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TRANSLATORS INTRODUCTION.
Professor Geijer’s History of the Swedes (Svenska Folkets Historia) was published at Örebro in
1832-36; a German version, by Dr. Leffler, made under the author’s supervision, was published
contemporaneously at Hamburg. The work possesses a European reputation; all competent judges admit
that the writer has added one to the scanty list of great national histories, and achieved on behalf of the
literature of his country and his own fame, an emprise to which Dalin, Lagerbring, and other annalists
of the last century, were unequal. The present volume comprises all of the original which has hitherto
appeared; the continuation, which will bring the history down to a more recent date, is in an advanced
state of preparation; and its appearance will be welcomed by all who delight in historical studies, or are
capable of appreciating the important relations of the subject. But the work is even now more
complete than either of the two older referred to; the former of which comes down only to the close of the
reign of Charles IX. in 1611, while the latter breaks off in the middle of the fifteenth century.
Some notice of the author’s life may be expected by those who are unacquainted with his position
and labours. He was born on the 12th January, 1783, at Ransater, in the province of Vermeland;
entered the University of Upsala in his seventeenth year, and at twenty obtained the chief prize of the
Swedish Academy for eloquence in composition. In 1806 he took the degree of M. A., and after
visiting England, was appointed in 1810 Lecturer on History at Upsala, and in 1817 Professor, on the death
of Fant, whose pupil he had been. Subsequently he was charged by King Charles John with the
superintendence of the studies of the Crown-Prince Oscar, now King of Sweden and Norway, to whom
the original of the present translation is dedicated. In 1824 he was nominated one of the eighteen in
the Swedish Academy; and in 1826, on his return from travels in Denmark and Germany, member of
the Commission of Public Education. In 1828 he was created by his sovereign Knight of the Order of
the Polar Star, and chosen to represent the University of Upsala in the Diet. In 1840 he was again
elected to the same trust, from which, in the present Diet, he has retired. While he remained a
member of the legislature, he filled one of the foremost places in the councils of his country ; and was
distinguished as the friend of every well-considered liberal measure. Being in orders, the Bishopric of
Linkœping was offered to his acceptance in 1833, and in 1834 that of Carlstad; but he is understood to
have declined both. During this long and brilliant career, his official duties and the engrossing
concerns of politics, did not prevent him from rendering the most important services to the literature of his
country. He assisted in editing, with Afzelius, the old popular poetry of Sweden; and with Archbishop
Lindblom and Schrœder, was appointed by royal warrant to prepare for the press the great collection of
the Scriptores Rerum Suecicarum, which appeared at Upsala in 1818 and 1828. He was editor or chief
contributor to the Swea and Iduna, reviews established in imitation of those of Britain; he is also
a poet as well as a critic and philologer, and those who have read “The Pirate,” will probably not
question his claims to the Scaldic laurel. In 1825 appeared a volume of Dissertations on the Early
History and Antiquities of Sweden (the Swea Rikes Häfder), full of the most curious and recondite
learning, conveyed in a popular and eloquent mode of exposition [1]. Finally, in the “Litteratur Blad” or
Literary Journal for 1838-39, there appeared from his pen a series of Essays on the Poor Laws, and
their Bearing on Society, which testify to the wisdom of his political views and the extent of his
information. Of these one of the principal objects was to advocate the liberation of labour and trade in
Sweden from the fetters of corporate restriction, and the adoption of a liberal tariff on foreign produce
imported. Such is a brief and imperfect summary of the public services and honours of this celebrated
[1] This the translator hopes to be able to issue in a future volume.
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