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Concept
History of Scania
Summary
The history of the province of Scania was for many hundred years, up until the 18th century, marked by the struggle between the two Scandinavian kingdoms of Denmark and Sweden over the hegemony in the Baltic area.
It was previously thought that society in Scania, like in the rest of Scandinavia, was made up of farmers mostly Fen farmers and cattle farmers, thralls, the farmer being free and equal, and having their say at the Things in the affairs of society. Archeological findings on Jutland, the Danish islands, and on the Scanian plains have modified this picture. It has now become clear that the distribution of wealth, at least from the early Migration Period, was very uneven. The plains were to a large extent divided up between large farms which were far bigger than smallholdings, and were often grouped in villages. Subsequently, only a small faction of the population can be presumed to have enjoyed full civic rights. It seems now more likely that this society ought to be perceived as a system of tribes, each led by chieftains, in Danish often called godes, whose authority depended on the size and wealth of the tribe. Scania had 5 main tribes each having had their own Thanes (leaders), and their own group of warriors, all under the command of the King of Scania.
It now seems likely that a period of domestic colonization within Scania that was earlier believed to have started before the Viking Age, in reality largely took place after the Viking Age, when donations of land to monasteries led to influences from Continental Europe. This led to a transition from a predominantly animal husbandry-based society to one of farming, which entailed extensive land clearing, possibly also connected with the liberation of the thralls, that led to the creation of many new settlements with names ending in -torp, -rup, and -rød.
Scania was first mentioned in written texts in the 8th century, stating that it was a part of Denmark. According to the Large Jelling Stone, Scanians, like all Danes were Christianized by the King of all Danes, Harald Bluetooth before this stone was raised, presumably around 985 AD.
Official source
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