[gothic-l] Gaut, an additional view

[keth at ONLINE.NO]

Tore wrote:
>Yes, I am from Gotland.I know Erik Nylén very well. One of my brothers was
>navigator on Krampmacken on the first part of the voyage down to river Bug.
>I have also compiled  the Golandish history. Published "Beowulf, gutarnas
>nationalepos" and "Guta lagh".  From Swedish point of view the Gotlandic
>history did not exist. As it is always the history of the winner that
>counts and as Gotland became a Swedish colony in 1679 nobody bothered about
>the Gotlandic history.
>Tore

Thank you for your comment, Tore!
I never thought of it that way.
Do you mean that Gotland is no more Swedish than it is Danish?
Sweden was very agressive against Norway too, for many centuries.
Surprisingly, the Swedish military never did very well in Norway,
the either froze to death or had their chiefs killed and things
like that. We learned about those wars when I was in the army
training school. One thing that I think is important, is that
Båhuslen also only became Swedish at a correspondingly late date.
(1658). Båhus used to be one of the North's and Norway's
strongest forts. I think it is at the Göta river. That means
that the "Gautar" may just as well be seen as "Norwegian"
as "Swedish". Just like you cannot call Medieval Gotland
"Swedish" if I understand you correctly. The dictionary
says "came under" at such and such peace treaty. And that
probably means that the land with all its inhabitants
was used for bargaining a peace.

Best regards
Keth



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