Geats and sometimes
GothsThe Goths were an East Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin whose two branches, the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths, played an important role in the fall of the Roman Empire and the emergence of Medieval Europe....
) were a North Germanic tribe inhabiting what is now
GötalandGötaland , Gothia, Gothland, Gothenland, Gautland or Geatland is one of three lands of Sweden and comprises provinces...
("land of the Geats") in modern
SwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
. The name of the Geats also lives on in the
Swedish provincesThe provinces of Sweden, landskap, are historical, geographical and cultural regions. Sweden has 25 provinces and they have no administrative function, but remain historical legacies and the means of cultural identification....
of
Västergötland', English exonym: West Gothland, is one of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden , situated in the southwest of Sweden. In older English literature one may also encounter the Latinized version Westrogothia....
and
ÖstergötlandÖstergötland, English exonym: East Gothland, is one of the traditional provinces of Sweden in the south of Sweden. It borders Småland, Västergötland, Närke, Södermanland, and the Baltic Sea. In older English literature, one might also encounter the Latinized version, Ostrogothia...
, the Western and Eastern lands of the Geats, and in many other toponyms.
Earliest mentioned in history
The earliest mention of the Geats may appear in
PtolemyClaudius Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the...
(2nd century A.D.), where they are referred to as
Goutai. In the 6th century, they were referred to as
Gautigoths and
Ostrogoths (the Ostrogoths of
ScandzaScandza was the name given to Scandinavia by the Roman historian Jordanes in his work Getica, written while in Constantinople around AD 551. He described the area to set the stage for his treatment of the Goths' migration from southern Sweden to Gothiscandza...
) by
JordanesJordanes, also written Jordanis or Jornandes, was a 6th century Roman bureaucrat, who turned his hand to history later in life....
and as
Gautoi by
ProcopiusProcopius of Caesarea was a prominent Byzantine scholar from Palestine. Accompanying the general Belisarius in the wars of the Emperor Justinian I, he became the principal historian of the 6th century, writing the Wars of Justinian, the Buildings of Justinian and the celebrated Secret History...
. In the Norse
SagasSagàs is a small town and municipality located in Catalonia, in the comarca of Berguedà. It is located in the geographical area of the pre-Pyrenees.-Population:...
they are referred to as
Gautar, and in
BeowulfBeowulf , but modern scholars agree in naming it after the hero whose life is its subject." of an Old English heroic epic poem consisting of 3182 alliterative long lines, set in Scandinavia, commonly cited as one of the most important works of Anglo-Saxon literature.It survives in a single...
and
WidsithWidsith is an Old English poem of 144 lines that appears to date from the 9th century, drawing on earlier oral traditions of Anglo-Saxon tale singing. The only text of the fragment is copied in the Exeter Book, a manuscript of Old English poetry compiled in the late 10th century containing...
as
Gēatas. Geats should not be confused with the
ThracianThe ancient Thracians were a group of Indo-European tribes inhabiting areas including Thrace in Southeastern Europe. They spoke the Thracian language – a scarcely attested branch of the Indo-European language family...
GetaeThe Getae was the name given by the Greeks to several Thracian tribes that occupied the regions south of the Lower Danube, in what is today northern Bulgaria, and north of the Lower Danube, in Romania...
, a connection long made by some, such as the authors of the medieval
Swedish ChronicleThe Swedish Chronicle is a mid-15th century chronicle on a nation called Getae , Goths , Geats and eventually Swedes...
or early-modern Swedish historian Carolus Lundius.
Etymology
The tribal name Geat (from the Proto-Germanic *
Gautaz, plural *
Gautōz) is related, although not identical, to the etymology of the name tribal Goth (*
Gutaniz) and they are both derived (specifically they are two
ablautIn linguistics, ablaut is a system of apophony in Proto-Indo-European and its far-reaching consequences in all of the modern Indo-European languages...
grades) from the Proto-Germanic word *
geutan, meaning "to pour". This means according to the mainly accepted etymology "men", a
heitiA heiti is a synonym used in Old Norse poetry in place of the normal word for something...
of the men in the tribe, see further in Goths (etymology). It could also allude to watercourses in the land where they were living.
A more specific theory about the word
Gautigoths is that it means the goths who live near the river
Gaut, today's
Göta älvThe Göta is a river that drains lake Vänern into the Kattegat at the city of Gothenburg on the western coast of Sweden. It is located in Götaland, with the river itself being a site of early Geatish settlement. The length is 93 km. Often the combination of Göta älv and Klarälven is mentioned...
(Icelandic and early Swedish:
Gautelfr). It might also have been a conflation of the word
Gauti with a
glossA gloss is a brief notation of the meaning of a word or wording in a text. It may be in the language of the text, or in the reader's language if that is different....
Goths. In the 17th century the name
Göta älv, "River of the Geats", was introduced instead of the earlier names
Götälven and
Gautelfr. The etymology of the word Gaut is as mentioned derived from the Proto-Germanic word *
geutan, and the extended meaning of "to pour" is "flow, stream, waterfall" and this could aim at the
Trollhättan FallsTrollhättan Falls is a waterfall of Göta älv in Sweden. The falls starts at Malgö Bridge in central Trollhättan, and has a total height of 32 meters, making up a large part of the 44 meter total fall of the river from Vänern to Kattegat...
or at the river itself.
The short form of Gautigoths was
Old NorseOld Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
Gautar and this referred at first and still in some Icelandic sagas to just the inhabitants of Västergötland, or the western parts of today's Götaland.
Early history
Beowulf and the
Norse sagaThe sagas are stories about ancient Scandinavian and Germanic history, about early Viking voyages, the battles that took place during the voyages, about migration to Iceland and of feuds between Icelandic families...
s name several Geatish kings, but only
HygelacHygelac was a king of the Geats according to the poem Beowulf. He was the son of Hrethel and had brothers Herebeald and Hæthcyn. His sister was married to Ecgtheow and had the son Beowulf. Hygelac was married to Hygd and they had the son Heardred, and an unnamed daughter who married Eofor...
finds confirmation in
Liber Monstrorum where he is referred to as
Rex Getarum and in a copy of
Historiae Francorum where he is called
Rege Gotorum. These sources concern a raid into
FrisiaFrisia is a coastal region along the southeastern corner of the North Sea, i.e. the German Bight. Frisia is the traditional homeland of the Frisians, a Germanic people who speak Frisian, a language group closely related to the English language...
, ca 516, which is also described in
Beowulf. Some decades after the events related in this epic, Jordanes described the Geats as a nation which was "
bold, and quick to engage in war".
Before the
consolidation of SwedenThe consolidation of Sweden was a long process during which the loosely organized social system consolidated under the power of the king. The actual age of the Swedish kingdom is unknown...
, the Geats were politically independent of the Swedes or Svear, whose old name was
Sweonas in Old English. When written sources emerge (approximately at the end of the 10th century), the Geatish lands are described as part of the still very shaky Swedish kingdom, but the manner of their unification with the Swedes is a matter of much debate.
Based on the lack of early medieval sources, and the fact that the Geats were later part of the kingdom of Sweden, traditional accounts assume a forceful incorporation by the Swedes, but the only surviving traditions which deal with
Swedish-Geatish warsThe Swedish-Geatish wars refer to semi-legendary 6th century battles between Swedes and Geats that are described in the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf...
are of semi-
legendA legend is a narrative of human actions that are perceived both by teller and listeners to take place within human history and to possess certain qualities that give the tale verisimilitude...
ary nature and found in
BeowulfBeowulf , but modern scholars agree in naming it after the hero whose life is its subject." of an Old English heroic epic poem consisting of 3182 alliterative long lines, set in Scandinavia, commonly cited as one of the most important works of Anglo-Saxon literature.It survives in a single...
. The actual story in Beowulf, however, is that the Geatish king helps a Swede to gain the throne. What historians today think is that this realm could just as well be the force behind the creation of the medieval kingdom of Sweden. The historians make a distinction between political history and the emergence of a common Swedish ethnicity. The, so far more or less imagined, Swedish invasion of Geatish lands has been explained with Geatish involvement in the Gothic wars in southern Europe, which brought a great deal of Roman gold to Götaland, but also naturally depleted their numbers (see
Nordisk familjebokNordisk familjebok is a Swedish encyclopedia, published between 1876 and 1957.- History :The first edition was published in 20 volumes between 1876 and 1899. The first edition is known as the "Iðunn edition" because of the picture of Iðunn on the cover...
). The
Hervarar sagaHervarar saga ok Heiðreks is a legendary saga from the 13th century combining matter from several older sagas. It is a valuable saga for several different reasons beside its literary qualities. It contains traditions of wars between Goths and Huns, from the 4th century, and the last part is used as...
is believed to contain such traditions handed down from the 4th century. It relates that when the Hunnish
HordeHorde may refer to:* Ordo * a clan or army of steppe nomads . See Orda * the Blue and White Horde, formed 1226, 1227* the Golden Horde, a Turkic-Mongol state established in the 1240s...
invaded the land of the Goths and the Gothic king
AngantyrAngantyr was the name of three characters from the same line in Norse mythology, and who appear in Hervarar saga, in Gesta Danorum and Faroese ballads....
desperately tried to marshal the defenses, it was the Geatish king
GizurGizur, Gizurr or Gissur was a King of the Geats. He appears in The Battle of the Goths and Huns, which is included in the Hervarar saga and in editions of the Poetic Edda...
who answered his call. In fact, no explanation is needed, because there is no actual evidence of any successful invasion.
Today, historians believe that the medieval kingdom of Sweden was created as a union to oppose foreign forces, mainly the Danes, where the mainly inland Västergötland was easier to defend and be protected in than in the coastal areas. According to
Curt WeibullCurt Weibull was a Swedish historian, educator and author.-Biography:Curt Hugo Johannes Weibull was born in Lund, Sweden. He was a member of the noted Swedish Weibull family. He was the son of history professor Martin Weibull and the brother of Lauritz Weibull, Alexander Weibull, Julius Oscar...
, the Geats would have been finally integrated in the Swedish kingdom c. 1000, but according to others, it most likely took place before the 9th century, and probably as early as the 6th century. The fact that some sources are silent about the Geats indicates that any independent Geatish kingdom no longer existed in the 9th century. In
RimbertSaint Rimbert was archbishop of Bremen-Hamburg from 865 until his death.A monk in Turholt , he shared a missionary trip to Scandinavia with his friend Ansgar, whom he later succeeded as archbishop in Hamburg-Bremen in 865...
's account of
AnsgarSaint Ansgar, Anskar or Oscar, was an Archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen. The see of Hamburg was designated a "Mission to bring Christianity to the North", and Ansgar became known as the "Apostle of the North".-Life:After his mother’s early death Ansgar was brought up in Corbie Abbey, and made rapid...
's missionary work, the Swedish king is the sole sovereign in the region and he has close connections not only with the king of the
DanesThe Danes were a North Germanic tribe residing in modern day Denmark. They are mentioned in the 6th century in Jordanes' Getica, by Procopius, and by Gregory of Tours....
but also with the king of the
FranksThe Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...
. However, the oldest medieval Swedish sources present the Swedish kingdom as having remaining legal differences between Swedes and Geats for example in weights and measurements in miles, marks etc. They also tell us that there were kings, ruling by the title of Rex Gothorum as late as in the 12th century, and that one of those kings went on to become king of a united realm. Furthermore, that some sources do not mention Geatish kings in the 9th century, is not so very interesting. It is quite possible that kings were not part of the Geatish political system at the time.
Viking Age
In the
HeimskringlaHeimskringla is the best known of the Old Norse kings' sagas. It was written in Old Norse in Iceland by the poet and historian Snorri Sturluson ca. 1230...
,
Snorri SturlusonSnorri Sturluson was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was twice elected lawspeaker at the Icelandic parliament, the Althing...
writes about several battles between
NorwegiansNorwegians constitute both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway. They share a common culture and speak the Norwegian language. Norwegian people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in United States, Canada and Brazil.-History:Towards the end of the 3rd...
and Geats. He wrote that in the 9th century, there were battles between the Geats and the Norwegian king Harald Fairhair, during
Harald Fairhair's campaign in GötalandHarald Fairhair's campaign in Götaland was an attack that took place in the 870's.Snorri Sturluson writes in Harald Fairhair's saga that Harald Fairhair disputed the Swedish king Eric Eymundsson's hegemony in what is today southern Norway....
, a war the Geats had to fight without the assistance of the Swedish king Erik Emundsson. He also wrote about
Haakon I of NorwayHaakon I , , given the byname the Good, was the third king of Norway and the youngest son of Harald Fairhair and Thora Mosterstang.-Early life:...
's expedition into Götaland and Harold I of Denmark's battle against
Jarl OttarJarl Ottar or Ottar Jarl was a jarl of Götaland who appears in the Heimskringla and in the Jomsvikinga Saga....
of
ÖstergötlandÖstergötland, English exonym: East Gothland, is one of the traditional provinces of Sweden in the south of Sweden. It borders Småland, Västergötland, Närke, Södermanland, and the Baltic Sea. In older English literature, one might also encounter the Latinized version, Ostrogothia...
, and about Olaf the Holy's battles with the Geats during his war with Olof Skötkonung.
Middle Ages
The Geats were traditionally divided into several
petty kingdomA petty kingdom is one of a number of small kingdoms, described as minor or "petty" by contrast to an empire or unified kingdom that either preceded or succeeded it...
s, or districts, which had their own
thingA thing was the governing assembly in Germanic and introduced into some Celtic societies, made up of the free people of the community and presided by lawspeakers, meeting in a place called a thingstead...
s (popular assemblies) and laws. The largest one of these districts was
Västergötland', English exonym: West Gothland, is one of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden , situated in the southwest of Sweden. In older English literature one may also encounter the Latinized version Westrogothia....
(West Geatland), and it was in Västergötland that the
Thing of all GeatsThe Thing of all Geats was the thing which was held from pre-historic times to the Middle Ages in Skara, Västergötland. Although its name suggests that it comprised all Geats, it concerned those living in Västergötland and Dalsland, and it is described in the Westrogothic law...
was held every year, in the vicinity of
SkaraSkara is a locality and the seat of Skara Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden with 18595 inhabitants in 2005. Despite its small size, it has a long educational and ecclesiastical history. One of Sweden's oldest high schools, Katedralskolan , is situated in Skara...
.
Unlike the Swedes, who used the division
hundareA hundred is a geographic division formerly used in England, Wales, Denmark, South Australia, some parts of the United States, Germany , Sweden, Finland and Norway, which historically was used to divide a larger region into smaller administrative divisions...
, the Geats used
hærrad, like the Norwegians and the Danes. Surprisingly, it would be the Geatish name that became the common term in the Swedish kingdom. This is possibly related to the fact that several of the medieval Swedish kings were of Geatish extraction and often resided primarily in Götaland.
In the 11th century, the Swedish
House of MunsöThe House of Munsö is one of the names of a protohistoric Swedish dynasty. Its early members of the 8th or 9th century are legendary or semi-legendary, while its later scions of the 10th to 11th centuries are historical....
became extinct with the death of Emund the Old. Stenkil, a Geat, was elected king of Sweden, and the Geats would be influential in the shaping of Sweden as a
ChristianA Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
kingdom. However, this election also ushered in a long period of civil unrest between Christians and pagans and between Geats and Swedes. The Geats tended to be more Christian, and the Swedes more pagan, which was why the Christian Swedish king
Inge the ElderInge the Elder was a King of Sweden.-Biography:Inge was the son of the former King Stenkil and a Swedish princess. Inge shared the rule of the kingdom with his probably elder brother Halsten Stenkilsson, but little is known with certainty of Inge's reign...
fled to
Västergötland', English exonym: West Gothland, is one of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden , situated in the southwest of Sweden. In older English literature one may also encounter the Latinized version Westrogothia....
when deposed in favour of
Blot-SweynSweyn was a Swedish king c. 1080, who replaced his Christian brother-in-law Inge as King of Sweden, when Inge had refused to administer the blóts at the Temple at Uppsala. There is no mention of Sweyn in the regnal list of the Westrogothic law, which suggests that his rule did not reach...
, a king more favourable towards
Norse paganismNorse paganism is the religious traditions of the Norsemen, a Germanic people living in the Nordic countries. Norse paganism is therefore a subset of Germanic paganism, which was practiced in the lands inhabited by the Germanic tribes across most of Northern and Central Europe in the Viking Age...
, in the 1080s. Inge would retake the throne and rule until his death c. 1100.
One can not say that the Geats were not treated as equals with the Swedes. For example, Saxo, wrote about a situation that happened well before his birth, where one of the participants had to be pictured in black. For Saxo, Magnus Nielsen was a bad person. In his
Gesta DanorumGesta Danorum is a patriotic work of Danish history, by the 12th century author Saxo Grammaticus . It is the most ambitious literary undertaking of medieval Denmark and is an essential source for the nation's early history...
(book 13), the Danish 12th century chronicler
Saxo GrammaticusSaxo Grammaticus also known as Saxo cognomine Longus was a Danish historian, thought to have been a secular clerk or secretary to Absalon, Archbishop of Lund, foremost advisor to Valdemar I of Denmark. He is the author of the first full history of Denmark.- Life :The Jutland Chronicle gives...
noted that the Geats had no say in the election of the king, only the Swedes, but Saxo did not know how kings were chosen in Sweden around 1120. When in the 13th century, the West Geatish law or Westrogothic law was put to paper, it reminded the Geats that they had to accept the election of the Swedes:
Sveær egho konong at taka ok sva vrækæ meaning
"It is the Swedes who have the right of choosing ["taking"] and also deposing the king" and then he rode
EriksgataEriksgata is the name of the traditional journey of the newly elected medieval Swedish kings through the important provinces to have their election confirmed by the local assemblies...
n
"mæÞ gislum ofvan" –
"with hostages from above [the realm]" through
Södermanland', sometimes referred to under its Latin form Sudermannia or Sudermania, is a historical province or landskap on the south eastern coast of Sweden. It borders Östergötland, Närke, Västmanland and Uppland. It is also bounded by lake Mälaren and the Baltic sea.In Swedish, the province name is...
, the Geatish provinces and then through
Närke' is a Swedish traditional province, or landskap, situated in Svealand in south central Sweden. It is bordered by Västmanland to the north, Södermanland to the east, Östergötland to the southeast, Västergötland to the southwest, and Värmland to the northwest...
and
Västmanland' is a historical Swedish province, or landskap, in middle Sweden. It borders Södermanland, Närke, Värmland, Dalarna and Uppland.The name comes from "West men", referring to the people west of Uppland, the core province of early Sweden.- Administration :...
to be judged to be the lawful king by the
lawspeakerA lawspeaker is a unique Scandinavian legal office. It has its basis in a common Germanic oral tradition, where wise men were asked to recite the law, but it was only in Scandinavia that the function evolved into an office...
s of their respective things. The king was "taken" by the first thing possibly similar to the customs in early medieval Norway where the king was chosen by acclamation (see about this custom called
konungstekja ("choosing king") and also the section Coronation, in the article Monarchy of Norway). The way to become king in Sweden could however also be to defeat opponents in battle and not only to be elected by the formal procedure.
One of these Swedish kings was
Ragnvald KnaphövdeRagnvald Knaphövde was a King of Sweden whose reign is estimated to the mid-1120s or c. 1130. His cognomen Knaphövde is explained as referring to a drinking vessel, the size of a man's head or meaning "round head" and referring to his being foolish...
, who in 1125 was riding with his retinue in order to be accepted as king by the Geats of
Västergötland', English exonym: West Gothland, is one of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden , situated in the southwest of Sweden. In older English literature one may also encounter the Latinized version Westrogothia....
. As he despised the Geats, he decided not to demand hostages from their prominent
clansThe Scandinavian clan or ætt was a social group based on common descent or on the formal acceptance into the group at a þing.-History:...
. He was slain near
FalköpingFalköping is a locality and the seat of Falköping Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 15,821 inhabitants in 2005.-History:The city of Falköping most likely emerged during the 15th century but earlier the town was an important site of pilgrimage due to its 12th century church...
.
In a new general law of Sweden that was issued by
Magnus ErikssonMagnus Eriksson may refer to:* Magnus Eriksson * Magnus IV of Sweden...
in the 1350s, it was stated that twelve men from each province, chosen by their things, should be present at the Stone of Mora when a new king was elected.
The distinction between Swedes and Geats lasted during the Middle Ages, but the Geats became increasingly important for Swedish national claims of greatness due to the Geats' old connection with the Goths. They argued that since the Goths and the Geats were the same nation, and the Geats were part of the kingdom of Sweden, this meant that the Swedes had defeated the Roman empire. The earliest attestation of this claim comes from the Council of Basel, 1434, during which the Swedish delegation argued with the Spanish about who among them were the true Goths. The Spaniards argued that it was better to be descended from the heroic Visigoths than from stay-at-homers. This cultural movement, which was not restricted to Sweden went by the name
GothicismusGothicismus, Gothism, or Gothicism is the name given to what is considered to have been a cultural movement in Sweden, centered around the belief in the glory of the Swedish ancestors, originally considered to be the Geats, which were identified with the Goths. The founders of the movement were...
or in Swedish
Göticism, i.e.
Geaticism, as
Geat and
Goth were considered synonymous back then.
Modern times
After the 15th century and the
Kalmar UnionThe Kalmar Union is a historiographical term meaning a series of personal unions that united the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway , and Sweden under a single monarch, though intermittently and with a population...
, the Swedes and the Geats appear to have begun to perceive themselves as one nation, which is reflected in the evolution of
svensk into a common ethnonym. It was originally an adjective referring to those belonging to the Swedish tribe, who are called
svear in Swedish. As early as the 9th century,
svear had been vague, both referring to the Swedish tribe and being a collective term including the Geats, and this is the case in
Adam of BremenAdam of Bremen was a German medieval chronicler. He lived and worked in the second half of the eleventh century. He is most famous for his chronicle Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum .-Background:Little is known of his life other than hints from his own chronicles...
's work where the Geats (
Goths) appear both as a proper nation and as part of the
Sueones. The merging/assimilation of the two nations took a long time, however. In the early 20th century,
Nordisk familjebokNordisk familjebok is a Swedish encyclopedia, published between 1876 and 1957.- History :The first edition was published in 20 volumes between 1876 and 1899. The first edition is known as the "Iðunn edition" because of the picture of Iðunn on the cover...
noted that
svensk had almost replaced
svear as a name for the Swedish people.
Today, the merger of the two nations is complete, as there is no longer any tangible identification in
GötalandGötaland , Gothia, Gothland, Gothenland, Gautland or Geatland is one of three lands of Sweden and comprises provinces...
with a Geatish identity, apart from the common tendency of people living in those areas to refer to themselves as
västgötar (West Geats) and
östgötar (East Geats), that is to say, residents of the
provincesThe provinces of Sweden, landskap, are historical, geographical and cultural regions. Sweden has 25 provinces and they have no administrative function, but remain historical legacies and the means of cultural identification....
of
Västergötland', English exonym: West Gothland, is one of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden , situated in the southwest of Sweden. In older English literature one may also encounter the Latinized version Westrogothia....
and
ÖstergötlandÖstergötland, English exonym: East Gothland, is one of the traditional provinces of Sweden in the south of Sweden. It borders Småland, Västergötland, Närke, Södermanland, and the Baltic Sea. In older English literature, one might also encounter the Latinized version, Ostrogothia...
. The city
Göteborg, known in English as
GothenburgGothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...
, was named after the Geats (
Geatsburg or
fortress of the Geats), when it was founded in 1621.
Until 1973 the official title of the Swedish king was King of Sweden (earlier: of the Swedes), the Geats/Goths and the
WendsWends is a historic name for West Slavs living near Germanic settlement areas. It does not refer to a homogeneous people, but to various peoples, tribes or groups depending on where and when it is used...
(with the formula "
Sveriges, Götes och Vendes konung"). The title "King of the Wends" was copied from the Danish title, while the Danish kings called themselves "King of the Gotlanders" (which, like "Geats", was translated into "Goths" in latin) were also used by Danish royalty. The Wends is a term normally used to describe the Slavic peoples who inhabited large areas of modern east Germany and Pomerania. See further in the Wikipedia articles
King of the GothsThe title of King of the Goths was for many centuries borne by both the Kings of Sweden and the Kings of Denmark, denoting sovereignty or claimed sovereignty over the antique people of the Goths....
and
King of the WendsThe title of King of the Wends denoted sovereignty or claims over once-Slavic lands of southern coasts of the Baltic Sea, those otherwise called Mecklenburg, Holstein and Pomerania, and was used from 12th century to 1972 by Kings of Denmark and from ca 1540 to 1973 by the Kings of Sweden.The...
.
The titles, however, changed when the new king Carl XVI Gustaf in 1973 decided that his royal title should simply be King of Sweden. The disappearance of the old title was a decision made entirely by the king. The old title in Latin was "N.N. Dei Gratia, Suecorum, Gothorum et Vandalorum Rex."
Goths
Geatas was originally Proto-Germanic *
Gautoz and
Goths and
Gutar (
Gotlanders) were *
Gutaniz. *
Gautoz and *
Gutaniz are two ablaut grades of a Proto-Germanic word *
geutan with the meaning "to pour" (modern Swedish
gjuta, modern German
giessen). The word comes from an Indo-European root meaning
to pour, offer sacrifice. There were consequently two derivations from the same Proto-Germanic ethnonym.
It is a long-standing controversy whether the
GothsThe Goths were an East Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin whose two branches, the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths, played an important role in the fall of the Roman Empire and the emergence of Medieval Europe....
were Geats. Both Old Icelandic and Old English literary sources clearly separate the Geats on one hand (Isl.
Gautar, OEng
Geatas) from the Goths/Gutar (Isl.
Gotar, OEng.
Gotenas); on the other, however, the Gothic historian
JordanesJordanes, also written Jordanis or Jornandes, was a 6th century Roman bureaucrat, who turned his hand to history later in life....
wrote that the
GothsThe Goths were an East Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin whose two branches, the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths, played an important role in the fall of the Roman Empire and the emergence of Medieval Europe....
came from the island of
ScandzaScandza was the name given to Scandinavia by the Roman historian Jordanes in his work Getica, written while in Constantinople around AD 551. He described the area to set the stage for his treatment of the Goths' migration from southern Sweden to Gothiscandza...
. Moreover, he described that on this island there were three tribes called the
Gautigoths (cf.
Geat/Gaut), the
Ostrogoths (cf. the Swedish province of
ÖstergötlandÖstergötland, English exonym: East Gothland, is one of the traditional provinces of Sweden in the south of Sweden. It borders Småland, Västergötland, Närke, Södermanland, and the Baltic Sea. In older English literature, one might also encounter the Latinized version, Ostrogothia...
) and
Vagoths (Gutar?) - this implies that the Geats were Goths rather than vice versa. The word
Goth is also a term used by the Romans to describe related, culturally linked tribes like the Tervingi and the Greuthungs, so it may be correct to label Geats as Goths.
Scandinavian burial customs, such as the
stone circlesThe stone circles of the Iron Age were a characteristic burial custom of southern Scandinavia, especially on Gotland and in Götaland during the Pre-Roman Iron Age and the Roman Iron Age. In Sweden, they are called Domarringar , Domkretsar or Domarsäten...
(domarringar), which are most common in
GötalandGötaland , Gothia, Gothland, Gothenland, Gautland or Geatland is one of three lands of Sweden and comprises provinces...
and
GotlandGotland is a county, province, municipality and diocese of Sweden; it is Sweden's largest island and the largest island in the Baltic Sea. At 3,140 square kilometers in area, the region makes up less than one percent of Sweden's total land area...
, and stelae (bautastenar) appeared in what is now northern Poland in the 1st century AD, suggesting an influx of Scandinavians during the formation of the Gothic
Wielbark culture. Moreover, in
ÖstergötlandÖstergötland, English exonym: East Gothland, is one of the traditional provinces of Sweden in the south of Sweden. It borders Småland, Västergötland, Närke, Södermanland, and the Baltic Sea. In older English literature, one might also encounter the Latinized version, Ostrogothia...
, in Sweden, there is a sudden disappearance of villages during this period.
Jutish hypothesis
There is a hypothesis that the
JutesThe Jutes, Iuti, or Iutæ were a Germanic people who, according to Bede, were one of the three most powerful Germanic peoples of their time, the other two being the Saxons and the Angles...
also were Geats, and which was proposed by Pontus Fahlbeck in 1884. According to this hypothesis the Geats would have not only resided in southern Sweden but also in
JutlandJutland , historically also called Cimbria, is the name of the peninsula that juts out in Northern Europe toward the rest of Scandinavia, forming the mainland part of Denmark. It has the North Sea to its west, Kattegat and Skagerrak to its north, the Baltic Sea to its east, and the Danish–German...
, where
BeowulfBeowulf , but modern scholars agree in naming it after the hero whose life is its subject." of an Old English heroic epic poem consisting of 3182 alliterative long lines, set in Scandinavia, commonly cited as one of the most important works of Anglo-Saxon literature.It survives in a single...
would have lived.
The generally accepted identification of Old English
Gēatas as the same ethnonym as Swedish
götar and Old Norse
gautar is based on the observation that the
ö monophthong of modern Swedish and the
au diphthong of
Old NorseOld Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
correspond to the
ēa diphthong of
Old EnglishOld English or Anglo-Saxon is an early form of the English language that was spoken and written by the Anglo-Saxons and their descendants in parts of what are now England and southeastern Scotland between at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century...
.
Correspondences
Old NorseOld Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
|
SwedishSwedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
|
Old English Old English or Anglo-Saxon is an early form of the English language that was spoken and written by the Anglo-Saxons and their descendants in parts of what are now England and southeastern Scotland between at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century...
|
brauð
laukr
lauf
austr
draumr
dauðr
rauðr |
bröd
lök
löv
öst
dröm
död
röd |
brēad
lēac (onion, cf. leek)
lēaf
ēast
drēam
dēað
rēad (red) |
etc.
Thus,
Gēatas is the
Old EnglishOld English or Anglo-Saxon is an early form of the English language that was spoken and written by the Anglo-Saxons and their descendants in parts of what are now England and southeastern Scotland between at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century...
form of
Old NorseOld Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
Gautar and modern Swedish
Götar. This correspondence seems to tip the balance for
most scholars. It is also based on the fact that in
BeowulfBeowulf , but modern scholars agree in naming it after the hero whose life is its subject." of an Old English heroic epic poem consisting of 3182 alliterative long lines, set in Scandinavia, commonly cited as one of the most important works of Anglo-Saxon literature.It survives in a single...
, the
Gēatas live east of the
DeneThe Danes were a North Germanic tribe residing in modern day Denmark. They are mentioned in the 6th century in Jordanes' Getica, by Procopius, and by Gregory of Tours....
(across the sea) and in close contact with the
Sweon, which fits the historical position of the Geats between the Danes and the Swedes. Moreover, the story of Beowulf, who leaves
Geatland and arrives at the
DanishThe Danes were a North Germanic tribe residing in modern day Denmark. They are mentioned in the 6th century in Jordanes' Getica, by Procopius, and by Gregory of Tours....
court after a naval voyage, where he kills a beast, finds a parallel in
Hrólf Kraki's sagaHrolf Kraki's Saga is a fantasy novel by Poul Anderson. It was first published by Ballantine Books as the sixty-second volume of the celebrated Ballantine Adult Fantasy series in October, 1973, and has been reprinted a number of times since...
. In this saga,
Bödvar BjarkiBödvar Bjarki , meaning 'Warlike Little-Bear', is the hero appearing in tales of Hrólf Kraki in the Saga of Hrólf Kraki, in the Latin epitome to the lost Skjöldunga saga, and as Biarco in Saxo Grammaticus' Gesta Danorum...
leaves
Gautland and arrives at the
DanishThe Danes were a North Germanic tribe residing in modern day Denmark. They are mentioned in the 6th century in Jordanes' Getica, by Procopius, and by Gregory of Tours....
court after a naval voyage and kills a beast that has been terrorizing the Danes for two years (see also
Origins for Beowulf and Hrólf KrakiBeowulf and Hrólf Kraki are two well-known characters in the myths and sagas of ancient England and Scandinavia respectively.Both are supposed to have lived sometime around 450–550 AD, and much has been discussed over the years regarding their origins....
).
The Geats and the Jutes are mentioned in
Beowulf as different tribes, and whereas the Geats are called
gēatas, the Jutes are called
ēotena (genitive) or
ēotenum (dative). Moreover, the Old English poem
WidsithWidsith is an Old English poem of 144 lines that appears to date from the 9th century, drawing on earlier oral traditions of Anglo-Saxon tale singing. The only text of the fragment is copied in the Exeter Book, a manuscript of Old English poetry compiled in the late 10th century containing...
also mentions both Geats and Jutes, and it calls the latter
ȳtum. However, Fahlbeck proposed in 1884 that the Gēatas of
Beowulf referred to Jutes and he proposed that the Jutes originally also were Geats like those of southern Sweden. This theory was based on an Old English translation of Venerable Bede's
Ecclesiastical History of the English People attributed to
Alfred the GreatAlfred the Great was King of Wessex from 871 to 899.Alfred is noted for his defence of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of southern England against the Vikings, becoming the only English monarch still to be accorded the epithet "the Great". Alfred was the first King of the West Saxons to style himself...
where the Jutes (
iutarum,
iutis) once are rendered as
gēata (genitive) and twice as
gēatum (dative) (see e.g. the
OEDThe Oxford English Dictionary , published by the Oxford University Press, is the self-styled premier dictionary of the English language. Two fully bound print editions of the OED have been published under its current name, in 1928 and 1989. The first edition was published in twelve volumes , and...
which identifies the Geats through
Eotas,
Iótas,
Iútan and
Geátas). Fahlbeck did not, however, propose an etymology for how the two ethnonyms could be related.
Fahlbeck's theory was refuted by Schück who in 1907 noted that another Old English source, the
Anglo-Saxon ChronicleThe Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a collection of annals in Old English chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the Chronicle was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alfred the Great...
, called the Jutes
īutna,
īotum or
īutum. Moreoever, Schück pointed out that when Alfred the Great's translation mentions the Jutes for the second time (book IV, ch. 14(16)) it calls them
ēota and in one manuscript
ȳtena. Björkman proposed in 1908 that Alfred the Great's translation of Jutes as Geats was based on a confusion between the West Saxon form
Geotas ("Jutes") and
Gēatas ("Geats").
As for the origins of the ethnonym
Jute, it may be a secondary formation of the toponym
JutlandJutland , historically also called Cimbria, is the name of the peninsula that juts out in Northern Europe toward the rest of Scandinavia, forming the mainland part of Denmark. It has the North Sea to its west, Kattegat and Skagerrak to its north, the Baltic Sea to its east, and the Danish–German...
, where
jut is derived from a
Proto-Indo-EuropeanThe Proto-Indo-European language is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European languages, spoken by the Proto-Indo-Europeans...
root *
eud meaning "water".
Gutnish hypothesis
Since the 19th century, there has also been a suggestion that Beowulf's people were Gutes (from the island of
GotlandGotland is a county, province, municipality and diocese of Sweden; it is Sweden's largest island and the largest island in the Baltic Sea. At 3,140 square kilometers in area, the region makes up less than one percent of Sweden's total land area...
in
SwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
). According to the poem, the
weather-geats or
sea-geats, as they are called are supposed to have lived east of the Danes and be separated from the Swedes by wide waters. Some researchers have found it a little far-fetched that
wide waters relates to Lake Vänern in
Västergötland', English exonym: West Gothland, is one of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden , situated in the southwest of Sweden. In older English literature one may also encounter the Latinized version Westrogothia....
or
MälarenLake Mälaren is the third-largest lake in Sweden, after Lakes Vänern and Vättern. Its area is 1,140 km² and its greatest depth is 64 m. Mälaren spans 120 kilometers from east to west...
. The
weather in
weather-geats, and
sea-geats marks a people living at a windy, stormy coast by the sea. The Geats of
Västergötland', English exonym: West Gothland, is one of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden , situated in the southwest of Sweden. In older English literature one may also encounter the Latinized version Westrogothia....
was historically an inland people, making an epithet such as
weather- or
sea- a little strange. Moreover, when Beowulf dies he is buried in a mound at a place called
Hrones-naesse, meaning "the cape of whales". Whales have for obvious reasons never lived in Vänern, where, according to
Birger NermanBirger Nerman was a Swedish archaeologist, professor, and author.-Background:Birger Nerman belonged to a bourgeois family Nerman from Vimmerby. He was the son of Janne Nerman , the bookseller in Norrköping, and his wife Anna Ida Nordberg...
, Beowulf is buried. However, an expanse of water separates the island of
GotlandGotland is a county, province, municipality and diocese of Sweden; it is Sweden's largest island and the largest island in the Baltic Sea. At 3,140 square kilometers in area, the region makes up less than one percent of Sweden's total land area...
from the Swedes. The island lies east of Denmark and whales were once common in the Baltic Sea where Gotland is situated. The name of the Gutes in Swedish,
Gutar, is an ablaut-grade of the same name as that of the Geats in Beowulf. These facts made the archaeologist
Gad RausingDr. Gad Rausing was a notable Swedish industrialist and archaeologist. Together with his brother Hans he co-inherited Swedish packaging company Tetra Pak , founded by their father Ruben Rausing and currently the largest food packaging company in the world...
come to the conclusion that the
weather-Geats may have been Gutes. This was supported by another Swedish archaeologist Bo Gräslund. According to Rausing, Beowulf may be buried in a place called
Rone on Gotland, a name corresponding to the
Hrones in
Hrones-naesse. Not far from there lies a place called
Arnkull corresponding to the
Earnar-naesse in Beowulf, which according to the poem was situated closely to Hrones-naesse.
This theory does not exclude the ancient population of Västergötland and Östergötland from being Geats, but rather holds that the Anglo-Saxon name
Geat could refer to West-geats (Västergötland), East-geats (Östergötland) as well as weather-geats (Gotland), in accordance with Jordanes account of the Scandinanian tribes Gautigoth, Ostrogoth and Vagoth.
See also
- Blenda
Blenda is the heroine of a Swedish legend from Småland. Blenda led the rural women of Värend in an attack on a pillaging Danish army and annihilated the invaders.-Legend:...
- Geatish Society
The Geatish Society, or Gothic League was created by a number of Swedish poets and authors in 1811, as a social club for literary studies among academics in Sweden with a view to raising the moral tone of society through contemplating Scandinavian antiquity...
- Göta
Göta is a Swedish female name. The name is the female form of Göte, and it was a popular name during the first half of the 20th century.See also: Götaland, Göta älv, Götar, Svea...
- Götavirke
Götavirke are the remains of two parallel defensive walls going from north to south between the villages of Västra Husby and Hylinge in Östergötland, Sweden. The walls cover the distance between the lakes Asplången and Lillsjön . North of Asplången there are remains of several ancient hill...
(Geatish Dyke)
- Gutes
- Trial by combat
Trial by combat was a method of Germanic law to settle accusations in the absence of witnesses or a confession, in which two parties in dispute fought in single combat; the winner of the fight was proclaimed to be right. In essence, it is a judicially sanctioned duel...
- Trial by ordeal
Trial by ordeal is a judicial practice by which the guilt or innocence of the accused is determined by subjecting them to an unpleasant, usually dangerous experience...
- Varangian
- Viking
The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...