Uppsala öd,

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...

: ''Uppsala auðr'' or ''Uppsala øðr'' (''Uppsala domains'' or ''wealth of Uppsala'') was the name given to the collection of estates which was the property of the Swedish Crown in medieval

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

.The article ''Uppsala öd'' in ''

Nationalencyklopedin ''Nationalencyklopedin'' (; "The National Encyclopedia" in English), abbreviated NE, is a comprehensive contemporary Swedish-language encyclopedia, initiated by a favourable loan from the Government of Sweden of 17 million Swedish kronor in 19 ...

'' (1996). Its purpose was to finance the Swedish king, originally the "king of Uppsala",The article ''Uppsala öd''
in ''

Nordisk familjebok ''Nordisk familjebok'' (, "Nordic Family Book") is a Swedish encyclopedia that was published in print from between 1876 and 1993, and that is now fully available in digital form via Project Runeberg at Linköping University. Despite their consi ...

'' (1920). and they supported the king and his retinue while he travelled through the country.Hadenius, Stig; Nilsson, Torbjörn & Åselius, Gunnar. (1996). ''Sveriges historia''. Centraltryckeriet, Borås. p. 83-84. There was one estate of this kind in most hundreds and it was usually called ''

Husaby Husaby is a village, near Kinnekulle, belonging to Götene Municipality in the province of Västergötland, Sweden. Husaby Church Husaby is most known for Husaby Church (''Husaby kyrka'') a medieval stone church. During the early 11th centu ...

''. It was the home of the king's tax collector, and it was at the local estate of Uppsala öd that the people of the hundred delivered the taxes in form of goods. The estates were most common in

Svealand Svealand (), or Swealand, is the historical core region of Sweden. It is located in south central Sweden and is one of three historical lands of Sweden, bounded to the north by Norrland and to the south by Götaland. Deep forests, Tiveden, Tyl� ...

. Its origins are prehistoric and unknown, but according to a tradition documented by the thirteenth-century historian

Snorri Sturluson Snorri Sturluson ( ; ; 1179 – 22 September 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was elected twice as lawspeaker of the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He is commonly thought to have authored or compiled portions of the ...

it originated as a donation given by the god

Freyr Freyr (Old Norse: 'Lord'), sometimes anglicized as Frey, is a widely attested god in Norse mythology, associated with kingship, fertility, peace, and weather. Freyr, sometimes referred to as Yngvi-Freyr, was especially associated with Sweden an ...

to the

Temple at Uppsala The Temple at Uppsala was a religious center in the ancient Norse religion once located at what is now Gamla Uppsala (Swedish "Old Uppsala"), Sweden attested in Adam of Bremen's 11th-century work ''Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum'' and i ...

which he founded.

It was stated in the Swedish medieval laws that Uppsala öd was to follow the royal institution intact without any lost property. The full extent of Uppsala öd is unknown, but individual estates are enumerated in the ''Law of Hälsingland'' and in the younger '' Westrogothic law''. However, during the thirteenth century, the system became obsolete for the king and then many of the estates passed to the nobility and the church, in spite of the laws that forbade any diminution of the property. The reasons for this was that the king's subjects began to pay monetary taxes. Uppsala öd was the first documented pieces of what would become

Swedish State Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

property.

A selection of estates belonging to Uppsala öd

Gamla Uppsala Gamla, alt. sp. Gamala ( he, גַּמְלָא, The Camel) was an ancient Jewish city on the Golan Heights. It is believed to have been founded as a Seleucid fort during the Syrian Wars which was turned into a city under Hasmonean rule in 81 ...

*Husby at

Vendel Vendel is a village at Tierp Municipality in Uppland, Sweden. The village overlooks Vendelsjön, a long inland stretch of water near the Vendel river which has its confluence with the river Fyris. Vendel was the site of an ancient royal estate, ...

Fornsigtuna Signhildsberg (historically Fornsigtuna, where ''forn'' means ''ancient'', Old Sigtuna, ''Sithun'', ''Signesberg'') is a manor that formerly was a royal estate (Uppsala öd), located in the parish of Håtuna approximately west of the modern tow ...

*Ränninge on Fogdö *

Hovgården Hovgården is an archaeological site on the Lake Mälaren island of Adelsö in Ekerö Municipality in central-eastern Sweden. During the Viking Age, the centre of the prospering Mälaren Valley was the settlement Birka, founded in the mid-8th cen ...

Adelsö Adelsö is an island in the middle of Lake Mälaren in Sweden, near Björkfjärden. The island is part of Ekerö Municipality and Stockholm County. It is about by ferry and road west of downtown Stockholm. The administrative center of the im ...

Notes and references

{{DEFAULTSORT:Uppsala od Swedish monarchy History of Uppsala Freyr