Suiones

Suiones, or Svear, were an ancient Germanic people in Scandinavia. Their primary dwellings were in Roslagen on the eastern coast of Sweden, in the area of the present cities of Uppsala, Stockholm and around the shores of Lake Mälaren. During the Viking Age they constituted the basis of the Varangian subset, the Vikings that travelled eastwards. The lands of the Svear were called Svealand, and when they united politically with the Geats in Götaland in the 11th century, it gave birth to the Swedish kingdom. They gave their name to the nation of Sweden, or Sverige in Swedish, from Svea rike - the Svear kingdom.

Much debate is raised as to whether the original domains of the Suiones really was in Uppsala, the heartland of Uplandia, or if the term was used commonly for all tribes within Svealand, in the same way as old Norways different provinces were collectively referred to as Nortmanni. The established Svealand theory holds that Svear, based at the Asa-cult center in Ancient Uppsala, dominated the territory and gave it its name.

In literature, the Svear are named in the Old English epic Beowulf as Sweonas, and by the Roman author Tacitus under the name Suiones in his Germania. In the work of Adam of Bremen, about the Hamburg-Bremen archbishops, they are denoted Sueones. By Jordanes in the History of the Goths, they are called Suehans, and by Snorri Sturluson they are called Svias.

See also

• Swedes
• Svea
• Mother Svea
• Trial by combat
• Trial by ordeal