Gutasaga

Initially, the text of the saga was not entitled and simply included Gutalag . Only at the first edition of Gutalag in 1852, the Swedish scientist Karl Johan Schlüter gave the saga the name History of Gotlandia (Historia Gotlandiae). Later, already in 1859, another Swedish researcher Karl Sawe titled the text “The Saga of the Gutas” (Gutasaga) and it was this name that became generally accepted in science.

The text of the saga had no internal division. Schlüter divided it into 6 chapters, based on their content.

Guts are often referred to as Goths . So, the ethnonym Gut for determining the population of Gotland and the ethnonym Goth in the eastern and western dialects of the Old Icelandic language sounds the same: in the east - gutar ; in the west - gotar . Among all Germanic tribes, this ethnonym refers only to the Goths and Ghuts. This could be the reason why the Huts did not stand out as a separate group until Jordan's “ De origine actibusque Getarum ”. Ptolemy has references to the guts inhabiting the south of the island of Scandia.

From the foundation to the relocation to southern Europe

The saga begins with Tjelvar ( dr. Gut. Þjelvar ) - the first person to enter the island, and his son Hafti, who had three sons - Greipr, Guti and Gunfjown, the ancestors of the Guts . The name Guti is an eponym of Gotland. Hafti's sons divided Gotland into three tridyungs ( þriþiung ).

Further, the saga tells about the relocation from the island of a third of the population due to overpopulation, for which there are many theories.

Some scientists correlate this information with the migration of the Goths , who had to leave for the “lands of the Greeks” during the Great Migration of Peoples . This is consistent with the first mention of the Goths in authoritative sources: Eusebius of Caesarea reports that they devastated " Macedonia , Greece , Pontus and Asia " in 263 . At that time, emigration most likely occurred in the 1st century AD and in the next two centuries, immigrants more and more detached from their homeland, the comment that “there is still something” in the language of emigrants allows us to conclude that the dialects are divided. Stories of what was going on had to be transmitted orally for almost a millennium before the text was written.

Archaeological research indicates a significant decrease in finds and a change in the types of antiquities on Gotland at the end of the 5th century - the first half of the 6th century, which indicates a significant decrease in the population of the island in this period. At the same time, in the Eastern Baltic and Northwest Russia, archaeologists have ascertained the Gotland influence on some types of antiquities ^[1] .

In the chronicle of the mid-16th century, “The Origin, Migration, War, and the Colony of the Cimbri and Goths,” written in Latin by Danish priest Nikolai Petrei , it is said that, over the centuries, the population of Gotland increased greatly. Then one of the descendants of Thjelvar, the ruler of Gotland - Hangvar convened a general council, which decided to expel every third man from the country by lot. Hangvar gathered an army of 15 thousand soldiers and sailed with a fleet of "countless ships" to Estonia. This happened in 903 "after the global flood."

The mention of Dvina is quite consistent with the Velbar culture . Historically, the Goths adhered to the Vistula , but in the Viking era, instead of the Vistula, it was the Dvino- Dnieper waterway that became the main trade route to the Greeks , so it is not surprising that it replaced the Vistula as a traditional resettlement route.

Perhaps the migration from the island has happened more than once.

The chapter then gives a brief description of pagan cults practiced on the island before Christianization .

Joining the Kingdom of Sweden

The second chapter tells about the entry of Gotland into Sweden . And although the saga says that the Guts won in the wars with the saints , in the end they began to send embassies to the sights with a proposal for a peace treaty. As follows from the further text of the saga, the embassy was fraught with a high risk to life for the ambassador, therefore the one sent by Avayr Straw leg demanded to pay him 3 wergels for himself, his son and his wife. Avair achieved peace with the sveami. Here in the text are mentioned sagas about the witchcraft and wisdom of Avayr, which did not reach us.

Under the agreement, the Ghutas began to pay tribute to Sweden - sixty marks of silver annually (of which 40 - to the king of Sweden, and 20 - to the jarl of Sweden). A common space for sveis and guts was created with free migration, trade and judicial protection. The right of the Guts to demand protection from the king during their stay in Sweden and vice versa is emphasized. At the same time, the island retained self-government in the form of tings of different levels. This was to happen before the end of the 9th century , when Wulfstan of Hedeby reported that the island was subordinate to the Swedes.

The third chapter briefly mentions the visit of Saint Olaf to the island of Gotland during his exile from Norway and the beginning of Olaf's spread of Christianity on the island.

Christianization of the island

The fourth chapter, using the example of the first churches in Gotland, describes how Christianity spread on the island. According to the saga, Christianity on the island was strengthened by merchants. The new religion met with resistance from the local population and the first church was burnt (now this place, literally called "burnt place", is located in the modern courtyard of Kulsted in the parish of Valls , west of Romania ). After another church was erected, which managed to resist. Nevertheless, the saga speaks of the non-violent adoption by Christianity of Christianity and vividly describes all the vicissitudes of how the church that built the church persuaded the people not to burn it.

The fifth chapter describes how Gotland became subordinate to the linkoping bishop, and the procedure and time for the bishop to visit the island, the conditions and amount of fees charged to him, the procedure for resolving disputes and addressing him.

The sixth chapter describes in detail the rights of the king of Sweden and the Guts in the appeal for ice - when the king can demand it, and when the Guts can disobey this demand with impunity. At the same time, it is specified that the sveis can demand the participation of the Guts in the ice only against pagans, but not Christians.

Also, the last chapter describes some procedural aspects of the relationship between Gotland and Sweden. Such, for example, as the right to assembly, the procedure for issuing orders. The procedure for collecting and transmitting tribute to the saints is being clarified:

In the saga there are mentions of toponyms Ryutsaland (ryza land) - country of Rus, Russia ; and Hulmgard - Novgorod .
Yertslaf - Yaroslav the Wise, is also mentioned in connection with the circumstances of the expulsion of St. Olaf from Norway.

• Saga
• Getae
• Goths
• The gots