During the 9th century extensive Scandinavian settlements were made on the east side of the Baltic. The famous expeditions of Rurik and Askold which resulted in the origin of the Russian monarchy appear to have taken place towards the middle of the century, but it is not possible to connect these names with any families known to us from Swedish tradition. Many names in Russian chronicles seem to be Swedish.
The continuous history of Sweden begins in the early loth century, when a king named Eric son of Emund was reigning at Uppsala. Before the end of the century his descendent Olaf Skottkonung had created what for the moment was the strong est kingdom in the North. Under him Christianity was established in Sweden. As a leading ally in a coalition which included Sweyn king of Denmark and earl Eric of Lade he overthrew Olaf Tryg gvason, king of Norway, and annexed for a time part of Trondhjem and the district now called Bohiislan which he handed over to earl Sweyn, brother of earl Eric as a marriage portion for his daughter Holmfrib. Some years later another Norwegian prince, Olaf Haraldsson (the Fat), returning to Norway as king, put an end to the Swedish and Danish supremacy, and in 1015 forced earl Sweyn to leave the country. An attempt to arrange a marriage alliance between Olaf Skottkonung and the new 'king of Norway was unsuccessful, and the relations between these kings were still strained when the former died probably in the winter of 10 2 1-2.
Anund, his son, early in his reign allied himself with Olaf Harald sson against Canute of Denmark, who had demanded the restitu tion of the rights possessed by his father Sweyn in Norway. The allies took advantage of the Danish king's absence to harry his land. On his return an indecisive battle was fought at Helgi A, and Anund returned to Sweden. Olaf was driven from Norway by the Danes, but in 2030 he raised a small army in Sweden only to meet his death at the battle of Stiklestad. Adund, who
died about 1 o5o, according to Adam of Bremen, was succeeded by his brother Emund the Old, who had been previously passed over because his mother was unfree, the daughter of a Slav prince and captured in war. This king had become a Christian, but soon quarrelled with Adalhard, archbishop of Bremen, and endeavoured to secure the independence of the Swedish church, which was not obtained for another century. Under Emund there was a rectifica tion of boundaries which assigned Blekinge to Denmark.
With his death in io6o, the old family of Swedish kings dies out. He was succeeded by his son-in-law Steinkel, a noble of VestergOtland, who was warmly attached to the Christian religion, though he refused to destroy the old sanctuary of idols at Uppsala. During his reign grants of land in Vermland made by the king to the Norse earl Haakon Ivarsson led to a successful invasion of Götaland by Harold Hardrada of Norway. Steinkel also had dis putes with Denmark. His death in 1o66 was followed by a civil war, and for the next fifteen years the history of Sweden is very obscure. In 108i we find the sons of Steinkel, Inge and Halstan reigning. Inge's attachment to Christianity caused him to be expelled after a short time by his brother-in-law Sweyn or Blots weyn, so called from his revival of the old sacrifices, described by Adam of Bremen. Sweyn retained the kingship only for three years before Inge returned and slew him.
Germania, cap. 44 ; Claudius Ptolemaeus, Geographica II ad fin.; Jordanes, De origine actibusque Getarum, cap. 3; Procopius, De bello gothico, ii. 15; Beowulf, Rimbertus, Vita S.
Ansgarii in monumenta Germaniae historica, ii. (Hanover, 2829) ; King Alfred's translation of Orosius i. 1. Adam of Bremen, Gesta hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum iii. and iv.; Ynglinga Saga, with the poem Yngringatal contained in the Heimskringla; Olafs Sagan Tryggvasonar and Olafs Saga hips Helga, both contained in Heims kringla and in Fornmanna sogur; Saxo grammaticus, gesta Danorum; a collection of later Swedish Chronicles contained in Rerum suecicarum scriptores, vol. iii. (ed. Annerstedt, Uppsala, 1871 and 1876) ; Thomsen, The Relations between Ancient Russia and Scandinavia and the Origin of the Russian State (1877) ; J. Stefansson, Hist. of Denmark and Sweden in Story of the Nations Series (1916) ; Sveriges historia, vol. i. (Montelius and Hildebrand, Stockholm, vol. I. 1919, vol. 2. 1925).