How old is the oldest Swedish literature mentioning same-sex desire or crossing of the gender binary? To answer that question, we first need to establish what is meant by Swedish literature. When the first runes were carved within the territory now considered Sweden, Sweden did not exist – neither as a concept nor as an idea. Similarly, writings have been recorded in areas that previously belonged to Sweden but now belong to Norway and Finland. People have traveled between places throughout history, carrying with them stories, testimonies, and histories. The tale once told by a campfire in what is now Sweden might later have been transcribed in Iceland; about this, we can only speculate today. For this reason, Queerlit only includes literature written in Swedish and/or within the current borders of Sweden.
The Rune Stones – Queerlit’s Oldest Texts
The oldest longer writings within Sweden’s current borders are runestones; the modern script with Latin letters did not begin to be used in Sweden until the 1200s.
The remaining runestones usually provide very brief accounts. However, on some of them, there are also curses against anyone daring to harm the stone, and among them, we find the first written, Swedish mentions of same-sex practices. The Björketorp Stone in Blekinge was probably erected during the 600s, the later part of the Iron Age. It is one of Sweden’s tallest runestones, a four-meter-high stone that, together with two other shorter runestones, forms a ring. On the stone, we find the following inscription, translated into modern Swedish:
”I concealed an honorable row of runes here, powerful runes. Restless with anger, dead through cunning, shall he be who breaks this. I predict doom.” (Nationalencyklopedin n.d.)
Anger is a translation of the Old Norse word argr/ergi/ragr. The true meaning of the word is disputed, but it is associated with effeminacy, the practice of effeminate seiðr (magic), and being penetrated by another man. Similar inscriptions can be found on the contemporaneous Stentofte stone and on the Saleby Stone, which has been dated to the late 900s or early 1000s.
All three runestones are represented in Queerlit:
Björketorpsstenen
Stentoftestenen
Salebystenen
The Sagas – What Doesn’t Fit in Queerlit
Long before the widespread use of written language, people passed on stories about gods, relatives, and heroes through oral tradition. In the Old Norse tradition, there are many such stories depicting gender crossings and same-sex desire. For instance, the saga of Hervor and Heidrek, recorded in the 14th century, tells the tale of the Viking Hervor. After her father dies in a battle against the Swedish hero Hjalmar, Hervor dresses in male attire, adopts the male name Hervarðr, and is thereafter referred to in the saga with male pronouns. Hervor/Hervarðr is a chieftain who raids, plunders, and journeys to her father’s grave to retrieve the mythical sword Tyrfing. Other examples from the Old Norse tradition include the man-dressed woman Byx-Aud in Laxdæla saga and the demigod Loki’s transformation into a mare, as well as Thor’s cross-dressing in the Poetic Edda.
Most of the Old Norse tradition was first recorded in Iceland, but it is challenging to determine the origin of the oral material. Sagas might have been combined with other stories and changed in meaning as they were retold between generations. While there is no doubt that the saga of Hervor and Heidrek was recorded in Iceland, the saga mentions the Swedish hero Hjalmar, and Hervor/Hervarðr’s father Angantyr is said to have been one of Angrim’s sons, also known as Angrim of Bomsö and the ancestor of the Munsö lineage (Munsö is located on Ekerö in Uppland).
What can be concluded is that there are stories of gender crossings in Scandinavian storytelling, and they also involve mythical figures connected to the Swedes and places in Sweden. However, these stories are not represented in Queerlit because they were not recorded in Sweden.
The Medieval Ballads
What we think of today as ballads have little to do with the medieval ballads. Instead, they were a form of narrative song preserved through an oral tradition. These songs are impossible to date, and here, the definition of ”Swedish” is also tricky to apply, as ballads were often part of a broader European singing culture (Musikverket, n.d.). Crossdressing, dressing in clothes associated with another gender, is a recurring theme in the Knight Ballads, which take place sometime between the 1100s and the 1500s. The ballads often revolve around conflicts, love, violence, heroic deeds, and betrayal.
In Queerlit, the following medieval ballads are included:
Jungfrun hämtar sin fästman
Riddar Malkom fängslas för häststöld
Kerstin Stalldräng
The ballads can also be read in their entirety at Litteraturbanken:
Jungfrun hämtar sin fästman
Riddar Malkolm fängslas för häststöld
Kerstin Stalldräng
Other Older Works in Queerlit
In Queerlit, there are also older works referred to as special entries. These are works that, for some reason, cannot be retrieved from Libris, for example, because the publication year does not indicate when the work was actually written. Below are some examples of such texts:
Gustav III In the late 1700s, handwritten satirical writings circulated about King Gustav III, where rumors about his alleged sexual relationships with men emerged. These satirical writings, written around 1780 and 1790, include references to the king’s alleged romantic relationships and are preserved in several manuscript versions but have only been published in Annie Mattsson’s dissertation.
Grifte Runor
Kort Berättelse om 1789 Års Revolution och dess orsaker
Lanterna Magica
Hedvig Elisabeth Charlotta, dagbok
Drottning Kristina (Queen Christina) Queen Kristina, also referred to as King Kristina, has been the subject of speculation about her gender and sexuality. Letters to the lady-in-waiting Ebba Sparre, interpreted by Eva Haettner Aurelius as love letters to a woman, are included in the selection of Kristina’s letters from the late 1600s.
Drottning Kristinas brev till Ebba Sparre
Drottning Kristinas historia, skriven av henne själv
Johannes Magnus In the imaginative regnal list, one of the kings mentioned is Gostag (number 90), who, in Chapter 40 of the eighth book, is said not only to engage in ”the dirtiest intercourse” but also to dress in women’s clothing at night and perform ”like an advanced jester.” The work was written and published in the 16th century, in Latin with the title ”Historia de omnibus Gothorum Sveonumque regibus” (”History of all the kings of the Goths and Swedes”). In Queerlit, there is the Swedish, considerably later, translation.
Johannes Magnus, Goternas och svearnas historia
Heliga Birgitta (Saint Bridget) In the Revelations of Saint Bridget, alleged sodomy is hinted at regarding King Magnus Eriksson, where the Devil claims to have urged the king to commit sins that he dared not openly perform. The book, dictated by Saint Bridget in Swedish during the 1300s and transcribed in Latin, contains these suggestions and has been translated into Swedish several times, with a scholarly edition from the 2000s available in Queerlit.
Heliga Birgitta, Uppenbarelser
Sources and Literature
Heiðreks saga: Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks konungs. (1924). København: Samfund til udgivelse af gammel nordisk litteratur
Mayburd, Miriam. “‘Helzt þóttumk nú heima í millimʼ: A Reassessment of Hervör in Light of Seiðr’s Supernatural Gender Dynamics… .” Arkiv för nordisk filologi 129 (2014): 121–64
Mattsson, Annie (2010). Komediant och riksförrädare: handskriftcirkulerade smädeskrifter mot Gustaf III. Diss. Uppsala : Uppsala universitet, 2010
Musikverket (u.å,). Medeltida ballader. Tillgänglig https://musikverket.se/svensktvisarkiv/medeltida-ballader/ [2023-10-23]
Nationalencyklopedin (u.å.). Björketorpsstenen. Tillgänglig Nationalencyklopedin. [2023-10-02]
Riksantikvarieämbetet (2014). Björketorp. Tillgänglig https://www.raa.se/app/uploads/2014/11/03.Runstenen-Bj%C3%B6rketorp.pdf [2023-10-02]