Early Swedish literature

Early Swedish literature

Early Swedish literature designates Swedish literature written between approximately 1200–1500 AD.

As Swedish evolved from Old Norse in the 13th century, the Swedish literature began to take form as an independent body of literature. The earliest form of an independent Swedish language is called Old Swedish, and it was used in the years 1225 to 1526. The period was initiated by the first provincial laws. In them, the runic Futhark was almost totally replaced by the Latin alphabet. [Lönnroth, Delblanc, et al] The provincial laws are believed to have had a solid centuries-old foundation that was kept alive by oral tradition until they were written down. Compared to the Christianity-influenced Swedish literature during the ensuing centuries, the provincial laws are described as having a touch of the ancient folkhistory; of tradition and age. [Gustafson 1961, pp.27-28]

Because of the dominant Catholic Church, Latin had come to be the lingua franca for all matters of education, science and religion. Therefore, there are few traces of Old Swedish in the old medieval manuscripts. As mentioned, the most important exceptions were the provincial laws. Second to the laws come the legends of saints, popular among both commoners and scholars. These works would often be based upon the international best-seller "Golden Legend" ("Legenda aurea"), but also included biographies of many local Swedish saints. [Gustafson, p.30-32]

Other works need to be mentioned for their great historical importance. The "Chronicle of Charles" ("Karlskrönikan"), the "Chronicle of Eric" ("Erikskrönikan") and the "Chronicles of Sture" ("Stureskrönikorna") give a coverage of the entire time of Swedish history between the early 14th to the late 15th century. The earliest and most notable of these was the Chronicle of Erik, written around 1330, focusing on the life of Duke Erik Magnusson. In term of literary quality, the chronicles were written in an unambitious rhyming verse known as knittel, without actual literary ambitions. [Algulin, p.21; Gustafson, pp.41-43]


= Latin = Several early Swedish works were written in Latin, but they are still considered part of Swedish literature history. [This done by both Gustafson (1961), Algulin (1989) and L Lönnroth & S. Delblanc, et al (1984)] It was the Christian field that gave birth to most literature in the ensuing centuries. The monk Petrus de Dacia (ca 1230-1290) originated from a monastery on the island Gotland, south-east Sweden. The literature for which he is best known are his letters of admiration directed to the pious woman Christine of Cologne, Germany. de Dacia is generally regarded the first Swedish writer. [Algulin, 1989, p.22]

In the 14th century, one notable figure stands out: Saint Birgitta, a devoted christian mystic, who had visions of Mother Mary, Christ, or some other apostle or saint. Her complete writings were published as "Revelaciones celestes" in 1492, and they have since been translated to several languages. [Algulin, p.23-24]

Notes

References

* Algulin, Ingemar, "A History of Swedish Literature", published by the Swedish Institute, 1989. ISBN 0803247508
* Gustafson, Alrik "A History of Swedish Literature" (2 volumes), 1961.
* Lönnroth, L., Delblanc S., Göransson, S. "Den svenska litteraturen" (ed.), 3 volumes (1999)
* Tigerstedt, E.N., "Svemsk litteraturhistoria" (Tryckindustri AB, Solna, 1971)


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Swedish literature — refers to literature written in the Swedish language or by writers from Sweden. [For example, both Birgitta of Sweden (14th century) and Emanuel Swedenborg (18th century) wrote most of their work in Latin, but since they came from Sweden, their… …   Wikipedia

  • Swedish literature — Introduction       the body of writings produced in the Swedish language within Sweden s modern day geographic and political boundaries.       The literatures of Sweden and Finland are closely linked. From the mid 12th century until 1809, Finland …   Universalium

  • Modernist Swedish literature — Modernistic Swedish literature refers to modernist literature of Swedish literature. The period started in the 1910s, although there is no exact year. Some regard the year 1910 as the starting year, when August Strindberg published several… …   Wikipedia

  • Swedish language — Swedish svenska Pronunciation [ˈsvɛ̂nskâ] Spoken in   …   Wikipedia

  • Swedish Romantic literature — denotes Swedish literature between 1809 and 1830. [These years are given by Tigerstedt, 1971] In Europe, the period from circa 1805 ndash;1840 is known as Romanticism. It was also strongly featured in Sweden, based on German influences. During… …   Wikipedia

  • Swedish Modernist poetry — denotes modernist poetry of Swedish literature. It developed in the 1930s and 40 s. Distinguishing features was the lust to experiment, and to try a variety of styles, usually free prose without rhymes or metric syllables. The lead figure of the… …   Wikipedia

  • Swedish dialects — can be categorized into Traditional Dialects (with no Standard Swedish influence) and Modern Dialects (with various degrees of Standard Swedish influence). Contents 1 Traditional dialects 2 See also 3 References …   Wikipedia

  • literature — /lit euhr euh cheuhr, choor , li treuh /, n. 1. writings in which expression and form, in connection with ideas of permanent and universal interest, are characteristic or essential features, as poetry, novels, history, biography, and essays. 2.… …   Universalium

  • Swedish children's literature — The Swedish children s literature tradition was initiated by the Swedish speaking Finn Zacharius Topelius in the 19th century. It flourished at the dawn of the 20th century with Elsa Beskow (1874 1953), who wrote and illustrated some 40 children… …   Wikipedia

  • Swedish emigration to the United States — During the Swedish emigration to the United States in the 19th and early 20th centuries, about 1.3 million Swedes left Sweden for the United States of America. While the land of the U.S. frontier was a magnet for poor all over Europe, some… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”