East Danes
East Dane is an Anglo-Saxon ethnonym which was used in the epic Beowulf as a kenning for the Geats, the people of Götaland without Scania in southern Sweden.
It was also used in an Anglo-Saxon runic poem describing the first appearance of the god Frey :
In Scandinavian mythology, the first appearance of Frey was localised to Sweden and Old Uppsala, where he founded the Temple at Uppsala:
The Ynglinga saga:
Gesta Danorum:
Since Dane was used as a generic expression for Scandinavian, it can be hypothesized that the name East Dane of the runic poem refers to Scandinavians living east of the Danes proper.
