Acknowledgements -- A Note on Spelling -- A Note on the Sources -- Abbreviations -- Preface -- Chapter One State formation and medieval Government -- 1.1. From chiefdom to state -- 1.2. The nature of politics and government in the Early and High Middle Ages -- Chapter Two Sweden before 1130 -- 2.1. Peoples, regions and regional identity -- 2.2. Kings and aristocracy -- 2.3. An early administration? -- 2.4. The creation of the kingdom -- 2.5. External overlordship -- 2.6. The arrival of christianity -- Chapter Three Kings and Power Struggles: Sweden from 1130 to 1290 -- 3.1. The structure of political factions and the basis of their power in twelfth- and thirteenth-century Sweden -- 3.2. Contenders for the kingship -- 3.3. The reign of Sverker the Elder c. 1132-1156 -- 3.4. The reigns of Erik Jedvardsson and Magnus Henriksen c. 1156-61 -- 3.5. Karl Sverkersson c. 1161-67 -- 3.6. Knut Eriksson c. 1167-95 -- 3.7. Sverker the Younger c. 1195-1208 -- 3.8. Erik Knutsson 1208-16 -- 3.9. Johan Sverkersson 1216-22 -- 3.10. Erik Eriksson's first reign and Knut Långe 1222-34 -- 3.11. Erik Eriksson's second reign 1234-50 -- 3.12. Valdemar Birgersson 1250-75 -- 3.13. Magnus Birgersson (Ladulås) 1275-90 -- 3.14. Final remarks on the nature of conflict in twelfth- and thirteenth-century Sweden -- Chapter Four The state and the law -- Chapter Five Kings and king's men -- 5.1. Sweden's jarls -- 5.2. The king and his advisors -- 5.3. The election of kings -- Chapter Six Territorial division -- Chapter Seven Taxation and the military ledung -- 7.1. Land ownership -- 7.2 The growth of taxation and valued land units -- 7.3. The military ledung and its substitute Taxes -- 7.4. Liä, ledung and changes in warfare in twelfth- and thirteenth-century Sweden -- Chapter Eight The king's land -- 8.1. Uppsala öd -- 8.2. The nature of administration before 1250.

Chapter Nine Royal Administration in the early Folkung period -- 9.1. The extension of royal administration -- 9.2. The old and the new -- Chapter Ten Fortifications and urbanisation -- 10.1. Introduction -- 10.2. Warfare and the construction of Fortifications in medieval Sweden -- 10.3. The kastaler of the east coast: early evidence of royal castle construction? -- 10.4. Other pre-Folkung fortifications -- 10.5. The Folkung Period -- 10.6. The consequences of royal fortification building for warfare and administration -- 10.7. The growth of towns in Sweden -- 10.8. Mendicant orders and urbanisation -- Chapter Eleven The Church and the Ideology of Kingship -- 11.1. Church and state -- 11.2. Sacral kingship-an inheritance from the pagan past? -- 11.3. Just kings, servants of Christ and royal saints -- 11.4. Rituals of ruling -- 11.5. Coinage and kingship -- 11.6. Monuments -- 11.7. Final remarks -- Chapter Twelve Eastward Expansion -- 12.1. Finland before Österland -- 12.2. The Christianisation of Finland -- 12.3. Early Swedish penetration of Finland -- 12.4. Swedish campaigns in Finland and Karelia -- 12.5. Sweden and Novgorod -- 12.6. Sweden tightens its grip on Finland -- 12.7. The nature of the conquest -- Conclusion -- Appendix 1: Families and their Landholdings -- A.1.1. Danish Kings -- A.1.2. The Sverkerska ätten -- A.1.3. Problem members of the Sverkerskaätten-Johan Sverkersson and his sons -- A.1.4. The Erikska ätten -- A.1.5. The Folkungaätten -- A.1.6. The folkungar -rebels of the Folkungaätten? -- A.1.7. Birger Brosa, his descendants and their landholdings -- A.1.8. Magnus Minnesköld and his descendants -- A.1.9. The descendants of Karl Döve -- A.1.10. The Folkungaätten's 'oäkta gren' -- A.1.11. Other powerful families -- Appendix 2: Swedish fortifications and palaces -- A.2.1. Fortifications before the Folkung period.

A.2.1.1. The coastal kastaler -- A.2.1.2. Other pre-Folkung fortifications in Sweden -- A.2.1.3. Swedish fortifications in Finland -- A.2.1.4. Defensible churches -- A.2.2. Fortifications of the Folkung period -- A.2.2.1. Royal castles -- A.2.2.2. Castles of unknown ownership or belonging to the secular nobility -- A.2.2.3. The fortified residences of the bishops -- A.2.2.4. Royal palaces -- List of Kings and Rulers of Sweden -- Glossary -- Genealogical tables -- 1. Descendants of Stenkil (1) -- 2. Descendants of Stenkil (2) -- 3. Descendants of King Sverker the Elder -- 4. Descendants of King Karl Sverkersson -- 5. Descendants of Erik Jedvardsson (St Erik) -- 6. Descendants of Bengt Snivel (1) -- 7. Descendants of Bengt Snivel (2) -- 8. Descendants of Folke Jarl (1) -- 9. Descendants of Folke Jarl (2) -- 10. Descendants of Knut Jarl -- 11. Descendants of Bishop Bengt Magnusson and Descendants of Magnus Minnesköld's unnamed Daughter -- 12. Descendants of Karl Döve -- 13. Descendants of Birger jarl and his daughters -- 14. Descendants of King Valdemar Birgersson -- 15. Descendants of King Magnus Ladulås -- 16. Descendants of Gregers Birgersson -- 17. Descendants of King Valdemar I of Denmark -- 18. Descendants of King Valdemar II of Denmark and Berenguela of Portugal -- 19. The Hvide kin and their Swedish connections -- Prosopography of people listed in the genealogical tables -- Kings of Norway 1103-1319 -- Maps -- 1. The dioceses of Sweden -- 2. Härad- and hundare-division in Medieval Sweden and Denmark -- 3. Härader in Västergötland -- 4. Härader in Östergötland -- 5. Hundare and folkland in Uppland -- 6. Västmanland's hundare -- 7. Södermanland's hundare -- 8. Härader in Närke -- 9. Härad and socken on Öland -- 10. Regions and härad districts in Småland -- 11. Norrland: regions, socknar, castles and kungsgårdar.

12. Towns in thirteenth-century Sweden -- List of husaby-sites (for Maps 13 and 14) -- 13. Castles and husabyar in Svealand -- 14. Castles, husabyar and bogårdar in Götaland and Närke -- 15. Fortifications in Småland and Öland -- 16. Place associated with leading families in Vastergötland -- 17. Places associated with leading families in Svealand -- 18. Places associated with leading families in Östergötland -- 19. Places associated with leading families in Småland -- 20. Crusade Period settlement in Finland -- 21. Swedish Fortifications in Finland and Estonia -- Bibliography -- Index.