Early Swedish literature designates Swedish literature

Swedish literature

Swedish literature refers to literature written in the Swedish language or by writers from Sweden.The first literary text from Sweden is the Rök Runestone, carved during the Viking Age circa 800 AD. With the conversion of the land to Christianity around 1100 AD, Sweden entered the Middle Ages,...

 written between approximately 1200–1500 AD.

As Swedish evolved from Old Norse

Old Norse

Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....

 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

Runic alphabet

The runic alphabets are a set of related alphabets using letters known as runes to write various Germanic languages before the adoption of the Latin alphabet and for specialized purposes thereafter...

 was almost totally replaced by the Latin alphabet

Latin alphabet

The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most recognized alphabet used in the world today. It evolved from a western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, which was adopted and modified by the Etruscans who ruled early Rome...

. 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.

Because of the dominant Catholic Church, Latin had come to be the lingua franca

Lingua franca

A lingua franca is a language systematically used to make communication possible between people not sharing a mother tongue, in particular when it is a third language, distinct from both mother tongues.-Characteristics:"Lingua franca" is a functionally defined term, independent of the linguistic...

 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

Golden Legend

The Golden Legend is a collection of hagiographies by Jacobus de Voragine that became a late medieval bestseller. More than a thousand manuscripts of the text have survived, compared to twenty or so of its nearest rivals...

(Legenda aurea), but also included biographies of many local Swedish saints.

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

Eric, Duke of Södermanland

Eric Magnusson was a Swedish prince, Duke of Svealand, Södermanland, Dalsland, Västergötland, Värmland and North Halland and heir to the throne of Sweden. He was the father of King Magnus who became king of both Norway and Sweden.-Background:...

. In term of literary quality, the chronicles were written in an unambitious rhyming verse

Rhyme

A rhyme is a repetition of similar sounds in two or more words and is most often used in poetry and songs. The word "rhyme" may also refer to a short poem, such as a rhyming couplet or other brief rhyming poem such as nursery rhymes.-Etymology:...

 known as knittel, without actual literary ambitions.

Latin

Several early Swedish works were written in Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

, but they are still considered part of Swedish literature history.

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

Gotland

Gotland is a county, province, municipality and diocese of Sweden; it is Sweden's largest island and the largest island in the Baltic Sea. At 3,140 square kilometers in area, the region makes up less than one percent of Sweden's total land area...

, south-east Sweden. The literature for which he is best known are his letters of admiration directed to the pious woman Christine of Cologne

Cologne

Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...

, Germany. de Dacia is generally regarded the first Swedish writer.

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.