The Germanic king originally had three main functions.

1. The king served as judge during the popular assemblies.
2. He served as a priest during the sacrifices (Blóts) at important cult sites, such as the Temple at Uppsala. Refusal to administer the blóts could lead to the king losing his power (see e.g. Haakon the Good and Anund Gårdske).
3. The king served as a warleader during wars.

The office was hereditary, but originally a Germanic king had to have the consent of the people before he could assume the throne. The Blót was the pagan Germanic sacrifice to Norse gods and Elves. ... The Temple at Uppsala was a Temple in Gamla Uppsala (Old Uppsala), near modern Uppsala, Sweden, created to worship the Norse gods of ancient times. ... Haakon I (c. ... Anund Gårdske came from Kievan Rus, but is only mentioned by Adam of Bremen. ...

All the sons of the king had the right to claim the throne, which often led to co-rulership (Diarchy) where two brothers were elected kings at the same time. This was common among Swedes, Norwegians, Franks and Anglo-Saxons (see e.g. Alfred the Great). Diarchy (or dyarchy) is a society or organization with two rulers on equal standing. ... Franks can refer to: in medieval European history, the Frankish people, Germanic tribes who entered the Roman Empire from Frisia in the first five centuries AD in medieval Middle Eastern history, the Crusaders, or more broadly any persons originating in Catholic western Europe. ... The Anglo-Saxons refers collectively to the groups of Germanic tribes who achieved dominance in southern Britain from the mid-5th century, forming the basis for the modern English nation. ... Alfred (849? – 26 October 899) (sometimes spelt Ælfred) was king of the southern Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex from 871 to 899. ...

This evolved into the territories being considered the hereditary property of the kings, Patrimonies, a system which fuelled feudal wars, because the kings could claim ownership of lands beyond their de facto rule. 1. ...

Etymology

The name king is derived from the Anglo-Saxon cyning, which in turn is derived from the Proto-Germanic *kuningaz. The original meaning is contested. One theory is that the element *kun relates to the word kindred or that it originally meant descendant of a ruler. Another theory is that it is originally meant belonging to the woman, i.e. belonging to the mother goddess and referring to the king's role as a priest. The Anglo-Saxons refers collectively to the groups of Germanic tribes who achieved dominance in southern Britain from the mid-5th century, forming the basis for the modern English nation. ... Map of the Pre-Roman Iron Age culture(s) associated with Proto-Germanic, ca 500 BC-50 BC. The area south of Scandinavia is the Jastorf culture Proto-Germanic, the proto-language believed by scholars to be the common ancestor of the Germanic languages, includes among its descendants Dutch, Yiddish...

Modern forms of *kuningaz:

• Dutch: koning
• English: king
• German: könig
• Icelandic: konungur
• Norwegian/Danish: kong or konge
• Swedish: kung or konung

The word *kuningas was very early borrowed by non-Germanic languages (note that the slavic król and korol are not derived from this word, but from karl): The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Karl can refer to: Carolus Magnus - king of the Franks, the Lombards and Rome (also called Karl/Charles the Great) Carl XVI Gustaf - King of Sweden Karl XV - King of Sweden-Norway Karl XIV Johan - King of Sweden-Norway Karl XIII - King of Sweden-Norway Karl XII - King of Sweden...

• Finnish: kuningas
• Lithuanian: kunigaik-
• Russian: knyaz
• Saami: gonagas or konagas

Interestingly, the word differs from other Indo-European words for "king", most of which are clearly related (Latin rex, Sanskrit rājanand Irish rí, for example). Sami is a general name for a group of Finno-Ugric languages spoken in parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia, in Northern Europe. ... The Indo-European languages include some 443 (SIL estimate) languages and dialects spoken by about three billion people, including most of the major language families of Europe and western Asia, which belong to a single superfamily. ... Latin is the language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... Rex (Latin for King) is the name of several things. ... The Sanskrit language (Skt. ... A Raja (sometimes spelled Rajah) is a king, or princely ruler. ...

Other names

In Germanic traditions there are many kennings for king, such as Giver of Rings used in Beowulf: a king was expected to give golden rings to reward his warriors. This article is about kenning as a poetic notion. ... The first page of Beowulf This article describes Beowulf, the epic poem. ...

See also

• Stone of Mora