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86
It. THE SWEDISH PEOPLE.
transcendent- beauty. In resemblance to earthly conditions, the ancient Odin
was imagined as enthroned in Valhalla, a celestial supreme king with his
counsellors and his court. But in the end, this Odin and his fellow-gods did not
satisfy the moral demands of their worshippers, and were therefore doomed to
downfall.
Photo. K. Sidenbladh J:k.
Part of City Wall of Visby.
The Period of Transition embraces the years 1050—1250. It is marked
by long and severe internal conflicts, chiefly between Christianity and Paganism,
but also, as a consequence thereof, between the different provinces: between the
Swedish inhabitants of Uppland and the Goths of Östergötland and of
Västergötland, who could not agree on the question of succession to the throne.
During the course of these struggles, the kingdom by degrees became an elective
monarchy, in which the people of Uppland had the acknowledged right to choose
a king, who should afterwards be approved by the Thing, or Parliament, in
each of the other provinces. It was, however, difficult for this new arrangement
to take firm root, and it was subjected to many exceptions.
At first it seems as if a powerful family in Västergötland, called from its
first king the Stenkil Line, took unopposed possession of the throne of the old
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