TheSwedes (Swedish:svear;Old Norse:svíar,Old English:Swēon) were aNorth Germanic tribe who inhabitedSvealand ("land of the Swedes") in central Sweden. Along withGeats andGutes, they were one of the progenitor groups of modernSwedes. They had their tribal centre inGamla Uppsala.
The Roman historianTacitus was the first to write about the tribe in hisGermania from AD 98, referring to them as theSuiones. Locally, they are possibly first mentioned by theKylver Stone in the 4th century.Jordanes, in the 6th century, mentionsSuehans andSuetidi. These names likely derive from theProto-Indo-European root *s(w)e, meaning "one's own".Beowulf mentions the Swedes around 1000 A.D.
According to early sources such as thesagas, especiallyHeimskringla, the Swedes were a powerful tribe whose kings claimed descendence from the godFreyr. During theViking Age they constituted the basis of theVarangian subset, theNorsemen that travelled eastwards (seeRus' people).
The scholarly consensus[1] is that the Rus' people originated in what is currently coastaleastern Sweden around the 8th century and that their name has the same origin asRoslagen in Sweden (with the older name beingRoden).[2][3][4] According to the prevalent theory, the nameRus', like the Proto-Finnic name for Sweden (*roocci),[5] is derived from anOld Norse term for "the men who row" (rods-) as rowing was the main method of navigating the rivers of Eastern Europe, and that it could be linked to the Swedish coastal area of Roslagen (Rus-law) orRoden, as it was known in earlier times.[6][7] The nameRus' would then have the same origin as theFinnish andEstonian names for Sweden:Ruotsi andRootsi.[7][8]
Swedes made up the bulk of theVarangian Guard, this can be seen from the geographical location of theVarangian Runestones, of which almost all are found entirely in modern-day Sweden. Swedish men left to enlist in the Byzantine Varangian Guard in such numbers that a medieval Swedish law,Västgötalagen, fromVästergötland declared no one could inherit while staying in "Greece"—the then Scandinavian term for theByzantine Empire—to stop the emigration,[9] especially as two other European courts simultaneously also recruited Scandinavians:[10]Kievan Rus' c. 980–1060 andLondon 1018–1066 (theÞingalið).[10]
As the dominions of the Swedish kings grew, the name of the tribe could be applied more generally during theMiddle Ages to include also theGeats. Later it again meant only the people inhabiting the original tribal lands inSvealand, rather than the Geats.
In modernNorth Germanic languages, the adjectival formsvensk and its pluralsvenskar have replaced the namesvear and is, today, used to denote all the citizens of Sweden. The distinction between the tribal Swedes (svear) and modern Swedes (svenskar) appears to have been in effect by the early 20th century, whenNordisk familjebok noted thatsvenskar had almost replacedsvear as a name for the Swedish people.[11] Although this distinction is convention in modern Norwegian, Danish and Swedish,Icelandic andFaroese do not distinguish betweensvíar (Icelandic) orsviar (Faroese) andsænskir (Icelandic) orsvenskarar (Faroese) as words for modern Swedes.[12]
The formSuiones appears in the Roman authorTacitus'sGermania. A closely similar form,Swēon, is found inOld English and in theGesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum ofAdam of Bremen about the Hamburg-Bremen archbishops who are denotedSueones.
Most scholars agree thatSuiones and the attested Germanic forms of the name derive from the sameProto-Indo-Europeanreflexive pronominal root,*s(w)e, as theLatinsuus. The word must have meant "one's own (tribesmen)". In modern Scandinavian, the same root appears in words such assvåger (brother-in-law) andsvägerska (sister-in-law). The same root and original meaning is found in the ethnonym of the Germanic tribeSuebi, preserved to this day in the nameSchwaben (Swabia).[13][14][15][16] The details of the phonetic development vary between different proposals.
Noréen (1920) proposed thatSuiones is a Latin rendering ofProto-Germanic *Swihoniz, derived from the PIE root*swih- "one's own". The form *Swihoniz would inUlfilas'Gothic become *Swaíhans, which later would result in the formSuehans thatJordanes mentioned as the name of the Swedes inGetica. Consequently, theProto-Norse form would have been *Swehaniz which following the sound-changes in Old Norse resulted in Old West NorseSvíar and Old East NorseSwear. Currently, however, the root for "one's own" is reconstructed as*s(w)e rather than*swih, and that is the root identified forSuiones e.g. in Pokorny's 1959Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch[13] and in the 2002The Nordic languages: an international handbook of the history of the North Germanic languages edited by Oskar Bandle. *Swe is also the form cited by V. Friesen (1915), who regards the form Sviones as being originally an adjective, Proto-Germanic *Sweoniz, meaning "kindred". Then the Gothic form would have been *Swians and the H inSuehans anepenthesis. The Proto-Norse form would then also have been *Sweoniz, which also would have resulted in the historically attested forms.
The name became part of a compound, which in Old West Norse wasSvíþjóð ("the Svear people'", in Old East NorseSweþiuð and in Old EnglishSweoðeod. This compound appears onrunestones in the locativesi suiþiuþu (Runestones Sö Fv1948;289, Aspa Löt, andSö 140 inSödermanland),a suiþiuþu (Runestone DR 344, Simris,Scania) ando suoþiauþu (Runestone DR 216, Tirsted,Lolland). A 13th century Danish source inScriptores rerum danicarum mentions a place calledlitlæ swethiuthæ, which is probably the isletSverige (Sweden) in Saltsjön in eastern Stockholm.[17] The earliest instance, however, appears to beSuetidi inJordanes'Getica (6th century).
The nameSwethiuth and its different forms gave rise to the different Latin names for Sweden,Suethia,Suetia andSuecia as well as the modern English name for the country.
A second compound wasSvíariki, orSweorice in Old English, which meant "the realm of the Suiones".
Their primary dwellings were in easternSvealand. Their territories also very early included the provinces ofVästmanland,Södermanland andNärke in theMälaren Valley 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 calledSvealand – "Swede-land" ("The Voyage ofOhthere"inSeven Books of History Against the Pagans:Swéoland),Suithiod – "Swede-people" (Beowulf:Sweoðeod [hence Sweden]),Svíaveldi orSvearike – "Swede-realm" (Beowulf:Swéorice). The political unification with theGeats inGötaland, a process that was not complete until the 13th century, is by some contemporary historians regarded as the birth of theSwedish kingdom, although the Swedish kingdom is named after them,Sverige inSwedish, fromSvea rike – i.e. the kingdom of the Suiones.
TheÆsir-cult centre inGamla 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 theUppsala 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 were inUppsala, the heartland ofUppland, or if the term was used commonly forall tribes within Svealand, in the same way as old Norway's different provinces were collectively referred to asNortmanni.
The history of this tribe is shrouded in the mists of time. BesidesNorse mythology and Germanic legend, only a few sources describe them and there is very little information.
There are two sources from the 1st century A.D that are quoted as referring to the Suiones. The first one isPliny the Elder who said that the Romans had rounded theCimbric peninsula (Jutland) where there was theCodanian Gulf (Kattegat?). In this gulf there were several large islands among which the most famous wasScatinavia (Scandinavia). He said that the size of the island was unknown but in a part of it dwelt a tribe named theHillevionum gente (Nominative:Hillevionum gens), 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 ofIllaSvionum gente. This would make sense, since a large Scandinavian tribe named theSuiones was known to the Romans.[18]
Tacitus wrote in AD 98 inGermania 44, 45 that the Suiones were a powerful tribe (distinguished not merely for their arms and men, but for their powerful fleets) with ships that had aprow in both ends). He further mentions that the Suiones were much impressed by wealth, and the king's thus was absolute. Further, the Suiones did not normally bear arms, and that the weapons were guarded by a slave.
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 historians have maintained that it is not possible to claim that a continuous Swedishethnicity reaches back to the Suiones of Tacitus.[19] According to this view the referent of an ethnonym and the ethnic discourse have varied considerably during different phases of history.
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In the 6th centuryJordanes named two tribes he calls theSuehans and theSuetidi who lived inScandza. They were famous for their fine horses. The Suehans were the suppliers of black fox skins for the Roman market. Then Jordanes names a tribe namedSuetidi a name that is considered to refer to the Suiones as well and to be the Latin form ofSweþiuð. The Suetidi are said to be the tallest of men together with theDani who were of the same stock.
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 poemWidsith from the 6th or the 7th century:
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On line 32,Ongentheow is mentioned and he reappears in the later epic poemBeowulf, which was composed sometime in the 8th–11th centuries. The poem describesSwedish-Geatish wars, involving the Swedish kingsOngentheow,Ohthere,Onela andEadgils who belonged to a royal dynasty called theScylfings. These kings might have been historical as kings with similar names appear in Scandinavian sources as well (seelist of legendary kings of Sweden). There appears to be a prophecy byWiglaf in the end of the epic of new wars with the Swedes:
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When more reliable historic sources appear the Geats are a subgroup of the Swedes.
The third Anglo-Saxon source isAlfred the Great's translation ofOrosius'Histories, with appended tales of the voyages ofOhthere of Hålogaland andWulfstan of Hedeby, who in the 9th century described theSweon andSweoland.
Ohthere's account is limited to the following statement about Swēoland:
Wulfstan only mentions a few regions as being subject to the Sweons (in translation):
TheAnnales Bertiniani relate that a group ofNorsemen, who called themselvesRhos visitedConstantinople around the year 838. Fearful of returning home via the steppes, which would leave them vulnerable to attacks by theHungarians, theRhos travelled through Germany. They were questioned byLouis the Pious, Emperor ofFrancia, somewhere nearMainz. They informed the emperor that their leader was known aschacanus (theLatin for "khagan") and that they lived in the north of Russia, but that they wereSueones.
Dealing with Scandinavian affairs, Adam of Bremen relates in the 11th centuryGesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum that theSueones 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.
Their royal family is of an old dynasty (seeHouse of Munsö), but the kings are dependent on the will of the people (theThing). 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 (Æsir) and if they win they are grateful to him.
Thesagas are our foremost source for knowledge, and especiallySnorri Sturluson, who is probably the one who has contributed the most (see for instance theHeimskringla). His descriptions sometimes concur with, sometimes contradict the previous sources.
For a continuation, seeHistory of Sweden (800–1521).
