The kingdom of Sweden is the most ancient of the states still extant in Europe, for all historical monuments prove that the Swedes have kept to about their present territory, perfectly independent of foreign nations, probably for a long time divided into lesser communities, but for the past twelve hundred years united in one single realm. The languages spoken in the Scandinavian North belong to the Teutonic family of Indo-European languages, and seem to have been one and almost homogeneous up to the time of the Viking Age (about 700-1060), when various dialects commence to be distinguished. The old uniform language has been preserved in Northern loanwords in the Finnish and Lap languages and in about one hundred of the oldest Runic inscriptions. The early Old Swedish, from the Viking Age to somewhat later than 1200, did not differ much from the Old Norse (the Old Norwegian and Old Icelandic), while the difference from the Old Danish was almost imperceptible. The sources for the study of this language period are about two thousand later Runic inscriptions and nearly one hundred Old Swedish loanwords, almost all proper names, in the Russian language. The classical period of Old Swedish falls between 1200 and about 1350. Its most important monuments are the provincial laws and a manuscript collection of saintly legends, called Codex Bureanus. The language of this period offers a number of dialects, of which only one, the Gutnic, is strictly defined. In the next period of Old Swedish, from 1350 to the Reformation, a universal language for the whole country is distinguished. The so-called Oxenstiern manuscripts and Codex Bildstenianus are the chief sources of our knowledge of this language period, mostly of religious contents. Modern Swedish dates from the Reformation, its later period being counted from the publication of the state law in 1734. The Swedish language seems to be based chiefly upon the dialect of Sœdermanland, with influences from other dialects. Among the Scandinavian languages, Swedish ranks next to the Icelandic in point of purity, and is the foremost of them all in point of beauty.