The Gutes (Old West Norse: Gotar, Old Gutnish: Gutar) were a North Germanic tribe inhabiting the island of Gotland. The ethnonym is related to that of the Goths (Gutans), and both names were originally Proto-Germanic *Gutaniz. Their language is called Gutnish (gutniska). [1] They are one of the progenitor groups of modern Swedes, along with historical Swedes and Geats.
The name of the Gutes in Old West Norse is Gotar (adj. gotneskr), [2] which is the same as that used for the Goths. Old Norse sources such as the sagas do not distinguish between the Goths and the Gutes. [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] In accordance, the Old East Norse term for both Goths and Gutes seems to have been Gutar (adj.gutniskr). [8] Only the Goths and Gutes bear this name among all the Germanic tribes, even if Geat is closely related.
The fact that the ethnonym is identical to Goth may be the reason why they are not mentioned as a special group until Jordanes' Getica, where they may be those who are called Vagoth (see Scandza). However, Ptolemy mentions the Goutai as living in the south of the island of Scandza; these could be identical to the Gutes, since the "ou"-spelling in Ancient Greek corresponds to the Latin and Germanic "u".
The oldest history of the Gutes is retold in the Gutasaga . According to legend they descended from a man named Þjelvar who was the first to discover Gotland. Þjelvar had a son named Hafþi who wedded a fair maiden named Hvitastjerna. These two were the first to settle on Gotland. Hafþi and Hvitastjerna later had three children, Guti, Graipr and Gunfjaun. After the death of their parents, the brothers divided Gotland into three parts and each took one, but Guti remained the highest chieftain and gave his name to the land and its people. [9]
It is related that because of overpopulation one third of the Gutes had to emigrate and settle in southern Europe:
Some scholars, as for instance Wessén, Wenskus, Hoffman etc., have argued that this tale might be a reminiscence of the migration of the Goths.[ citation needed ]
Certain linguists, as for instance Elias Wessén, point out that there are similarities between Gothic and Gutnish that are not found elsewhere in the Germanic languages. One example is the use of the word lamb for both young and adult sheep, which is only seen in Gutnish and Gothic. [11]
Before the 7th century, the Gutes made a trade and defence agreement with Swedish kings, according to the Gutasaga. This seems to have been due to Swedish military aggression. Although the Gutes were victorious in these battles, they eventually found it more beneficial (as a nation of traders) to try to negotiate a peace treaty with the Swedes.
Many kings made war on Gotland while it was heathen, but the Gutes always maintained victory and their rights. Then the Gutes were sending many messengers to Sweden, but none of them succeeded in negotiating a peace, till Awair Strabain from Alva parish. He was the first to make peace with the king of the Swedes.[...] As he was a smooth-tongued man, wise indeed and artful, as the stories of him go, he established a fixed treaty with the Swedish king: 60 marks of silver a year – that is the tax for the Gutes – with 40 for the king, out of that sixty, and the jarls to get 20. This amount had already been decided by agreement of the whole land before he left. [12]
So the Gutes made a trade and defence agreement with the king of the Swedes of their own free will, that they might go anywhere in all areas dominated by the Swedes freely and unfettered by tolls or any duties. So too the Swedes could come to Gotland with no ban on the import of corn, or any other restrictions. The king was to give aid and help whenever they needed it and asked. The king would send messengers to the Gotland national assembly, and the jarls likewise, to collect their tax. These messengers must proclaim freedom to the Gutes to travel in peace over the sea, to all places where the Swedish king held sway. And the same went for anyone travelling there to Gotland. [12]
It gives Awair Strabain as the man who arranged the mutually beneficial agreement with the king of Sweden and the event would have taken place before the end of the ninth century, when Wulfstan of Hedeby reported that the island was subject to the Swedes.
Because of Gotland's central position in the Baltic Sea, from early on the Gutes became a nation of traders and merchants. The amount of silver treasure that has been found in Gotlandic soil during the Viking Age surpasses that of all the other Swedish provinces counted together, which tells of a traders' nation of indisputable rank among the North Germanic tribes. [13] The Gutes were the leading tradesmen in the Baltic sea until the rise of the Hanseatic League. [13]
The Gutes were both yeomen farmers and traveling merchants at the same time: so-called farmenn. This was an exceptionally dangerous occupation during the Middle Ages, since the Baltic Sea was full of pirates. The Gutnish farmenn always had to be ready for battle. The division and organisation of the early Gutnish society shows a nation constantly ready for war. The "ram" seems to have been an early symbol for the Gutes, and is still seen on the Gotlandic coat of arms.
The history of Gotland can be read in the book Gutasaga . The Gutasaga is a saga treating the history of Gotland prior to Christianity. It was recorded in the 13th century and survives in only a single manuscript, the Codex Holm B. 64, dating to ca. 1350. It is kept in the National Library of Sweden in Stockholm together with the Gutalagen , the legal code of Gotland. It was written in the Old Gutnish dialect of Old Norse.
The Norsemen were a North Germanic ethnolinguistic group of the Early Middle Ages, during which they spoke the Old Norse language. The language belongs to the North Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages and is the predecessor of the modern Germanic languages of Scandinavia. During the late eighth century, Scandinavians embarked on a large-scale expansion in all directions, giving rise to the Viking Age. In English-language scholarship since the 19th century, Norse seafaring traders, settlers and warriors have commonly been referred to as Vikings. Historians of Anglo-Saxon England distinguish between Norse Vikings (Norsemen) from Norway, who mainly invaded and occupied the islands north and north-west of Britain, as well as Ireland and western Britain, and Danish Vikings, who principally invaded and occupied eastern Britain.
The Geats, sometimes called Goths, were a large North Germanic tribe who inhabited Götaland in modern southern Sweden from antiquity until the late Middle Ages. They are one of the progenitor groups of modern Swedes, along with Swedes and Gutes. The name of the Geats also lives on in the Swedish provinces of Västergötland and Östergötland, the Western and Eastern lands of the Geats, and in many other toponyms.
The Swedes were a North Germanic tribe who inhabited Svealand in central Sweden and one of the progenitor groups of modern Swedes, along with Geats and Gutes. They had their tribal centre in Gamla Uppsala.
Götaland is one of three lands of Sweden and comprises ten provinces. Geographically it is located in the south of Sweden, bounded to the north by Svealand, with the deep woods of Tiveden, Tylöskog and Kolmården marking the border.
Gotland, also historically spelled Gottland or Gothland, is Sweden's largest island. It is also a province/county, municipality, and diocese. The province includes the islands of Fårö and Gotska Sandön to the north, as well as the Karlsö Islands to the west. The population is 61,001, of which about 23,600 live in Visby, the main town. Outside Visby, there are minor settlements and a mainly rural population. The island of Gotland and the other areas of the province of Gotland make up less than one percent of Sweden's total land area. The county formed by the archipelago is the second smallest by area and is the least populated in Sweden. In spite of the small size due to its narrow width, the driving distance between the furthermost points of the populated islands is about 170 kilometres (110 mi).
Gutnish, or rarely Gutnic, is the original language spoken on parts of the islands of Gotland and Fårö. The different dialects of Gutnish, while stemming from the Old Gutnish variety of Old Norse, are sometimes considered part of modern Swedish. Gutnish exists in two variants, Mainland Gutnish, mostly spoken in the southern and southeastern portion of Gotland, where the dialect of Lau became the standard form on the Main Island, and Fårö Gutnish, spoken on the island of Fårö. UNESCO defines Gutnish as a "definitely endangered language" as of 2010.
Scandza was described as a "great island" by Gothic-Byzantine historian Jordanes in his work Getica. The island was located in the Arctic regions of the sea that surrounded the world. The location is usually identified with Scandinavia.
Geatish kings, ruling over the provinces of Götaland (Gautland/Geatland), appear in several sources for early Swedish history. Today, most of them are not considered historical.
In modern English, the name of Sweden is derived from 17th century Middle Dutch and Middle Low German. In Old English, the country was named Swēoland and Swēorīċe ; the latter is cognate with Old Norse Svíaríki. Anglo-Norman of the 12th and 13th centuries used Suane and Swane. In Scots, Swane and Swaine appear in the 16th century. Early Modern English used Swedeland.
According to a tale related by Jordanes in his Getica, Gothiscandza was the first settlement area of the Goths after their migration from Scandza during the first half of the 1st century CE. He claimed that the name was still in use in his own day.
Gutasaga (Gutasagan) is a saga regarding the history of Gotland before its Christianization. It was recorded in the 13th century and survives in only a single manuscript, the Codex Holm. B 64, dating to c. 1350, kept at the National Library of Sweden in Stockholm together with the Gutalag, the legal code of Gotland. It was written in the Old Gutnish language, a variety of Old Norse.
Old Gutnish or Old Gotlandic was a North Germanic language spoken on the Baltic island of Gotland. It shows sufficient differences from the Old West Norse and Old East Norse dialects that it is considered to be a separate branch. While vastly divergent from Old Gutnish and closer to Modern Swedish, a modern version of Gutnish is still spoken in some parts of Gotland and the adjoining island of Fårö.
Gaut is an early Germanic name, from a Proto-Germanic gautaz, which represents a mythical ancestor or national god in the origin myth of the Geats.
The Vagoth were a Germanic tribe mentioned by Jordanes as living in Scandza. They have been identified with the Geats of Vikbolandet and with the Gutes of Gotland, both in Sweden. They have been variously connected with the two places named by Jordanes, the vastissimus lacus and the Vagi fluvens. Karl Zeuss thought Vagoth to be a misspelling of Vagos and connected them to the Vagar who later appeared in the Dovrefjell of Norway. Karl Müllenhoff, too, thought the term a corruption. He proposed *Augothi or *Avigothi and placed them in Öland.
Gothicism or Gothism was a dacianistic cultural movement in Sweden, which took honor in being a Swede, who were related to the illustrious Goths as the Goths originated from Götaland. The founders of the movement were Nicolaus Ragvaldi and the brothers Johannes and Olaus Magnus. The belief continued to hold power in the 17th century, when Sweden was a great power following the Thirty Years' War, but lost most of its sway in the 18th. It was renewed by the Viking revival and Romantic nationalism in the early 19th century, this time with the Vikings as heroic figures.
Gotlandic is the form of Swedish spoken on the islands of Gotland and Fårö in the Baltic Sea.
Torsburgen, Tors borg or þors borg are the remains of an ancient hillfort in Kräklingbo on the Swedish island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea. The fort is approximately 1.2 km2 (0.46 sq mi), was constructed in the 1st-4th century and in use until the 12th century. Situated on a plateau hill it is protected by high cliffs and wall sections, almost 2 km (1.2 mi) long in total. The fort is featured in the Gutasaga. The plateau is also a nature reserve.
Mästerby is a populated area, a socken or administrative parish, on the Swedish island of Gotland. It comprises the same area as the administrative Mästerby District, established on 1 January 2016.
North Germanic peoples, commonly called Scandinavians, Nordic peoples and in a medieval context Norsemen, were a Germanic linguistic group originating from the Scandinavian Peninsula. They are identified by their cultural similarities, common ancestry and common use of the Proto-Norse language from around 200 AD, a language that around 800 AD became the Old Norse language, which in turn later became the North Germanic languages of today.
The name of the Goths is one of the most discussed topics in Germanic philology. It is first recorded by Greco-Roman writers in the 3rd century AD, although names that are probably related appear earlier. Derived from Proto-Germanic *Gutōz ~ *Gutaniz, it is closely related to and probably means the same as the names of both the Geats of southern Sweden and Gutes of Gotland. The implications of these similarities, and the actual meaning of the Gothic name, are disputed in scholarship. Although the Goths have disappeared as a people, their name has survived in various appellations up to the present day.
