GEIJER, ERIK GUSTAF (1783-1847), Swedish historian and poet, was born at Ransater in Varmland, on Jan. 12, 1783. He was educated at the University of Uppsala, and, after a short period of teaching in the university, entered the public record office at Stockholm. There, with some friends, he founded the "Gothic Society," to whose organ Iduna he contributed a number of prose essays and of songs, which he set to music. About the same time he issued a volume of hymns, of which several are inserted in the Swedish Psalter.
Geijer became assistant to Erik M. Fant, professor of history at Uppsala, and succeeded him in 1817. In 1824 he was elected a member of the Swedish Academy. A single volume of a great projected work, Svea Rikes Hdfder, a masterly critical examination of the sources of Sweden's legendary history, appeared in 1825. His Svenska folkets historia (3 vols., 1832-36; Eng. trans. by J. H. Turner, 1845), a clear view of the political and social de velopment of Sweden down to 16J4. The acute critical insight, just thought, and finished historical art of these incomplete works of Geijer entitle him to a high place among Swedish historians. His chief other historical and political writings are his Teckning af Sveriges tillstdnd 1718-1772 (1838), and Feodalism och repub likanism, ett bidrag till Samhalls f or f attningens historic (1844). Geijer also edited, with the aid of J. H. Schroder, a continuation of Fant's Scriptores rerum svecicarum medii nevi (1818-28), and, by himself, Thomas Thorild's Samlade skrifter (1819-25), and Konung Gustaf III.'s efterlemnade Papper (4 vols., Failing health forced Geijer to resign his chair in 1846, after which he removed to Stockholm for the purpose of completing his Svenska folkets historia, and died there on April 23, 1847. His Samlade skrifter (13 vols., new ed., 1873-77) include a large number of philosophical and political essays contributed to reviews. His poems were collected and published as Skaldestycken (Uppsala, 1835 and 1878).
For Geijer's biography, see his own Minnen (1834), which contains copious extracts from his letters and diaries; B. E. Malmstrom, Min nestal Over ver E. G. Geijer, addressed to the Uppsala students (June 6, 1848), and printed among his Tal och esthetiska afhandlingar (1868), and Grunddragen af Svenska vitterhetens haf der (1866-68) ; and S. A. Hollander, Minne af E. G. Geijer (Orebro, 1869) . See also lives of Geijer by J. Hellstenius (1876), J. Niekson (Odense, 1902) and J. Landquist (1924) .