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1 results

  • (e) - Kings and provinces in Sweden

  • from 8 - Early political organisation
  • Edited by Knut Helle, Universitetet i Bergen, Norway
  • Book:
    The Cambridge History of Scandinavia
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    04 September 2003, pp 221-234

  • Summary

    The core of the medieval kingdom comprised its two main regions, Svealand and Götaland. Kings who, in the course of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, gained some degree of control over these regions, also began to bring peripheral regions under their authority. Before AD 1000, kings of the Svear were associated with the Lake Mölaren region. For the kings of Svear and Götar, there were great difficulties in maintaining royal rule over both Svealand and Götaland at the same time. The tendencies towards political unification and a more centralised political organisation were closely connected with Christianisation and the establishment of a Swedish church. Control of the legal and judicial system was of paramount importance for the growth of royal power. The right to demand regular contributions from the population was the most important economic prerogative of lordship in medieval society.