Children of Ash and Elm: A History of the Vikings

by Neil Price

In all this, the political structures of the Viking Age in Sweden differ significantly from those of Norway, where the process of political unification began at a much earlier date, and even more so from those of Denmark, which seems to have achieved a degree of social and political cohesion long before its northern neighbours.

the fledgling polities were larger still, following the shadowy push towards faster political cohesion that can be sensed there earlier in the Iron Age.

Connections between the Norwegian and Swedish lowlands and eastern England were particularly close, and in some ways this link was never lost. The famous ship burial at Sutton Hoo, dated c. 625, contained a helmet, regalia, and weapon set that would not have been out of place in Sweden, and indeed seems at least in part to have been imported from Uppland.