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 whole of the country to the north of Svealand seem to have been of small importance. Jämtland was always considered a part of Norway. After the time of Ptolemy we

hear no more of Sweden until the 6th century, when a surprisingly full account of its peoples is given by the Gothic historian Jordanes. He mentions both the Svear (Swethans) and the Götar together with other peoples, the names of several of which can be recognized in the district—names of later times, in spite of the numerous corruptions of the text. He praises the horses of the Svear and speaks of their great trade in furs of arctic animals which were transferred from merchant to merchant until they reached Rome. About the other peoples of Sweden he gives a few details, chiefly of physical or moral characteristics, commenting upon the warlike nature of the Visigauti, the mildness of the Finns, the lofty stature of the Vinovii and the meat and egg diet of the Rerefennae. Jordanes's statement regarding the prevalence of trade with Sweden is corroborated by the fact that many coins and bracteates of the period have been found in the country. Of these the coins are chiefly Roman and Byzantine gold pieces of the 5th century, the bracteates copies of Roman coins of the same period.

Procopius, the contemporary of Jordanes (Gothica, ii. 15) likewise gives an account of Sweden, which he calls Thule, but the only tribes which he names are the Skrithephinnoi

(A. S. Scriðefinnas), a wild people of Finnish stock, and the Götar (Gautoi) whom he describes as a “nation abounding in men.” For the same period we derive a considerable amount of information with regard to Swedish affairs from the Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf. The hero himself belonged to the Greatas (i.e. in all probability Götar, though the identification is disputed by some scholars), his mother being the daughter of their king Hrethel. Haethcyn, the son and successor of this Hrethel, is said to have perished in a disastrous battle against the Svear, but his fall was avenged by his brother Hygelac in a subsequent engagement in which the Swedish king Ongentheow was killed. This Hygelac is clearly identical with that Chochilaicus wrongly described as a Danish king by Gregory of Tours (iii. 5) who made a piratical expedition to the lower Rhine which ended in his defeat and death in a battle with the Franks under Theodberht about 520. The poem contains several allusions to this disaster. We learn further that about the time of Hygelac's death strife broke out in the royal family of the Svear, between Onela, the son and successor of Ongentheow, and Eanmund and Eadgils, the sons of his brother Ohthere. The latter fled for protection to the Götar and the war which ensued cost the lives of Eanmund and of Heardred the son and successor of Hygelac. According to the poem Beowulf himself now became king of the Götar and assisted Eadgils in a campaign which resulted in the death of Onela and the acquisition of the throne by his nephew. What is said in the poem with regard to the end of Beowulf belongs to the realm of myth, and for three centuries after this time we have no reference to Swedish affairs in English or other foreign authorities. Moreover after the time of Beowulf and Jordanes there are very few references to the kingdom of the Götar and in Olaf Sköttkonung's time it was merely an earldom. The kingdom must have come to an end between the 6th and 10th centuries, and probably quite early in that period.

The Ynglingatal, a poem said to have been composed by Thioðolfr of Hvín, court-poet of Harold Fairhair, king of Norway, he gives a genealogy of Harold's family, which it carries back to the early kings of the Svear. Snorri

Sturluson (1178-1241) the Icelandic author using this poem as a basis and amplifying it from other sources, wrote the Ynglinga Saga, which traces back the history of the family, generation by generation, to its beginning. In this saga Aðils (the Eadgils of Beowulf), son of Ottarr is one of the most prominent figures. The account given of him agrees in general with the statements in Beowulf, though the nature of his relations with Ali (Onela) has been misunderstood. The decisive battle between the two kings is said to have taken place

on the frozen surface of Lake Wener. Ongentheow appears to have been entirely forgotten in Norse tradition and his place is taken by a certain Egill. The saga further states that Aðils was an enthusiastic horse-breeder and that he met with his death through a fall from his horse. This point is of interest in connexion with the notice of Jordanes, mentioned above, with regard to the horses of the Svear. Other northern authorities such as Saxo and the Hrolfs Saga Kraka represent Aðils in a very unfavourable light as niggardly and addicted to sorcery.

The Ynglingatal and Ynglinga Saga enumerate Aðil's ancestors to no less than seventeen generations, with short accounts of each. We have no means of checking the genealogy from other sources, and the majority of the characters are probably to be regarded as mythical. The origin of the family is traced to the god Frey, son of Niörðr, who is said to have founded Upsala, the ancient capital of Sweden. His reign is represented as a golden age of peace and prosperity and the great wealth of the sanctuary is said to have taken its beginning from the offerings at his tomb. His full name appears to have been Yngvifreyr or Ingunar Freyr and his descendants are collectively termed Ynglingar, though we also occasionally meet with the name Skilfingar, which corresponds with the name Scilfingar borne by the Swedish royal family in Beowulf.

After the time of Aðils the Ynglingar remained in possession of Upsala for four generations according to the saga. Ultimately the treachery and the murderous disposition of the king named Ingialdr led to his overthrow by a prince from Skåne, called Ivarr Viðfaðmi. His son Olafr Trételgia withdrew to Vermland, which he brought into a state of cultivation, though he was subsequently sacrificed by his subjects in a time of famine. It is stated in the saga that the Swedish kings were believed to have control over the seasons like their ancestor, the god Frey, and traces of this belief seem to have lingered in the country down to the times of Gustavus Vasa. The sons of Olafr Trételgia moved westward into Norway, and if we may trust the saga, the Swedish kingdom never again came into the possession of their family.

The subsequent kings of Sweden are said to have been descended from Ivarr Viðfaðmi. The most prominent figures in this family are Haraldr Hilditönn Ivarr's grandson and his

nephew Sigurðr Hringr. The story of the battle between these two at Bråvik, in which Haraldr lost his life, is one of the most famous in northern literature. But the position of these kings with regard to Sweden is far from clear. Their home is probably to be placed on the Cattegat rather than on the Baltic. The same is true also of Ragnarr Loðbrók, who is said to have been the son of Sigurðr Hringr. About the year 830 the missionary bishop Ansgar made his first expedition to Sweden. He made his way to Birca on the Mälar. The king whom he found reigning there is called Björn (Bern) and is generally identified with the king Björn for whom Bragi the Old composed the poem called Ragnarsdrápa. On his subsequent journeys to Sweden Ansgar encountered kings called Olafr and Önundr. He appears to have met with considerable immediate success in his missionary enterprises, although there is no evidence to show that the churches he founded long survived his death, and no serious mission seems to have been attempted for more than a century afterwards.

During the 9th century extensive Scandinavian settlements were made on the east side of the Baltic, and even as early as the reign of Louis I. we hear of piratical

expeditions on the Black Sea and on the Caspian. The famous expeditions of Rurik and Askold which resulted in the origin of the Russian monarchy appear to have taken place towards the middle of the 9th century, but it has not been found possible to connect these names with any families known to us from Swedish tradition. Proofs of extensive Scandinavian settlement in Russia are to be found partly in the Russian names assigned to the Dnieper rapids by Constantine Porphyrogenitus, partly in references to this people made by foreign representatives at the court of Byzantium. The fact that many of the names which occur