Gamla Uppsala

Gamla Uppsala is an area rich in archaeological remains: seen from the grave field whose larger mounds (left part) are close to the royal mounds. The building beyond the mounds is the church and to its right is the low Ting-mound and then Gamla Uppsala museum.

Gamla Uppsala (Swedish: [ˈɡâmːla ˈɵ̂pːˌsɑːla], Old Uppsala) is a parish and a village outside Uppsala in Sweden. It had 17,973 inhabitants in 2016.[1]

As early as the 3rd century AD and the 4th century AD and onwards, it was an important religious, economic and political centre.[2] Early written sources show that already during prehistory, Gamla Uppsala was widely famous in Northern Europe as the residence of Swedish kings of the legendary Yngling dynasty.[3] In fact, the oldest Scandinavian sources, such as Ynglingatal, the Westrogothic law and the Gutasaga talk of the King of the Swedes (Suiones) as the "King at Uppsala".[4] It was the main centre of the Swedes.[5]

During the Middle Ages, it was the largest village of Uppland, the eastern part of which probably originally formed the core of the complex of properties belonging to the Swedish Crown, the so-called Uppsala öd, of which the western part consisted of the royal estate itself, kungsgården.[6]

It was also the location of the Thing of all Swedes which was a thing (general assembly) held from prehistoric times to the Middle Ages, at the end of February or early March.[7] It was held in conjunction with a great fair called Disting, and a Norse religious celebration called Dísablót.[8][9] The Law of Uppland says that it was at this assembly that the king proclaimed that the fleet levy would be summoned for warfare during the summer, and all the crews, rowers, commanders and ships were decided.[10]

It was not only the Norse cultic centre, it also became Sweden's archbishopric in 1164.[11]

  1. ^ "Kingdom of Sweden". Geo Names.
  2. ^ Hadenius, Stig; Nilsson, Torbjörn & Åselius, Gunnar. (1996). Sveriges historia. Centraltryckeriet, Borås. ISBN 91-34-51857-6 p. 83:
      Uppsala, från 200- och 300-talen ett betydande ekonomiskt, religiöst och politiskt centrum i Mälardalen [...].   Translation: Uppsala, was from the 3rd and 4th centuries an important economic, religious and political centre in the Mälaren basin [...].
  3. ^ The article Gamla Uppsala, subsection Historia, in Nationalencyklopedin (1992):
      Tidiga skriftliga källor visar att G. redan under forntiden var vittberömt i Norden som säte för sveakungarna av den mytomspunna Ynglingaätten. & Translation: Early written sources show that G. as early as pre-historic times was widely famous in the Nordic countries as the residence of the Swedish kings of the legendary Yngling dynasty.
  4. ^ Thunmark-Nylén, Lena (1995), "Gamla Uppsala", Vikingatidens ABC, Swedish Museum of National Antiquities, ISBN 9171929843, archived from the original on 30 September 2007, retrieved 9 August 2007:
      Svearikets kung omtalas som kungen i Uppsala bl a i Ynglingatal, Gutasagan och Äldre Västgötalagens bihang om gränsdragning.   Translation: Sweden's king is mentioned as the king at Uppsala in for instance Ynglingatal, the Gutasaga and in the Westrogothic law's appendix on the establishment of the border.
  5. ^ Ljungkvist, John (2013), "Monumentaliseringen av Gamla Uppsala", in Sundqvist, Olof; Vikstrand, Per (eds.), Gamla Uppsala i ny belysning (PDF), Swedish Science Press, Uppsala, p. 33, ISBN 978-9171929846:
      Knappast någon ifrågasätter väl längre Gamla Uppsalas särställning som svearnas centrum.   Translation: Hardly anyone is likely to question the unique position of Gamla Uppsala as the centre of the Swedes anymore.
  6. ^ The article Gamla Uppsala, subsection Historia, in Nationalencyklopedin (1992):
      Under medeltiden var G. Upplands största by, vars östra del ursprungligen torde ha bildat kärnan i det s.k. Uppsala öd, kronans godskomplex, och vars västra del utgjorde själva kungsgården.   Translation: During the Middle Ages, G. was the largest village of Uppland, whose eastern part originally should have been the core of the so-called Uppsala öd, the complex of estates of the Crown, and whose western part consisted of the royal estate itself.
  7. ^ Folin, Nina (2001), "Landsting", Medeltidens ABC, Swedish Museum of National Antiquities, ISBN 9151839261, archived from the original on 1 September 2007, retrieved 9 August 2007
  8. ^ The article Disatinget, in the encyclopedia Nordisk familjebok
  9. ^ The article Disablot, in the encyclopedia Nordisk familjebok.
  10. ^ Söderberg, Werner. (1896). "Några studier rörande Disasagan", in Samlaren. p. 67.
  11. ^ "KG Hammar fick vänta", Kyrkans Tidning, nr 14, 2005.