King of the Wends ( la, Rex Vandalorum or ''Rex Sclavorum''; ; sv, Vendes Konung) was a pan-Scandinavian

title A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify either generation, an official position, or a professional or academic qualification. In some languages, titles may be inserted between the f ...

denoting sovereignty, lordship or claims over the

Wends Wends ( ang, Winedas ; non, Vindar; german: Wenden , ; da, vendere; sv, vender; pl, Wendowie, cz, Wendové) is a historical name for Slavs living near Germanic settlement areas. It refers not to a homogeneous people, but to various people ...

, a people who historically populated Western Slavic lands of southern coasts of the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...

, those otherwise called

Mecklenburg Mecklenburg (; nds, label= Low German, Mękel(n)borg ) is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The largest cities of the region are Rostock, Schweri ...

Holstein Holstein (; nds, label=Northern Low Saxon, Holsteen; da, Holsten; Latin and historical en, Holsatia, italic=yes) is the region between the rivers Elbe and Eider. It is the southern half of Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost state of German ...

and

Pomerania Pomerania ( pl, Pomorze; german: Pommern; Kashubian: ''Pòmòrskô''; sv, Pommern) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The western part of Pomerania belongs to ...

, and was used from the 12th century to 1972 by Kings of Denmark and from c. 1540 to 1973 by the

Kings of Sweden This is a list of Swedish kings, queens, regents and viceroys of the Kalmar Union. History The earliest record of what is generally considered to be a Swedish king appears in Tacitus' work ''Germania'', c. 100 AD (the king of the Suiones). Howe ...

. The generally accepted interpretation is that the word refers to the

, West Slavic peoples that lived on the south shores of the

, although the situation is further complicated by the existence of the

Vends The Vends ( lat, wendi, lv, vendi, et, võndlased, võnnulased, vendid) were a Balto-Finnic people that lived between the 12th to 16th centuries in the area around the town of Wenden (now Cēsis) in present-day north-central Latvia. Accord ...

, located between the Finns and the Wends and with somewhat unknown origin. The title's one poetic explanation also was kingship over the antique people of the

Vandals The Vandals were a Germanic peoples, Germanic people who first inhabited what is now southern Poland. They established Vandal Kingdom, Vandal kingdoms on the Iberian Peninsula, Mediterranean islands, and North Africa in the fifth century. The ...

(''vandalorum rex''), but that idea came only in the 16th century. A recent interpretation, not much supported in academic research, has been made that the part "Vend" in the later established titles of the Kings of Sweden (three kingdoms: King of the Svear, Götar and Vends; Svears, Göters och Venders konung) means Finland, the form presumably being akin to winds, "vind". As such, the

Österland Österland (''Eastland'') or Österlanden (''Easternlands''), one of the four traditional lands of Sweden, was a medieval term used for the southern part of Finland. The term occurs in documents approximately between 1350–1470 and gradually fe ...

—the medieval name for the Finnish part of the Swedish kingdom—was the third part of the realm. However, only forty years after the adoption of the title "king of the Wends", the Swedish kings began to style themselves as "

Grand Prince of Finland Grand Duke of Finland, or, more accurately, the Grand Prince of Finland ( fi, Suomen suuriruhtinas, sv, Storfurste av Finland, rus, Великий князь Финляндский, r=Velikiy knyaz' Finlyandskiy, p=vʲɪˈlʲikɪj knʲæsʲ f� ...

" as well. Kings of Denmark bore the title for eight centuries, after it was first adopted by King

Canute VI Canute VI (; c. 1163 – 12 November 1202) was King of Denmark (1182–1202). Contemporary sources describe Canute as an earnest, strongly religious man. Background Canute VI was the eldest son of King Valdemar I and Sophia of Polotsk. H ...

(reigned 1182 to 1202), who conquered the lands of the

and

. In Germanic languages, the name was Wends, and in medieval documentation the Latin name was ''sclavorum rex'', referring to the Slavic peoples in and around the region now known as

. In the 16th century, Latin ''sclavorum'' was changed to ''vandalorum'' also by Danish kings, showing the new poetic idea. The Danish Kings continued to use the title over the next seven hundred years until 1972, when Queen

Margrethe II Margrethe II (; Margrethe Alexandrine Þórhildur Ingrid, born 16 April 1940) is Queen of Denmark. Having reigned as Denmark's monarch for over 50 years, she is Europe's longest-serving current head of state and the world's only incumbent femal ...

succeeded. She abandoned the use of all the royal titles except for that of ''Denmark's King/Queen'', which is the royal style today. When Sweden had made its final breakaway from the

Kalmar union The Kalmar Union ( Danish, Norwegian, and sv, Kalmarunionen; fi, Kalmarin unioni; la, Unio Calmariensis) was a personal union in Scandinavia, agreed at Kalmar in Sweden, that from 1397 to 1523 joined under a single monarch the three kingdo ...

that united it with Norway and Denmark, tensions between the two rulers were high, and it showed also in their flags, coat-of-arms and titles.

Gustav I of Sweden Gustav I, born Gustav Eriksson of the Vasa noble family and later known as Gustav Vasa (12 May 1496 – 29 September 1560), was King of Sweden from 1523 until his death in 1560, previously self-recognised Protector of the Realm ('' Riksför ...

adopted c 1540 the third "kingdom" to his titles (which hitherto had only included Sweden and the Goths): he took "Vandalorumque" rex, "Venders" konung as the third name of the list of kingships. ''Sveriges, Göters och Venders konung'' ('King of Sweden, the Goths and the Wends') was used in official documentation up to the accession in 1973, of

Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden Carl XVI Gustaf (Carl Gustaf Folke Hubertus; born 30 April 1946) is King of Sweden. He ascended the throne on the death of his grandfather, Gustaf VI Adolf, on 15 September 1973. He is the youngest child and only son of Prince Gustaf Adolf, D ...

, who was the first monarch to be proclaimed ''Sveriges konung'' ("King of Sweden") and nothing else.

References

{{Reflist Scandinavia Danish heraldry Swedish heraldry Danish monarchy Swedish Empire West Slavic history European kings

See also

References