Kingship and state formation in Sweden, 1130-1290 / by Philip Line.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Line, Philip.

Series:

Northern world 1569-1462 ; v. 27.

The northern world, 1569-1462 ; v. 27

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Kings and rulers.

History.

Sweden--History--To 1397.

Sweden.

Sweden--Politics and government.

Politics and government.

Sweden--Kings and rulers--History.

State, The.

Physical Description:

xx, 697 pages : maps, genealogical tables ; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

Leiden ; Boston : Brill, 2007.

Summary:

Kingship and State Formation in Sweden covers, for the first time in English, a key period in the consolidation of the Swedish state. The book begins with an overview of Sweden prior to the twelfth century and a reign-by-reign history of the period 1130-1290. Thereafter issues related to kingship and state formation are treated thematically, with sections on royal administration and taxation, legal and military institutions, relations between king and Church, the development of Christian kingship ideology and expansion into Finland. Extensive appendices are included on the genealogy and land-holdings of powerful families and on fortifications. The book is well furnished with over forty maps and genealogical tables. Developments in Sweden are placed firmly within their European context, and the volume will be of interest to all those with an interest in medieval politics in general as well as students of early Swedish or Scandinavian history.

Contents:

Chapter 1 State formation and medieval Government 1

1.1 From chiefdom to state 1

1.2 The nature of politics and government in the Early and High Middle Ages 14

Chapter 2 Sweden before 1130 34

2.1 Peoples, regions and regional identity 35

2.2 Kings and aristocracy 44

2.3 An early administration? 48

2.4 The creation of the kingdom 54

2.5 External overlordship 61

2.6 The arrival of Christianity 65

Chapter 3 Kings and Power Struggles: Sweden from 1130 to 1290 69

3.1 The structure of political factions and the basis of their power in twelfth- and thirteenth-century Sweden 69

3.2 Contenders for the kingship 75

3.3 The reign of Sverker the Elder c. 1132-1156 80

3.4 The reigns of Erik Jedvardsson and Magnus Henriksen c. 1156-61 89

3.5 Karl Sverkersson c. 1161-67 92

3.6 Knut Eriksson c. 1167-95 94

3.7 Sverker the Younger c. 1195-1208 104

3.8 Erik Knutsson 1208-16 107

3.9 Johan Sverkersson 1216-22 109

3.10 Erik Eriksson's first reign and Knut Lange 1222-34 110

3.11 Erik Eriksson's second reign 1234-50 113

3.12 Valdemar Birgersson 1250-75 129

3.13 Magnus Birgersson (Ladulas) 1275-90 136

3.14 Final remarks on the nature of conflict in twelfth- and thirteenth-century Sweden 142

Chapter 4 The state and the law 151

Chapter 5 Kings and king's men 175

5.1 Sweden's jarls 175

5.2 The king and his advisors 190

5.3 The election of kings 197

Chapter 6 Territorial division 206

Chapter 7 Taxation and the military ledung 225

7.1 Land ownership 225

7.2 The growth of taxation and valued land units 229

7.3 The military ledung and its substitute Taxes 241

7.4 Lio, ledung and changes in warfare in twelfth- and thirteenth-century Sweden 255

Chapter 8 The king's land 268

8.1 Uppsala od 268

8.2 The nature of administration before 1250 288

Chapter 9 Royal Administration in the early Folkung period 297

9.1 The extension of royal administration 297

9.2 The old and the new 303

Chapter 10 Fortifications and urbanisation 306

10.2 Warfare and the construction of Fortifications in medieval Sweden 308

10.3 The kastaler of the east coast: early evidence of royal castle construction? 312

10.4 Other pre-Folkung fortifications 316

10.5 The Folkung Period 321

10.6 The consequences of royal fortification building for warfare and administration 328

10.7 The growth of towns in Sweden 328

10.8 Mendicant orders and urbanisation 336

Chapter 11 The Church and the Ideology of Kingship 338

11.1 Church and state 338

11.2 Sacral kingship-an inheritance from the pagan past? 350

11.3 Just kings, servants of Christ and royal saints 361

11.4 Rituals of ruling 388

11.5 Coinage and kingship 400

11.6 Monuments 404

Chapter 12 Eastward Expansion 410

12.1 Finland before Osterland 410

12.2 The Christianisation of Finland 420

12.3 Early Swedish penetration of Finland 422

12.4 Swedish campaigns in Finland and Karelia 438

12.5 Sweden and Novgorod 447

12.6 Sweden tightens its grip on Finland 456

12.7 The nature of the conquest 462

Appendix 1 Families and their Landholdings 481

A.1.1 Danish Kings 481

A.1.2 The Sverkerska atten 483

A.1.3 Problem members of the Sverkerskaatten-Johan Sverkersson and his sons 489

A.1.4 The Erikska atten 494

A.1.5 The Folkungaatten 499

A.1.6 The folkungar-rebels of the Folkungaatten? 503

A.1.7 Birger Brosa, his descendants and their landholdings 506

A.1.8 Magnus Minneskold and his descendants 513.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [631]-668) and index.

ISBN:

9004155783

9789004155787

OCLC:

71812874