Uppsala

“ The portrait at Uppsala, which was done by Abraham Wuchters, seems faithfully to reflect the dominating will and the brilliant but poorly-balanced mind of the queen.
“Carolina Rediviva” is the name of the University library—a name having its origin in an old university building, which in the time of Gustav Adolf was called Carolina Academy. Carolina Rediviva is [126] decidedly the largest library in Sweden, and contains many treasures of various sorts. Among these are beautiful examples of illuminated work from the eleventh century on. One of the manuscripts has every initial letter in gold. ”

“ All the science, art, literature, and poetry the Swedish people have produced originated there; and many illustrious names, such as Linnæus and Berzelius, shed their radiant halo far beyond the boundaries of the country. Upsala now is only a student’s camp. Libraries, lecture halls, laboratories, museums, and dormitories cluster around the cathedral, and all the life of the place has been absorbed by the one institution—the University. Ole Bull came to Upsala not to give a concert, but to play for the students. It is true, as Jules Janin said of him, his violin is his love, his art his life. ”

“ Hunted by the furies, I found myself finally in December 1896 fixed fast in the little university town Lund, in Sweden. A conglomeration of small houses round a cathedral, a palace-like university building and a library, forming an oasis of civilisation in the great southern Swedish plain. I must admire the refinement of cruelty which has chosen this place as my prison. The University of Lund is much prized by the natives of Schonen, but for a man from the north like myself the fact that one stays here is a sign that one has come to an inclined plane and is rolling down. ”

“ I saw the famous Codex argenteus, in the library, the original manuscript of Frithiof's Saga, the journals of Swedenborg and Linnæus, the Botanical Garden, and the tombs of Gustavus Vasa and John III. in the cathedral. But most interesting of all was our drive to Old Upsala, where we climbed upon the mound of Odin, and drank mead out of the silver-mounted drinking horn, from which Bernadotte, Oscar, and the whole royal family of Sweden, are in the habit of drinking when they make a pilgrimage to the burial place of the Scandinavian gods.
A cold, pale, yellow light lay upon the landscape ”

“ I confess to surprise on coming to Upsala and finding the ancient university here in high prosperity, with all the appliances of education that first-class institutions require. Linnæus, the great botanist, was professor here, and his statue is one of the ornaments of the university. The Hospital,—a new and extensive building,—a royal palace on a hill, the Agricultural College, the Library, &c., with a Botanical Garden and ample parks, suggest to the traveller that in Sweden one might find a home to his mind, if his lot had been cast in this part of the earth. ”

“ Oft thought the Swedes that he showed himself to them in dreams before great battles should be; and to some he gave victory there and then, and to others bidding to come to him; and either lot they deemed good enow." "Now this Sweden they called Manhome, but Sweden the Great called they Godhome; and of Godhome are told many tales and many marvels." [93]
The founder of Upsala was Frey, one of Odin's Diar or temple-priests, and his successor, next but one, as king. He "raised a great temple at Upsala, and there he had his chief abode, and endowed it with all his wealth, both land and chattels. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Or think you there is any place in Sweden that can boast of owning, at the same time, two such cloisters as the ones in Alvastra and Vreta, and such a beautiful cathedral as the one in Linköping?'
"'That may be so,' said the peasant. 'But I'm an old man, and I know that people's minds are changeable. I fear that there will come a time when they won't want to give us any glory, either for Alvastra or Vreta or for the cathedral.'
"'Herein you may be right,' said Ulvåsa-lady, 'but you need not doubt prophecy on that account. ”

“ About three miles north of Upsala, the seat of the great university, is Old Upsala, more sacred than any other spot in Sweden: for here are the lofty mounds which tradition has consecrated as graves of the gods,—the gods who aforetime were held in reverent awe and honor by the Scandinavian race, and who, to this day, hold some sort of sway over the rude masses of the North. ”

“ CASTLE OF ELSINORE.
“A journey of twenty-four hours brought us to Stockholm. We only lingered on the way to see the very fine Cathedral of Lund, the Oxford of Sweden. The scenery is not beautiful, but pretty—an exaggerated Surrey, low hills and endless fir-woods, with tiny glistening lakes.
THE JUNCTION OF LAKE MALAR AND THE BALTIC, STOCKHOLM.
“Stockholm has deeply interested us, and there is an odd feeling in being at a place and knowing that it is for once and once only in a lifetime. ”

“ During the Middle Ages the cathedral and the see of the archbishop made Upsala a kind of ecclesiastical capital. There the kings were crowned, after the election had taken place at the Mora stones, 10 miles south-east of Upsala. As early as the 14th century, however, Stockholm became the proper residence of the king. ”

“ Helsingborg, itself, as I learned as a result of my climb, is a very pretty town with bright, clean buildings, magnificently situated upon the shores of the Sound through which many ships were passing. Below me, up and down the clean, well-paved streets moved the busy Swedes, intent upon their daily tasks. But as it was a clear day I also secured a fine sweep of the surrounding Swedish landscape, and—most interesting of all—had a clear view of the nearest corner of Denmark, Helsingör, as the Danes call it, but the Elsinore of Hamlet to all English-speaking peoples. ”

“ Few cities offer richer stores to the lovers of the romance of history than does the capital of Sweden. One edifice alone, the Ritterhaus—literally, the House of Knights or Lords—in which the Swedish nobility were wont to hold their Diets, would furnish subject-matter for a score of romances. Not a door nor a window, scarce a stone in the building, but tells of some sanguinary feud, or fierce insurrection of the populace, in the troublous days of Sweden. ”

“ The place was the chief town of all the Swede-realm and one of its monarchs built there a great Hall of the Seven Kings. "The Upsala kings were the master kings in Sweden, whereas there were many county-kings therein, from the time that Odin was lord in Sweden." [95]
Again in the Saga of Olaf the Holy we read: "Tenthland (p. 185) is the best and most nobly peopled of Sweden. Thither louteth all the realm. Upsala is there, with the king's-seat, and there is an archbishop's chair, and thereby is named the wealth of Upsala. So call the Swedes the King's-wealth, they call it Upsala-wealth. ”

“ The Swedish students came to Copenhagen, and that they might there be known amongst the multitude, the Upsala students wore a white cap with a black rim: this cap is accordingly a memorial,—the sign of friendship's bridge over that river of blood which once flowed between kindred nations. When one meets in heart and spirit, a blissful seed is then sown. Memory's sprite, come to us! we know thee by the cap from Upsala: be thou our guide, and from our more southern home, after years and days, we will make the voyage over again, quicker than if we flew in Doctor Faustus' magic cloak. ”

“ By the middle of the twelfth century there were a considerable number of people gathered together round the fortress for commerce and protection.
There is one man honoured by the people of Stockholm as the founder of the city. This was Birger Jarl, who was a King in all but name. He built walls and towers round the houses on the largest island, gave it the name and privileges of a city, and styled it the capital of Sweden. As he was a man of great power and influence, many more people were attracted to it. This city then took the place of Upsala, which before had been the seat of government. ”

“ I saw the north, the south, and the central parts of Sweden, its east and its west, illumined by rays of light which till then had not penetrated them; and the popular consciousness and popular life guided by representatives, worthy through their knowledge and their personal character to represent each individual province in its peculiarities and its life, as a portion of a great whole, of a country, a people with an inheritance as large as the former history of Sweden; with a future which may emulate in human greatness that of the greatest people on the earth. ”

“ The industries are unimportant.
The name of Upsala originally belonged to a place still called Old Upsala nearly 2 m. N. of the present city. This Upsala, mentioned as early as the 9th century, was famous throughout Scandinavia for its splendid heathen temple, which, gleaning with gold, made it the centre of the country, then divided into a great number of small kingdoms. Three huge grave mounds or barrows remain here. In the same place the first cathedral of the bishops of Upsala was also erected (c. 1100) . ”

“ Where the delights of Nature are comparatively few, on a wide, flat plain, distantly walled by low-looking hills, there has stood since the very twilight of Swedish history the town of Upsala—Lofty Halls. ”

“ Roll, ye runes! see over Brunkaberg sand-ridge, where the Swedish people conquered the Danish host, there they raise the May-pole: it is midsummer-eve—Gustavus Vasa makes his entry into Stockholm.
Around the May-pole there grow fruit and kitchen-gardens, houses and streets; they vanish in flames, they rise again; that gloomy fortress towards the tower is transformed into a palace, and the city stands magnificently with towers and draw-bridges. There grows a town by itself on the sand-ridge, a third springs up on the rock towards the south; the old walls fall at Gustavus Adolphus's command ”

“ A vast city of more than a quarter of a million souls rises straight from the [200] primeval forest and clear blue water. The Swedish capital reposes on islands and spreads to the mainland north and south, surrounded by the woods and the lakes. Westward to the Cattegat is a shipway, hollowed partly by the spade of man and partly by the tooth of time; northward stretches a natural waterway to the ancient capital of Lofty Halls. And the winding fjord that leads up from the open sea, through which the great lake drains, is of wonderful beauty. ”

“ When two years had passed away, tidings were brought to Stockholm which filled everybody with triumph and sorrow at the same time. The Swedes had won a glorious victory at Lutzen. But alas! the warlike king of Sweden, the Lion of the North, the father of our little Christina,—had been slain at the foot of a great stone, which still marks the spot of that hero's death.
Soon after this sad event, a General Assembly, or Congress, consisting of deputations from the nobles, the clergy, the burghers, and the peasants of Sweden was summoned to meet at Stockholm. ”

“ We are off to Upsala; the paddles strike the waters of the Mälar, and we shoot away from the picturesque city of Stockholm. The whole voyage, direct to Upsala, is a kaleidescope on a large scale. It is true, there is nothing of the magical in the scenery, but landscape gives place to landscape, and clouds and sunshine refresh their variegated beauty. The Mälar lake curves, is compressed, and widens again: it is as if one passed from lake to lake through narrow canals and broad rivers. ”

“ The 16th century added but little to Swedish literature, and that little is mostly connected with the newly founded university of Upsala. The Renaissance scarcely made itself felt in Scandinavia, and even the Reformation failed to waken the genius of the country. Psalms and didactic spiritual poems were the main products of Swedish letters in the 16th century. Two writers, the brothers Petri, take an easy prominence in so barren a period. ”

“ Later the king remarked: “Lord Sten, it is a bad inheritance you have bequeathed on me in Sweden; the peasants whom God created slaves you have made into lords, and those who should have been lords you try to make slaves.” At his coronation in Upsala, the king bestowed knighthood upon many Swedish nobles (something that had been beyond Lord Sten’s authority to do) , upon his return to Denmark appointing Lord Sten to take the reins of government with three state councillors at his side. ”

“ In ecclesiastical architecture Sweden possesses the noble cathedrals of Lund, Upsala and Linköping; while that of Skara, near the southern shore of Lake Vencr, dates originally from 1150, and that of Strengnäs on Lake Mälar was consecrated in 1291. There is a remarkably perfect Romanesque church, with aisles, eastern apse and ambulatory, at Varnhem in Skaraborg Län, and there are a few village churches of the same period in this district and in Skåne. The monastic church at Vadstena on Lake Vetter is a beautiful example of Gothic of the 14th and 15th centuries. ”