Sweden 679place of execution during the Middle Ages and was
looted many times before the 19th century.
See alsoBURIAL RULES AND PRACTICES;GOKSTAD SHIP;
OSEBERG FIND OR SHIP.
Further reading:Rupert Bruce-Mitford, ed., The Sut-
ton Hoo Ship-Burial: A Handbook,3d ed. (London: Pub-
lished for the Trustees of the British Museum by British
Museum Publications Limited, 1979); M. O. H. Carver,
ed., The Age of Sutton Hoo: The Seventh Century in North-
Western Europe (Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 1992);
Angela Care Evans, The Sutton Hoo Ship Burial,rev. ed.
(London: Published for the Trustees of the British
Museum by British Museum Press, 1994); Charles Green,
Sutton Hoo: The Excavation of a Royal Ship-Burial(Lon-
don: Merlin, 1988).
Swabia (Alamannia, Schwaben) Medieval Swabia, a
duchy from the 10th century, took its name from the
Suevi, a people who had once lived there. It became the
Roman province of Rhaetia and was occupied by the
Alamanni from the third century. The region had little
geographical unity but included people who spoke Ale-
mannic dialects and became modern-day SWITZERLAND,
Alsace, southern Baden-Württemberg, and part of
BAVARIA.
Swabia as a state was founded in the early 10th cen-
tury when a comitial family appointed by the Carolin-
gians, made their nascent state independent. Burchard I
(r. 917–926) was recognized as duke, and, with his vic-
tory at Winterthur in 919, ensured control of his western
frontiers with BURGUNDY. He then became the founder of
the duchy of Swabia. At his death in 926 without an heir,
King Henry I the Fowler of Germany (ca. 876–936) gave
the title and the duchy to a Frankish noble who became
Hermann I (r. 926–949). The emperor OTTOI placed his
own son, Luidolf (r. 949–954), in charge of the duchy. In
the second half of the 10th century, the duchy enjoyed its
most success and prosperity under Duke Bouchard III
(r. 954–973). Its main centers were in that area north of
Lake Constance near Zurich and the Breisgau.
In the 11th century, the emperor Henry IV
(r. 1050–1106) gave the duchy to his son-in-law, FREDER-
ICK I BARBAROSSA, of the HOHENSTAUFEN family, who
retained the title under their disappearance with the
death of Conrad V (1252–68) or Conradin in 1268.
RUDOLFof HABSBURGunsuccessfully tried to revive the
duchy in the late 13th century. The title died out in 1290
and from then on Swabia was only a geographical region.
The true heirs to this dukedom were the counts of Würt-
temberg. In the early 14th century, an independent league
of local towns dominated the area until the counts
defeated it in battle in the late 14th century.
See alsoFREDERICKII, EMPEROR ANDKING OFSICILY.
Further reading:Benjamin Arnold, Medieval Germany,
500–1300: A Political Interpretation(Toronto: University
of Toronto Press, 1997); Alfred Haverkamp, Medieval
Germany, 1056–1273, 2d ed., trans. Helga Braun and
Richard Mortimer (1984; reprint, Oxford: Oxford Univer-
sity Press, 1988); Boyd H. Hill, Medieval Monarchy in
Action: The German Empire from Henry I to Henry IV(New
York: Barnes & Noble, 1972).Sweden Medieval Sweden was a kingdom in eastern
Scandinavia. At various times it was united with NORWAY
and DENMARK. At the time of the great migrations from at
least the fourth and fifth centuries, there were important
population emigrations. It has been viewed contemporar-
ily and traditionally as the area of origin for several Ger-
manic peoples such as the Danes, the GOTHS, and the
LOMBARDS.
In the very early Middle Ages, Sweden became a fed-
eration of provinces that recognized the nominal
supremacy of a king designated by the Sviar or the inhab-
itants of Svealand. Shortly before the year 1000, the
Yngling dynasty from Norway managed to unify the king-
dom. Baptized early in the 11th century, Olaf Skötkonung
(r. 995–1022) was the first Christian king of Sweden.
Christianization was accomplished by English and Ger-
man MISSIONS, and the region was put under the authority
of the archbishop of Hamburg. A new episcopal see was
created in about 1060 at Sigtuna near the old pagan sanc-
tuary at Uppsala while other districts became dependent
on Lund. The church in Sweden was generally to be free
of much lay control.POLITICAL CONFLICT AND A NEW CAPITAL
From the 1120s and for more than a century, Sweden was
torn apart by internal struggles between two dynasties.
During this period, five kings perished by violent deaths,
that of Sverker I the Elder in 1155/56, Saint Erik IX Jed-
vardsson in 1160, Magnus Eriksson in 1161, Charles
Sverkersson in 1167, and Sverker II the Younger in 1210.
Canute Ericsson (r. 1173–95/96) sought the support of
the towns of the HANSEATICLEAGUE, especially LÜBECK,
whose merchants were already installed at the major trad-
ing center at Visby. They developed commerce in local
crafts and iron production. Erik X Canutesson (r. 1208–16)
was the first Swedish king whose actual coronation was
recorded in 1210. With the death of John I Sverkersson
(r. 1216–22), the descendants of King Sverker I the Elder
(r. 1131–55/56) died out in the male line. His successor
Erik XI Ericsson (r. 1234–50) later left no direct heir at
his death. A new dynasty, the Folkung, began when
Waldemar (r. 1250–75) was elected as king in 1250 with
Birger Jarl as regent until 1266. This monarchy was weak,
exercised little if any judicial authority, and was depen-
dent on supporting elements it could not control, such as
the Thing, a sovereign assembly.
A new capital, however, was founded at Stockholm.
In 1275, King Waldemar was forced off the throne by his