Land or people · Kingdom of the Swedes and the Götar · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Medelpad

The land between Hälsingland and Ångermanland along the Ljungan, the Indalsälven and the Selånger river, with its old centre at Selånger by the bay (the later Sundsvall lies within it).

Counted part of 'Hälsingland' in the wide sense, under the same law (written down in the early 14th century) and in the archdiocese of Uppsala; Tuna in Medelpad, like Hälsingtuna, marks an old chief farm. Its rivers lead west into Jämtland, which has been Norway's since King Sverre's campaign of about 1178 (now): the way from the coast up the Ljungan and through Jämtland to St Olaf's shrine at Nidaros was the road of eastern pilgrims (its use in 1200, with Sverre's Norway under interdict, is not pinned). The Swedish king's lordship is acknowledged but distant; nothing is recorded for 1200.

Who holds it

Name
not named
Title
the land's thing
Confidence
low

sv.wikipedia Hälsingland; en.wikipedia Medelpad

Overlord

King Sverker II, as king of the Svear (acknowledged, distant)

What it holds

  • Selånger and the coast round the bay
  • the lower Ljungan (Tuna, Njurunda)
  • the Indalsälven valley up to Liden
  • the upper Ljungan toward Jämtland (Borgsjö, Haverö), thinly settled

Allies and rivals

Norwegian Jämtland upriver; no quarrel recorded.

How things stand that morning

Quiet; nothing is recorded that winter.

Wealth

Fish and seal, cattle, furs and forest goods from the inland and the Sami.

Places of note

  • Selånger: old centre and church site of Medelpad at the head of the bay
  • Tuna (Medelpad): old chief farm ('tuna') on the Ljungan

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Almost nothing is recorded for Medelpad before the 14th century; the picture rests on the later law, church geography and place names.

On the map: The later province outline; the western half was forest with scattered settlement and Sami use in 1200.

Primary sources for Sweden

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

  • The Danish annals of Lund, Ryd and other houses (12th and 13th centuries; Lund continued to 1307, Ryd to 1288). Short dated entries from Lund, the archbishop's seat, and from Ryd in Schleswig. Read online
  • Deeds of the Danes, Saxo Grammaticus (about 1185 to 1208). Saxo was writing at Lund in 1200 under Absalon, who died in March 1201, and his last books are an insider's history of Valdemar I and Knud VI to 1185: the Wendish wars, the taking of Rügen, the submission of Pomerania in 1185, the Danish fleet, Absalon's power and the Danish quarrel with the Empire. Read online
  • The saga of King Sverre of Norway, Karl Jónsson and a continuator (begun about 1185 under Sverre's own supervision, completed about 1210 to 1220). The king's own authorised saga. Read online
  • The sagas of the Baglers (about 1210 to 1220, in a shorter and a longer version). Begins with Sverre's death in March 1202 and the reigns of Hákon Sverrisson, Guttorm and Inge Bårdsson against the Bagler kings Erling Steinvegg and Philippus, so it has nothing for 1200 itself. Read online
  • The Registers of Pope Innocent III for 1199 to 1201, Innocent III and the papal chancery (22 February 1199 to 21 February 1201). The pope's outgoing letters for the year, in his chancery's own copy, touching nearly every realm in the atlas. Read online
  • The Danish diplomatarium: charters and letters concerning Denmark, with Danish translation (documents of 789 to 1448; the online edition is continuing). Twenty-seven documents are dated to 1200: Innocent III's letters of February and March 1200 to Philip Augustus and Queen Ingeborg and his order for the interdict on France, Otto IV's letter to the pope expecting King Knud VI to move into Saxony, the reports of the legate Octavian and the French bishops on the lifting of the interdict in September, the pope's letters to Knud VI asking him to send advocates for his sister, Knud VI's ordinance on manslaughter for Skåne of 28 December 1200, and private gifts to Roskilde and Næstved. Read online
  • The Swedish diplomatarium and its main register, SDHK (documents of 817 to 1540). The register of every known Swedish medieval letter, with full texts for the early centuries. Read online
  • The law of the Gotlanders; The saga of the Gotlanders (Guta lag about 1220, Guta saga about 1220 to 1275; manuscript of about 1350). The law and the short history of the self-governing island. Read online

Sources and studies

  1. Wikipedia (sv): Hälsingland
  2. Wikipedia (en): Medelpad

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.