Johannes Magnus’ Historia de omnibus Gothorum Sueonumque regibus and Gostagus the Tyrant

The last Catholic archbishop of Sweden to hold residence in his see at Uppsala, Johannes Magnus (1488-1544), was the author of a major work about Swedish history: the Historia de omnibus Gothorum Sueonumque regibus. Johannes Magnus left Sweden in 1526, spent the rest of his life away from his home country and eventually died in Rome, where his work was published posthumously in 1554. One reason for the long exile was the gradual introduction of Protestantism in Sweden by King Gustavus Vasa.The Historia de omnibus Gothorum Sueonumque regibus consists of over 200 portraits of Swedish kings, beginning with Magog, the grandson of Noah. An interesting case among the kings is Gostagus (Ostanus), who is said to have ruled Sweden in the 7th century. This tyrant is generally considered an invention of Johannes Magnus’, intended as a malicious portrait of Gustavus Vasa, only safely displaced in time, probably as a vengeful, Catholic display of dislike for a Protestant king. In this paper, I propose a different view of Gostagus and his function within Johannes Magnus’ work