Edmund William Gosse

“ Constitution.—Sweden is a limited monarchy. Its constitution, like that of England, rests on an historical development of several centuries. From the earliest times the people governed themselves through elected trustees, made laws and levied taxes, while the king was little more than their leader in war. By and by the power of the king was extended, and alongside of it there arose a class of great men, who certainly lessened the legal rights of the lower orders, but who never succeeded in completely subduing them. ”

“ Waldemar, whose mother was a sister of King Eric the Halt. Waldemar belonged to the Folkungar family, which had acquired great estates and risen to a position of high importance in the state. Under this dynasty the Goths and the Swedes gradually ceased to be jealous of one another, and became a thoroughly united people. From this time civil troubles in Sweden sprang, not from the antagonism of rival peoples, but chiefly from the increasing power of the great landowners, who strove incessantly to limit the rights of the free peasantry, and were often strong enough to defy the crown. ”

“ In 1786 Gustavus created the Swedish Academy, on the lines of the French Academy, but with eighteen members instead of forty. The first list of immortals, which included the survivors of a previous age and such young celebrities as Kellgren and Leopold, embraced all that was most brilliant in the best society of Stockholm; the king himself presided, and won the first prize for an oration. The principal writers of the reign of Gustavus III. bear the name of the Academical school. But we must first consider a writer of genius who had nothing academical in his composition. ”

“ When a king died, his authority did not necessarily pass to one of his sons; the freemen chose as his successor the member of the royal family who seemed to them best fitted for the duties of the office. The king's power was limited not only by the fact that he was elected but by the rights of the freemen in all matters concerning life and land. ”

“ On the 20th of July 1397 these delegates concluded what was called the union of Calmar. Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, while retaining their local laws and customs, were in all future time to be ruled by one king. When a king died he was to be succeeded by his eldest son; but if he were childless his successor was to be freely elected. In foreign affairs Scandinavia was always to act as a united country. Margaret had excellent intentions in devising this bold scheme, but the time was not ripe for so vast a change. ”

“ Intellectual life appeared to fall as low as commercial prosperity. The vigorous Norse-Icelandic literature was supplanted after the time of Hakon Magnusson by versions of foreign legends and history, but even that disappeared, and, as the manuscript copies grew scarcer, it appears as if for a while the Norwegians had ceased to read as well as to write. The Reformation spread more slowly into Norway than into the other Scandinavian countries, and had to be encouraged by the Danish kings by methods not altogether dissimilar to those by which Christianity had at first been introduced. ”

“ The most powerful members of the class, distinguished by their descent, possessions, and personal qualities, scarcely acknowledged a superior. They were surrounded by a band of dependents trained to arms, and were accustomed to foreign expeditions, which increased their wealth, power, and warlike habits. Nor did the law of equal succession which at all times prevailed in Norway at all break up the power of these great families. ”

“ In summer Norway is indebted, as regards climate, to the long days which, by reason of her high northern latitude, she enjoys. The heated water on the banks and in the fjords having during winter rendered impossible the formation of ice on the coast, and thus provided against any waste during summer of solar energy in a melting process, the sun can freely exert his beneficent influence, working, so to speak, well-nigh—in Finmark actually—without intermission throughout the short period of vegetation. ”

“ As far back as we can go in Swedish history we find that the principal aim of the Upsala kings was to get rid of the smaa-kongar, and to put royal officers in their place. These officers ruled in the king's name in association with the local things, but their tendency, especially in times of great civil commotion, was to make themselves as independent as possible. The king himself was always attended by some of the leading magnates, who formed a sort of council of state, and with their aid he prepared the plans which were afterwards submitted to the Great Thing. ”

“ But different parts of Sweden have also in this respect a greatly differing climate, of which we readily see the reason if we only recollect the character and the general features of the configuration of the country. Lapland and the western part of the country along the Norwegian frontier have a pronounced continental climate, and so has the high plateau to the south of Lake Vetter. On the other hand, the climate is more maritime the more we approach the coasts of the Baltic, and on the coast of the Cattegat and in Skåne the maritime climate distinctly predominates. ”

“ At this early period Sweden did not take in all the territory which now belongs to it. Scania, one of the most fruitful and prosperous districts of modern Sweden, had been from time immemorial an independent and comparatively powerful Gothic state. In the 9th century it was annexed to Denmark by King Guthrun; and, although in later times it was often a subject of bitter dispute between Denmark and Sweden, its connexion with the former country was not finally severed until the 17th century. Lund, the principal town in Scania, was for many generations the see of the primate of the Danish church. ”

“ The Cattegat skärgård, which extends from the fjord of Svinesund at the southern extremity of the Norwegian frontier as far as Halmstad, has a different aspect from that of the Baltic. In the Cattegat all the islands, as well as the rocks of the mainland, are almost bare of vegetation. Trees are quite absent in most places, and generally the grey rocks are not even covered with grass or moss. They look as if they were polished by the sea. Between these bare rocks there is, however, in many places even on the larger islands arable soil of great fertility. ”

“ The wood-grouse is the most valued winged game. Its favourite haunt is the great lone forests. Although it has been obliged to retreat before advancing cultivation, it is still pretty common in suitable places. More numerous and almost as much liked is the black grouse, which has somewhat the same distribution as the wood-grouse, but is less particular in the choice of its abode. In the forests of central and especially of northern Sweden the hazel-grouse is numerous in many places, and on the mountains above the tree-limit the ptarmigan is common everywhere. ”

“ The coasts which lay nearest to the Danes were those of the southern shores of the North Sea and the English Channel; but the nearest way for the Norsemen of western Norway lay straight across to the Shetlands and Orkneys and thence south along the Scottish coasts. It seems probable, therefore, that the first expeditions which ravaged the coast of Northumberland, and which swept down by the Hebrides to Ireland, and thence in some instances to the more southern coasts of France, before Flanders and the northern coasts of France began to suffer, started from the western coasts of Norway. ”

“ Journalism began to develop; the Swedish Academy was founded; the drama first learned to flourish in Stockholm; and literature began to take a characteristically national shape. This fruitful period naturally divides itself into two divisions, equivalent to the reigns of the two kings. The royal personages of Sweden have commonly been protectors of literature; they have strangely often been able men of letters themselves. Gustavus III. (1746-1792) , the founder of the Swedish Academy and of the Swedish theatre, was himself a playwright of no mean ability. ”

“ From the earliest times of which we have any authentic information there were in Sweden two more or less distinct peoples,—the Göta or Goths in the south, and the Svea or Swedes in the north. They spoke similar languages, were of the same Teutonic stock, and had like customs, institutions, and religious beliefs; but these facts did not prevent them from regarding one another with jealousy and dislike. The most powerful king among these peoples was the king at Upsala. ”

“ In the Baltic lie the two great islands of Gotland and Öland, of which the former is itself a county and a bishopric. These islands are quite different from the Swedish mainland. They are formed of Silurian limestone. On the western coast of Gotland the limestone rocks descend precipitously into the sea, and the island forms a comparatively smooth plateau, which slopes gradually to the east. The limestone soil is very fertile, and trees and plants thrive on it that do not otherwise grow in the climate of Sweden, such as walnuts, ivy, &c. ”

“ Magnus's guardian, Mats Ketilmundsson, was a man of strong and noble character, and as long as his supremacy lasted the Swedish people were more prosperous than they had ever been before. Taking advantage of the troubled condition of Denmark, he joined Scania and the neighbouring districts of Halland and Blekinge to the Swedish kingdom; and had his prudent system of government been maintained these provinces might have been kept, for the inhabitants seem to have preferred Swedish to Danish rule. But, when he died in 1336, the king fell under the influence of unworthy favourites. ”

“ Hastening back from Finland, he was able to rescue Gothenburg from the Danes with a force raised in Dalecarlia, and soon afterwards, through the intervention of England and Prussia, Denmark was induced to withdraw from the struggle. The majority of the diet, seeing the dangers to which the nation was exposed, rallied around the king, and, notwithstanding the opposition of the nobles, recognized the right of the crown to declare war. Impressed by the firm and rapid action of Gustavus, the army returned to its allegiance, and the conflict with Russia was begun in earnest. ”

“ One minister and two councillors must always be with the king when he is not in Norway. The others form, under the presidency of the remaining minister, or of the viceroy if there be one, the Government in Christiania; its authority is decisive, except in cases reserved for the king, when it only advises. As viceroy in Norway the king can nominate only the crown prince. ”

“ In early youth he seems to have convinced himself that it would be impossible for Sweden to become a prosperous country unless the royal authority were restored, and when at the age of twenty-five he succeeded his father he secretly resolved to make the crown supreme. ”

“ The most destructive enemies of freshwater fish in Norway are the otter, the loom, the duck, and the osprey.
The sea being very deep, both in the fjords and off the coast, such fishes and marine animals as affect great depths are there abundant. Some species are of great economic importance. On the banks off the coast of Finmark, at a depth of 150 to 200 fathoms, large numbers of the Greenland shark (Scymnis glacialis) are annually captured, their livers yielding a large quantity of oil. ”

“ Large herds of reindeer still roam throughout the alpine region of the fjelds between eastern and western Norway, and on the Dovre mountains, the Rundane, and the highlands between Gudbrandsdal and Österdal, and Gudbrandsdal and Valders; but this noble animal has become scarcer of late years, owing chiefly to the numbers killed by peasant hunters, who fire their rifles into the midst of the herd, sometimes maiming at a shot half-a-dozen animals, which they cannot hope to secure, and which afterwards become the prey of the glutton. ”

“ Under Olaf heathen worship was suppressed with the utmost severity, and Christianity may be said to have become the professed religion of the land. Olaf's rule was firm and powerful. Equal justice was dealt out, as far as practicable, to every one, often in a summary fashion. The great families had flourished under the earls, and seem to have been almost wholly independent within their own districts, but, as they one after the other came into collision with the king, they had to yield. ”

“ Of eatable game the elk holds the first place. It has increased in numbers and range of late years, and is pretty common in the forest tracts of central Sweden. The roe-deer, which has its proper home in the southmost parts of Sweden, has also increased of late, and has been seen as far north as Örebro län and Vestmanland. Hares occur in great abundance. Seals are found round the coast; they are hunted chiefly in the Baltic and the Gulf of Bothnia. Besides the larger beasts of prey, martens, weasels, otters, and squirrels are hunted for the sake of their skins, but not to any great extent. ”

“ The cold prevailing land-winds in winter cool the surface of the sea on the coasts; therefore the surface-temperature increases outwards towards a thermal axis extending off the coast of Norway, and the isotherms of the sea-surface assume the same linguiform shape as those of the air. In winter the surface of the sea on the coast has a higher temperature than the air. The surplus heat is in January 4° at the Skagerrak, 10° at the North Cape. In summer the surface of the sea is in part very slightly colder than the air. ”

“ Harold sailed south to meet them, and a fierce battle took place at Hafrs Fjord, near Stavanger, in which he gained a complete victory; the hostile force was entirely broken, and from this time his rule over all Norway appears to have been undisputed. Every man was forced to own him as master; new taxes and obligations were imposed; the fylkis were put under the rule of earls, and the hersirs became or were replaced by the king's lendermenn,—a title which becomes familiar in subsequent history. ”

“ Of the two peoples, the Goths seem to have been most active and open to new ideas. They spread along the southern coasts of Sweden and among the islands of the Baltic, and there can be little doubt that the Goths in Germany and Russia, who played so great a part in the disruption of the Roman empire, sprang from the Swedish Goths. ”