republic · Scandinavia and the Baltic

Jämtland

900 CE – 1178 CE (approx.) · capital Frösön

Self-governing farming province of central Scandinavia, ruled by its own assembly on Frösön until King Sverre brought it under Norway in 1178.

Origins

Jämtland, around the great lake Storsjön in central Scandinavia, was settled by farmers who, according to tradition, governed themselves without a king. The sagas describe settlers from both Norway and Sweden, and the region lay between the two kingdoms.

Rule and society

The Jamtamót, the province's assembly, met on the island of Frösön and decided law and justice. The Frösö runestone, the northernmost Viking Age runestone in Sweden, records that Östman Gudfastsson had Jämtland Christianised in the 11th century. The economy rested on farming, cattle, hunting and the fur and iron trade.

Decline and legacy

In 1178 King Sverre of Norway defeated the Jämts and made them pay tax, and Jämtland became part of the Kingdom of Norway, though it belonged to the Swedish archdiocese of Uppsala. It passed to Sweden by the Treaty of Brömsebro in 1645, and the Jamtamót tradition is still a point of regional pride.

Few sources survive for this state; details are uncertain.

Connections (1)

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Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Jämtland. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/jamtland
MLA
“Jämtland.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/jamtland. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Jämtland.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/jamtland.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Jämtland’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/jamtland (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻