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11 INTRODUCTION.
taught sewing, knitting, spinning, weaving, etc. When grown up, they could
associate with the men quite freely, and at festivals even drink mead in their
presence.
Slaves were the property of their master. They were in many instances
bought in foreign countries or taken as prisoners of war. Afterwards they
were increased in a natural way by intermarriage among the slaves. They
were often liberated and could even by adoption be admitted into a freeborn
man’s family and tribe. One freeholder is known to have had as many as
eighty freedmen.
Introduction of Christianity. — On their seafaring expeditions the Vikings had
come in contact with Christianity, and many returned home adherents of the
gospel of Christ. The christians in southern Europe also learned of the home
of these terrible searovers, and began to think of christianizing the
Scandinavian countries.
A new day dawned in the North, when St. Ansgar, a French monk, wended
his way across the Belts, and through the woods of southern Sweden to bring
to its warlike inhabitants "the glad tidings of great joy." He arrived at
Birka, near Mälaren, 829 a. d. Here he preached one year and a half with
success. A chief named Hergeir was converted, and on his land the first church
building in Sweden was erected. Next to Ansgar came an English monk, St.
Sigfrid by name. He preached in Småland and especially in Västergötland,
where Christianity was quite generally accepted ca. 1000 a. d. In the year
1007 he was allowed to baptize the king, Olof Skötkonung. The Svear,
however, were loth to let go their faith in Odin etc. It was not till in 1082, that
the victory of Inge the elder over Blot-Sven forced them to accept Christianity.
Slowly the heathen temple was supplanted by the Christian church, and the
people abandoned their old gods for "hvite Krist." But although they had
accepted the teachings of Christianity, some of their old habits and practices
wère not forgotten for centuries, several even having remained, though in a
somewhat changed form, to this day.
Language and Literature. — The Swedish language is a branch of the old
Norse language, which in turn belongs to the Germanic group of the
Indo-European family of languages. Up to the year 800 a. d. the same language
was spoken in all the Scandinavian countries. It was the Old Norse-. A few
old inscriptions dating back even to the fourth century a. i>. give us a vague
idea of what this language was. At about 800 a. d. the different languages
of Scandinavia began to deviate from the old Norse more or less, and from
that time they are spoken of as distinct languages.
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