmark retained the Norwegian Atlantic possessions of the Faroe Islands, Iceland, and Greenland. The Danish East India Company operated out of Tranquebar. Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary of Denmark, Queen Maxima and King Willem-Alexander of The Netherlands, and Princess . Harald Bluetooth & the Conversion of Denmark - World History Encyclopedia A thousand years later, the numerous East Germanic tribes that claimed Scandinavian origins (Burgundians, Goths and Heruls), as did the Lombards, rendered Scandinavia (Scandza) the name "womb of nations" in Jordanes' Getica. In A.D. 793, an attack on the Lindisfarne monastery off the coast of Northumberland in northeastern England marked the beginning of the Viking Age.