the position was given to Dalin, Ihre was also a significant scholar and university man. His greatest contribution was within the field of comparative linguistics, in the study of ancient Swedish and Icelandic, which resulted in a penetrating study of Snorre’s Edda. Ihre, too, had a realistic, although not entirely correct, concept of the age of the runic inscriptions, but he did correctly interpret some detailed runic problems.

Dalin was a skillful poet, satirist, and Sweden’s first modern author. He introduced the ideas of the Enlightenment to a Swedish audience and, like Petri, he was a national historian who wrote in the modern Swedish language. Beginning in the 1740s, Dalin devoted himself to writing officially commissioned histories. The first volume (1747) dealt with the ancient period, the second (1750) with the Middle Ages, and the third (1760–1761) with King Gustav I and his sons. Dalin was influenced by Wilde and discussed his burial periods; Tacitus and other historical writers are listed among his references. In a historic-moralistic spirit, Dalin thought ancient people splendid, an opinion he derived from the work of the astronomer Anders Celsius (1701–1744) and Isaac Newton’s climate theory. As an advocate of modern culture, Dalin was opposed to the philosophy of Frenchman Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712– 1778), which caused him to describe the flaws of the ancient period. His views of the ancient period were thus somewhat paradoxical.

Dalin based his chronology on the theory of water reduction in accordance with the natural-scientific views of the Enlightenment, which was based on an incorrect interpretation of land elevation and sea changes. Dalin wanted to show that Sweden, during the centuries before Christ, had been an insignificant archipelago, but his interpretation was met by protests from among the clergy and the ultrapatriots. Dalin, like Wilde, also rejected the chronology of the regents, which began with Magog. Dalin also broke with Rudbeck’s view of history, although he himself was steered by false etymologies and national prejudice. Dalin’s critique was founded on common sense. He sought to be pragmatic, and he avoided writing a chronicle. He sought the actual causes behind events, and he evaluated them from the viewpoint of society.

Anders af Botin’s Utkast till svenska folkets historia [History of the Swedish People] (1757– 1764) was modeled on the work of the French writer Voltaire in that it paid attention to the economic and cultural questions of history. The work was divided into six epochs, encompassing history from the ancient period to King Gustav I, and was pragmatic in its attempts to determine the causes and effects of events. Each epoch was divided into different subject areas, for example, kings, the populace, and modes of thinking and living. Although Botin was influenced by Dalin, he was also critical of him. Botin believed that Dalin’s judgment and knowledge were not sound enough to morally influence the reader. Botin also thought Dalin lacked insight into law and economics and that his chronology, based on the theory of water reduction, was impossible. Dalin’s knowledge of literature and sources was faulty, and his source-evaluation was inadequate since he did not distinguish between primary and secondary sources. Botin criticized Dalin harshly, and while some of the criticisms were petty, others were justified.

Botin belonged to “the liberty historians” who, under the influence of the general empirical direction of science, found their way to primary source materials. His pragmatism and nonhistorical evaluation of earlier times after the standards of his own time, and his literary intentions, are examples of the influence of the Enlightenment. He also rationally criticized the Roman Catholic Church, which led him to a rather pessimistic view of the Middle Ages.

Sven Lagerbring studied at Lund University but spent a few years in Stockholm (1736– 1741) where he visited the Antiquities Archive, which greatly influenced his main historical work. His stay in Stockholm was also important for the development of his ideas on history, since it coincided with new political changes that resulted from Sweden’s period of liberty. Rydelius and Stobaeus were Lagerbring’s most important teachers. In 1742, Lagerbring succeeded Stobaeus as professor of history at Lund University.

Lagerbring introduced modern, critical historical research, in the tradition of Dalin, but he