The Gotlanders are the population of the island of Gotland. In Swedish, they are also called Gutar an ethnonym originally identical to Goths (Gutans). Their dialect/language is called Gutnish (Gutniska). Gotland is the largest island in the Baltic Sea. ... Invasion of the Goths: a late 19th century painting by O. Fritsche portrays the Goths as cavalrymen. ... Gutnish is a language of the eastern branch of the North Germanic languages, spoken on the island of Gotland. ...

Their oldest history is retold in the Gutasaga, where it is related that because of overpopulation one third of the Gutar had to emigrate and settle in southern Europe. The Gutasaga was recorded in the 13th century and survives in only a single manuscript, the Codex Holm. ...

over a long time, the people descended from these three multiplied so much that the land couldn't support them all. Then they draw lots, and every third person was picked to leave, and they could keep everything they owned and take it with them, except for their land. ... they went up the river Dvina, up through Russia. They went so far that they came to the land of the Greeks. ... they settled there, and live there still, and still have something of our language.

The fact that the ethnonym is identical to Goth may be the reason why they are not mentioned as a special group until Jordanes' Getica, where they may be those who are called Vagoths (see Scandza). The Origin and Deeds of the Goths (Latin: De origine actibusque Getarum), commonly referred to as Getica, was written by Jordanes, probably in Constantinople, and was published in AD 551. ... Scandza was the name given to Scandinavia by Jordanes, in his work Getica. ...

Before the 9th century, they became subjects of the Swedish kings, a voluntary submission according to the Gutasaga. This earthenware dish was made in 9th century Iraq. ... The semi-legendary kings of Sweden are the long line of Swedish kings who preceded Eric the Victorious, according to sources such as the Norse Sagas, Beowulf, Rimbert, Adam of Bremen and Saxo Grammaticus, but who are of disputed historicity, due to the fact that many of them appear in... The Gutasaga was recorded in the 13th century and survives in only a single manuscript, the Codex Holm. ...

Many kings made war on Gotland while it was heathen, but the Gotlanders always maintained their own religion and law. Then the Gotlanders were sending many messengers to Sweden, but none of them succeeded in negotiating a peace, till Awair Strabain from Alva parish. He was the first to make peace with the king of the Swedes.[...] As he was a smooth-tongued man, wise indeed and artful, as the stories of him go, he established a fixed treaty with the Swedish king: 60 marks of silver a year - that is the tax for the Gotlanders - with 40 for the king, out of that sixty, and the jarls to get 20. This amount had already been decided by agreement of the whole land before he left.

So the Gotlanders submitted to the king of the Swedes of their own free will, that they might go anywhere in Sweden freely and unfettered by tolls or any duties. So too the Swedes could come to Gotland with no ban on the import of corn, or any other restrictions. The king was to give aid and help whenever they needed it and asked. The king would send messengers to the Gotland national assembly, and the jarls likewise, to collect their tax. These messengers must proclaim freedom to the Gotlanders to travel in peace over the sea, to all places where the Swedish king held sway. And the same went for anyone travelling there to Gotland.