Editing Geats (section)

===Early history===
The earliest known surviving mention of the Geats appears in [[Ptolemy]] (2nd century AD), who refers to them as ''Goutai''. In the 6th century, [[Jordanes]] writes of the ''Gautigoths'' and ''Ostrogoths'' (the Ostrogoths of [[Scandza]]); and [[Procopius]] refers to ''Gautoi''. The Norse [[Sagas]] know them as ''Gautar''; ''[[Beowulf]]'' and ''[[Widsith]]'' as ''Gēatas''.<ref>
Michael Alexander's 1995 (Penguin Classics) edition of ''Beowulf'' mentions a variant: ''Gēotas''</ref> ''Beowulf'' and the [[Norse saga]]s name several [[Geatish kings]], but only [[Hygelac]] finds confirmation in ''Liber Monstrorum'' where he is referred to as "Rex Getarum" and in a copy of ''Historiae Francorum'' where he is called "Rege Gotorum". These sources concern a raid into [[Frisia]], ca 516, which is also described in ''Beowulf''. C. 551, some decades after Hygelac's raid, Jordanes described the Geats as a nation which was "bold, and quick to engage in war".<ref name="larsson0443">{{Cite book|last=Larsson|first=Mats G. |year=2004|title=Götarnas riken |publisher=Atlantis |place=Stockholm|pages= 43 }}</ref>

The [[Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain]] included many North Germanic people who were losers in the brutal tribal warfare of Scandinavia. The place-name ''-gate'' marks the site of Geatish settlement, often alongside strategically important [[Roman roads]] and nearby [[Visigoths|Visigothic]] and/or [[Jutes|Jutish]] settlements.<ref>Margary, Ivan D. (1973). Roman Roads in Britain, 3rd ed. London: Baker.</ref> Defeated Jutes like Hengest and his brother Horsa fled to Kent, while Geats defeated by encroaching [[Swedes (tribe)|Swedes]] moved to [[Yorkshire]] where they founded [[Gillingshire]] by the [[River Tees|Tees]], originally the settlement of the ''Geatlings''.<ref name="shippey">{{Cite book|last=Shippey|first=Tom |year=2018|title=Laughing Shall I Die |publisher=Reaction Books Limited|place=London|isbn=978-1-78023-909-5|pages=56 }}</ref> It has also been suggested that East Anglia was settled by Geats at this time,<ref name="farell269">{{Cite book|last=Farrel|first=R.T.|year=1972|title=Beowulf, Swedes and Geats|publisher=Viking Society for Northern Research, University College, London|pages=269|url=http://vsnrweb-publications.org.uk/Beowulf%20Swedes%20andGeats.pdf|access-date=18 August 2021|archive-date=11 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210711013208/http://vsnrweb-publications.org.uk/Beowulf%20Swedes%20andGeats.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> or by [[Wulfings]] who also came from Götaland, bringing the traditions of ''Beowulf'' with them.<ref name="newton">{{Cite book|last=Newton|first=Sam|year=1993|title=The Origins of Beowulf, and the Pre-Viking Kingdom of East Anglia|publisher=D. S. Brewer, Cambridge}}</ref>

Any peace that eventually settled in southern Scandinavia was most likely due to exhaustion, and a Danish archaeologist has summarized that in the mid-6th century, and after, Scandinavia "went down to hell".<ref name="shippey"/> Scandinavian wares appear to have stopped arriving in England, c. 550, suggesting that contact was broken.<ref name="farell269"/>