Goths of Scandinavia

The term Goths generally designates in French people which initially settled in Poland for then conquering the plains of the Ukraine, before attacking the Roman Empire.

This name also applies to two other Scandinavian tribes which maintained the close relationships with their cousins on the continent. For lack of conventional names in French, we will name them in this article the Geats and the Guts .

The names of these three people, Goths, Guts and Geats are derived from an old Germanic root which, believes one, defined them as the people of Gaut (Odin).

Geats

The epopee Anglo-Saxon Beowulf quotes the tribe of the Geatas ( Gautar in Vieux norrois or Götar in Swedish modern). It is a tribe which lived formerly in the south of the Sweden and whose name is found in certain place names like Gothenburg, Västergötland (Westrogothie), Östergötland (Ostrogothie) and well of others.

The first source appears in Ptolémée (at the 2nd century), where this tribe is named the Goutai . At the 6th century, Jordanès names them the Gautigoths and the Ostrogoths (Ostrogoths of Scandza), and Procope de Césarée names them Gautoi . In Sagas Scandinavians appears the form Gautar and in the epopee Beowulf the form Geatas .

Geats were independent of the Swedish, the Suiones of Tacite, but they reinforced the armies goths during their attacks against the Roman empire. A great number of men returned from the wars with important quantities of Roman gold, which, in Scandinavia, made call this period the golden age .

However Geats little by little were naturally decimated, which made them vulnerable to the attacks of the Swedes, and they lost successively their independence as from the 6th century. In Beowulf was told the wars between Geats and the Swedes and the epopee finish with a prophecy announcing that the Swedes were going to take again their attacks. During the 11th century and 12th century they provided to the Sweden several kings whose title is besides still Rex Sweorum and Gothorum .

Today they were completely comparable and they do not constitute any more one ethnic identity.

Guts

Gutes (current term) are the inhabitants of the island of Gotland, the largest island of Sweden located in the middle of the the Baltic, and the root is perfectly identical to that of Goth . Whereas the term Geats disappeared like name from ethnos group, that of Gutes still exists like identity name for the inhabitants of this island.

According to the saga of Guts, the island was colonized by a chief named Tjälvar and she tells how Guts left the island to settle in the south of Europe. She also tells that to the 6th century, the tribe was subjected voluntarily to the protection of the king of Sweden.

As of the 7th century, Guts furrow the seas and the rivers to trade with the East and the Occident. By the rivers of Russia, they reach the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea and make deals with Constantinople and even Baghdad: they are the same ways as the Varègue S.

By their trade, Guts acquire fortune, culture and knowledge of arts. At the 11th century they adopt the Christian religion, and build many churches. Starting from the middle of the 14th century, the plague and the war little by little ruin their country.

For all the historical period, the island belonged sometimes to the Sweden, sometimes with the Denmark. Today it is a Swedish island which keeps a clean cultural identity.

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