1.
Skara Cathedral
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Skara Cathedral is a church in the Swedish town of Skara. The cathedral is the seat for the bishop of the Church of Sweden Diocese of Skara and its history is traced from the 11th century, but its current appearance is from the 13th century. The church has a crypt that was found in 1949 after having been buried under stones since the 13th century. A grave, containing a skeleton, was found in the crypt, the church is 65 meters long and the towers reach a height of 63 meters. Wideen, Harald, nd, Skara Domkyrka, kort historik och vägledning Skara Cathedral profile
2.
Birger Jarl
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Birger Jarl, or Birger Magnusson, was a Swedish statesman, Jarl of Sweden and a member of the House of Bjelbo, who played a pivotal role in the consolidation of Sweden. Birger also led the Second Swedish Crusade, which established Swedish rule in Finland, additionally, he is traditionally attributed to have founded the Swedish capital, Stockholm around 1250. Birger used the Latin title of Dux Sweorum which in English equals Duke of Sweden, and it is known that Birger grew up and spent his adolescence in Bjälbo, Östergötland but the exact date of his birth remains uncertain and available historical sources are contradictory. Examinations of his mortal remains indicate that he was probably about 50 upon his death in 1266 which would indicate a birth around 1216. However, his father Magnus Minnesköld is assumed to have died no later than 1210 and his brothers or half-brothers — Eskil, Karl, and Bengt — were all born long before 1200, and it can therefore be assumed that they had another mother. He was also a nephew of the jarl Birger Brosa from the House of Bjelbo, the combination of this background proved to be of vital importance. During the 15 years to follow, Birger then consolidated his position and was one of the most influential men years before being formally given the title jarl in 1248 by King Eric XI. Although Birger Jarl saw many battles, some have speculated that traces of a blow in Birgers cranium might have originated from this battle. However, the original 14th-century Russian version of the battle had no information on this at all, in 1247, royal troops led by Birger at the Battle of Sparrsätra fought with Folkung forces led by pretender Holmger Knutsson, son of King Canute II. The Folkungs lost the battle and were unable to resist the central government, Holmger Knutsson fled to Gästrikland and was captured there by Birger in the following year. Quickly brought to trial, he was beheaded, in 1249, Birger succeeded in ending a decades-long period of hostilities with Norway. As a part of the Treaty of Lödöse, he managed to marry off his daughter Rikissa, then only 11 years old, to Haakon Haakonsson the Young. Presumably later that year, Birger led an expedition to Finland, later dubbed as the Second Swedish Crusade, on King Erics death in 1250, Birgers son Valdemar was elected as the new king while Birger acted as regent, holding the true power in Sweden until his death. Birger thus combined financial support from Germany with papal political support to consolidate his own position, ingeborg died in 1254 and in 1261 Birger married the widow of King Abel of Denmark, the Danish queen dowager, Matilda of Holstein. Birger died on 21 October 1266, at Jälbolung in Västergötland and his grave in Varnhem Abbey was opened in May 2002. There is a cenotaph for him at the base of the tower of Stockholm City Hall and it was originally intended that his remains be removed there, but this was never done. Several other historical structures there are named for him including the street Birger Jarlsgatan on Norrmalm. The Hotel Birger Jarl is located in Stockholms Norrmalm neighborhood and he is also the central figure of Bröllopet på Ulvåsa by Frans Hedberg
3.
Monarch
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A monarch is the sovereign head of state in a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest authority and power in the state, alternatively, an individual may become monarch by conquest, acclamation or a combination of means. A monarch usually reigns for life or until abdication, if a young child is crowned the monarch, a regent is often appointed to govern until the monarch reaches the requisite adult age to rule. A monarch can reign in multiple monarchies simultaneously, for example, the monarchy of Canada and the monarchy of the United Kingdom are separate states, but they share the same monarch through personal union. Monarchs, as such, bear a variety of titles — king or queen, prince or princess, emperor or empress, archduke, duke or grand duke, Prince is sometimes used as a generic term to refer to any monarch regardless of title, especially in older texts. A king can also be a husband and a queen can be a kings wife. If both people in a reign, neither person is generally considered to be a consort. Monarchy is political or sociocultural in nature, and is associated with hereditary rule. Most monarchs, both historically and in the present day, have been born and brought up within a royal family, different systems of succession have been used, such as proximity of blood, primogeniture, agnatic seniority, Salic law, etc. In an elective monarchy, the monarch is elected but otherwise serves as any other monarch, historical examples of elective monarchy include the Holy Roman Emperors and the free election of kings of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. In recent centuries, many states have abolished the monarchy and become republics, advocacy of government by a republic is called republicanism, while advocacy of monarchy is called monarchism. A principal advantage of hereditary monarchy is the continuity of national leadership. In cases where the monarch serves mostly as a ceremonial figure real leadership does not depend on the monarch, a form of government may in fact be hereditary without being considered monarchy, such as a family dictatorship. Monarchies take a variety of forms, such as the two co-princes of Andorra, positions held simultaneously by the Roman Catholic Bishop of Urgel and the elected President of France. Similarly, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia is considered a monarch despite only holding the position for five years at a time, hereditary succession within one patrilineal family has been most common, with preference for children over siblings, sons over daughters. Other European realms practice one form or another of primogeniture, whereunder a lord was succeeded by his eldest son or, if he had none, by his brother, the system of tanistry was semi-elective and gave weight also to ability and merit. The Salic law, practiced in France and in the Italian territories of the House of Savoy, in most fiefs, in the event of the demise of all legitimate male members of the patrilineage, a female of the family could succeed. Spain today continues this model of succession law, in the form of cognatic primogeniture, in more complex medieval cases, the sometimes conflicting principles of proximity and primogeniture battled, and outcomes were often idiosyncratic
4.
Sweden
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Sweden, officially the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and Finland to the east, at 450,295 square kilometres, Sweden is the third-largest country in the European Union by area, with a total population of 10.0 million. Sweden consequently has a low density of 22 inhabitants per square kilometre. Approximately 85% of the lives in urban areas. Germanic peoples have inhabited Sweden since prehistoric times, emerging into history as the Geats/Götar and Swedes/Svear, Southern Sweden is predominantly agricultural, while the north is heavily forested. Sweden is part of the area of Fennoscandia. The climate is in very mild for its northerly latitude due to significant maritime influence. Today, Sweden is a monarchy and parliamentary democracy, with a monarch as head of state. The capital city is Stockholm, which is also the most populous city in the country, legislative power is vested in the 349-member unicameral Riksdag. Executive power is exercised by the government chaired by the prime minister, Sweden is a unitary state, currently divided into 21 counties and 290 municipalities. Sweden emerged as an independent and unified country during the Middle Ages, in the 17th century, it expanded its territories to form the Swedish Empire, which became one of the great powers of Europe until the early 18th century. Swedish territories outside the Scandinavian Peninsula were gradually lost during the 18th and 19th centuries, the last war in which Sweden was directly involved was in 1814, when Norway was militarily forced into personal union. Since then, Sweden has been at peace, maintaining a policy of neutrality in foreign affairs. The union with Norway was peacefully dissolved in 1905, leading to Swedens current borders, though Sweden was formally neutral through both world wars, Sweden engaged in humanitarian efforts, such as taking in refugees from German-occupied Europe. After the end of the Cold War, Sweden joined the European Union on 1 January 1995 and it is also a member of the United Nations, the Nordic Council, Council of Europe, the World Trade Organization and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Sweden maintains a Nordic social welfare system that provides health care. The modern name Sweden is derived through back-formation from Old English Swēoþēod and this word is derived from Sweon/Sweonas. The Swedish name Sverige literally means Realm of the Swedes, excluding the Geats in Götaland, the etymology of Swedes, and thus Sweden, is generally not agreed upon but may derive from Proto-Germanic Swihoniz meaning ones own, referring to ones own Germanic tribe
5.
Slavs
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Slavs are the largest Indo-European ethno-linguistic group in Europe. They are native to Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Southeastern Europe, Northeastern Europe, North Asia, Slavs speak Slavic languages of the Balto-Slavic language group. From the early 6th century they spread to inhabit most of Central, states with Slavic languages comprise over 50% of the territory of Europe, therefore it is the largest ethno-linguistic group in Europe by land area. Present-day Slavic people are classified into West Slavs, East Slavs, there are an estimated 360 million Slavs worldwide. The Slavic autonym is reconstructed in Proto-Slavic as *Slověninъ, plural *Slověne, the oldest documents written in Old Church Slavonic and dating from the 9th century attest the autonym as Slověne. The word slovo and the related slava and slukh originate from the Proto-Indo-European root *ḱlew-, cognate with Ancient Greek κλῆς, whence comes the name Pericles, Latin clueo, some other theories have limited support. The English term slave eventually derives from the ethnonym Slav, Slavs were captured and enslaved by the Muslims of Spain during the ninth century AD. The Slavs under name of the Antes and the Sclaveni make their first appearance in Byzantine records in the early 6th century. Procopius wrote in 545 that the Sclaveni and the Antae actually had a name in the remote past. He described them as barbarians, who lived under democracy, and that believe in one god. They lived in scattered housing, and constantly changed settlement, regarding warfare, they were mainly foot soldiers with small shields and battleaxes, lightly clothed, some entering battle naked with only their genitals covered. And they live a life, giving no heed to bodily comforts. Jordanes described the Sclaveni having swamps and forests for their cities, another 6th-century source refers to them living among nearly impenetrable forests, rivers, lakes, and marshes. Menander Protector mentions a Daurentius that slew an Avar envoy of Khagan Bayan I. The Avars asked the Slavs to accept the suzerainty of the Avars, he declined and is reported as saying, Others do not conquer our land. The relationship between the Slavs and a called the Veneti east of the River Vistula in the Roman period is uncertain. The name may refer both to Balts and Slavs, perhaps some Slavs migrated with the movement of the Vandals to Iberia and north Africa. Around the 6th century, Slavs appeared on Byzantine borders in great numbers, the Byzantine records note that grass would not regrow in places where the Slavs had marched through, so great were their numbers
6.
Lord High Chancellor of Sweden
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The Lord High Chancellor, literally Chancellor of the Realm, was a prominent and influential office in Sweden, from 1538 until 1797, excluding periods when the office was out of use. The office holder was a member of the Privy Council, in 1792, more than a century after the offices abolishment in 1680, it was revived but was then finally abolished twelve years later in 1797. During the Middle Ages, from the 13th century, the chancellor of the king was a confidant of the king. The chancellor was in general a man of the church, in 1560, during Eric XIVs reign, Nils Gyllenstierna became the first to receive the title Rikskansler. The Lord High Chancellor was appointed by the King and was assigned to ensure that the orders of the King, along the way, the assignments of the chancellor increased to the amount that a chancellery, the Privy Council, had to be established. In 1634, the five Great Officers of the Realm was introduced as the most powerful among the Privy Council members, the Chancellor was fourth in rank among these. Albeit fourth in rank, the Lord High Chancellor became the most important figure in the Privy Council, in 1680, Charles XI abolished the office and inaugurated a new position instead – President of the Chancellery. In 1792, during the minority reign of Gustav IV Adolph the office of Rikskansler was revived, King in Council Prime Minister of Sweden List of Prime Ministers of Sweden
7.
Duke of Finland
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Duke of Finland was an occasional medieval title granted as a tertiogeniture to the relatives of the King of Sweden between the 13th and 16th centuries. It included a duchy along with customs, and often represented a veritably independent principality. Grand Duke of Finland was a royal title used by Swedish monarchs from the 1580s until 1720, was revived again briefly 1802-1805 and was also used by Russias monarchs until 1917. In the late 15th century, historian Ericus Olai claimed that Bishop Kol of Linköping had been the Duke of Finland. In the late 12th century in Sweden, the Latin title dux was still used in the meaning of jarl, Ericus Olais claim is not supported by other sources. Noteworthy is also that the Bishop of Linköping had some sort of connection to eastern activities during the 13th century. The Pope used him in 1229 to assist the Bishop of Finland in organizing the diocese, the Bishop of Linköping had also accompanied the Swedish ledung on their unsuccessful Estonian expedition. Benedict, an eccleasiastic, the youngest brother of king Valdemar I of Sweden was granted the Duchy of Finland about 1284 by a subsequent brother on the throne, Benedicts appointment ended a 35-year-long period of episcopal rule in Finland, effective since the Second Swedish Crusade around 1249. Benedicts local reign did not last long, the Duke, a consecrated priest and the Chancellor of the Realm, was elected Bishop of Linköping in 1286. As far as is known, he bore revenues from Finland until his death and he was the first known holder of the appanage of Finland. The youngest son of the late King Magnus III of Sweden, valdemars elder brother Duke Eric in the 1310s was establishing a truly independent principality in Western Sweden, Duke Valdemar being his ally. On December 10,1317 he was imprisoned by King Birger in Nyköping together with Eric, sometime in 1318, Dukes Valdemar and Eric died while incarcerated. With his second wife Ingeborg of Norway, Duke Valdemar had a son, born in 1316, the Duke apparently never seriously attempted to establish himself as ruler of Finland, being satisfied to bear revenues from the duchy. He had his seat in Southern Sweden, where he acted as Viceroy of Scania. The Duke became the victim of certain opposition to King Magnus, was exiled in 1357. In 1357, his holdings, including Finland, had given to King Eric. Eric did not need the ducal title, and it was then vacant almost 200 years. In 1556, two hundred years after it was vacated by the removal of Duke Benedict, King Gustav I of Sweden gave the Duchy of Finland to his second son, John was the only holder of the title to establish a genuine princely rule of his own in Finland
8.
Lord High Constable of Sweden
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The Lord High Constable was a prominent and influential office in Sweden, from the 13th century until 1676, excluding periods when the office was out of use. The office holder was a member of the Swedish Privy Council and, from 1630 and on, from 1634, the Lord High Constable was one of five Great Officers of the Realm. In a letter from 1268, during the reign of Valdemar Birgersson, the holder of the prestigious title is a nobleman, but it is not possible to decide much about the assignments belonging to it. It is possible that the marsk, or the constable, replaced the stabularius that previously governed the kings mounted following, Constable Torgils Knutsson was the foremost among the powerful men that ruled Sweden during the childhood of king Birger Magnusson in the late 13th century. Later constables seem to only occasionally be called upon by the king, queen Margaret, who tried to reclaim power that previous kings had lost, chose to have neither a Lord High Constable nor a Lord High Steward. Her successor Eric of Pomerania was forced by the Swedish noblemen to appoint a constable, thus, in 1435, Karl Knutsson Bonde, a future Swedish king, became the first constable for quite some time. In a suggestion to a treaty of the Kalmar union from 1436, for most of the remaining part of the 15th century, the office was vacant. Lars Siggesson Sparre, long-time constable of Gustav I, was a significant figure during his kings reign, when something reminiscent of a council of war was founded in 1540, the constable was not included. King Gustavs successor, his oldest son Eric XIV, apparently had plans to modernize the office, as did the following rulers John III and Sigismund. The title meant no particular assignment until 1630, when constable Jacob De la Gardie became president of the Council of War. The Lord High Constable was second in rank of the five Great Officers of the Realm, established in 1634, when Carl Gustaf Wrangel died in 1676, the office was abolished. King Charles XI, who had come to age four years earlier, wanted to avoid appointing new holders of the high offices, the fodermarsk appeared in the late Middle Ages and was responsible for the foddering of the courts horses. The first hovmarskalk, Marshal of the Court, was appointed in c.1540, earlier, the office holder was supervising the economy of the court. Todays First Marshal of the Court is the head of the Office of the Marshal of the Court, göran Klasson Stjernsköld became the first riksmarskalk, Marshal of the Realm, in 1607. As such, he was the head of the court
9.
Archaeology
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Archaeology, or archeology, is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, Archaeology can be considered both a social science and a branch of the humanities. In North America, archaeology is considered a sub-field of anthropology, archaeologists study human prehistory and history, from the development of the first stone tools at Lomekwi in East Africa 3.3 million years ago up until recent decades. Archaeology as a field is distinct from the discipline of palaeontology, Archaeology is particularly important for learning about prehistoric societies, for whom there may be no written records to study. Prehistory includes over 99% of the human past, from the Paleolithic until the advent of literacy in societies across the world, Archaeology has various goals, which range from understanding culture history to reconstructing past lifeways to documenting and explaining changes in human societies through time. The discipline involves surveying, excavation and eventually analysis of data collected to learn more about the past, in broad scope, archaeology relies on cross-disciplinary research. Archaeology developed out of antiquarianism in Europe during the 19th century, Archaeology has been used by nation-states to create particular visions of the past. Nonetheless, today, archaeologists face many problems, such as dealing with pseudoarchaeology, the looting of artifacts, a lack of public interest, the science of archaeology grew out of the older multi-disciplinary study known as antiquarianism. Antiquarians studied history with attention to ancient artifacts and manuscripts. Tentative steps towards the systematization of archaeology as a science took place during the Enlightenment era in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries, in Europe, philosophical interest in the remains of Greco-Roman civilization and the rediscovery of classical culture began in the late Middle Age. Antiquarians, including John Leland and William Camden, conducted surveys of the English countryside, one of the first sites to undergo archaeological excavation was Stonehenge and other megalithic monuments in England. John Aubrey was a pioneer archaeologist who recorded numerous megalithic and other monuments in southern England. He was also ahead of his time in the analysis of his findings and he attempted to chart the chronological stylistic evolution of handwriting, medieval architecture, costume, and shield-shapes. Excavations were also carried out in the ancient towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum and these excavations began in 1748 in Pompeii, while in Herculaneum they began in 1738. The discovery of entire towns, complete with utensils and even human shapes, however, prior to the development of modern techniques, excavations tended to be haphazard, the importance of concepts such as stratification and context were overlooked. The father of archaeological excavation was William Cunnington and he undertook excavations in Wiltshire from around 1798, funded by Sir Richard Colt Hoare. Cunnington made meticulous recordings of neolithic and Bronze Age barrows, one of the major achievements of 19th century archaeology was the development of stratigraphy. The idea of overlapping strata tracing back to successive periods was borrowed from the new geological and paleontological work of scholars like William Smith, James Hutton, the application of stratigraphy to archaeology first took place with the excavations of prehistorical and Bronze Age sites
10.
Sveriges Television
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Aftonbladet is a Swedish tabloid published in Stockholm, Sweden. It is one of the daily newspapers in the Nordic countries. The newspaper was founded by Lars Johan Hierta in December 1830 under the name of Aftonbladet i Stockholm during the modernization of Sweden, in 1852 the paper began to use its current name, Aftonbladet, after 25 name changes. It describes itself as an independent social-democratic newspaper, but it also publishes extreme left wing columnists in its culture section. The owners of Aftonbladet are the Swedish Trade Union Confederation which bought it in the 1950s, LO sold a large of its shares in the paper to the Schibsted group. As per 15 June 2009 Schibsted bought another 41% and became the majority owner with 91%, however, LO has the right to appoint the political editor of the paper. Aftonbladet, based in Stockholm, is published in tabloid format, the paper reported news and also criticised the new Swedish king Charles XIV John. The king stopped Aftonbladet from being printed and banned it, during its existence, Aftonbladet has leant in different political directions. Initially liberal, it drifted towards conservatism under Harald Sohlman, editor in chief from 1890 to 1921, during World War I, a majority holding was sold to the German government in a secret arrangement. In 1929 the newspaper came under the control of the Kreuger family, in 1932 it backed Per Albin Hanssons new Social Democratic government. Just a few years later it realigned with the Liberal Party, heavily influenced by pro-German staff members, the newspaper supported Germany during World War II. The Kreuger era came to an end on 8 October 1956, despite interest from both the Liberal Party and the Centre Party, Torsten Kreuger sold Aftonbladet as well as Stockholms-Tidningen to the Swedish Trade Union Confederation. The ownership change was first followed by a drop in circulation. In the 1960s, however, the newspaper saw its circulation surge rapidly, by the early 1990s Aftonbladet had run into economic problems, and many had begun to question the competence of the trade union movement as a media owner. On 2 May 1996, the Norwegian media group Schibsted acquired a 49.9 percent stake in the newspaper, the Swedish Trade Union Confederation kept the remaining 50.1 percent of its shares. The same year its circulation passed that of long-time tabloid rival Expressen, in 2005 Aftonbladet started a Web portal for business news as a joint venture with Svenska Dagbladet. In 1998 the circulation of Aftonbladet was 397,000 copies on weekdays and 502,000 copies on Sundays, the circulation of the paper was 402,000 copies in 2001. As of 2004 the paper was the most selling daily both in Sweden and in other Nordic countries, having a circulation of 422,000 copies and it was 429,000 copies on weekdays in 2005
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