King of The Geats

King Of The Geats

Geatish kings (Rex Getarum/Gothorum), ruling over the provinces of Götaland (Gautland/Geatland), appears in several sources for early Swedish history. Today, most of them are not considered historical.

This list follows the generally accepted identification between the names Götar (modern Swedish), Gautar (Old Norse) and Geatas (Old English), which is based both on tradition, literary sources and on etymology. However, unlike some translations it does not identify this tribe with the Goths. Both Old Norse and Old English records clearly separates the Geats from the Goths, although still depicts them as closely related to each other.

From the Middle Ages until 1974, the king of Sweden, claimed the title king of the Geats as "king of Sweden and Geats/Goths" or "Rex Sweorum et Gothorum". The Danish monarchs used the similar title "King of the Goths" from 1362 until 1972.