Suiones
Suiones,
Swedes,
Svíar or
Svear, were an ancient
Germanic tribe in
Scandinavia. They are usually only referred to as
Swedes in English. According to early sources, they were a powerful tribe whose kings claimed descendance from the god
Freyr. During the
Viking Age they constituted the basis of the
Varangian subset, the
Vikings that travelled eastwards (see
Rus').
As the dominions of the Swedish kings grew, the name was applied also to include the
Geats during the
Middle Ages, but later it returned to referring only the people inhabiting the original tribal lands in
Svealand, in opposition to the Geats.
In modern
Scandinavian, the adjectival form
svensk and its plural
svenskar/svensker have replaced the name
svear and is, today, used to denote all the citizens of
Sweden in opposition to ancient tribal Swedes, the
svear.
In
Icelandic such a distinction never appeared and Swedes are still called
Svíar, but in English some modern scholarly works have begun to introduce
Svear to separate modern Swedes from the ancient Swedes, the Suiones.
Their primary dwellings were in eastern
Svealand, i.e. the traditional
Folklands of
Attundaland,
Tiundaland,
Fjärdhundraland and
Roslagen in the area of the present cities of
Uppsala and
Stockholm and the modern province of
Gästrikland. Their territories also probably included the provinces of
Västmanland,
Södermanland and
Nerike in the basin of
Mälaren which constituted a bay with a multitude of islands. The region is still one of the most fertile and densely populated regions of Scandinavia.
The lands of the Svear were called
Svealand (
the Voyage of Ohthere:
Swéoland),
Suithiod (
Beowulf:
Sweoðeod),
Svíaveldi or
Svea rike (Beowulf:
Swéorice), and the unknown moment when they subjugated, or united politically with, the
Geats in
Götaland between the
6th century and the
11th century is nowadays often regarded as the birth to the
Swedish kingdom, even though the Swedish kingdom retains their name,
Sverige in
Swedish, from
Svea rike - i.e. the kingdom of the Suiones. The English name
Sweden is derived from an old name for Sweden and the land of the Suiones:
Svitjod (
the people of the Suiones).
The
Ásatrú Aesir-cult center in
Gamla Uppsala, was the religious centre of the Swedes and where the Swedish king served as a priest during the sacrifices (
blóts).
Some dispute whether the original domains of the Suiones really was in
Uppsala, the heartland of
Uplandia, or if the term was used commonly for
all tribes within Svealand, in the same way as old
Norway's different provinces were collectively referred to as
Nortmanni.
The form
Suiones appears in the Roman author
Tacitus's
Germania. A closely similar form,
Sweon(as), is found in
Old English and in the work of
Adam of Bremen, about the Hamburg-Bremen archbishops, they are denoted
Sueones.
According to one theory (Schagerström 1931), the name is derived from
Proto-Germanic saiwi- meaning "lake" or "sea" resulting in
siwíoniz and later
swi-oniz meaning the "sea people". However, this root is not known to have produced any other derived names, and is considered unlikely.
Noréen (1920) proposed that
Suiones is a Latin rendering of
Swihoniz, meaning "one's own (tribesmen)", derived from the same
Proto-Indo-European root as the
Latin suus (i.e. not from Latin but from the same
reflexive pronominal root, a root also existing in Slavic languages). In modern Scandinavian, the same root appears in words such as
svåger (brother-in-law) and
svägerska (sister-in-law). The form
Swihoniz would in
Wulfila's
Gothic become
Swaíhans, which later would result in the form
Suehans that
Jordanes mentioned as the name of the Swedes in
Getica. Consequently, the old North Germanic form would have been
SwehaniR which following the sound-changes in Old Norse resulted in Old West Norse
Svíar and Old East Norse
Swear. However, this root has not gained wide acceptance, which leads to the oldest theory of which the proposed root is widely accepted.
According to a third theory (v. Friesen 1915), it is not derived from the root
swih, but from the root
Swe and being originally an adjective,
Sweoniz, meaning "kindred". Then the Gothic form would have been
Swians and the H in
Suehans a
pleonasm. The Proto-Old Norse form would then have been
SweoniR which also would have resulted in the historically attested forms.
Although, scholars differ on the origins of the name, they agree that
Suiones is the same name as
Old Norse svíar and
Old English Sweon(as). Even though the
n has disappeared in the plural noun
svear/
svíar, it is still preserved in the old adjective which has become the noun designating modern Swedes:
svensk.
The name became part of a compound, which in Old West Norse was
Svíþjóð, (The Suione People), in Old East Norse
Sweþiuð and in
Old English Sweoðeod. This compound appears on
runestones in the locatives
i suiþiuþu (Aspa Löt,
Sörmland),
a suiþiuþu (Simris,
Skåne) and
a suaþiuþu (Tirsted,
Lolland). The
13th century Danish source
Scriptores rerum danicarum mention a place called
litlæ swethiuthæ, which is probably the island
Sverige (Sweden) near Stockholm.
The only Germanic nation having a similar naming was the
Goths, who from the name
Gutans (cf.
Suehans) created the form
gut-þiuda.
The name
Swethiuth and its different forms gave rise to the different Latin names for Sweden,
Suethia,
Suetia and
Suecia as well as the modern English name for the country.
A second compound was
Svíariki, or
Sweorice in
Anglo-Saxon, which meant "the realm of the Suiones". This is still the formal name for Sweden in
Swedish,
Svea rike and the origin of its current name
Sverige.
The history of this tribe is shrouded in the mists of time. Besides
Scandinavian mythology and Germanic legend, only a few sources describe them and there is very little information, in spite of the fact that the tribe existed already during the first century A.D.
Romans
There are two sources from the
1st century A.D that are quoted as referring to the Suiones. The first one is
Pliny the Elder who said that the Romans had rounded the
Cimbric peninsula (
Jutland) where there was the
Codanian Gulf (
Kattegat?). In this gulf there were several large islands among which the most famous was
Scatinavia (
Scandinavia). He said that the size of the island was unknown but in a part of it dwelt a tribe named the
Hillevionum gente, 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 of
Illa Svionum gente. This would make sense, since a large Scandinavian tribe named the
Suiones was known to the Romans.
Tacitus wrote in AD
98 that the Suiones were a powerful tribe (
distinguished not merely for their arms and men, but for their powerful fleets) with ships that had a prow in both ends (
longships):
Beyond these people (the Rugii and the Lemovii) are the states (civitates) of the Suiones, but these are in the ocean itself (i.e. on an island and not, like the Rugii and Lemovii, on the South Baltic coast of the mainland). The Suiones are distinguished not merely for their arms and men, but for their powerful fleets, though the style of their ships is unusual in that there is a prow at each end so that the boat can advance head-on in either direction. Moreover, they do not use sails, and the oars are not fixed in rows along the sides, but are detachable, and are removed on certain rivers; they can also be reversed, if occasion demands. These people respect wealth, and one man among them is supreme, there being no limits to his power and no question as to the full obedience due to him. Promiscuous carrying of arms is not allowed here, as it is among the other Germans, but weapons are kept shut up in the charge of a slave who acts as guard. This is because the sea prevents sudden inroads from enemies, and because bands of armed men who have nothing to do often become unruly. It is not found expedient for the king (regia utilitas) to place a nobleman or a freeborn man, or even a freedman, in charge over these arms...[
1]
What kings (
kuningaz) ruled these Suiones is unknown, but
Norse mythology presents a line mythical kings whom
Thor Heyerdahl has proposed existed in real life (see
Mythological kings of Sweden).
Jordanes
After this the sources are silent about the Suiones until the
6th century, when
Jordanes names two tribes he calls the
Suehans and the
Suetidi who lived in
Scandza. The
Suehans are considered to be the Suiones, and they were famous for their fine horses.
Snorri Sturluson wrote that the contemporary Swedish king
Adils (Eadgils) had the finest horses of his days. The Suehans were the suppliers of black fox skins for the Roman market. Then Jordanes names a tribe named
Suetidi a name that is considered to refer to the Suiones as well and to be the Latin form of
Svitjod. The Suetidi are said to be the tallest of men together with the
Dani who were of the same stock.
Anglo-Saxon sources
There are three Anglo-Saxon sources that refer to the Suiones.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 poem
Widsith from the
6th or the
7th century:
| linjer 30–33: | | Wald Woingum, Wod þyringum, | Wald of the Woings, Wod of the Thuringians, |
| Sæferð Sycgum, Sweom Ongendþeow, | Saeferth the Sycgs, Ongendtheow of the Swedes, |
| Sceafthere Ymbrum, Sceafa Longbeardum | Sceafthere of the Umbers, Sceafa of the Langobards, |
On line 32,
Ongentheow is mentioned and he reappears in the later epic poem
Beowulf.
Beowulf is the second source and it was composed sometime in
8th,
9th and the
10th centuries. The poem describes the wars between the
Sweon and the
Geatas, during the
6th century. The epic mentions the Swedish kings
Ongentheow,
Ohthere,
Onela and
Eadgils who belonged to a royal dynasty called the
Scylfings. These kings were probably historical kings as they appear in many Scandinavian sources as well (see
Swedish semi-legendary kings). There is a prophesy that the Geats will be subdued by the Swedes and that is what happened.
The third Anglo-Saxon source is
Alfred the Great's translation of
Orosius'
Histories, where are told the voyages of
Ottar from Hålogaland and
Wulfstan of Hedeby, who in the
9th century described the
Sweon and
Sweoland.
Adam of Bremen
Adam of Bremen relates in the 11th century that the
Sueones 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.
It is interesting that even if 1000 years separate Adam of Bremen from Tacitus both describe the
Suiones as being comprised of many tribes, probably identical to the traditional provinces of eastern
Svealand. Like Tacitus, he also notes that they are powerful warriors at sea, a power that they use to keep their neighbours in order. Their royal family is of an old dynasty (see
House of Munsö), but the kings are dependent on the will of the people (the
Ting). 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 (
Aesir) and if they win they are grateful to him.
Norse sagas
The
Norse sagas are our foremost source for knowledge and especially
Snorri Sturluson who is probably the one who has contributed the most (see for instance the
Heimskringla). His descriptions concur to a large extent with those of the previous sources.
For a continuation, see
Early Swedish History.
*
Mythological kings of Sweden*
Swedish semi-legendary kings*
Swedes*
Svea*
Mother Svea*
Trial by combat*
Trial by ordeal
