The Legacy of the Gothic People of History

The Legacy of the Goths
by Frank Schaefer

Though the Gothic tribes, culture and spoken language all but disappeared, their legacy still lingers on even to this day. There are arguably traces of an ethnic identity that some Europeans treasure, if only partially.

There is an interesting story of how Spanish and Swedish delegates at the Church Council of Basel in 1424 C.E. claimed Gothic origins. Before long the claims led to an outright clash. Before the assembled cardinals and delegations could engage in theological discussion, they had to decide how to sit during the proceedings. The delegations from the more prominent nations argued that they should sit closest to the Pope, and there were also disputes over who was to have the finest chairs and who was to have their chairs on mats.

In some cases, they compromised so that some would have half a chair leg on the rim of a mat. In this conflict, Nicolaus Ragvaldi, bishop of the Diocese of Växjö, claimed that the Swedes were the descendants of the great Goths, and that the people of Västergötland (Westrogothia in Latin) were the Visigoths and the people of Östergötland (Ostrogothia in Latin) were the Ostrogoths. The Spanish delegation retorted that it was only the lazy and unenterprising Goths who had remained in Sweden, whereas the heroic Goths had left Sweden, invaded the Roman empire and settled in Spain. (Söderberg, pp. 187–95).

Even to this day, some Iberians claim a noble Gothic lineage and so do Swedes, especially from the areas of Gotland where Gutnish and Fårö is still spoken today-dialects of Old Norse which is related to the Gothic language.

The Gothic people may have disappeared from the modern map; they may have merged into the mist of history, but they certainly left their mark on Western society not just genetically, but also in terms of culture and attitudes.

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