In Scandinavian prehistory, sometimes specifically Swedish prehistory, the Vendel Period, or Vendel Age (; ) appears between the

Migration Period The Migration Period ( 300 to 600 AD), also known as the Barbarian Invasions, was a period in European history marked by large-scale migrations that saw the fall of the Western Roman Empire and subsequent settlement of its former territories ...

and the

Viking Age The Viking Age (about ) was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonising, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. The Viking Age applies not only to their ...

. The name is taken from the rich boat inhumation cemetery at Vendel parish church,

Uppland Uppland is a historical province or ' on the eastern coast of Sweden, just north of Stockholm, the capital. It borders Södermanland, Västmanland and Gästrikland. It is also bounded by lake Mälaren and the Baltic Sea. The name literally ...

. Unlike the preceding and succeeding eras, the Vendel Period left very few precious metal artifacts or runic inscriptions. Instead, it is extremely rich in animal art on copper-alloy objects. It is also known for '' guldgubbar'', tiny embossed gold foil images, and elaborate helmets with embossed decoration similar to the one found at Sutton Hoo in England. During the period, Swedish expeditions began to explore the waterways of territories which later became

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

, and

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

. The

Elder Futhark The Elder Futhark (or Fuþark, ), also known as the Older Futhark, Old Futhark, or Germanic Futhark, is the oldest form of the runic alphabets. It was a writing system used by Germanic peoples for Northwest Germanic dialects in the Migration Per ...

writing system was abandoned in favor of the Younger Futhark, virtually simultaneously over the whole of Scandinavia. Some runestones survive, most notably those at Rök and Sparlösa, both from . Other written sources are few and hard to interpret: a few Icelandic sagas, the tale of

Beowulf ''Beowulf'' (; ) is an Old English poetry, Old English poem, an Epic poetry, epic in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 Alliterative verse, alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and List of translat ...

, and accounts from some southern European writers. Earlier Swedish historians tried to make use of these to create a coherent history, but this effort has largely been abandoned, and the period is now mostly studied by archaeologists.

Background

The Germanic Iron Age is divided into the Early Germanic Iron Age (EGIA) and the Late Germanic Iron Age (LGIA). It is particularly for Sweden that the late Germanic iron age spanning between 550–800 is called the Vendel era. In Norway it is more common to refer to the period as the

Merovingian The Merovingian dynasty () was the ruling family of the Franks from around the middle of the 5th century until Pepin the Short in 751. They first appear as "Kings of the Franks" in the Roman army of northern Gaul. By 509 they had united all the ...

Age, while the Danish refer to it as the Younger Germanic Iron Age. The late Germanic Iron Age begins with the

fall of the Western Roman Empire The fall of the Western Roman Empire, also called the fall of the Roman Empire or the fall of Rome, was the loss of central political control in the Western Roman Empire, a process in which the Empire failed to enforce its rule, and its vast ...

and the rise of the Gothic kingdoms in Europe, later replaced by the

Franks file:Frankish arms.JPG, Aristocratic Frankish burial items from the Merovingian dynasty The Franks ( or ; ; ) were originally a group of Germanic peoples who lived near the Rhine river, Rhine-river military border of Germania Inferior, which wa ...

, the

Lombards The Lombards () or Longobards () were a Germanic peoples, Germanic people who conquered most of the Italian Peninsula between 568 and 774. The medieval Lombard historian Paul the Deacon wrote in the ''History of the Lombards'' (written betwee ...

and the

Avar Khaganate The Pannonian Avars ( ) were an alliance of several groups of Eurasian nomads of various origins. The peoples were also known as the Obri in the chronicles of the Rus' people, Rus, the Abaroi or Varchonitai (), or Pseudo-Avars in Byzantine Empi ...

. After the Western Roman Empire fell, gold became scarce and Scandinavians began to make objects of gilded bronze, with decorative figures of interlacing animals. During the early Germanic Iron Age, decorations tended to be representational; the animal figures were drawn in more basic forms. In the later Germanic Iron Age, artistic styles became more abstract, symbolic, and intricate, including figures with interlaced shapes and limbs. The upheaval in Europe appears to have lessened somewhat due to the gradual cessation of the Gothic Wars. Emperor Justinian's Eternal Peace (532) with the Shahanshah Khosrau I of

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

as well as the Byzantine reconquest of the Italian peninsula with the capitulation of the

Goths The Goths were a Germanic people who played a major role in the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the emergence of medieval Europe. They were first reported by Graeco-Roman authors in the 3rd century AD, living north of the Danube in what is ...

south of the

Po river The Po ( , ) is the longest river in Italy. It flows eastward across northern Italy, starting from the Cottian Alps. The river's length is , or if the Maira (river), Maira, a right bank tributary, is included. The headwaters of the Po are forme ...

( 555), the completion of the Byzantine reconquest ( 562) may be seen in context of what has been described as the Vendel period. The Merovingians have united the Gaulish Romans and the

Belgae The Belgae ( , ) were a large confederation of tribes living in northern Gaul, between the English Channel, the west bank of the Rhine, and the northern bank of the river Seine, from at least the third century BC. They were discussed in depth b ...

. The

establishing the Merovingan dynasty as "Kings of the Franks" (since 509). In

, in what today is the east-central part of Sweden, Old Uppsala was probably the centre of religious and political life. It had both a well-known sacred grove and great Royal Mounds.

Burial customs

Several areas with rich burial gifts, indicative of high status or royalty, have been found, including well-preserved boat inhumation graves at Vendel and Valsgärde, and tumuli at

Gamla Uppsala Gamla Uppsala (, ''Old Uppsala'') is a parish and a village outside Uppsala in Sweden. It had 17,973 inhabitants in 2016. As early as the 3rd century AD and the 4th century AD and onwards, it was an important religious, economic and political c ...

. These were used for several generations. Some of the riches were probably acquired through the control of mining districts and the production of iron. The rulers had troops of mounted elite warriors with costly armour. Grave goods of these mounted warriors include stirrups and saddle ornaments of birds of prey in gilded bronze with encrusted garnets. Chess pieces made of ivory in the Roman style are located in the western grave. Three Middle Eastern cameos and buttons made of

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

have also been found, together with Frankish clothes made of gold thread. Games were popular, as is shown in finds of tafl games, including pawns and dice. The Sutton Hoo helmet closely resembles helmets found in Gamla Uppsala, Vendel and Valsgärde, sharing elements such as boar imagery and ''pressblech'' foil decoration, showing that the

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

elite had extensive contacts with the Swedish elite.

Written sources

Mounted elite warriors are mentioned in the work of the 6th century Goth scholar

Jordanes Jordanes (; Greek language, Greek: Ιορδάνης), also written as Jordanis or Jornandes, was a 6th-century Eastern Roman bureaucrat, claimed to be of Goths, Gothic descent, who became a historian later in life. He wrote two works, one on R ...

, who wrote that the Swedes had the best horses beside the Thuringians. They also echo much later in the sagas, where king

Adils Eadgils, ''Adils'', ''Aðils'', ''Adillus'', ''Aðísl at Uppsölum'', ''Athisl'', ''Athislus'' or ''Adhel'' was a semi-legendary king of Sweden, who is estimated to have lived during the 6th century. ''Beowulf'' and Old Norse sources present h ...

is always described as fighting on horseback (both against Áli and Hrólf Kraki).

Snorri Sturluson Snorri Sturluson ( ; ; 1179 – 22 September 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was elected twice as lawspeaker of the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He is commonly thought to have authored or compiled portions of th ...

wrote that Adils had the best horses of his days. The epic of

also describes legendary tales about the Swedish Vendel times, including great wars called the Swedish-Geatish wars between the Swedish house of Scylfling and the Geatish house of Wulfling. That some Swedish legendary royals of them could be historical is supported by possibly independent references to them in

and Norse sagas. Geats could have been a part of the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain. They probably did not have any major role but could have been described by English sources as

Jutes The Jutes ( ) were one of the Germanic people, Germanic tribes who settled in Great Britain after the end of Roman rule in Britain, departure of the Roman Britain, Romans. According to Bede, they were one of the three most powerful Germanic na ...

. The Wulfling dynasty in Geatland might be related to the house of Wuffingas.Newton, Sam (2004). The Origins of Beowulf: And the Pre-Viking Kingdom of East Anglia. Boydell & Brewer. .

References

Sources

* Jesch, Judith (ed.) (2012). ''The Scandinavians from the Vendel Period to the Tenth Century: An Ethnographic Perspective'', Boydell Press, 2012. * Harrison, Dick. ''Sveriges historia: 600–1350''. Norstedts. Stockholm: 2009. * Hyenstrand, Åke. ''Lejonet, draken och korset. Sverige 500–1000'' he Lion, the Dragon, and the Cross. Sweden 500–1000 Enskede: TBP, 2002. {{Authority control Archaeological cultures of Europe Early medieval archaeological cultures of Europe Archaeological cultures in Sweden Migration Period Archaeology of Northern Europe Prehistory of Sweden 1st millennium in Europe

Background

Burial customs

Written sources

See also

References

Sources