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(historik)
of the English student of history than Sweden. For this purpose it is superfluous to refer to the link of
a common extraction in remote antiquity, established no less by the internal evidence of language and
institutions, than by the probable, if not certain, testimonies of historic records. To those who delight
to investigate the origin of nations, and track through the course of ages the winding currents of their
strangely diversified destinies, the reflection is not without its charm, that the Swede and tho
Anglo-Saxon, races of men whose vocation in modern times has been so different, were brothers in the cradle,
so to speak, in the elder day of the world. The birth-place of the Goths, it seems to be now established,
was the mountain chain of the Caucasus, in the very heart of that wild land of Circassia, where their
descendants are now engaged in a struggle of life and death against the aggressions of the Slavonic
race [1]. Such researches and speculations have an elevating influence, as connecting the remote past
with the absorbing present, illustrating the affinities of nations, and recommending to our informed
reason those inspired accounts, so often attempted to be discredited, of the unity of the human family.
It may besides be wrong to suppose that, though referring to a distant age, they can throw no light
on the subsequent transactions of history; and as applied to modern times, are no more than fanciful
recollections or baseless dreams. How else, for instance, than by accepting the theory which makes the
Circassians a branch of the Gothic race, is the secret of that gallant and hitherto successful resistance to
be better explained? None but the descendants of so brave a stock, perhaps, would have defied with
equal intrepidity the slaves of the Russian colossus.
The Swedes are acknowledged by the most ancient records, as they have appeared in modern times,
to be the chief of the Scandian nations. The character of the people has ever been marked by depth of
feeling, strenuous self-reliance, and the capacity of ardent endeavour, which shine out at every period of
their annals. Their military achievements were signalised by desperate gallantry and brilliant success,
often against overwhelming superiority of force; of the sagacity and boldness of thought which distinguished
their politicians, the following pages contain many proofs [2]. That which some of the northern antiquaries
have styled their heroic age, offers few names that have preserved wide celebrity; among them, those of
Ragnar Lodbroc, the scourge of the British coasts, and Œsten,—the same in name, at least, with the
most formidable of the sea-kings, whom our English chroniclers call Hastings, an appellation which has
sometimes proved a stumbling-block to inquirers,—possess some interest for us, apart from their home
fortunes. But it is not in the days of barbarous anarchy that we should seek for the true heroic age
of Sweden. The events of the Union, which led to her temporary subjugation by Denmark, a country
of inferior size and population, but with energies better concentrated, powerfully enforce the lesson of
the evils of domestic dissensions; the story of the liberation by Gustavus Vasa possesses the interest of
romance, and forms a noble document of popular energy and patriotic devotion. It has sometimes been
supposed that the memory of Christian II. has been unjustly loaded with the charge of wanton cruelty;
his apologists have even represented him as anxious to break the power of the Swedish nobility, and by
raising the peasantry and improving their condition, to rest upon their support for the maintenance of
the Danish sway. It is true that he acted upon a somewhat similar policy in his own kingdom of
Denmark; but there cannot be a more baseless theory as respects its application to Sweden. It rests
indeed on an entire misconception. The Danish interest depended mainly on the support of the nobles
and clergy; and the Swedes only knew Christian as a bloody and remorseless oppressor, who scrupled at
nothing for the gratification of his own lusts and caprices, frenzied as they often were.
The feudal system, in that full development which it attained in other countries of Europe, did not
exist in medieval Sweden, but with the termination of the great civil war following the introduction of
Christianity, and the seizure of regal power by the Folkunger Earl, the ascendency of the nobles appears
established, with results for the government and community analogous to those elsewhere produced.
“This was the introduction of the feudal principle in Sweden, which manifested itself here in a peculiar
form, more tenacious of life than might be supposed. We know the origin of feudalism, from the warlike
trains of the soldier-kings and the magnates. A powerful nobility had arisen during the contest of the
rival kingly houses, and surrounded itself with bands of men-at-arms, which king Magnus Ladulas, by
the institution of a royal equestrian militia, endeavoured to draw into the service of the crown. The
whole was an attempt to organize in a royalist spirit an armed force of nobles [3].” With this view
exemption from taxes was granted by the king both to the barons and knights, and the inferior gentry
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