Editing Geats (section)

===Dynastic struggles===
In the 11th century, the Swedish [[House of Munsö]] became extinct with the death of [[Emund the Old]]. [[Stenkil]], a Geat, was elected king of the Swedes, and the Geats would be influential in the shaping of Sweden as a Christian kingdom. However, this election also ushered in a long period of civil unrest between Christians and pagans and between Geats and Swedes. The Geats tended to be more Christian, and the Swedes more pagan, which was why the Christian Swedish king [[Inge I of Sweden|Inge the Elder]] fled to Västergötland when deposed in favour of [[Blot-Sweyn]], a king more favourable towards [[Norse paganism]], in the 1080s. Inge would retake the throne and rule until his death c. 1100.

[[File:Västgötalagen blad 21.jpg|thumb|200px|''Sveær egho konong at taka ok sva vrækæ'' and the following sentences in the [[Westrogothic law]]]]
In his ''[[Gesta Danorum]]'' (book 13), the Danish 12th-century chronicler [[Saxo Grammaticus]] noted that the Geats had no say in the election of the king, only the Swedes. When the West Geatish law or [[Westrogothic law]] was put to paper, it reminded the Geats that they had to accept the election of the Swedes: ''Sveær egho konong at taka ok sva vrækæ'' meaning ''"It is the Swedes who have the right of choosing ["taking"] and also deposing the king"'' and then he rode [[Eriksgata]]n ''"mæþ gislum ofvan"'' – ''"with hostages from above [the realm]"'' through [[Södermanland]], the Geatish provinces and then through [[Närke]] and [[Västmanland]] to be judged to be the lawful king by the [[lawspeaker]]s of their respective [[Thing (assembly)|things]]. One of these Swedish kings was [[Ragnvald Knaphövde]], who in 1125 was riding with his retinue in order to be accepted as king by the different provinces. According to material appended to the oldest manuscript of the [[Westrogothic law]], he decided not to demand hostages as he despised the Geats, and was slain near [[Falköping]].

In a [[Medieval Scandinavian laws#Swedish provincial laws|new general law]] of Sweden that was issued by [[Magnus IV of Sweden|Magnus Eriksson]] in the 1350s, it was stated that twelve men from each province, chosen by their things, should be present at the [[Stone of Mora]] when a new king was elected.

The distinction between Swedes and Geats lasted during the Middle Ages, but the Geats became increasingly important for Swedish national claims of greatness due to the Geats' old connection with the Goths. They argued that since the Goths and the Geats were the same nation, and the Geats were part of the kingdom of Sweden, this meant that the Swedes had defeated the Roman empire. The earliest attestation of this claim comes from the [[Council of Basel]], 1434, during which the Swedish delegation argued with the Spanish about who among them were the true Goths. The Spaniards argued that it was better to be descended from the heroic Visigoths than from stay-at-homers. This cultural movement, which was not restricted to Sweden went by the name ''[[Gothicismus]]'' or in Swedish ''Göticism'', i.e. ''Geaticism''.

After the 15th century and the [[Kalmar Union]], the Swedes and the Geats appear to have begun to perceive themselves as one nation, which is reflected in the evolution of ''svensk'' into a common ethnonym.<ref name=national>The article ''Svear'' in ''[[Nationalencyklopedin]]''.</ref><ref>The earliest attestation of this meaning is from the mid-15th century ''[[Swedish Chronicle]].''</ref> It was originally an adjective referring to those belonging to the Swedish tribe, who are called ''svear'' in Swedish. As early as the 9th century, ''svear'' had been vague, both referring to the Swedish tribe and being a collective term including the Geats,<ref name=national/> and this is the case in [[Adam of Bremen]]'s work where the Geats (''Goths'') appear both as a proper nation and as part of the ''Sueones''.<ref name=national/> The merging/assimilation of the two nations took a long time, however. In the early-20th century, ''[[Nordisk familjebok]]'' noted that ''svensk'' had almost replaced ''svear'' as a name for the Swedish people.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://runeberg.org/nfcg/0605.html|title=1129–1130 (Nordisk familjebok / Uggleupplagan. 27. Stockholm-Nynäs järnväg – Syrsor)|date=22 September 1918|website=runeberg.org|access-date=4 December 2006|archive-date=3 January 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070103091640/http://runeberg.org/nfcg/0605.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

At the same time, the Swedish ancestors were often referred to as Geats, especially when their heroism or connection to the Goths was to be stressed. This practice disappeared during the 19th century, when the [[viking]]s gradually took over the role as the heroic ancestors.