Tales from Svealand
Introduction
This AAR will follow the Duchy of Uppland and its rulers. I'm playing the 1.04b Public Beta, the 1066 scenario and on Hard/Hard settings. My goals are as follows:
*Seize the swedish throne, if needed with military power.
*Expand the realm and establish a modern fuedal swedish kingdom.
*Try to unite Scandinavia
Besides of that, I have no clear goals.
I welcome other people to come with suggestions in this thread.
A side note that may be worth mentioning is that I will not use the terms 'count' and 'duke' in this AAR as Sweden was very much a viking country. I'll wait until the fuedal laws have been inplanted.
First, I'll give a introduction to the region and the people who lived in it.
Sweden during the early middle ages
The kingdom of Sweden in 1066 was very much like its viking predecessor. A deeply decentralized, undevoloped and insignificant fedaration of local nobles and chiefs. The country was roughly devided into two main regions; Svealand and Götaland. Svealand lied to the north with its center around the towns and farms around the sea of Mälaren. Uppland, Södermanland, Västmanland and Närke were the traditional parts of Svealand. Götaland is by tradition the provinces os Västra (western) Götaland, Östra (eastern) Götaland and Dal (modern Dalsland). Today, Småland, Gotland, Bohuslän (medieval Viken, part of Norway) and Öland is also counted as Götaland.
The rest of the kingdom was made out of Småland (Värand, Tiveden, Kalmar and Öland counted) to the south. Värmland, some parts of Dalarna and Gästrikland to the north. And the islands of Gotland and Åland were also included.
Sweden was sorrounded by the kingdom of Denmark to the south, the kingdom of Norway to the west and various pagans tribes to the north and east.
Scandinavia in 1066.
As mentioned before, Sweden was not at any point centralized as a kingdom. If the king, whoever he was by the moment (they had a tendency to kill eachother fast), came from Götaland, the kingdom mostly was Götaland. If he was from Svealand, he often only ruled the Mälaren valley. He only had limited influence over the rest of his so called kingdom. The majority of the swedish rarely new who the king was.
This situation would last until the 13th century, when Birger Magnusson, the jarl (highest chancellor, the english word 'earl' comes from this word), reformed the kingdom after a continental pattern.
Something as odd as clear and strong laws didn't existed in Sweden, the laws were controlled by the mighty.
If the early middle ages were dark in Europe, they were pitch black in Sweden.
Some postiviness in this though, was the peasant situation. When the peasants in Germany, France and England were almost owned by their lieges, the farming population of Sweden was free. The nobles were so few that they couldn't press high taxes and try to control the peasants. The peasants' slaves were obviously not free though.
The landscape of Sweden were quite similar in the country. Every part of the region was dominated with forest, forest and more forest. The borders between Svealand and Götaland were made out of the big and massive forests of Tiveden, Kolmården and more. Some open plains existed though, in some parts of Götaland and in danish owned Scania. Some big lakes existed in the middle of Sweden. Vänern and Vättern, the latter was the border between Västra and Östra Götaland, and Mälaren and Hjälmaren to the north in Svealand. Some rivers and straights combined these lakes with the seas.
The towns and settlements were concentrated around the lakes and the plains of Västergötland, Östergötland and the Mälaren valley. The real towns in Sweden could be counted on the five first fingers, and those were barely towns at all. More like big villages.
The majority of the continental people lived in villages. The people of Svealand and Götaland lived mostly in seperated individual farms. It could be many miles between the farms, especially to the north.
The religious situation in Sweden was very confusing. Christianity was a new phenomenom and the classic scandinavian paganism, the Asatro/Asatrù, was still popular. The swedish poeple refered to christianity as the teachings of "Vite Krist"
(White Christ in english) and it was very confusing for them. The preachings were held in latin so common people rarely understood anything more than the basics of the christian religion. Many prefered to stay with their old pagan religion (including chiefs and other magnates).
Many even used them both, they went to the church when they should, but still performed brutal sacrifices (in swedish 'blot') during important asa holidays and worshipped Odin, Thor and other asa gods. The asatro actually stayed with a part of the swedish population even during the high period of the middle ages.
The kingdom was ruled by Erik Stenkilsson of the Stenkil dynasty during 1066. The Stenkil dynasty was the first bigger dynasty to rule a medieval Sweden. The first swedish king to be baptized was Olof Skötkonung, king during the beginning of the 11th century.
The high chiefdom of Uppland, the main subject of this AAR, was ruled by the young Erik Anundsson of Munsö. He was the first christian in his family.
Chapter 1
Young and ambitious
Erik of Munsö was 17 years old, he was the first one of his kin to take the step into christianity. His father wasn't too fond with that, but his father was dead and Erik knew that a ambitious and strong man could steer his own way into glory.
He was currently on his way to Skara, where he would meet the king, Erik Stenkilsson, during a big district court session.
On the way he would stay at the Enköping sessions to sort out a dispute he had with a local grand farmer.
He arrived in Enköping some days after he had begun his journey. The grand farmer wouldn't yield his claims on some of Erik's farms. The court therefore decided that Erik and the farmer would clash swords with eachother. Erik slayed the farmer with ease and had now won the case.
He continued to Västergötland över the ice of Vättern. He arrived in Skara early in 1067.
There were mostly men from Götaland on the meeting. Some pagan chiefs from the north had arrived and some landowners from the south. The king announced some good news for the kingdom of Sweden:
- Last year, I, Erik king of Sweden, was informed that the mighiest chiefs of Finnveden and Kalmar have decided to pledge alliegance to me. They are now incorporated into my realm. I also heard of some men from the north, the vast and dark forests of Hälsingland [everything north of Dalarna were called Hälsingland by then, not just the province], doing the same thing.
The peoples of Götaland and Svealand have never been this strong in the history of our proud kingdom.
The nobles in the room began to gratulate the king and discuss the topic.
Servants carried in some beer and a drinking paus took place.
The well informed and broad minded part of the nobles began to discuss William of Nomrandy's conquest of England. But the bigger part of the men in the room barely new what England was.
After a while, the meeting continued.
The bishops told the gathering news about their religion's growth in the realm. Many pagan chiefs openly argued with the men of "Vite Krist" and it had maybe been trouble if not the king was there.
Erik of Munsö told the men that he had helped the priests of Christ in the process of converting the svea population. Uppland was officialy catholic now, but Södermanland still had a majority of pagans. A pagan chief from Småland told his opinion about all this:
- There were a time when we, proud men of the north, vanquished other realms and pillaged the distant lands of our kinsman Rurik's descendants to the east and the frankish lands to the west. But then came the God of the Cross, and his beardless followers. Look what has happened! Our people have become weak without honour.
The debate between the men of the cross and the men of Odin raged for a while until the king decided to cancel the discussion for a new drinking paus.
The biggest topic during the meeting was about some controversial law adjustments the king had done. He had arranged so that only members of the Stenkil dynasty could be elected to the throne. This caused great rage, and many left the room in anger. Men with destroyed ambitions and rising mistrust to the crown. Erik of Munsö didn't new what to think. He's family had a claim to the throne, he began to think that someday, he might try to press the claim.
[Side note: I actually changed the laws from elective laws myself, loading the save file as Sweden. This is because that I don't want to inherit the throne to easy...
]
Soon afterwards, Erik married Ingrid Svendsdottir, a young daughter of the danish king Svend. Thus strengthened the relation to the danish ruling dynasty. He also consolidated his positions in Svealand.
The ruler of Gotland wished to ally with Erik. This came as a surprise, but Erik accepted.
He's wife soon gave birth to two sons, Tyke and Erik Erikssons.
During the same year, some local farmers invented a new kind of spear in Uppland. The so called pike was a very long spear that could stop mounted foes with ease. Uppland was the first place in the known world to use this weapon.
In 1073, two big events occured. Erik's danish wife died, which caused great sorrow. She had given birth to four children, three boys and a girl. The survival of the dynasty was secured.
The other thing that happened was a dispute with a chief from Hdemark (part of the norwegian realm) which gave Erik a claim on the title chief of all Hdemark.
Three years later, Erik married a sister to his dead wife, Sigrid Svendsdottir.
The realtionship between the three scandinavian kingdoms were very good. Denmark was allied to both Norway and Sweden. Norway and Sweden were both allied to Denmark but not to eachother so conflicts against the norwegians could still occur. Espacially since Erik had a claim to norwegian lands. So strangthening the relations to Denmark was a very good idea, since Denmark will need to choose side in time of conflicts against the norwegians, and Erik thought it was best to keep the danish in his and Sweden's favour.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It isn't much of action in the first chapter, but I promise it will come.
Introduction
This AAR will follow the Duchy of Uppland and its rulers. I'm playing the 1.04b Public Beta, the 1066 scenario and on Hard/Hard settings. My goals are as follows:
*Seize the swedish throne, if needed with military power.
*Expand the realm and establish a modern fuedal swedish kingdom.
*Try to unite Scandinavia
Besides of that, I have no clear goals.
I welcome other people to come with suggestions in this thread.
A side note that may be worth mentioning is that I will not use the terms 'count' and 'duke' in this AAR as Sweden was very much a viking country. I'll wait until the fuedal laws have been inplanted.
First, I'll give a introduction to the region and the people who lived in it.
Sweden during the early middle ages
The kingdom of Sweden in 1066 was very much like its viking predecessor. A deeply decentralized, undevoloped and insignificant fedaration of local nobles and chiefs. The country was roughly devided into two main regions; Svealand and Götaland. Svealand lied to the north with its center around the towns and farms around the sea of Mälaren. Uppland, Södermanland, Västmanland and Närke were the traditional parts of Svealand. Götaland is by tradition the provinces os Västra (western) Götaland, Östra (eastern) Götaland and Dal (modern Dalsland). Today, Småland, Gotland, Bohuslän (medieval Viken, part of Norway) and Öland is also counted as Götaland.
The rest of the kingdom was made out of Småland (Värand, Tiveden, Kalmar and Öland counted) to the south. Värmland, some parts of Dalarna and Gästrikland to the north. And the islands of Gotland and Åland were also included.
Sweden was sorrounded by the kingdom of Denmark to the south, the kingdom of Norway to the west and various pagans tribes to the north and east.
Scandinavia in 1066.
As mentioned before, Sweden was not at any point centralized as a kingdom. If the king, whoever he was by the moment (they had a tendency to kill eachother fast), came from Götaland, the kingdom mostly was Götaland. If he was from Svealand, he often only ruled the Mälaren valley. He only had limited influence over the rest of his so called kingdom. The majority of the swedish rarely new who the king was.
This situation would last until the 13th century, when Birger Magnusson, the jarl (highest chancellor, the english word 'earl' comes from this word), reformed the kingdom after a continental pattern.
Something as odd as clear and strong laws didn't existed in Sweden, the laws were controlled by the mighty.
If the early middle ages were dark in Europe, they were pitch black in Sweden.
Some postiviness in this though, was the peasant situation. When the peasants in Germany, France and England were almost owned by their lieges, the farming population of Sweden was free. The nobles were so few that they couldn't press high taxes and try to control the peasants. The peasants' slaves were obviously not free though.
The landscape of Sweden were quite similar in the country. Every part of the region was dominated with forest, forest and more forest. The borders between Svealand and Götaland were made out of the big and massive forests of Tiveden, Kolmården and more. Some open plains existed though, in some parts of Götaland and in danish owned Scania. Some big lakes existed in the middle of Sweden. Vänern and Vättern, the latter was the border between Västra and Östra Götaland, and Mälaren and Hjälmaren to the north in Svealand. Some rivers and straights combined these lakes with the seas.
The towns and settlements were concentrated around the lakes and the plains of Västergötland, Östergötland and the Mälaren valley. The real towns in Sweden could be counted on the five first fingers, and those were barely towns at all. More like big villages.
The majority of the continental people lived in villages. The people of Svealand and Götaland lived mostly in seperated individual farms. It could be many miles between the farms, especially to the north.
The religious situation in Sweden was very confusing. Christianity was a new phenomenom and the classic scandinavian paganism, the Asatro/Asatrù, was still popular. The swedish poeple refered to christianity as the teachings of "Vite Krist"
(White Christ in english) and it was very confusing for them. The preachings were held in latin so common people rarely understood anything more than the basics of the christian religion. Many prefered to stay with their old pagan religion (including chiefs and other magnates).
Many even used them both, they went to the church when they should, but still performed brutal sacrifices (in swedish 'blot') during important asa holidays and worshipped Odin, Thor and other asa gods. The asatro actually stayed with a part of the swedish population even during the high period of the middle ages.
The kingdom was ruled by Erik Stenkilsson of the Stenkil dynasty during 1066. The Stenkil dynasty was the first bigger dynasty to rule a medieval Sweden. The first swedish king to be baptized was Olof Skötkonung, king during the beginning of the 11th century.
The high chiefdom of Uppland, the main subject of this AAR, was ruled by the young Erik Anundsson of Munsö. He was the first christian in his family.
Chapter 1
Young and ambitious
Erik of Munsö was 17 years old, he was the first one of his kin to take the step into christianity. His father wasn't too fond with that, but his father was dead and Erik knew that a ambitious and strong man could steer his own way into glory.
He was currently on his way to Skara, where he would meet the king, Erik Stenkilsson, during a big district court session.
On the way he would stay at the Enköping sessions to sort out a dispute he had with a local grand farmer.
He arrived in Enköping some days after he had begun his journey. The grand farmer wouldn't yield his claims on some of Erik's farms. The court therefore decided that Erik and the farmer would clash swords with eachother. Erik slayed the farmer with ease and had now won the case.
He continued to Västergötland över the ice of Vättern. He arrived in Skara early in 1067.
There were mostly men from Götaland on the meeting. Some pagan chiefs from the north had arrived and some landowners from the south. The king announced some good news for the kingdom of Sweden:
- Last year, I, Erik king of Sweden, was informed that the mighiest chiefs of Finnveden and Kalmar have decided to pledge alliegance to me. They are now incorporated into my realm. I also heard of some men from the north, the vast and dark forests of Hälsingland [everything north of Dalarna were called Hälsingland by then, not just the province], doing the same thing.
The peoples of Götaland and Svealand have never been this strong in the history of our proud kingdom.
The nobles in the room began to gratulate the king and discuss the topic.
Servants carried in some beer and a drinking paus took place.
The well informed and broad minded part of the nobles began to discuss William of Nomrandy's conquest of England. But the bigger part of the men in the room barely new what England was.
After a while, the meeting continued.
The bishops told the gathering news about their religion's growth in the realm. Many pagan chiefs openly argued with the men of "Vite Krist" and it had maybe been trouble if not the king was there.
Erik of Munsö told the men that he had helped the priests of Christ in the process of converting the svea population. Uppland was officialy catholic now, but Södermanland still had a majority of pagans. A pagan chief from Småland told his opinion about all this:
- There were a time when we, proud men of the north, vanquished other realms and pillaged the distant lands of our kinsman Rurik's descendants to the east and the frankish lands to the west. But then came the God of the Cross, and his beardless followers. Look what has happened! Our people have become weak without honour.
The debate between the men of the cross and the men of Odin raged for a while until the king decided to cancel the discussion for a new drinking paus.
The biggest topic during the meeting was about some controversial law adjustments the king had done. He had arranged so that only members of the Stenkil dynasty could be elected to the throne. This caused great rage, and many left the room in anger. Men with destroyed ambitions and rising mistrust to the crown. Erik of Munsö didn't new what to think. He's family had a claim to the throne, he began to think that someday, he might try to press the claim.
[Side note: I actually changed the laws from elective laws myself, loading the save file as Sweden. This is because that I don't want to inherit the throne to easy...
] Soon afterwards, Erik married Ingrid Svendsdottir, a young daughter of the danish king Svend. Thus strengthened the relation to the danish ruling dynasty. He also consolidated his positions in Svealand.
The ruler of Gotland wished to ally with Erik. This came as a surprise, but Erik accepted.
He's wife soon gave birth to two sons, Tyke and Erik Erikssons.
During the same year, some local farmers invented a new kind of spear in Uppland. The so called pike was a very long spear that could stop mounted foes with ease. Uppland was the first place in the known world to use this weapon.
In 1073, two big events occured. Erik's danish wife died, which caused great sorrow. She had given birth to four children, three boys and a girl. The survival of the dynasty was secured.
The other thing that happened was a dispute with a chief from Hdemark (part of the norwegian realm) which gave Erik a claim on the title chief of all Hdemark.
Three years later, Erik married a sister to his dead wife, Sigrid Svendsdottir.
The realtionship between the three scandinavian kingdoms were very good. Denmark was allied to both Norway and Sweden. Norway and Sweden were both allied to Denmark but not to eachother so conflicts against the norwegians could still occur. Espacially since Erik had a claim to norwegian lands. So strangthening the relations to Denmark was a very good idea, since Denmark will need to choose side in time of conflicts against the norwegians, and Erik thought it was best to keep the danish in his and Sweden's favour.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It isn't much of action in the first chapter, but I promise it will come.
Last edited:
