Skåneland is a region on the southern Scandinavian Peninsula. It includes the Swedish provinces of Blekinge, Halland, and Scania. The Danish island of Bornholm is traditionally also included.For popular usage, see for example the publication Populärhistoria: Hjälpreda om Skåneland : "Skåneland, d v s Halland, Skåne och Blekinge", Fredsfördraget firas i Altranstädt : "Sverige ingick mot slutet av århundradet i en västeuropeisk allians med Holland och England och kunde därigenom stoppa Danmarks revanschplaner för förlusten av Skåneland", Ett liv fyllt av skandaler: "År 1660, då Marie Grubbe anlänt till Köpenhamn, satt Fredrik III på Danmarks tron. Det var han som hade förlorat Skåneland till Sverige vid Roskildefreden 1658". Skåneland has no official recognition or function and the term is not in common usage. Equivalent terms in English and Latin are "the Scanian Provinces" and "Terrae Scaniae" respectively. The term is mostly used in historical contexts and not in daily speech. In Danish, Skånelandene is used more often. The terms have no political implications as the region is not a political entity but a cultural region, without officially established administrative borders.
The provinces making up Skåneland were part of Denmark from at least the 9th century,"Skånelandene havde altid været en rig og god del af riget og hørt til det siden i hvert fald 800-årene, så det er ikke sært." http://www.denstoredanske.dk/Danmarkshistorien/Velstands_krise_og_tusind_baghold/Velstands_krise/Nye_veje/Jysk_opr%C3%B8r_og_nye_krige?highlight=Sk%C3%A5nelandene sometimes referred to as the "Eastern Province", after the 12th-century civil war called the Scanian Uprising.Hoffmann, Erich (1981). "The Unity of the Kingdom and the Provinces in Denmark During the Middle Ages." In Skyum-Nielsen, Niels and Niels Lund, eds. (1981). Danish Medieval History, New Currents. Museum Tusculanum Press, . (On p. 101, Dr. Hoffmann, Professor at Kiel University, argues that the contemporary descriptions of Scania as an autonomous polity had merit; Scania was often disagreeing in the choice of kings, which resulted in several, simultaneously elected kings in the early Danish state. Scania became officially integrated as a province in the late 12th century, with the Treaty of Lolland. Blekinge was a part of Sweden until the early 13th century when it became part of DenmarkThomas Persson, "Blekinges dansktid", Blekinge museum, 2013. (the Danish Census Book contains the first secure written evidence of Danish control).Cecilia von Heijne, "Särpräglat - Vikingatida och tidigmedeltida myntfynd från Danmark", Skåne, Blekinge och Halland (ca 800- 1130), Stockholm Studies in Archaeology 31, Stockholm 2004. The provinces were part of the territory ceded to Sweden in 1658 under the Treaty of Roskilde, but after an uprising on Bornholm, that island was returned to Denmark in 1660, under the Treaty of Copenhagen. Since then, the Dano–Swedish border has remained unchanged in times of peace.
Etymology The name Skåneland was first recorded in print (in Swedish) in 1719.Svenska Akademiens Ordbok: Skåneland (består) uti af skillde och nog synlige delar af skog och slättmark. 2RA 1: 4 (1719). It is unclear what area is meant. Later (1751) Carl Linnaeus uses it, meaning the province of Scania.Skåneland in Svenska Akademiens Ordbok (SAOB) on the Internet, and Skåneland in Nordisk Familjebok. The modern use of the denomination as a short form for De skånska landskapen ("The Scanian provinces"), for the combined area of the provinces of Blekinge, Halland and Scania, was launched by the Swedish historian and Scandinavist Martin Weibull (1835-1902) in Samlingar till Skånes historia (Föreningen för Skånes Fornminnen och Historia. published 1868-73 in six volumes) in order to illuminate the shared history of Scania, Blekinge, and Halland.
Weibull used the term as a combined term for the four provinces where the Scanian Law had its jurisdiction, as well as the area of the archdiocese of Lund until the Reformation in 1536, later the Danish Lutheran diocese of Lund. This form of Skåneland was then used in the regional historical periodical Historisk tidskrift för Skåneland, beginning in 1901, published by Martin's son, Lauritz Weibull.Swedish National Encyclopedia article Skånelandskapen
Historical administration An earlier administrative and political function of the area was to serve as a core area for one of the three provincial things that together elected the king of Denmark. The first Danish administrative sub-divisioning occurred as part of the centralization process, when the area became divided into administrative units called hundreds (herreder in Danish). The hundreds were possibly based on older, already existing units,Helle, Knut, ed. (2003). The Cambridge History of Scandinavia. Cambridge University Press, 2003. , p. 183. but the establishment of the new form of hundreds was prompted by an increase in royal power during the High Middle Ages. These differed from the provincial thing areas in that they were not local communities joined under a governing assembly but top-down regional divisions established to ensure royal authority. These medieval Danish hundreds were used to implement military obligations and to expedite the collection of renders due to the king in the provinces. They were first established in Jutland, where they replaced previous administrative units called syssel. According to some scholars, they were introduced in Skåneland possibly as early as the 11th century.Sawyer, Birgit and P. H. Sawyer (1993). Scandinavia: From Conversion to Reformation, Circa 800-1500. U of Minnesota Press. , p. 85.
In the 13th century, a new fiscal system was introduced and the hundreds were gradually included into larger administrative units called len, with a castle serving as the administrative center. This new administrative development was a result of the increased power of the aristocracy. In each len, a noble man was put in charge, with the title lensmand.Bonney, Richard (1995). Economic Systems and State Finance. Oxford University Press. , p.110.
Each of the four provinces of Skåneland had representation in the Scanian Thing, which, along with the other two Things of the Danish state (Jutland and Zealand), elected the Danish king.
The four Scanian provinces were joined under the jurisdiction of the Scanian Law, dated 1200–1216,Damsholt, Nanna. "Women in Medieval Denmark". In Skyum-Nielsen, Niels and Niels Lund, eds. (1981). Danish Medieval History, New Currents. Museum Tusculanum Press, : p. 76. the oldest Nordic provincial law. In the chapter "Constitutional history" in Danish Medieval History, New Currents, the three provincial Things are described as being the legal authority that instituted changes suggested by the elected king. The suggestions for changes submitted by the king had to be approved by the three Things before being passed into law in the Danish state.
Current status and usage of the term
Skåneland is strictly a historic and cultural region. The name has long appeared as a term used in historical contexts in a variety of sources.Thurston, Tina L. (2001). Landscapes of Power, Landscapes of Conflict: State Formation in the South Scandinavian Iron Age. Kluwer Academic, NY, . "Scania—Skåneland, Cultural Region in Scandinavia and in Europe", p. 277. The southern part of Sweden, including Skåneland, is since 1658 considered to be included in Götaland, one of three historic "lands of Sweden".
As in other cultural regions, regionalism in Scania sometimes has a base in regional nationalism and sometimes in a more general opposition against centralized state nationalism or expansionist nationalism. As noted about regionalism in Norway, Scandinavian regionalism is not necessarily separatist.Vikør, Lars S. (2000). "Northern Europe". In Language and Nationalism in Europe. Eds. Stephen Barbour, Cathie Carmichael. Oxford University Press. , p. 117: "Norway is a country were regionalism has always been strong, [...] a regionalism without any traces of separatism. The idea of unity in diversity has always been exceptionally strong in Norway".
There are a number of minor organisations promoting the use of the term, mainly active online, e.g. Föreningen Skånelands Framtid or Skåneländsk Samling, the Skåneland Football Federation, and Stiftelsen Skåneländska Flaggans Dag.
The private foundation Stiftelsen Skånsk Framtid ("foundation for a Scanian future")Scania.org - SSF's Official Website. Accessed January 22, 2011 was a member of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) from 1993 to 2011, representing Skåneland under the name of Scania.
History
Population and settlements The earliest Danish historians, writing in the 12th and 13th century, believed that the Danish Kingdom had existed since king Dan, in a distant past. Eighth century sources mention the existence of Denmark as a kingdom. According to 9th century Frankish sources, by the early 9th century many of the chieftains in the south of Scandinavia acknowledged Danish kings as their overlords, though kingdom(s) were very loose confederations of lords until the last couple medieval centuries saw some increased centralization. The west and south coast of modern Sweden was so effectively part of the Danish realm that the said area (and not the today Denmark) was known as "Denmark" (literally the frontier of the Daner).Medieval Scandinavia, by Bridget and Peter Sawyer, University of Minnesota Press, 1993.Kings and Vikings, by P.H. Sawyer, Routledge, 1982. (Sawyer considered sources such as Saxo Grammaticus and Snorri Sturluson but validated their material against contemporary primary documents of the period). Svend Estridsen (King of Denmark 1047 – ca. 1074), who may have been from Scania himself, is often referred to as the king who along with his dynasty established Scania as an integral part of Denmark. Blekinge was a part of Sweden until the early 13th century when it became part of Denmark (the Danish Census Book contains the first secure written evidence of Danish control).Magnus Edekling, "När blev Blekinge danskt?"
From 1397 to 1658
When the Kalmar Union was formed in 1397, the union was administered from Copenhagen. By 1471 Sweden rebelled under Sture family leadership. In 1503, when Sten Sture the Elder died, Sweden's independence from the union had been established.Sweden and the Baltic, 1523 - 1721, by Andrina Stiles, Hodder & Stoughton, 1992
In 1600 Denmark controlled virtually all land bordering on Skagerrak, Kattegat, and the Sound. The current Swedish provinces of Skåne, Blekinge and Halland were Danish and the province of Bohuslän was Norwegian. Skåneland became the site of harsh fighting, especially in the 16th, 17th and 18th century, as Denmark and Sweden confronted each other for control of the Baltic.A History of Sweden by Ingvar Andersson, Praeger, 1956Nordens Historie, ved Hiels Bache, Forslagsbureauet i Kjøbenhavn, 1884.The Northern Wars, 1558-1721 by Robert I. Frost; Longman, Harlow, England; 2000 The Struggle for Supremacy in the Baltic: 1600-1725 by Jill Lisk; Funk & Wagnalls, New York, 1967Sweden: the Nation's History, by Franklin D. Scott, Southern Illinois Press, 1988.