Sweden, Kingdom of
State | Defunct
990 CE to 1397 CE
Swedish pre-history ends around 800 CE, when the Viking Age begins and written sources are available.
The Viking Age lasts until the mid-11th century, when the Christianization of Scandinavia is largely completed.
The period 1050 to 1350 — when the Black Death struck Europe — is considered the Older Middle Ages.
The period 1350 to 1523 — when king Gustav Vasa, who leads the unification of Sweden, is crowned — is considered the Younger Middle Ages.
During this period, Sweden is gradually consolidated as a single nation.
Scandinavia is formally Christianized by 1100.
The Kalmar Union between the Scandinavian countries is established in 1389 and lasts until Gustav Vasa ends it upon seizing power.
Worlds
The Great Crossroads
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North Europe (964 – 1107 CE): Baltic Silver Age, Norman Conquest, and the Making of a Christian North
Geographic and Environmental Context
North Europe spanned the Baltic and North Sea worlds:
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Northeast Europe: Sweden, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, eastern Denmark (Zealand–Skåne), and eastern Norway (Oslofjord), with Copenhagen and Oslo as rising nodes.
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Northwest Europe: Iceland, Ireland, the United Kingdom (England–Scotland–Wales), Faroe, Shetland, Orkney, Channel Islands, and the western coastal zones of Norway and Denmark (west of 10°E).
The Øresund–Skåne choke point linked Baltic lanes to the North Sea, while Gotland, Sigtuna, Lund, Oslo, London, York, Dublin, Bergen, and Trondheim formed a necklace of maritime towns. Archipelagos (Orkney–Shetland–Faroe–Iceland) bridged Norway to the open Atlantic; the Bothnian and Finnish gulfs carried forest and fur frontiers into the Baltic exchange.
Climate and Environmental Shifts
The Medieval Warm Period (c. 950–1250) lengthened growing seasons, lifted cereal yields in southern Scandinavia and the eastern Baltic, and widened navigation windows by reducing seasonal ice in the Gulf of Bothnia and Gulf of Finland.
Stable marine ecologies sustained herring and cod from the North Sea to Iceland, while expansive forests underwrote fur, wax, honey, and tar exports. Periodic steppe drought signals nudged mobility on eastern Baltic frontiers but did not disrupt the main maritime arteries.
Societies and Political Developments
Danish and Norwegian Consolidation (Eastern portions + Atlantic coasts)
Harald Bluetooth (r. c. 958–986) unified Denmark, embraced Christianity (c. 965), and set royal markers at Jelling; royal tolls at the Øresund monetized Baltic–North Sea traffic. In Norway, Oslofjord chieftains turned toward kingship; Olaf II (St. Olaf, d. 1030) strengthened royal authority as coastal earls from Bergen–Trondheim managed Atlantic ties.
Sweden and the Eastern Baltic
With Birka’s decline (c. 975), Sigtuna rose as a royal mint-town; Svear and Götar assemblies coexisted with growing kingship. Christian influence deepened after c. 1000, though Uppsala’s cults persisted into the 11th century. Estonian, Livonian, Curonian, Semigallian, Latgalian, and Lithuanian hillfort polities taxed rivers and raided coasts; Finnicgroups in Åland–southwest Finland–Tavastia balanced autonomy with trade/tribute ties to Swedes and Novgorodians.
Insular and British Realms; Norman Reordering
England moved from late Anglo-Saxon consolidation through Cnut’s North Sea empire (1016–1035) to the Norman Conquest (1066) under William, introducing castles, feudal estates, and the Domesday survey (1086).
Ireland saw powerful dála kingships and Norse towns (Dublin–Waterford–Cork) negotiating autonomy; Brian Boru’s rise and death (1014) framed the high-king dynamic.
Scotland (Malcolm II–III) consolidated Lowland cores while Norse jarls held sway in Orkney–Hebrides.
Iceland Christianized c. 1000; the Althing preserved self-rule even as Norwegian overlordship gathered later in the century.
Christian Missions and Structures
Imperial support from Otto II–III backed Hamburg–Bremen missions to Scandinavia and the Baltic. By c. 1100, Denmark and Norway were Christian monarchies; Sweden maintained mixed forms; Baltic tribes and Finlandlargely resisted conversion until the 12th–13th centuries.
Economy and Trade
Exports: furs, wax, honey, amber, falcons, slaves (eastern Baltic); timber, tar, iron, fish (Norway–Iceland–North Sea); grain and livestock from southern Scandinavia.
Imports: silver (first Islamic dirhams via Rus’, later German/Anglo-Saxon coin), wine, silk, weapons, glass.
Monetization shift: the dirham inflow collapsed after c. 970; hack-silver hoards thin by c. 1050 as Lund and Sigtuna mint local coin and German money circulates.
Nodes and corridors:
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Gotland as entrepôt with vast silver hoards; Sigtuna–Lund–Oslo as craft/market towns.
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Øresund tolls knit Zealand–Skåne to the Rhine–Channel world.
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Dvina/Daugava/Nemunas rivers opened the Baltic to Novgorod, Kiev, and the Polish interior.
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London emerged as a major European port; Rouen–Seine, La Rochelle–Bordeaux, and Dublin–York handled Atlantic flows.
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Flanders’ cloth towns (across your regional line) were prime outlets for English wool and Scandinavian raw goods.
Subsistence and Technology
Mixed farming expanded (rye, barley, oats + cattle/swine), while swidden persisted in Finland/eastern Baltic.
Fishing & sealing supported surplus in gulfs and archipelagos; offshore cod fisheries linked Norway–Iceland–Orkney.
Ironworking from bog ores supplied tools/axes; high-grade blades arrived from the Rhineland.
Shipbuilding excelled in clinker-built longships and broad-beamed knarrs; wool sails extended range.
Fortification & ecclesiastical build: timber–earth hillforts dotted the Baltic; stone churches and royal halls rose in Denmark/Sweden; motte-and-bailey castles spread in Norman England and the Isles.
Movement and Interaction Corridors
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Baltic blueways: Gotlanders and Swedes ran east to Rus’ and south via Øresund to German–Flemish markets.
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Øresund–Skåne bottleneck: Danish kings taxed passage between seas.
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Eastern rivers: Dvina/Daugava to Novgorod; Nemunas toward Prussia/Poland.
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Oslofjord–Skåne choke point linked Norway’s east to Danish and Swedish marts.
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North Sea–Atlantic: Orkney–Shetland–Faroe–Iceland as stepping stones; London–York–Winchester, Dublin–Waterford–Cork, Bergen–Trondheim as hubs; Channel routes connected England to Normandy and Flanders.
Belief and Symbolism
Norse paganism persisted longest in Sweden (Uppsala) and among Baltic tribes; thunder gods (Perkūnas/Ukko) and sacred groves anchored ritual.
Christianity consolidated in Denmark and Norway by c. 1000; Sweden’s rulers converted mid-century; mission probes reached Finland and Livonia.
On the Atlantic rim, monastic expansion in England–Ireland–Scotland and Norman Romanesque reshaped sacred landscapes.
Burials show hybridization—stone churches and Christian graves in Denmark/Sweden alongside boat burials and cremations in the Baltic lands.
Adaptation and Resilience
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Trade pivot: after dirhams waned, Baltic merchants shifted to German coin and barter bundles (furs–amber–wax), keeping circuits liquid.
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Urban frameworks: royal towns (Sigtuna, Lund) concentrated minting, craft, and law; London, Dublin, York, Bergen scaled up port governance.
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Dual economies: farming–fishing–raiding portfolios and seasonal mobility buffered shock.
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Legal assemblies (things) stabilized transitions to kingship and Christianity; in the Isles, Althing and regional things sustained consensual rule.
Long-Term Significance
By 1107 CE, North Europe had crossed the threshold to a Christian, monetizing, and maritime-integrated world:
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Denmark and Norway stood as consolidated Christian monarchies controlling the Øresund and North Atlantic gateways.
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Sweden advanced toward full Christian kingship while Uppsala’s cult lingered; Finland and the Baltic tribes preserved autonomy and pagan traditions, foreshadowing 12th–13th-century crusades.
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The Norman Conquest knit the Channel into a single political–military field; Iceland and the Isles formalized Christian law within assembly polities.
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Gotland, London, and Dublin flourished as entrepôts, even as silver streams shifted from Islamic dirhams to western coin.
The age fixed the Baltic–North Sea system as a commercial hinge of northern Eurasia and set the institutional patterns—kingship, councils, coin, church, and ships—that would drive the 12th-century northern expansion.
Northeast Europe (964 – 1107 CE): Baltic Silver Age, Danish Kingship, and Christian Missions
Geographic and Environmental Context
Northeast Europe includes Sweden, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, eastern Denmark, and eastern Norway (including Copenhagen and Oslo).
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The Baltic Sea remained the central exchange basin, fringed with archipelagos and gulfs (Bothnia, Finland).
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Southern Baltic lowlands (Lithuania, Latvia) combined farming with hillfort polities, while Finnish and Estonian coasts supported semi-nomadic mixed economies.
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Zealand–Skåne and Oslofjord corridors formed maritime bottlenecks linking the Baltic to the North Sea.
Climate and Environmental Shifts
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The Medieval Warm Period (c. 950–1250 CE) lengthened growing seasons and boosted cereal harvests in southern Scandinavia and the eastern Baltic.
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Warmer summers extended navigation windows, reducing ice-blockage on the Gulf of Bothnia and Gulf of Finland.
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Stable forest-steppe ecologies sustained furs and fisheries critical for export.
Societies and Political Developments
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Denmark & Norway (eastern portions):
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Harald Bluetooth (r. c. 958–986) unified Denmark and converted to Christianity (c. 965), erecting the Jelling stones.
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Eastern Danish ports (Roskilde, Lund) and the Øresund strait became royal toll points.
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In Norway, Oslofjord chieftains engaged in Baltic trade; consolidation under kings like Olaf II (St. Olaf, d. 1030) strengthened royal authority, though local autonomy remained strong.
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Sweden:
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Birka declined (c. 975); Sigtuna emerged as a royal foundation, minting coins and patronizing churches.
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Svear and Götar assemblies coexisted with rising royal power; Christian influence grew after c. 1000, though pagan cults at Uppsala persisted.
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Finland & Åland:
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Finnic polities (southwest Finland, Tavastia) remained autonomous, engaged in trade and tribute relations with Swedes and Novgorodians.
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Baltic tribes (Estonians, Livonians, Curonians, Semigallians, Lithuanians, Latgalians):
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Fortified hillforts anchored clans; Curonian fleets raided coasts, while Livonian and Estonian chiefs taxed river access.
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Contacts with Scandinavia and Rus’ intensified; dynastic alliances and tribute relations fluctuated.
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Christian Missions:
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Otto II and Otto III (Holy Roman Emperors) backed Hamburg–Bremen archbishops’ missions to Scandinavia and the Baltic.
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By the early 11th century, Denmark and Norway were largely Christian; Sweden lagged until mid-century; the Baltic tribes resisted conversion until the 12th–13th centuries.
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Economy and Trade
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Exports: furs, wax, honey, amber, falcons, slaves.
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Imports: silver (initially Islamic dirhams via Rus’, later German coinage), silks, wine, weapons.
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Monetization:
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Samanid dirham inflows collapsed after c. 970; Baltic hack-silver hoards diminish by c. 1050.
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German and Anglo-Saxon coinage filled the gap; Sigtuna’s mint (est. late 10th c.) and Lund’s mint (early 11th c.) localized currency.
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Markets & nodes: Gotland flourished as a hub, with vast silver hoards; Sigtuna, Lund, and Oslo became urban craft centers.
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Agriculture: rye, barley, oats expanded; livestock husbandry grew more intensive in Denmark and southern Sweden.
Subsistence and Technology
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Mixed farming (cereals + livestock) supported surplus in southern zones; slash-and-burn swidden in Finland and the eastern Baltic.
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Fishing & sealing remained vital in gulfs and archipelagos.
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Ironworking: bog iron smelted into tools, axes, and weapons; high-quality blades imported from the Rhineland.
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Shipbuilding: clinker-built longships and broad cargo knarrs; wool sails improved range and speed.
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Fortifications: timber and earth hillforts in Baltic lands; stone churches and royal halls in Denmark and Sweden.
Movement and Interaction Corridors
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Baltic Sea routes: Gotlandic and Swedish traders linked to Rus’ river systems and to Denmark–Germany via Øresund.
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Øresund straits: Danish kings taxed passage between Baltic and North Sea.
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Eastern Baltic rivers: Dvina and Daugava opened trade to Novgorod; Nemunas linked Lithuania to Prussia and Poland.
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Oslofjord–Skåne nexus: tied Norway’s eastern chieftains to Danish and Swedish markets.
Belief and Symbolism
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Norse paganism: persisted in Sweden (Uppsala temple) and among Baltic tribes.
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Christianity: Denmark and Norway converted by c. 1000; Sweden’s rulers converted mid-11th c.; missions probed into Finland and Livonia.
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Baltic paganisms: gods of thunder (Perkūnas, Ukko), sacred groves, water cults remained central.
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Burial practices showed hybridization—Christian graves in Denmark/Sweden alongside pagan cremations and boat burials in Baltic lands.
Adaptation and Resilience
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Trade flexibility: After dirham decline, Baltic merchants pivoted to German coin and barter in furs, amber, and slaves.
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Urban foundations: royal towns (Sigtuna, Lund) concentrated crafts, law, and minting, providing stable frameworks.
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Dual economies: farming, fishing, and raiding provided redundancy; seasonal mobility mitigated risk.
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Legal assemblies (things): balanced royal authority with local consensus, stabilizing transition to Christianity.
Long-Term Significance
By 1107 CE, Northeast Europe was transforming:
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Denmark and Norway had consolidated as Christian monarchies.
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Sweden maintained mixed pagan–Christian kingship, with Uppsala cults enduring.
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Baltic tribes and Finland preserved autonomy and pagan traditions, resisting Christianization.
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Gotland and coastal markets flourished as Baltic entrepôts, even as silver inflows shifted from Islamic dirhams to western coin.
This age set the stage for the 12th-century crusades into Finland and Livonia, the integration of Sweden into the European Christian sphere, and the continued prominence of the Baltic as a commercial and cultural hinge of northern Eurasia.
There is also considerable participation in expeditions westwards, which are commemorated on stones such as the England runestones.
The last major Swedish Viking expedition appears to have been the ill-fated expedition of Ingvar the Far-Travelled to Serkland, the region south-east of the Caspian Sea.
Its members are commemorated on the Ingvar runestones, none of which mentions any survivor.
What happened to the crew is unknown, but it is believed that they died of sickness.
Eric I the Victorious is the first Swedish king about whom anything definite is known.
His original territory lay in Uppland and neighboring provinces.
He had been victorious over an invasion from the south in the Battle of the Fýrisvellir close to Uppsala.
The extent of his kingdom is unknown.
In addition to the Swedish heartland around Lake Mälaren, it may have extended down the Baltic Sea coast as far south as Blekinge.
According to the Flateyjarbok, his success was due to the fact that he allied with the peasants against the nobility, and it is obvious from archaeological findings that the influence of the latter diminished during the last part of the tenth century.
He was also, probably, the introducer of the famous medieval Scandinavian system of universal conscription known as the ledung in the provinces around Mälaren.
According to Adam of Bremen, Eric allied himself with the Polish prince Boleslav to conquer Denmark and chase away its king Sweyn Forkbeard.
He proclaimed himself the king of Sweden and Denmark which he ruled until his death, which would have taken place in the mid-990s.
Adam says that Eric was baptized in Denmark, but later returned to the Norse gods.
Adam of Bremen gives Emund Eriksson as Eric's predecessor.
In all probability he founded the town of Sigtuna, which still exists and where the first Swedish coins will be stamped for his son and successor Olof Skötkonung.
Along with Sigtuna, …
…Lund is the oldest city in present-day Sweden.
Lund's origins are unclear.
The town was thought until the 1980s to have been founded around 1020 by either Sweyn I Forkbeard or his son Canute the Great of Denmark.
The area was then part of the kingdom of Denmark.
Recent archaeological discoveries suggest, however, that the first settlement dates to circa 990, possibly the relocation of settlers at Uppåkra.
The Uppåkra settlement dates to the first century BCE, and its remains are at the present site of the village of Uppåkra.
King Sweyn I Forkbeard moves Lund to its present location, a distance of some five kilometers (three point one miles).
The new location of Lund, on a hill and across a ford, gives the new site considerable defensive advantages in comparison with Uppåkra, situated on the highest point of a large plain.
Rumors have begun to surface in Norway in 995 about a king in Ireland of Norwegian blood.
This catches the ear of Jarl Haakon, who had sent Thorer Klakka to Ireland, posing as a merchant, to see if he was the son of Tryggve Olafson.
Haakon told Thorer that if it were him, to lure him to Norway, so Haakon could have him under his power.
Thorer had befriended Olaf and told him of the situation in Norway, that Haakon Jarl had become unpopular with the populace, because he often took daughters of the elite as concubines, which was his right as ruler.
He quickly grew tired of them and sent them home after a week or two. (A number of textually related sources also recount Earl Haakon's predilection for raping women, whether the daughters of nobles or of commoners.)
He had also been weakened by his fighting with the Danish king, due to his rejection of the Christian faith.
Olaf seizes this opportunity, and sets sail for Norway.
A quarrel breaks out in spring 995 between Haakon II Sigurdsson Jarl, de facto ruler of Norway for a quarter-century, and the Trønders, the dominant tribe inhabiting central Norway and east central Sweden, just as Olaf Tryggvason arrives.
Haakon quickly loses all support and goes into hiding in a hole dug in a pigsty, together with one of his slaves, Tormod Kark.
When Olaf meets the rebels, they accept him as their king, and together they start to search for Haakon.
They eventually come to the farm where Haakon and Kark are hiding, but cannot find them.
Olaf hols a meeting just outside the pigsty and promises a great reward for the man who kills the Jarl.
The two men in the hole hear this speech, and Haakon becomes distrustful of Kark, fearing he will kill him to claim the price.
He cannot leave the sty, nor can he keep awake forever, and when he falls asleep Kark takes out a knife and cuts off Haakon's head.
The next day, the slave goes to meet Olaf and presents him with the head of Haakon.
The king does not reward him, and instead beheads the slave.
Olaf, after his confirmation as King of Norway, travels to the parts of Norway that had not been under the rule of Haakon but of that of the King of Denmark; they, too, swear allegiance to him.
He then demands that they all be baptized, and, most reluctantly, they agree.
Haakon’s two sons Eric and Sven, and several others, flee to …
…the new king of Sweden, Olof Skötkonung, and the Hakon Jarl Runestones may refer to them.
Eric I the Victorious is the first Swedish king about whom anything definite is known.
His original territory lay in Uppland and neighboring provinces.
He had been victorious over an invasion from the south in the Battle of the Fýrisvellir close to Uppsala.
The extent of his kingdom is unknown.
In addition to the Swedish heartland around Lake Mälaren, it may have extended down the Baltic Sea coast as far south as Blekinge.
According to the Flateyjarbok, his success was due to the fact that he allied with the peasants against the nobility, and it is obvious from archaeological findings that the influence of the latter diminished during the last part of the tenth century.
He was also, probably, the introducer of the famous medieval Scandinavian system of universal conscription known as the ledung in the provinces around Mälaren.
According to Adam of Bremen, Eric allied himself with the Polish prince Boleslav to conquer Denmark and chase away its king Sweyn Forkbeard.
He proclaimed himself the king of Sweden and Denmark which he ruled until his death, which would have taken place in the mid-990s.
Adam says that Eric was baptized in Denmark, but later returned to the Norse gods.
Adam of Bremen gives Emund Eriksson as Eric's predecessor.
In all probability he founded the town of Sigtuna, which still exists and where the first Swedish coins were stamped for Olof Skötkonung, Eric’s son by Sigrid the Haughty, who some sources say was the daughter of the powerful Swedish Viking Skoglar Toste.
According to the Sagas, Olof's father ruled together with Eric's brother Olof Björnsson.
When Olof Björnsson died, Olof had been proclaimed co-ruler instead of his cousin Styrbjörn Starke.
This happened before he was even born.
At his father's death, he inherits the throne of Sweden and becomes its sole ruler.
Olof is the first king known for certain to have ruled over both the Svear and the Götar, Sweden’s two main peoples.
Our knowledge of Olof is mostly based on Snorri Sturluson's and Adam of Bremen's accounts, which have been subject to criticism from scholars.
According to Adam of Bremen, Sweyn Forkbeard had been forced to defend his Danish kingdom from attacks by Olof who had claimed the Danish throne.
The conflict is resolved by Sweyn's marriage with Olof's mother and the two kings are hereafter allies.
Sweden's political unification is completed about 1000.
Bornholm, an island in the Baltic Sea near southern Sweden, is in about 1000 a Viking possession.
Legend says that Estrid of the Obrotrites was taken back to Sweden from a war in the West Slavic area of Mecklenburg as a war-prize.
She was most likely given by her father, a tribal chief of the Polabian Obotrites, as a peace offering in a marriage to seal the peace with King Olof Skötkonung, and she is thought to have brought with her a great dowry, as a great Slavic influence is represented in Sweden from her time, mainly among craftsmen.
Her husband also has a mistress, Edla, who comes from the same area in Europe as herself, and who was possibly taken to Sweden at the same time.
The king treats Edla and Estrid the same way and has given his son and his two daughters with Edla the same privileges as the children he has with Estrid, though it was Estrid he had married and made Queen.
Queen Estrid is baptized with her husband, their children and large numbers of the Swedish royal court in 1008, when the Swedish royal family converts to Christianity, although the king promises to respect the freedom of religion—Sweden is not to be Christian until the last religious war between Inge the Elder and Blot-Sweyn of 1084-1088.