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Germanic peoples
This article is about Germanic peoples as an ethnolinguistic group. For the term Germanic as used in
reference to Germanic-speaking countries in Europe,
see Germanic-speaking Europe.
In approximately 222 BCE, the first use of the Latin term
"Germani" appears in the Fasti Capitolini inscription de
Galleis Insvbribvs et Germ(aneis) which may simply be
referring to Gaul or related people but this may be an inaccurate date since the inscription was erected in about 18
BCE despite referencing an earlier date. The term Germani shows up again, allegedly written by Poseidonios
(from 80 BCE), but is merely a quotation inserted by
the author Athenaios who wrote much later (around 190
CE).[6][7][8][9] Somewhat later, the first surviving detailed
discussions of Germani and Germania are those of Julius
Caesar, whose memoirs are based on first-hand experience.
From Caesar’s perspective, Germania was a geographical area of land on the east bank of the Rhine from Gaul,
which Caesar left outside direct Roman control. This usage of the word is the origin of the modern concept of
Germanic languages, but it was not defined strictly by
language. Under other classical authors this sometimes
included regions of Sarmatia as well as an area under
Roman control on the west bank of the Rhine. Also,
at least in the south there were Celtic peoples still living
east of the Rhine and north of the Alps. Caesar, Tacitus
and others did note differences of culture which could
be found on the east of the Rhine. But all of these cultural notes were around the theme that this was a wild and
dangerous region, less civilised than Gaul, a place that required additional military vigilance when traversing the
region.[10]
Germanic Thing (governing assembly), drawn after the depiction
in a relief of the Column of Marcus Aurelius, 193 CE.
The Germanic peoples (also called Teutonic, Suebian or
Gothic in older literature) are an Indo-European ethnolinguistic group of Northern European origin,[1] identified by their use of the Germanic languages which diversified out of Proto-Germanic starting during the PreRoman Iron Age.[2]
The term “Germanic” originated in classical times, when
groups of tribes were referred to using this term by Roman authors. For them, the term was not necessarily
based upon language, but rather referred to tribal groups
and alliances who were considered less civilized, and
more physically hardened, than the Celtic Gauls living
in the region of modern France. Tribes referred to as
Germanic in that period lived generally to the north and
east of the Gauls. Germanic tribes played a major role
throughout the history of Europe’s development.[1]
Caesar used the term Germani, for a very specific tribal
grouping in northeastern Belgic Gaul, west of the Rhine,
the largest part of which were the Eburones, making clear
that he was using the name in the local way. These are the
so-called Germani Cisrhenani, whom Caesar believed to
be closely related to the peoples east of the Rhine, and
descended from immigrants into Gaul.[11] Tacitus suggests that this was the original way the word "Germani"
was used – as the name of a single tribal nation west of
the Rhine, ancestral to the Tungri (who lived in the same
area as the earlier Germani reported by Caesar), and not
a whole race (gentis) as it came to mean. He also suggested that two large Belgic tribes neighbouring Caesar’s
Germani, the Nervii and the Treveri, liked to call themselves Germanic in his time, in order not to be associated
with Gaulish indolence.[12] Caesar described this group
of tribes both as Belgic Gauls, and Germani. Gauls are
associated with Celtic languages, and the term Germani is
associated with Germanic languages, but Caesar did not
discuss languages in detail (though he did say that Belgic
Modern Germanic peoples include the Norwegians,
Swedes, Danes, Icelanders, Germans, Austrians, English,
Dutch, Afrikaners, Flemish, Frisians, Lowland Scots
and others (including diaspora populations, such as most
European Americans).[3][4][5]
1
1.1
Ethnonym
Germanic
See also: Germania
1
2
Gaul was different from Celtic Gaul in language). The geographer Ptolemy described the place where these people
lived as Germania, which according to his accounts was
bordered by the Rhine, Vistula and Danube Rivers, but he
also circumscribed into Greater Germania an area which
included Jutland (Cimbrian peninsula) and an enormous
island known as Scandia (the Scandinavian peninsula).[13]
While saying that the Germani had ancestry over the
Rhine, Caesar did not describe these tribes as recent
immigrants, saying that they had defended themselves
some generations earlier from the invading Cimbri and
Teutones. (He thereby distinguished them from the
neighbouring Aduatuci, whom he did not call Germani, but who were descended from those Cimbri
and Teutones.)[11] It has been claimed, for example by
Maurits Gysseling, that the placenames of this region
show evidence of an early presence of Germanic languages, already in the 2nd century BCE.[14] Celtic culture
and language was however clearly influential also, as can
be seen in the tribal name of the Eburones, their kings’
names, Ambiorix and Cativolcus, and also the material
culture of the region.[15] (In these early records of apparent Germanic tribes, tribal leader names of the Cimbri
and Sigambri, and tribal names such as Tencteri and
Usipetes, are also apparently Gaulish, even coming from
the east of the Rhine.)
The etymology of the word Germani is uncertain.
The likeliest theory so far proposed is that it comes
from a Gaulish compound of *ger “near” + *mani
“men”, comparable to Welsh ger “near” (prep.), Old
Irish gair “neighbor”, Irish gar- (prefix) “near”, garach
“neighborly”.[16][17][18][19] Another Celtic possibility is
that the name meant “noisy"; cf. Breton/Cornish garm
“shout”, Irish gairm “call”.[20] However, here the vowel
does not match, nor does the vowel length (contrast with
inscriptional Garmangabi (UK) and Garma Alise, G257)). Others have proposed a Germanic etymology
*gēr-manni, “spear men”, cf. Middle Dutch ghere, Old
High German Ger, Old Norse geirr.[21] However, the
form gēr (from PGmc *gaizaz) seems far too advanced
phonetically for the 1st century, has a long vowel where
a short one is expected, and the Latin form has a simplex
-n-, not a geminate.
The term Germani, therefore, probably applied to a small
group of tribes in northeastern Gaul who may or may
not have spoken a Germanic language, and whose links
to Germania are unclear. It appears that the Germanic
tribes did not have a word to describe themselves, although the word Suebi, used by Caesar to broadly classify Germanic speakers was likely Germanic in origin.[22]
They did however use term walhaz to describe outsiders
(mainly Celts, Romans and Greeks).[23] Roman authors
frequently employed the term “barbarian” from the Latin
derivative barbarus (inherited from the Greek barbaros
which means “foreign”) when describing Germanic peoples. Such a term presupposed a distinctive Roman intellectual and cultural superiority and their ethnographic
2
CLASSIFICATION
treatises on the various 'barbarian' tribes ascribed specific
attributes of barbarism to each one so as to delineate the
dichotomy between barbarism and civilization.[24] Ironically perhaps, the more the Romans increased their presence along the periphery of their Empire, the more trade
and employment for the 'barbarians’ became available, resulting in an economic boom along the corridors of the
Danube River, which subsequently increased the Roman
focus upon the Germanic peoples.[25] Use of the modern term German or Germanic is the result of eighteenth
and nineteenth century classical philology which “envisioned the Germanic language group as occupying a central branch of the Indo-European language tree.”[26]
1.2 Teutonic
Further information: German language, Theodiscus and
Teutonic (disambiguation)
Latin scholars from the 10th century utilized the adjective teutonicus, a derivative of Teutones) when referencing East Francia which in their vernacular was connoted
“Regnum Teutonicum” for that area and all of its subsequent inhabitants. Modern speakers of English still employ the word “Teutons” when describing Germanic peoples as a result.[27] Historically, the Teutones were only
one specific tribe, and may not have even spoken a Germanic language. For example, it is postulated by some
scholars that the original Teutonic language may have
been a form of Celtic.[28] The source of this confusion
whereby Teutons are lumped into the same category as
the others comes from their contact with the Romans in
the second century B.C. when they, along with the Cimbri
and the Ambrones led a frightening attack against the Romans. Teuton was the byword the Romans applied to the
barbarians from the north and which they used to describe
subsequent Germanic peoples.[29] Under the leadership
of Gaius Marius, who built his career on barbarian antagonists (like many who followed), the Teutones became
one of the archetypal enemies of the Roman Empire.[30]
2 Classification
By the 1st century CE, the writings of Pomponius
Mela, Pliny the elder, and Tacitus indicate a division
of Germanic-speaking peoples into large groupings who
shared ancestry and culture. (This division has been appropriated in modern terminology about the divisions of
Germanic languages.)
Tacitus, in his Germania wrote (Tac. Ger. 2) that
In their ancient songs, their only way of
remembering or recording the past, they celebrate an earth-born god, Tuisco, and his son
Mannus, as the origin of their race, as their
3
terior, and include the Suevi, the Hermunduri,
the Chatti, and the Cherusci:[32] the fifth race is
that of the Peucini, who are also the Basternæ,
adjoining the Daci.
Note that the remote Varini are listed as being in the Suebic or Hermionic group by Tacitus, above, and the eastern
Vandalic or Gothic group by Pliny, so the two accounts
do not match perfectly.
One proposal for the approximate distribution of the primary
Germanic dialect groups in Europe around AD 1:
North Germanic
North Sea Germanic, or Ingvaeonic
Weser-Rhine Germanic, or Istvaeonic
Elbe Germanic, or Irminonic
East Germanic
founders. To Mannus they assign three sons,
from whose names, they say, the coast tribes
are called Ingævones; those of the interior,
Herminones; all the rest, Istævones.
Tacitus also specifies that the Suevi are a very large grouping, with many tribes within it, with their own names.
The largest, he says, is the Semnones, the Langobardi
are fewer, but living surrounded by warlike peoples, and
in remoter and better defended areas live the Reudigni,
Aviones, Anglii, Varini, Eudoses, the Suardones, and
Nuithones.[31]
Pliny the Elder, on the other hand, names five races of
Germans in his Historia Naturalis (Plin. Nat. 4.28), not
three, by distinguishing the two more easterly blocks of
Germans, the Vandals and further east the Bastarnae, who
were the first to reach the Black Sea and come in contact
with Greek civilization. He is also slightly more specific
about the position of the Istvaeones, though he also does
not name any examples of them:
There are five German races; the Vandili,
parts of whom are the Burgundiones, the
Varini, the Carini, and the Gutones: the Ingævones, forming a second race, a portion of
whom are the Cimbri, the Teutoni, and the
tribes of the Chauci. The Istævones, who join
up to the Rhine, and to whom the Cimbri [sic,
repeated] belong, are the third race; while the
Hermiones, forming a fourth, dwell in the in-
In these accounts and others from the period, emphasis is often made upon the fact that the Suebi and their
Hermione kin formed an especially large and mobile nation, which at the time were living mainly near the Elbe,
both east and west of it, but they were also moving westwards into the lands near the Roman frontier. Pomponius Mela in his slightly earlier Description of the World
(III.3.31) places “the farthest people of Germania, the
Hermiones” somewhere to the east of the Cimbri and
the Teutones, and further from Rome, apparently on the
Baltic. Strabo however describes the Suebi as going
through a period where they were pushed back east by
the Romans, in the direction from which they had come:
the nation of the Suevi is the most considerable, as it extends from the Rhine as far as the
Elbe, and even a part of them, as the Hermonduri and the Langobardi, inhabit the country
beyond the Elbe; but at the present time these
tribes, having been defeated, have retired entirely beyond the Elbe.[33]
By the end of the 5th century the term “Gothic” was used
more generally in the historical sources for Pliny’s “Vandals” to the east of the Elbe, including not only the Goths
and Vandals, but also “the Gepids along the Tisza and
the Danube, the Rugians, Sciri and Burgundians, even the
Iranian Alans.”[34]
3 Linguistics
Further information: Germanic substrate hypothesis,
Proto-Germanic and Spread of Indo-European languages
Linguists postulate that an early proto-Germanic language existed and was distinguishable from the other
Indo-European languages as far back as 500 B.C.E.[35]
The earliest known Germanic inscription was found at
Negau (in what is now southern Austria) on a bronze helmet dating back to the first century BC.[36] Some of the
other earliest known physical records of the Germanic
language appear on stone and wood carvings in Runic
script from around 200 AD.[28] Runic writing likely disappeared due to the concerted opposition of the Christian Church, which regarded runic text as heathen symbols which supposedly contained inherent magical properties that they associated with the Germanic peoples’
4
pagan past.[37] Unfortunately, this primitive view ignores
the abundance of “pious runic writing found on churchrelated objects” (ranging from inscriptions in the doorways of churches, on church bells and even those found
on baptismal fonts) when Christianity was introduced into
the Germanic North.[38][39] An important linguistic step
was made by the Christian convert Ulfilas, who became
a bishop to the Visigoths in AD 341; he subsequently
invented an alphabet and translated the scriptures from
Greek into Gothic, creating the earliest known translation of the Bible into a Germanic language.[40]
From what is known, the early Germanic tribes may have
spoken "mutually intelligible dialects” derived from a
common parent language but there are no written records
to verify this fact.[41][42] Despite their common linguistic
framework, by the 5th century AD, the Germanic people were linguistically differentiated and could no longer
easily comprehend one another.[41][43] Nonetheless, the
line between Germanic languages and Romance speakers in central Europe remained at the western mouth of
the Rhine river and while Gaul fell under German domination and was firmly settled by the Franks, the linguistic
patterns did not move much. Further west and south in
Europe-proper, the linguistic presence of the Germanic
languages is almost negligible. Despite the fact that the
Visigoths ruled what is now Spain for upwards of 250
years, there are almost no recognizable Gothic words borrowed into Spanish.[44]
4
HISTORY
of Dutch, Low German, Anglo-Saxon and Frisian, are
in fact sometimes designated as Ingvaeonic, or alternatively, “North-Sea Germanic”. And Frankish, (and later
Dutch, Luxembourgish and the Frankish dialects of German in Germany) have continuously been intelligible to
some extent with both “Ingvaeonic” Low German, and
some “Suebian” High German dialects, with which they
form a spectrum of continental dialects. All these dialects
or languages appear to have formed by the mixing of migrating peoples after the time of Caesar. So it is not clear
if these medieval dialect divisions correspond to any mentioned by Tacitus and Pliny. Indeed, in Tacitus (Tac. Ger.
40) and in Claudius Ptolemy's Geography, the Anglii, ancestors of the Anglo-Saxons, are designated as being a
Suebic tribe.
By AD 500 west Germanic speakers had apparently developed a distinct language continuum with extensive
loaning from Latin (due to their ongoing contact with the
Romans), whereas the east Germanic languages were dying out.[50] West Germanic languages include: German,
Yiddish, Dutch, Luxemburgish, Frisian, and English.[51]
North Germanic languages are Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Faroese and Icelandic.[52][53] Later manifestations
of the western Germanic languages and their pursuant typological characteristics are due in part to the activities of
the Hanseatic League where trade necessitated a lingua
franca from the mainland of Scandinavia all along the
navigable shores of the North Sea, and within the Baltic
[54]
The Germanic tribes moved and interacted over the next Sea.
centuries, and separate dialects among Germanic languages developed down to the present day.[45] Some
groups, such as the Suebians, have a continuous recorded
existence, and so there is a reasonable confidence that 4 History
their modern dialects can be traced back to those in
classical times.[46] By extension, but sometimes controversially, the names of the sons of Mannus, Istvaeones,
Irminones, and Ingvaeones, are also sometimes used to
divide up the medieval and modern West Germanic languages.[47] The more easterly groups such as the Vandals
are thought to have been united in the use of East Germanic languages, the most famous of which is Gothic.
The dialect of the Germanic people who remained in
Scandinavia is not generally called Ingvaeonic, but is
classified as North Germanic, which developed into Old
Norse. Within the West Germanic group, linguists associate the Suebian or Hermionic group with an “Elbe Germanic” which developed into Upper German, including
modern German.[48]
More speculatively, given the lack of any such clear explanation in any classical source, modern linguists sometimes designate the Frankish language (and its descendant Dutch) as Istvaeonic, although the geographical term
"Weser-Rhine Germanic” is often preferred. However,
the classical "Germani" near the Rhine, to whom the term
was originally applied by Caesar, may not have even spoken Germanic languages, let alone a language recogniz- Map of the Nordic Bronze Age culture, around 1200 BCE
ably ancestral to modern Dutch.[49] The close relatives
4.2
Early Iron Age
5
the early Germanic peoples under the influence of early
Celtic (or pre Celtic) culture between 1200 BCE to 600
BCE, whereupon they began extracting bog iron from
the available ore in peat bogs. This ushered in the PreRoman Iron Age.[56] Stretching from central France all
the way to western Hungary and then from the Alps
to central Poland, the Hallstatt culture also constructed
sophisticated structures and the archaeological remains
across parts of France, Germany and Hungary suggest
their trade networks along the North Atlantic, Baltic Sea
and up and down central Europe’s river valleys were fairly
elaborate as well.[58]
The gilded side of the Trundholm sun chariot
4.2 Early Iron Age
Further information: Pre-Roman Iron Age
The Dejbjerg wagon, National Museum of Denmark
4.1
Origins
In Northernmost Europe in what now constitutes the European plains of Denmark and southern Scandinavia is
where the Germanic peoples most likely originated; a region that remained “remarkably stable” as far back as the
Neolithic Age, when humans first began controlling their
environment through the use of agriculture and the domestication of animals.[59] By as early as 750 BCE archeological evidence gives the impression that the Germanic
people were becoming more uniform in their culture.[41]
As the population of the Germanic people grew, they migrated westwards into coastal floodplains due to the exhaustion of the soil in their original settlements.[60] In
the second millennium BCE, the Germanic tribes expanded into the adjacent regions between the Elbe and
Oder rivers.[61]
By approximately 250 BCE additional expansion further
See also: Indo-European migrations and Nordic Bronze southwards into central Europe took place and five genAge
eral groups of Germanic people emerged, each employing distinct linguistic dialects but sharing similar language
Archaeological and linguistic evidence from a period innovations — they are distinguished from one another
known as the Nordic Bronze Age indicates that a common as: North Germanic in southern Scandinavia; North Sea
material culture existed between the Germanic tribes Germanic in the regions along the North Sea and in the
that inherited the southern regions of Scandinavia, along Jutland peninsula NW Europe, which forms the mainwith the Schleswig-Holstein area and the area of what is land of Denmark together with the north German state
now Hamburg, Germany.[55][56] Additional archaeologi- of Schleswig-Holstein; Rhine-Weser Germanic along the
cal remnants from the Iron Age society that once existed middle Rhine and Weser river (which empties into the
in nearby Wessenstedt also show traces of this culture.[57] North Sea near Bremerhaven); Elbe Germanic spoken by
Exactly how these cultures interacted remains a mystery the people living directly along the middle Elbe river; and
but the migrations of early proto-Germanic peoples are East Germanic between the middle of the Oder and the
discernible from the remaining evidence of prehistoric Vistula rivers.[62]
cultures in Hügelgräber, Urnfield, and La Tene. Climatic Concomitantly, during the 2nd century BCE the advent
change between 850 BCE to 760 BCE in Scandinavia and of the Celtic culture of Hallstatt and La Tene arose in
“a later and more rapid one around 650 BCE might have nearby territories further west but the interactions betriggered migrations to the coast of Eastern Germany and tween the early Germanic people and the Celts is thought
further toward the Vistula.”[56]
to have been minimal based on the linguistic evidence.[63]
The cultural phase of the late Bronze Age and early Iron
Age in Europe (c. 1200-600 BC in temperate continental
areas), known in contemporary terms as the Hallstatt culture expanded from the south into this area and brought
Despite the absence of the Celtic influence further eastwards, there are a number of Celtic loanwords in ProtoGermanic, which at the very least indicates contact between the people of Gaul and the early Germanic cultures
6
that resided along the Rhine river.[64] Nonetheless, material objects such as metal ornaments and pottery found
near the areas east of the lower Rhine are connoted as
Jastorf in nomenclature and are characteristically distinguishable from the Celtic objects found further west.[65]
It is not clear if the first occurrence of the term Germani in Roman ethnography is either a reference to Germanic or Celtic according to modern linguists, but it is
probable that the clear geographic demarcation appearing between the two peoples may have been made for the
sake of political convenience by Caesar.[66] Caesar described some tribes more distinctly than others but generally considered most of them as being from Germanic
stock. However, the archaeological evidence in some of
the regions creates an ethnographic problem in clearly delineating the indigenous people based strictly on Roman
classification. Nonetheless, there are scholars who assert
that there was an eventual linguistic “Germanization” that
occurred during the 1st century BCE through something
they call the “elite-dominance” model.[67] Nevertheless,
archaeologists are unable to make definitive judgments
which accord the observations of the Roman writer Tacitus. Enough cultural absorption between the various Germanic people occurred that geographically defining the
extent of pre-Roman Germanic territory is nearly impossible from a classification standpoint.[68]
Some recognizable trends in the archaeological records
exist, as it is known that, generally speaking, western Germanic people while still migratory, were more geographically settled, whereas the eastern Germanics remained
transitory for a longer period.[69] Three settlement patterns and/or solutions come to the fore, the first of which
is the establishment of an agricultural base in a region
which allowed them to support larger populations; second, the Germanic peoples periodically cleared forests to
extend the range of their pasturage; thirdly (and the most
frequent occurrence), they often emigrated to other areas
as they exhausted the immediately available resources.[70]
War and conquest followed as the Germanic people migrated bringing them into direct conflict with the Celts
who were forced to either Germanize or migrate elsewhere as a result. West Germanic people eventually settled in central Europe and became more accustomed to
agriculture and it is the various western Germanic people
that are described by Caesar and Tacitus. Meanwhile,
the eastern Germanic people continued their migratory
habits.[71] Roman writers characteristically organized and
classified people and it may very well have been deliberate on their part to recognize the tribal distinctions of the
various Germanic people so as to pick out known leaders and exploit these differences for their benefit. For the
most part however, these early Germanic people shared a
basic culture, operated similarly from an economic perspective, and were not nearly as differentiated as the Romans implied. In fact, the Germanic tribes are hard to
distinguish from the Celts on many accounts simply based
on archaeological records.[72]
4
HISTORY
4.3 Pytheas
The first news about the Germanic world are contained
in the lost Pytheas work. It is believed that Pytheas travelled to Northern Europe, and his observations
about the geographical environment, traditions and culture of the Northern European populations were a central source of information to later historians, possibly
the only source.[73] Authors such as Strabo, Pliny and
Diodorus cite Pytheas in disbelief, although Pytheas’ observations are substantially correct. Though Pytheas was
not the first explorer of those lands (for example Himilco,
Phoenicians, Tartessians), he was the first to describe
these populations, and it is fair to say that much of the
Germanic peoples’ history enters into view through Pytheas, particularly since he was also the first to distinguish
the 'Germanoi' people of northern and central Europe
as distinct from the 'Keltoi' people further west.[74][75]
Along with a couple of predecessors (namely, Polybius
and Posidonius), the work of Pytheas over the Celts and
early Germans influenced scores of future geographers,
historians and ethnographers.[76]
Jutland
Arausio
Vercellae
Noreia
Aquae Sextiae
Migrations of the Cimbri and the Teutons during their war with
Rome
4.4 Collision with Rome
Main article: Germanic Wars
Late in the 2nd century BCE, Roman sources recount the
migrating Germanic people of Gaul, Italy and Hispania
who invaded areas considered part of Imperial Rome.
Unsurprisingly, this cultural confrontation resulted in war
between the Roman Republic and the Germanic tribes;
particularly those of the Roman Consul under Gaius Marius.[41] The Cimbri crossed into Norticum (Austria) in
113 BCE looking for food and usable land when they
confronted and defeated a Roman army. A combined
force of Cimbri[77] and Teutoni squared off against additional armies from Rome in 109 and 105 BCE, van-
4.4
Collision with Rome
quishing them in the process.[78] Their further incursions
into Roman Italy were thrust back in 101 BCE at Vercellae by the Roman army.[79] These earlier invasions were
written up by Caesar and others as presaging of a Northern danger for the Roman Republic, a danger that should
be controlled.[80]
7
Tacitus described the Germanic people as ethnically uniform or “unmixed” with “a distinct character” and he
even generalized them by claiming that “a family likeness pervades the whole.” He also reported that their eyes
were “stern and blue” and they had “ruddy hair” with
“large bodies” that rendered them capable of “powerful
[82]
This image portrayed them as a fearsome
Julius Caesar describes the Germani and their customs in exertions.”
people
worthy
of Rome’s full attention. Caesar was wary
his Commentarii de Bello Gallico, though it is still a matter
of these “barbaric” people of Germania and invoked the
of debate if he refers to Northern Celtic tribes or clearly
threat of expansions such as that by Ariovistus' Suebi as
identified Germanic tribes.
justification for his brutal campaigns to annex Gaul to
Rome between 58-51 BCE.[83] Both Ariovistus and an[The Germani] have neither Druids to preother notable Germanic warrior king named Maroboduus
side over sacred offices, nor do they pay great
attempted to rule their warrior-based empires in autoregard to sacrifices. They rank in the numcratic fashion but were killed by the treachery of other
ber of the gods those alone whom they bewarrior-nobles amid their societies who strove for their
hold, and by whose instrumentality they are
own glory.[84]
obviously benefited, namely, the sun, fire, and
An intense Roman militarization, greater than ever bethe moon; they have not heard of the other
fore, was begun under Caesar to deal with the barbarian
deities even by report. Their whole life is octribes along the frontier — particularly since he feared
cupied in hunting and in the pursuits of the
that the Celtic Gauls between Rome and the Germanic
military art; from childhood they devote thempeople would not be able to defend themselves.[85] One
selves to fatigue and hardships. Those who
major Celtic people who were forced from their homehave remained chaste for the longest time, reland in modern southwest Germany and Bohemia were
ceive the greatest commendation among their
the Boii, a migration which had major impacts on Rome
people; they think that by this the growth is
and many other peoples. Later, Caesar’s attention in 58
promoted, by this the physical powers are inBC was drawn to the movements of the Boii’s old neighcreased and the sinews are strengthened. And
bours the Helvetii, another population group forced into
to have had knowledge of a woman before the
Gaul from the direction of modern southwest Germany
twentieth year they reckon among the most disand west Switzerland.[86][87] When the Gaulish Arverni
graceful acts; of which matter there is no conand Sequani elicited assistance from the Germanic Suebi
cealment, because they bathe promiscuously in
(who came to them from east of the Rhine into Gaul)
the rivers and [only] use skins or small cloaks
against their Aedui enemies in 71 BC, the Suebi essenof deer’s hides, a large portion of the body betially remained in situ and were able to expand further into
ing in consequence naked.
the territory along the periphery of the Roman frontier.
Meanwhile, Celtic culture and influence in Gaul began to
wane during the first century BC as a result.[88]
They do not pay much attention to agriculture, and a large portion of their food conRoman expansion along the Rhine and Danube rivers resists in milk, cheese, and flesh; nor has any one
sulted in the incorporation of many indigenous Celtic soa fixed quantity of land or his own individual
cieties into the Roman Empire. Lands to the north and
limits; but the magistrates and the leading men
east of the Rhine emerge in the Roman records under the
each year apportion to the tribes and families,
name Germania. Population groups from this area had
who have united together, as much land as, and
a complex relationship with Rome; sometimes the peoin the place in which, they think proper, and the
ples of Germania were at war with Rome, but in some
year after compel them to remove elsewhere.
cases, they established trade relations, symbiotic military
For this enactment they advance many reasonsalliances, and cultural exchanges with one another.[89]
lest seduced by long-continued custom, they
Nevertheless, the Romans made concerted efforts to dimay exchange their ardor in the waging of war
vide the Germanic tribes when the opportunity presented
for agriculture; lest they may be anxious to acitself, encouraging intertribal rivalry so as to diminish the
quire extensive estates, and the more powerful
threat of an otherwise formidable enemy.[90] Over the foldrive the weaker from their possessions; lest
lowing centuries, the Romans sometimes intervened, but
they construct their houses with too great a deoften took advantage as their neighbors slaughtered one
sire to avoid cold and heat; lest the desire of
another, sometimes using Roman-influenced techniques
wealth spring up, from which cause divisions
of war. More instances of Germani fighting Germani apand discords arise; and that they may keep the
pear in the works of Tacitus than between Romans and
common people in a contented state of mind,
Germani.[91] But it was Caesar’s wars against the Gerwhen each sees his own means placed on an
manic people that helped establish and solidify the use
equality with [those of] the most powerful.[81]
8
of the term Germania. The initial purpose of the Roman
military campaigns was to protect Transalpine Gaul from
any further incursion of the Germanic tribes by controlling the area between the Rhine and the Elbe.[92]
4
HISTORY
of Roman might” to attack the Dacians.[95]
In the absence of large-scale political unification, such as
that imposed forcibly by the Romans upon the peoples of
Italy, the various tribes remained free, led by their own
hereditary or chosen leaders. Once Rome faced significant threats on its borders, some of the Germanic tribes
4.5 Roman Empire period
who once guarded its periphery chose solace within the
Roman empire itself, implying that enough assimilation
Further information: Roman Iron Age
and cross-cultural pollination had occurred for their societies not only to cooperate, but to live together in some
In the Augustean period there was—as a result of Roman cases.[96][97]
activity as far as the Elbe River—a first definition of the
By the middle to late second century AD, migrating Ger“Germania magna": from the Rhine and Danube rivers in
manic tribes like the Marcomanni and Quadi pushed their
the West and South to the Vistula and the Baltic Sea in
way to the Roman frontier along the Danube corridor,
the East and North. In 9 CE, a revolt of their Germanic
movements of people which resulted in conflicts known
subjects headed by the supposed Roman ally, Arminius,
as the Marcomannic Wars; these conflicts ended in ap(along with his decisive defeat of Publius Quinctilius
proximately AD 180.[98] Not long thereafter, larger conVarus and the destruction of 3 Roman legions in the surfederations of Germanic people appeared, groups led by
prise attack on the Romans at the Battle of the Teutoburg
tribal leaders acting as would-be kings. The first of these
Forest) ended in the withdrawal of the Roman frontier
conglomerations mentioned in the historical sources were
to the Rhine. Occupying Germany had proven too costly
the Alamanni (a term meaning “all men”) who appear in
and with it, ended 28 years of Roman campaigning across
Roman texts sometime in the 3rd century AD.[99] This
the North European plains.[93] At the end of the 1st cenchange indicated that the tribalism of the Germanic peotury, two provinces west of the Rhine called Germania inple was being abandoned for consolidated rule. Meanferior and Germania superior were established by the Emwhile, Rome adapted itself due to the arrival of the Gerperor Domitian, having previously been military districts,
manic tribes. Emperor Severus Alexander was killed by
“so as to separate this more militarized zone from the
his
own soldiers in AD 235 for example (for negotiatcivilian populations farther west and south”.[94] Imporing peace with the tribes of Germania through diplomacy
tant medieval cities like Aachen, Cologne, Trier, Mainz,
and bribery against the wishes of his men) and the genWorms and Speyer were part of these two “militarized”
eral Maximin elected in his place. Maximin was himself
Roman provinces.
not Roman but was ethnically the child of a Germanic
Alan and a Goth. Military expediency trumped aristocratic privilege when it came to securing the Empire and
a series of professional military emperors followed as a
result.[100]
Roman map of Germania in the early 2nd century
The Germania by Gaius Cornelius Tacitus, an
ethnographic work on the diverse group of Germanic tribes outside of the Roman Empire, is our most
important source on the Germanic peoples of the 1st
century. Germanic expansions during early Roman times
are known only generally, but it is clear that the forebears
of the Goths were settled on the southern Baltic shore by
100 CE. According to historian Thomas Burns, major
hostilities between the external Germanic peoples of the
north and Rome did not commence in “earnest” until the
reign of Trajan (AD 98—117), who used the “full weight
Around AD 238, the Goths make their first clear impact on Roman history, having moved from the Baltic
sea to the area of the modern Ukraine. And sometime
in AD 251, they defeated a Roman army in the Balkans,
killing the emperor Decius in the process. Close to the
same time that the Goths were fighting the Romans in
the Baltics, there is also the first mention of the Franks
around AD 250.[101] Perennial internal conflicts among
several successive emperors of both the eastern and western Empire during the 4th century AD resulted in civil
wars and damaged the overall quality of the Roman army;
the fighting also depleted the elite from within their officer corps. To compensate for their losses the Romans
recruited inferior untried Roman civilians and sought replacements from across the frontier region by militarily
proficient barbarian troops, a development which further
strengthened the position of the Germanic peoples.[102]
Attempting to control the periphery of the Roman empire
meant finding innovative ways of dealing with the Germanic people, so the Romans enlisted them as foederati
(federates) and by the late fourth century, the majority
of the Roman military was made up of Germanic war-
4.6
Migration Period
9
riors. Federating whole tribes of Germanic people into
the Empire marked a whole new phase of encroachment
and facilitated the fragmentation of Rome from within its
own borders.[103]
disaster” and ended his account of Roman history with
this battle. Subsequent historians like Sir Edward Gibbon (among others) ascribe a similar significance to this
event and call the Battle of Adrianople a watershed moAmong the Romans, the Germanic presence in the mili- ment between the ancient world and the medieval one that
tary was so extensive for example, that the word barbarus followed; for not only did this battle reveal Rome’s weakaccordingly,
became a synonym for “soldier” and the imperial bud- ness to the Germanic tribes and inspire them[111]
never
again
were
they
to
leave
Roman
soil.
[104]
get of the military was known as the ficus barbarus.
Barbarians (Germanics) composed the mobile army of
emperor Constantine with many of them, particularly 4.6 Migration Period
the more organized ones like the Franks and Alamanni,
reaching levels of high command. An example of such Further information: Migration Period
prominence shows in the fact that in AD 350 the Frank- Before considering the later migration of various Gerish general Silvanus was the high military commander
of Gaul.[105] Warriors and leaders among the Germanic
peoples had an advantage over their Roman counterparts
as they knew and could dexterously traverse both worlds,
whereas the Romans despised ‘barbarian’ culture and customs and were unable to secure trust amid the Germanic
soldiers on their payrolls. In this way, the ethnic and
regional ties within the evolving bureaucratic RomanGermanic world began to favor the 'barbarians’.[106]
Roman Britannia was contemporaneously under constant
threat during the 3rd and 4th centuries AD by northern
Picts as well as the Germanic Saxons who sailed from
north of Gaul to the eastern coast of the British Isles. Late
in AD 367, the Roman garrisons in Britannia collapsed
as the Germanic barbarians poured into the region from
all directions.[107] Attempting to permanently reestablish
control on Britannia, the emperor Valentinian sent an experienced Roman commander who was able to beat the
invaders back after a year-long war and gain control of
Londonium, but it was a Pyrrhic victory for the Germanic
invaders had burned down standing settlements, ravaged
cities on the isles, interrupted trade and annihilated entire
Roman garrisons.[108] By the middle of the 5th century,
the Picts, Scots and Anglo-Saxons began to dominate the
once Roman Britannia.[109]
2nd century to 5th century simplified migrations
Further information: Battle of Adrianople
manic peoples in the 5th century, it is worth noting that
the first recorded great migration of a Germanic tribe occurred sometime at the end of the 2nd century when the
Goths left the lower Vistula for the shores of the Black
Sea.[112] For the next couple hundred years, the restless
Goths were a menace to the Roman Empire.[113] Between the 2nd and 4th centuries the Goths slowly filtered
deeper into the south and eastwards, making their way
to what is now Kiev in Ukraine and pressuring Rome in
the process.[114] The arrival of the nomadic Huns along
the Black Sea corridor in AD 375 further accelerated the
Goth’s exodus across the Roman border.[115] Germanic
people from the northern coasts of Europe had been making their way into Britain for several centuries before the
larger-scale incursions took place.[116]
During the fourth and fifth centuries AD Roman emperors did their best to stave off the advance of the Germanic tribes. While the rulers in the Eastern Empire were
able to endure the frequent clashes without serious consequences to their territorial dominion, this was not the
case in the Western Empire. For upwards of two centuries, the Roman emperors fought and confined the Germanic tribes to Rhine-Danube frontier and in far-away
Briton, but all that changed in AD 378 when the Visigoths destroyed as much as two-thirds of the Roman army
of the East under emperor Valens.[110] Roman historian
Ammianus Marcellinus referred to the damage inflicted
by the Germanic tribes at Adrianople as an “irreparable
By the 5th century AD, the Western Roman Empire was
losing military strength and political cohesion; numerous Germanic peoples, under pressure from population
growth and invading Asian groups, began migrating en
masse in far and diverse directions, taking them to Great
Britain and far south through present day Continental Europe to the Mediterranean and northern Africa. Over
time, this wandering meant intrusions into other tribal
territories, and the ensuing wars for land escalated with
the dwindling amount of unoccupied territory. Roaming tribes of Germanic people then began staking out
permanent homes as a means of protection. Much of
this resulted in fixed settlements from which many, under a powerful leader, expanded outwards.[117] Ostro-
4.5.1
Battle of Adrianople
10
4
goths, Visigoths, and Lombards made their way into Italy;
Vandals, Burgundians, Franks, and Visigoths conquered
much of Gaul; Vandals and Visigoths also pushed into
Spain; Vandals additionally made it into North Africa;
the Alamanni established a strong presence in the middle Rhine and Alps.[118] In Denmark the Jutes merged
with the Danes, in Sweden the Geats and Gutes merged
with the Swedes. In England, the Angles merged with the
Saxons and other groups (notably the Jutes), as well as
absorbing some natives, to form the Anglo-Saxons (later
known as the English).[119] Essentially - Roman civilization was overrun by these variants of Germanic peoples
during the 5th century.[120]
A direct result of the Roman retreat was the disappearance of imported products like ceramics and coins, and a
return to virtually unchanged local Iron Age production
methods. According to recent views this has caused confusion for decades, and theories assuming the total abandonment of the coastal regions to account for an archaeological time gap that never existed have been renounced.
Instead, it has been confirmed that the Frisian graves had
been used without interruption between the 4th and 9th
centuries and that inhabited areas show continuity with
the Roman period in revealing coins, jewellery and ceramics of the 5th century. Also, people continued to live
in the same three-aisled farmhouse, while to the east completely new types of buildings arose. More to the south
in Belgium, archaeological evidence from this period indicates immigration from the north.[121]
4.7
Role in the Fall of Rome
Map depicting the Germanic kingdoms of Europe in 526 and the
Eastern Roman Empire.
Some of the Germanic tribes are frequently credited in
popular depictions of the decline of the Roman Empire in the late 5th century. Professional historians and
archaeologists have since the 1950s shifted their interpretations in such a way that the Germanic peoples are
no longer seen as invading a decaying empire but as being co-opted into helping defend territory the central gov-
HISTORY
ernment could no longer adequately administer.[122] Germanic tribes nonetheless fought against Roman dominance when necessary. When the Roman Empire refused
to allow the Visigoths to settle in Noricum for instance,
they responded by sacking Rome in AD 410 under the
leadership of Alaric I.[123] Oddly enough, Alaric I did not
see his imposition in Rome as an attack against the Roman Empire per se but as an attempt to gain a favorable
position within its borders, particularly since the Visigoths held the Empire in high regard.[124][125]
At about the same time Alaric was sacking the Empire’s
capital, there was a Roman exodus from the British Isles,
a departure which provided the Germanic Angles and
Saxons the opportunity to occupy and control the eastern
coastlands of Britain, the southern regions of Sussex, and
move into the valley of the Thames.[126] While Germanic
tribes overran the once western Roman provinces, they
also continued to strive for regional ascendancy closer to
Rome’s center; meanwhile the threat along the periphery from the Huns created additional difficulties for the
Empire.[127]
Individuals and small groups from Germanic tribes had
long been recruited from the territories beyond the limes
(i.e., the regions just outside the Roman Empire), and
some of them had risen high in the command structure
of the army. The Rhine and Danube provided the bulk
of geographic separation for the Roman limes. On one
side of the limes stood 'Latin' Europe, law, Roman order,
prosperous trading markets, towns and everything that
constituted modern civilization for that era; while on the
other side stood barbarism, technical backwardness, illiteracy and a tribal society of fierce warriors.[128] Then the
Empire recruited entire tribal groups under their native
leaders as military officers. Historian Evangelos Chrysos
claims the implications concerning the recruitment of the
‘barbarians’ into the Roman army during the migration
period were enormous and relates that it
“offered them experience of how the imperial army was organized, how the government arranged the military and functional logistics of their involvement as soldiers or officers and how it administered their practical
life, how the professional expertise and the social values of the individual soldier were cultivated in the camp and on the battlefield, how
the ideas about the state and its objectives were
to be implemented by men in uniform, how the
Empire was composed and how it functioned
at an administrative level. This knowledge
of and experience with the Romans opened
to individual members of the gentes a path
which, once taken, would lead them to more
or less substantial affiliation or even solidarity with the Roman world. To take an example from the economic sphere: The service in the Roman army introduced the indi-
4.8
Early Middle Ages
vidual or corporate members into the monetary system of the Empire since quite a substantial part of their salary was paid to them in
cash. With money in their hands the “guests”
were by necessity exposed to the possibility of
taking part in the economic system, of becoming accustomed to the rules of the wide market, of absorbing the messages of or reacting to
the imperial propaganda passed to the citizens
through the legends on the coins. In addition
the goods offered in the markets influenced and
transformed the newcomers’ food and aesthetic
tastes and their cultural horizon. Furthermore
Roman civilitas was an attractive goal for every individual wishing to succeed in his social
advancement.”[129]
Assisting with defense eventually shifted into administration and then outright rule, as Roman government passed
into the hands of Germanic leaders. Odoacer (who commanded the German mercenaries in Italy)[130] deposed
Romulus Augustulus, the last emperor of the West in
AD 476.[131] Odoacer ruled from Rome and Ravenna,
restored the Colosseum and assigned seats to senatorial
dignitaries as part of the process of consolidating his
rule.[132] The presence of successor states controlled by
a nobility from one of the Germanic tribes is evident
in the 6th century – even in Italy, the former heart of
the Empire, where Odoacer was followed by Theodoric
the Great, king of the Ostrogoths, who was regarded by
Roman citizens and Gothic settlers alike as legitimate
successor to the rule of Rome and Italy.[133] Theodoric
ruled from AD 493–526, twice as long as his predecessor, and his rule is evidenced by an abundance of
documents.[134] Under the Ostrogoths a considerable degree of Roman and Germanic cultural and political fusion
was achieved.[135] Germanic kings worked in-tandem
with Roman administrators to the extent possible to help
ensure a smooth transition and to facilitate the profitable administration of once Roman lands.[136] Slowly
but surely, the distinction between Germanic rulers and
Roman subjects faded, followed by varying degrees of
“cultural assimilation” which included the adoption of the
Gothic language by some of the indigenous people of the
former Roman Empire but this was certainly not ubiquitous as Gothic identity still remained distinctive.[137]
Theodoric may have tried too hard to accommodate the
various people under his dominion; indulging “Romans
and Goths, Catholics and Arians, Latin and barbarian culture” resulted in the eventual failure of the Ostrogothic
reign and the subsequent “end of Italy as the heartland of
late antiquity.”[138]
According to noted historian Herwig Wolfram, the Germanic peoples did not and could not “conquer the more
advanced Roman world” nor were they able to “restore it
as a political and economic entity"; instead, he asserts that
the empire’s “universalism” was replaced by “tribal particularism” which gave way to “regional patriotism.”[139]
11
Nonetheless, the entry of the Germanic tribes deep into
the heart of Europe and the subsequent collapse of the
western Roman Empire resulted in a “massive disruption” to long established communication networks, a system that had in many ways “bound much of the continent
together for centuries.”[140] Trade networks and routes
shifted accordingly, Germanic kingdoms and peoples established boundaries and it was not until the appearance
of the Arabs in Iberia and into Anatolia that Europeans
began reestablishing their networks to deal with a new
threat.[141]
4.8 Early Middle Ages
The transition of the Migration period to the Middle Ages
proper took place over the course of the second half of
the 1st millennium. It was marked by the Christianization
of the Germanic peoples and the formation of stable
kingdoms replacing the mostly tribal structures of the Migration period. Some of this stability is discernible in
the fact that the Pope recognized Theodoric’s reign when
the Germanic conqueror entered Rome in AD 500, despite that Theodoric was a known practitioner of Arianism, a faith which the Council of Nicaea condemned
in AD 325.[142] Theodoric’s Germanic subjects and administrators from the Roman Catholic Church cooperated in serving him, helping establish a codified system
of laws and ordinances which facilitated the integration
of the Gothic peoples into a burgeoning empire, solidifying their place as they appropriated a Roman identity
of sorts.[143] The foundations laid by the Empire enabled
the successor Germanic kingdoms to maintain a familiar structure and their success can be seen as part of the
lasting triumph of Rome.[144]
In continental Europe, this Germanic evolution saw the
rise of Francia in the Merovingian period under the rule
of Clovis I who had deposed the last emperor of Gaul,
eclipsing lesser kingdoms such as Alemannia.[145] The
Merovingians controlled most of Gaul under Clovis, who,
through conversion to Christianity, allied himself with the
Gallo-Romans. While the Merovingians were checked by
the armies of the Ostrogoth Theodoric, they remained the
most powerful kingdom in Western Europe and the intermixing of their people with the Romans through marriage
rendered the Frankish people less a Germanic tribe and
more a “European people” in a manner of speaking.[146]
Most of Gaul was under Merovingian control as was part
of Italy and their overlordship extended into Germany
where they reigned over the Thuringians, Alamans, and
Bavarians.[147] Evidence also exists that they may have
even had suzerainty over south-east England.[148] Frankish historian Gregory of Tours relates that Clovis converted to Christianity partly as a result of his wife’s urging and even more so - due to having won a desperate battle after calling out to Christ. According to Gregory, this conversion was sincere but it also proved politically expedient as Clovis used his new faith as a means
12
4
HISTORY
to consolidate his political power by Christianizing his
army.[149][150] Against Germanic tradition, each of the
four sons of Clovis attempted to secure power in different
cities but their inability to prove themselves on the battlefield and intrigue against one another led the Visigoths
back to electing their leadership.[151]
der limited Latin influence in the early centuries CE, but
were swiftly conquered by Germanic groups such as the
Alemanni after the fall of the Western Roman Empire.
The Germanic tribes of the Migration period had settled
down by the Early Middle Ages, the latest series of movements out of Scandinavia taking place during the Viking
When Merovingian rule eventually weakened, they were Age.
supplanted by another powerful Frankish family, the Car- The Goths and Vandals were linguistically assimilated to
olingians, a dynastic order which produced Charles Mar- their Latin (Romance) substrate populations[161] (with the
tel, and Charlemagne.[152] The coronation of Charle- exception of the Crimean Goths, who preserved their dimagne as emperor by Pope Leo III in Rome on Christmas alect into the 18th century). Burgundians and Lombards
Day, AD 800 represented a shift in the power structure were assimilated into both Latin (French & Italian) and
from the south to the north. Frankish power ultimately Germanic (German Swiss) populations.
laid the foundations for the modern nations of Germany The Viking Age Norsemen split into an Old East Norse
and France.[153] For historians, Charlemagne’s appear- and an Old West Norse group, which further separated
ance in the historical chronicle of Europe also marks into Icelanders, Faroese and Norwegians on one hand,
a transition where the voice of the north appears in its and Swedes and Danes on the other. In Scandinavia,
own vernacular thanks to the spread of Christianity, after there is a long history of assimilation of and by the Sami
which the northerners began writing in Latin, Germanic, people and Finnic peoples, namely Finns and Karelians.
and Celtic; whereas before, the Germanic people were In today’s usage, the term 'Nordic peoples’ refers to the
only known through Roman or Greek sources.[154]
ethnic groups in all of the Nordic countries. In Great
In England, the Germanic Anglo-Saxon tribes reigned
over the south of Great Britain from approximately 519
to the tenth century until the Wessex hegemony became
the nucleus for the unification of England.[155][156] Scandinavia was in the Vendel period and eventually entered
the Viking Age, with expansion to Britain, Ireland and
Iceland in the west and as far as Russia and Greece in
the east.[157] By AD 900 the Vikings secured for themselves a foothold on Frankish soil along the Lower Seine
River valley in what is now present-day France, thereafter
establishing the Duchy of Normandy, a territorial acquisition which provided them the opportunity to expand beyond Normandy into Anglo-Saxon England.[158] The subsequent Norman Conquest which followed in AD 1066
wrought immense changes to life in England as their new
Scandinavian masters altered their government, lordship,
public holdings, culture and DNA pool permanently.[159]
The various Germanic tribal cultures began their transformation into the larger nations of later history, English,
Norse and German, and in the case of Burgundy,
Lombardy and Normandy blending into a RomanoGermanic culture. Many of these later nation states
started originally as “client buffer states” for the Roman Empire so as to protect it from its enemies further
away.[160] Eventually they carved out their own unique
historical paths.
4.9
Post-migration ethnogeneses
Britain, Germanic people coalesced into the Anglo-Saxon
or English people between the 8th and 10th centuries.
On the European continent, the Holy Roman Empire
included all remaining Germanic speaking groups from
the 10th century. In the Late Medieval to Early Modern period, some groups split off the Empire before a
"German" ethnicity had formed, consisting of Low Franconian (Dutch, Flemish) and Alemannic (Swiss) populations.
The various Germanic Peoples of the Migrations period
eventually spread out over a vast expanse stretching from
contemporary European Russia to Iceland and from Norway to North Africa. The migrants had varying impacts
in different regions. In many cases, the newcomers set
themselves up as over-lords of the pre-existing population. Over time, such groups underwent ethnogenesis, resulting in the creation of new cultural and ethnic identities
(such as the Franks and Galloromans becoming French).
Thus many of the descendants of the ancient Germanic
Peoples do not speak Germanic languages, as they were to
a greater or lesser degree assimilated into the cosmopolitan, literate culture of the Roman world.[162] Even where
the descendants of Germanic Peoples maintained greater
continuity with their common ancestors, significant cultural and linguistic differences arose over time; as is strikingly illustrated by the different identities of Christianized Saxon subjects of the Carolingian Empire and pagan
Scandinavian Vikings.
More broadly, early Medieval Germanic peoples were ofRomano-Germanic culture, ten assimilated into the walha substrate cultures of their
Further information:
Romanization (cultural) and Germanic-speaking Europe subject populations. Thus, the Burgundians of Burgundy,
the Vandals of Northern Africa, and the Visigoths of
France and Iberia, lost some Germanic identity and beThe territory of modern Germany was divided between
came part of Romano-Germanic Europe. For the GerGermanic and Celtic speaking groups in the last centuries
manic Visigoths in particular, they had intimate contact
BCE. The parts south of the Germanic Limes came un-
13
former Soviet Union, who name it the Normanist theory).
Known for their unique ships, there is evidence of the
Viking presence all over mainland Europe — as no lands
with navigable waters or coastlines escaped their pillaging. Vast territories in eastern England were overran and
occupied by the Vikings and the Danish King, Canute,
eventually succeeded to the English crown. Archeological remains on North America even exist which give evidence to the dynamism and territorial ambitions of these
Germanic warriors.[166]
Afrikaners are descended from 17th century Dutch settlers to
South Africa.
with Rome for two centuries before their domination of
the Iberian Peninsula and were accordingly permeated
by Roman culture.[163] Likewise, the Franks of Western
Francia form part of the ancestry of the French people.
Between c. 1150 and c. 1400 most of the Scottish
Lowlands became English culturally and linguistically
through immigration from England, France and Flanders and from the resulting assimilation of native Gaelicspeaking Scots although Lowland Gaelic was still spoken in Galloway until the 18th century. The Scots language is the resulting Germanic language still spoken in
parts of Scotland and is very similar to the speech of
the Northumbrians of northern England. Between the
15th and 17th centuries Scots spread into more of mainland Scotland at the expense of Scottish Gaelic although
Gaelic maintained a strong hold over the Scottish Highlands, and Scots also began to make some headway into
the Northern Isles. The latter, Orkney and Shetland,
though now part of Scotland, were nominally part of the
Kingdom of Norway until the 15th century. A version
of the Norse language was spoken there from the Viking
invasions until replaced by Scots in the 18th and 19th
centuries.[167]
The Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain resulted in AngloSaxon, or English, displacement of and cultural assimilation of the indigenous culture, the Brythonic speaking
British culture causing the foundation of a new Kingdom,
England. As in what became England, indigenous Brythonic Celtic culture in some of the south-eastern parts
of what became Scotland (approximately the Lothian and
Borders region) and areas of what became the Northwest of England (the kingdoms of Rheged, Elmet, etc.)
succumbed to Germanic influence c.600—800, due to
the extension of over-lordship and settlement from the 5
Anglo-Saxon areas to the south. Cultural and linguistic
assimilation occurred less frequently between the Ger- 5.1
manic Anglo-Saxons and the indigenous people who
resided in the Roman dominated areas of England, particularly in the regions that remained previously unconquered. Anglo-Saxons occupied Somerset, the Severn
valley, and Lancaster by c.700 where they remained dominant. Over time, the Anglo-Saxons, with their distinct
culture and language, displaced much of the extant Roman influence of old.[164]
Culture
Law
Perhaps the final incursions by Germanic people which
altered in some ways the ethnographic map of Europe
was made by the Vikings. Between the 8th and 11th
centuries, these Scandinavian/Norse traders and pirates
ravaged most of north and central Europe as well as the
British Isles, spreading eastwards as far as Russia and into
Byzantium. While their initial exploits were generally
raids for plunder, they later settled and mixed with the
indigenous people of Europe, which resulted in both conquest and colonization.[165] Other examples of assimilation during the Viking Age include the Norsemen, who
settled in Normandy along the French Atlantic coast, Germanic bracteate from Funen, Denmark
and the societal elite in medieval Russia; among whom,
many were the descendants of Slavified Norsemen (a the- Further information: Germanic king, Sibb, thing
ory, however, contested by some Slavic scholars in the (assembly), Germanic law, Germanic warfare and
14
Romano-Germanic culture
Common elements of Germanic society can be deduced
both from Roman historiography and comparative evidence from the Early Medieval period.
5 CULTURE
tradition. This aspect was the reason for the creation of
the various Germanic law codes by the kings following
their conversion to Christianity: besides recording inherited tribal law, these codes have the purpose of settling
the position of the church and Christian clergy within society, usually setting the weregilds of the members of the
clerical hierarchy parallel to that of the existing hierarchy
of nobility, with the position of an archbishop mirroring
that of the king.
A main element uniting Germanic societies was kingship,
in origin a sacral institution combining the functions of
military leader, high priest, lawmaker and judge. Germanic monarchy was elective; the king was elected by
the free men from among eligible candidates of a fam- In the case of a suspected crime, the accused could avoid
ily (OE cynn) tracing their ancestry to the tribe’s divine punishment by presenting a fixed number of free men
(their number depending on the severity of the crime)
or semi-divine founder.
prepared to swear an oath on his innocence. Failing this,
To a large degree, many of the extant legal records from he could prove his innocence in a trial by combat. Corthe Germanic tribes seem to revolve around property poral or capital punishment for free men does not figure
transactions.[168] In early Germanic society, the free men in the Germanic law codes, and banishment appears to
of property each ruled their own estate and were subject be the most severe penalty issued officially. This reflects
to the king directly, without any intermediate hierarchy that Germanic tribal law did not have the scope of exactas in later feudalism. Free men without landed prop- ing revenge, which was left to the judgement of the famerty could swear fealty to a man of property who as their ily of the victim, but to settle damages as fairly as poslord would then be responsible for their upkeep, including sible once an involved party decided to bring a dispute
generous feasts and gifts. This system of sworn retainers before the assembly. A fascinating component of early
was central to early Germanic society, and the loyalty of Germanic laws were the varying distinctions concerning
the retainer to his lord generally replaced his family ties. the physical body, as each body part had a personal injury
Early Germanic law reflects a hierarchy of worth within value and corresponding legal claims for personal injury
the society of free men, reflected in the differences in viewed matters like gender, rank and status as a secondary
[171]
weregild. Among the Anglo-Saxons, a regular free man interest when deliberating cases.
(a ceorl) had a weregild of 200 shillings (i.e. solidi or Generally speaking, Roman legal codes eventually progold pieces), classified as a twyhyndeman “200-man” for vided the model for many Germanic laws and they were
this reason, while a nobleman commanded a fee of six fixed in writing along with Germanic legal customs.[172]
times that amount (twelfhyndeman “1200-man”). Simi- Traditional Germanic society was gradually replaced by
larly, among the Alamanni the basic weregild for a free the system of estates and feudalism characteristic of the
man was 200 shillings, and the amount could be doubled High Middle Ages in both the Holy Roman Empire and
or tripled according to the man’s rank. Unfree serfs did Anglo-Norman England in the 11th to 12th centuries, to
not command a weregild, and the recompense paid in the some extent under the influence of Roman law as an indievent of their death was merely for material damage, 15 rect result of Christianisation, but also because political
shillings in the case of the Alamanni, increased to 40 or structures had grown too large for the flat hierarchy of a
50 if the victim had been a skilled artisan.
tribal society. The same effect of political centralization
took
hold in Scandinavia slightly later, in the 12th to 13th
The social hierarchy is not only reflected in the weregild
century
(Age of the Sturlungs, Consolidation of Sweden,
due in the case of the violent or accidental death of a man,
Civil
war
era in Norway), by the end of the 14th cenbut also in differences in fines for lesser crimes. Thus the
tury
culminating
in the giant Kalmar Union. Elements
fines for insults, injury, burglary or damage to property
[169]
of
tribal
law,
notably
the wager of battle, nevertheless
differ depending on the rank of the injured party.
remained
in
effect
throughout
the Middle Ages, in the
They do not usually depend on the rank of the guilty
case
of
the
Holy
Roman
Empire
until the establishment
party, although there are some exceptions associated with
[170]
Imperial
Chamber
Court
in
the early German Reof
the
royal privilege.
naissance. In the federalist organization of Switzerland,
Free women did not have a political station of their own where cantonal structures remained comparatively local,
but inherited the rank of their father if unmarried, or their the Germanic thing survived into the 21st century in the
husband if married. The weregild or recompense due for form of the Landsgemeinde, albeit subject to federal law.
the killing or injuring of a woman is notably set at twice
that of a man of the same rank in Alemannic law.
All freemen had the right to participate in general assem- 5.2 Warfare
blies or things, where disputes between freemen were addressed according to customary law. The king was bound Further information: Germanic Wars, Gothic warfare,
to uphold ancestral law, but was at the same time the Anglo-Saxon warfare and Migration period spear
source for new laws for cases not addressed in previous Historical records of the Germanic tribes in Germania
east of the Rhine and west of the Danube do not begin
5.2
Warfare
15
among the Germans resided in their ability to successfully
lead armies to victory. Defeat on the battlefield at the
hands of the Romans or other “barbarians” often meant
the end for a ruler and in some cases, being absorbed by
“another, victorious confederation.”[174]
Though often defeated by the Romans, the Germanic
tribes were remembered in Roman records as fierce combatants, whose main downfall was that they failed to join
together into a collective fighting force under a unified
command, which allowed the Roman Empire to employ
a “divide and conquer” strategy against them.[175] On occasions when the Germanic tribes worked together, the
results were impressive. Three Roman legions were ambushed and destroyed by an alliance of Germanic tribes
headed by Arminius at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest
in 9 AD,[176] the Roman Empire made no further concentrated attempts at conquering Germania beyond the
Rhine.
During the 4th and 5th centuries AD, Visigoths and Vandals militarily organized themselves to sufficiently challenge and sack Rome in AD 410 and again in AD 455.
Then in AD 476, the last Roman emperor was deposed
by a German chieftain, an event which effectively ended
Roman predominance in western Europe.[177] Germanic
Osterby Head, a bog body with a Suebian knot
tribes eventually overwhelmed and conquered the ancient world. That military transition was additionally
spurred by the arrival of the Vikings from the 8th to 10th
until quite late in the ancient period, so only the period centuries, giving rise to modern Europe and medieval
after 100 BC can be examined. What is clear is that warfare.[178]
the Germanic idea of warfare was quite different from
For an analysis of Germanic tactics versus the Roman
the pitched battles fought by Rome and Greece. Instead
empire see: tactical problems in facing the Gauls and the
the Germanic tribes focused on raids. Warfare of varyGermanic tribes
ing size however was a distinctive feature of barbarian
culture.[173]
The purpose of these was generally not to gain territory,
but rather to capture resources and secure prestige. These
raids were conducted by irregular troops, often formed
along family or village lines, in groups of 10 to about
1,000. Leaders of unusual personal magnetism could
gather more soldiers for longer periods, but there was no
systematic method of gathering and training men, so the
death of a charismatic leader could mean the destruction
of an army. Armies also often consisted of more than 50
percent noncombatants, as displaced people would travel
with large groups of soldiers, the elderly, women, and
children. War leaders who were able to secure ample
booty for their retainers were able to grow accordingly
by attracting warrior bands from nearby villages.[173]
Large bodies of troops, while figuring prominently in the
history books, were the exception rather than the rule of
ancient warfare. Thus a typical Germanic force might
consist of 100 men with the sole goal of raiding a nearby
Germanic or foreign village. Thus, most warfare was
at their barbarian neighbors.[173] According to Roman
sources, when the Germanic Tribes did fight pitched battles, the infantry often adopted wedge formations, each
wedge being led by a clan head. Legitimacy for leaders
5.2.1 Weaponry
Weapons used by the Germanic tribes varied. Some of
them used axes, throwing javelins, spears, bows and arrows along with swords. Most of the swords used by the
Germanic warriors were those captured from Roman soldiers until the 4th century when German blacksmiths began making the best steel in Europe.[179] Body armor was
rarely worn and when it was, it was light by comparison to
what the Romans employed; only war leaders wore helmets on the battlefield.[180] Commandeering of Roman
weaponry was widespread and the acquisition of the superior Roman armaments allowed the Germanic leaders to
exert their power in ways not previously available. It also
meant fierce inter-Germanic rivalry which constituted the
larger power blocks of the Germanic world.[181] Much
like their predecessors, the Vikings too used axes, swords,
long knives, spears, oblong shields, leather or metal helmets and mail or leather coats for protections; the latter
being luxuries most could not afford.[182]
16
5.2.2
5 CULTURE
Tactics
To the greatest extent, Germanic fighting units consisted
of infantry who would emerge from cover and attack,
but they also utilized skilled cavalrymen at times, something the Visigoths used decisively to aid in their victory
at Adrianople. Calvary warfare was limited in northern Europe due to the lack of suitably large horses for
mounted troops. Caesar provided his Germanic armies
with Roman mounts to enable them greater mobility and
to enhance their fighting efficiency.[183] Unlike their western Celtic neighbors, the use of chariots was not picked
up by the early Germans.[184] Notwithstanding the use
of an occasional fortified position, the Germanic warriors preferred to fight in the open and normally assumed
the offensive rather than fight defensively.[185] Emboldening themselves for fierce attacks, the Germanic warriors would rouse themselves to a high-pitched level of
excitement and charge headlong against their enemies,
which while effective for ambush operations, lacked in
terms of the organizational skill needed for prolonged
siege warfare.[186] The berserker mentality employed by
the Germanic tribes against Rome was still in effect during the Viking era of the 8th and 9th centuries as they
too believed that by summoning their gods and working
themselves up, they would possess superhuman strength
and be protected during battle. Such resolution led them
to believe that dying in such a manner was heroic and
would transport the fallen fighter straight into Valhalla
where they would be embraced by the warrior maidens
known as the Valkyries.[186][187] The later military development of armored knights and fortified castles was a response in part to the relentless plundering and raiding by
the Vikings, which meant that the Germanic tribes who
had settled mainland Europe and the British Isles had to
adapt themselves so as to combat another Germanic tribe
of interlopers.[188]
5.3
Economy
Traces of the earliest pastoralism of the Germanic peoples appear in central Europe in the form of elaborate
cattle burials along the Elbe and Vistula Rivers from
around 4000–3000 BCE.[189] These archaeological remnants were left by the Globular Amphora culture who
cleared forests for herding cattle and sometime after 3000
BCE began using wheeled carts and plows to cultivate
their lands. Central to survival for their assistance in tilling the soil and supplying food, cattle became an economic resource to these early people.[190] Germanic settlements were typically small, rarely containing much
more than ten households, often less, and were usually
located by clearings in the woods.[191] Settlements remained of a fairly constant size throughout the period.
The buildings in these villages varied in form, but normally consisted of farmhouses surrounded by smaller
buildings such as granaries and other storage rooms. The
universal building material was timber. Cattle and humans usually lived together in the same house.
Although the Germans practiced both agriculture and
husbandry, the latter was extremely important both as a
source of dairy products and as a basis for wealth and social status, which was measured by the size of an individual’s herd.[192] The diet consisted mainly of the products
of farming and husbandry and was supplied by hunting
to a very modest extent. Barley and wheat were the most
common agricultural products and were used for baking
a certain flat type of bread as well as brewing beer. Evidence from a Saxon village known as Feddersen Wierde
near Cuxhaven, Germany (which existed between BC 50
to AD 450) shows that the Germanic people cultivated
oats and rye, used manure as fertilizer, and that they practiced crop-rotation.[193]
The fields were tilled with a light-weight wooden ard, although heavier models also existed in some areas. Common clothing styles are known from the remarkably
well-preserved corpses that have been found in former
marshes on several locations in Denmark, and included
woolen garments and brooches for women and trousers
and leather caps for men. Other important small-scale
industries were weaving, the manual production of basic pottery and, more rarely, the fabrication of iron tools,
especially weapons.[194] Corded Ware culture and the
Funnelbeaker culture (circa. 2900–2300 BCE) of these
north and central European peoples coincide one another
and provide evidence of how they lived, traded and buried
their dead.[195]
After 1300 BCE the societies of Jutland and Northern
Germany along with the Celtic people experienced a major revolution in technology during the Late Bronze Age,
shaping tools, containers and weapons through the improved techniques of working bronze. Both the sword
and the bow and arrow as well as other weaponry proliferate and an arms race of sorts between the tribes ensued
as they tried to outpace one another. Trade was taking
place to a greater degree and simple gems and amber from
the Mediterranean indicate that long-distance exchange
of goods was occurring.[196] When the Iron Age (1500—
1200 BCE) arrived, the Germanic people showed greater
mastery of ironworks than their Celtic contemporaries
but they did not have the extensive trade networks during
this period that their southern neighbors enjoyed with the
Greco-Roman world.[197]
Widening trade between the Germanic tribes and Rome
started later following the Empire’s wars of conquest
when they looked to the Germanic people to supply them
with slaves, leather and quality iron. One of the reasons
the Romans may have drawn borders along the Rhine, besides the sizable population of Germanic warriors on one
side of it, was that the Germanic economy was not robust enough for them to extract much booty nor were they
convinced they could acquire sufficient tax revenue from
any additional efforts of conquest. Drawing a distinc-
5.4
Kinship patterns
tive line between themselves and Germanic people also
incentivized alliances and trade as the Germanic people
sought a share of the imperial wealth.[198] Roman coinage
was coveted by the Germanic people who preferred silver to gold coins, mostly likely indications that a market economy was developing. Tacitus does mention the
presence of a bartering system being observable among
the Germanic people, but this was not exclusive, as he
also writes of their use of “gold and silver for the purpose of commerce”, adding rather sardonically in his text,
that what they exchanged was nothing more than “petty
merchandise.”[82] Such observations from Tacitus aside,
fine metalwork, iron and glassware was soon being traded
by the Germanic peoples along the coast of the North Sea
of Denmark and the Netherlands.[199]
5.4
Kinship patterns
The writings of Tacitus allude to the Germanic peoples
being aware of a shared ethnicity, in that, they either
knew or believed that they shared a common biological
ancestor with one another. Just how pervasive this awareness may have been is certainly debatable, but other factors like language, clothing, ornamentation, hair styles,
weapon types, religious practices and shared oral history
were likely just as significant in tribal identity for the
Germanics.[200] Members of a Germanic tribe told tales
about the exploits of heroic founding figures who were
more or less mythologized. Village life consisted of free
men assembled under a chieftain, all of whom shared
common cultural and political traditions. Status among
the early Germanic tribes was often gauged by the size of
a man’s cattle herd and/or by one’s martial prowess.[201]
Before their conversion to Christianity, the Germanic
peoples of Europe were made up of several tribes, each
functioning as an economic and military unit and sometimes united by a common religious cult. Kinship, especially close kinship, was very important to life within a
tribe but generally was not the source of a tribe’s identity. In fact, several elements of ancient Germanic life
tended to weaken the role of kinship: the importance of
the retinues surrounding military chieftains, the ability of
strong leaders to unite people who were not closely related, and feuds and other conflicts within a tribe that
might lead to permanent divisions. The retinue (often
called “comitatus” by scholars, following the practice of
ancient Roman writers) consisted of the followers of a
chieftain, who depended on the retinue for military and
other services and who in return provided for the retinue’s
needs and divided with them the spoils of battle.[202] This
relationship between a chieftain and his followers became
the basis for the more complicated feudal system that developed in medieval Europe. A chieftain’s retinue might
include close relatives, but it was not limited to them.
Eventually the rising power of individual chieftains and
kings from among the military leadership of Germanic
tribes and/or confederations curtailed and in many ways
17
replaced the power once enjoyed by tribal assemblies.[203]
A code of ethics in battle prevailed among the Germanic
kin. According to Tacitus, the “greatest disgrace that can
befall” a warrior of a clan among the Germanic tribes was
the abandonment of their shield during combat, as this
almost certainly resulted in social isolation.[204] Within
tribal Germanic society, their social hierarchy was linked
intrinsically to war and this warrior code maintained the
fidelity between chiefs and their young warriors.[205]
Feuds were the standard means for resolving conflicts
and regulating behavior. Peace within the tribe was
about controlling violence with codes identifying exactly
how certain types of feuds were to be settled.[200] Those
closely related to a person who had been injured or killed
were supposed to exact revenge on or monetary payment
from the offender. This duty helped reaffirm the bonds
between extended family members. Yet such feuds weakened the tribe as a whole, sometimes leading to the creation of a new tribe as one group separated from the
rest. Clans of Germanic people consisted of groupings of
about 50 households in total with societal rules for each
specific clan.[206] Recent scholarship suggests that, despite the obligation to take part in feuds and other customs
involving kinship ties, extended families did not form
independent units among the early Germanic peoples.
Though most members of a tribe would have been more
or less distantly related, common descent was not the
main source of a tribe’s identity, and extended families
were not the main social units within a tribe. Traditional
theories have emphasized the supposedly central role in
Germanic culture of clans or large groups with common
ancestry. But there is little evidence that such clans existed, and they were certainly not an important element
of social organization. As historian Alexander C. Murray
concludes, “kinship was a crucial factor in all aspects of
barbarian activity, but its uses and groupings were fluid,
and probably on the whole not long lasting.”[207] Internal
competition within the factions of a tribe occasionally resulted in internecine warfare which weakened and sometime destroyed a group, as appears to have been the case
for the Cherusci tribe during Rome’s earlier period.[208]
The most important family relationships among the early
Germanic peoples were within the individual household,
a fact based on the archaeological evidence from their
settlements where the long-houses appeared to be central in their existence. Within the household unit, an individual was equally bound to both the mother and the
father’s side of the family.[209] Fathers were the main figures of authority,[206] but wives also played an important
and respected role. Some Germanic tribes even believed
that women possessed magical powers and were feared
accordingly.[210] Tacitus describes how, during battles,
Germanic warriors were encouraged and cared for by
their wives and mothers. He also notes that during times
of peace, women did most of the work of managing the
household. Along with the children, they apparently did
most of the household chores as well. Children were
18
5 CULTURE
valued, and according to Tacitus, limiting or destroying
one’s offspring was considered shameful. Mothers apparently breast-fed their own children rather than using
nurses. Besides parents and children, a household might
include slaves, but slavery was uncommon, and according
to Tacitus, slaves normally had households of their own.
Their slaves (usually prisoners of war) were most often
employed as domestic servants.[206] Polygamy and concubinage were rare but existed, at least among the upper
classes.[211] When a certain number of families resided
on the same territory, this constituted a village (Dorf in
German). The overall territory occupied by people from
the same tribe was designated in the writings of Tacitus as
a civitas, with each of the individual civitas divided into
pagi (or cantons), which were made up of several vici.
In cases where the tribes were grouped into larger confederations and/or a group of kingdoms, the term pagus
was applied (Gau in German).[212] Extensive contact with
Rome altered the egalitarian structure of tribal Germanic
society. As individuals rose to prominence, a distinction
between commoner and nobility developed and with it
the previous constructs of folkright shared equally across
the tribe was replaced in some cases by privilege.[179]
As a result, Germanic society became more stratified.
Elites within the Germanic tribes who learned the Roman system and emulated the way they established dominion were able to gain advantages and exploit them
accordingly.[213]
Important changes began taking place by the 4th century
AD as Germanic peoples, while still cognizant of their
unique clan identities, started forming larger confederations of a similar culture. Gathering around the dominant
tribes among them and hearkening to the most charismatic leaders brought the various “barbarians” tribes
closer together. On the surface this change appeared
to the Romans as welcome since they preferred to deal
with a few strong chiefs to control the populations that
they feared across the Rhine and Danube, but it eventually made these Germanic rulers of confederated peoples
more and more powerful.[214] While strong, they were still
not federated to one another since they possessed no sense
of “pan-Germanic solidarity”, but this started to change
noticeably by the 5th century AD at Rome’s expense.[215]
5.5
Marriage
to suffer and to dare equally with him, in peace and in
war.”[216]
The age at first marriage among ancient Germanic tribes,
according to Tacitus, was late for women compared to
Roman women:
The youths partake late of the pleasures of
love, and hence pass the age of puberty unexhausted: nor are the virgins hurried into marriage; the same maturity, the same full growth
is required: the sexes unite equally matched
and robust; and the children inherit the vigor
of their parents.[217]
Where Aristotle had set the prime of life at 37 years for
men and 18 for women, the Visigothic Code of law in
the 7th century placed the prime of life at twenty years
for both men and women, after which both presumably
married. Thus it can be presumed that ancient Germanic
brides were on average about twenty and were roughly
the same age as their husbands.[218] Tacitus, however, had
never visited the German-speaking lands and most of his
information on Germania comes from secondary sources.
In addition, Anglo-Saxon women, like those of other Germanic tribes, are marked as women from the age of twelve
onward, based on archaeological finds, implying that the
age of marriage coincided with puberty.[219] Evidence of
Germanic patriarchy is evident later in the 7th century
AD Edict of Rothari of the Lombards which stated that
women were not allowed to live of their own freewill and
that they had to be subject to a man and if no one else,
they were to be “under the power of the king”.[220] For
Germanic women of later antiquity, marriage obviously
had its appeal given their reduced status otherwise.
For Germanic kings, warrior chieftains, senators and Roman nobility, a certain degree of intermarriage was undertaken to strengthen their ties to one another and to
the Empire, making marriage or connubium as the Romans connoted the bond, an instrument of politics.[221]
Earlier treaty terms in the late 4th century AD had forbidden “foreign” Goths to intermarry with Romans.[222]
Some of the marriage attempts of the 6th century AD
were deliberately planned for the sake of royal succession.
Imperial policy had to be carefully charted between the
Roman-Germanic claimants to kingship and the maintenance of Roman imperial administration as the federated
Germanic kings attempted to put their stamp on Roman
rule and replace Roman armies with their own warriors.
Roman leaders were not oblivious to the clever tactics (intermarriage and offspring) employed by Germanic chieftains and adopted creative treaties to either appease them
or temper their ambitions.[223]
Based on the writings of Tacitus, most of the “barbarians” were content with one wife which indicates a general trend towards monogamy. For those higher within
their social hierarchy however, polygamy was sometimes
“solicited on account of their rank”.[216] Of note, Tacitus observed that “the wife does not bring a dowry to
her husband, but receives one from him” and wedding
gifts related to a marriage consisted of things like oxen, 5.6 Religion
saddles and various armaments. Revealing the warlike
nature of their society, Tacitus also reported that wives Main articles: Germanic paganism, Continental Gercame to their husbands “as a partner in toils and dangers; manic mythology and Germanic Christianity
5.6
Religion
19
Prior to the Middle Ages, Germanic peoples followed remarked that the Alamannic religion was “solidly and
unsophisticatedly pagan.”[228] Christianity had no relevance for the pagan barbarians until their contact and integration with Rome.[229]
Roman bronze figurine depicting praying German with a Suebian
knot.
what is now referred to as Germanic paganism: “a system
of interlocking and closely interrelated religious worldviews and practices rather than as one indivisible religion”
and as such consisted of “individual worshippers, family
traditions and regional cults within a broadly consistent
framework”.[224] It was polytheistic in nature, with some
underlying similarities to other Indo-Germanic traditions.
Nevertheless, there is little cultural uniformity among
the Germanic people concerning religion. Archaeological findings suggest that the Germanic barbarians practiced some of the same 'spiritual' rituals as the Celts,
including human sacrifice, divination, and the belief in
spiritual connection with the natural environment around
them.[225] Germanic priestesses were feared by the Romans, as these tall women with glaring eyes, wearing
flowing white gowns often wielded a knife for sacrificial
offerings. Captives might have their throats cut and be
bled into giant cauldrons or have their intestines opened
up and the entrails thrown to the ground for prophetic
readings.[226] Spiritual rituals frequently occurred in consecrated groves or upon islands on lakes where perpetual
fires burned.[227]
While the Germanic peoples were slowly converted to
Christianity by varying means, many elements of the preChristian culture and indigenous beliefs remained firmly
in place after the conversion process, particularly in the
more rural and distant regions. Of particular note is the
survival of the pagan fascination with the forest in the
retention of Christmas tree even today. Many of the
Germanic tribes actually revered forests as sacred places
and left them unmolested. Conversion to Christianity
broke this pagan obsession with protecting the forest in
some locations and allowed once migrant tribes to settle
in places where they previously refused to cultivate the
soil or chop down trees based on religious belief. To that
end, the Christianisation of Germanic peoples facilitated
the clearing of forests and therewith provided “a broad
and stable basis for the medieval economy of Central Europe” by leveraging the vast forest resources available to
them.[230] The Ostrogoths, Visigoths, and Vandals were
Christianized while they were still outside the bounds of
the Empire; however, they converted to Arianism rather
than orthodox Catholicism, and were soon regarded as
heretics.[231] The one great written remnant of the Gothic
language is a translation of portions of the Bible made
by Ulfilas, the missionary who converted them.[232] The
Lombards were not converted until after their entrance
into the Empire, but received Christianity from Arian
Germanic groups sometime during the 5th century.[233]
The Franks were converted directly from paganism to
Catholicism under the leadership of Clovis in about AD
496 without an intervening time as Arians.[234] Eventually
the Gothic tribes turned away from their Arian faith and
in AD 589 converted to Catholicism.[235] Several centuries later, Anglo-Saxon and Frankish missionaries and
warriors undertook the conversion of their Saxon neighbors. A key event was the felling of Thor’s Oak near
Fritzlar by Boniface, apostle of the Germans, in AD 723.
When Thor failed to strike Boniface dead after the oak
hit the ground, the Franks were amazed and began their
conversion to the Christian faith.[236]
Eventually for many Germanic tribes, the conversion
to Christianity was achieved by armed force, successfully completed by Charlemagne, in a series of campaigns (the Saxon Wars), that also brought Saxon lands
into the Frankish empire.[237] Massacres, such as the
Bloody Verdict of Verden, where as many as 4500 people were beheaded according to one of Charlemagne’s
chroniclers,[238] were a direct result of this policy.
Many of the deities found in Germanic paganism appeared under similar names across the Germanic peoples,
most notably the god known to the Germans as Wodan or
Wotan, to the Anglo-Saxons as Woden, and to the Norse
as Óðinn, as well as the god Thor – known to the Ger- In Scandinavia, Germanic paganism continued to domimans as Donar, to the Anglo-Saxons as Þunor and to the nate until the 11th century in the form of Norse paganism,
Norse as Þórr. Pagan beliefs amid the Germanic tribes when it was gradually replaced by Christianity.[239]
were reported by some of the earlier Roman historians
and in the 6th century AD another instance of this appears when the Byzantine historian and poet, Agathias,
20
6
7 GERMANIC ANTIQUITY IN LATER HISTORIOGRAPHY
Genetics
often difficult to change and that post-agriculture populations became more fixed and genes often don't correspond necessarily to either language or culture. Nonetheless, the presence of R1b-P312 and R1b-L21 among the
modern Germanic speaking population is reflective of the
Germanic presence in former Celtic regions in the Alps,
the Netherlands, and lowland Britain where they likely
absorbed people along the way.[244] Peaking in northern
Europe, the R1b-U106 marker seems particular interesting in distribution and provides some helpful genetic
clues regarding the historical trek made by the Germanic
people.[245]
7 Germanic antiquity in later historiography
Further information: Germanic studies
Distribution of Y-chromosomal haplogroup I1a in Europe.
It is suggested by geneticists that the movements of Germanic peoples has had a strong influence upon the modern distribution of the male lineage represented by the
Y-DNA haplogroup I1, which is believed to have originated with one man, who lived approximately 4,000
to 6,000 years somewhere in Northern Europe, possibly modern Denmark (see Most Recent Common Ancestor for more information). There is evidence of this
man’s descendants settling in all of the areas that Germanic tribes are recorded as having subsequently invaded
or migrated to.[240][241] However, it is quite possible that
Haplogroup I1 is pre-Germanic, that is I1 may have originated with individuals who adopted the proto-Germanic
culture, at an early stage of its development, and/or were
co-founders of that culture. Should that earliest ProtoGermanic speaking ancestor be found, his Y-DNA would
most likely be an admixture of the aforementioned I1,
but would also contain R1a1a, R1b-P312 and R1b-U106,
a genetic combination of the haplogroups found among
current Germanic speaking peoples.[242]
Haplogroup I1 accounts for approximately 40% of
Icelandic males, 40%–50% of Swedish males, 40%
of Norwegian males, and 40% of Danish Human Ychromosome DNA haplogroups. Haplogroup I1 peaks in
certain areas of Northern Germany and Eastern England
at more than 30%. Haplogroup R1b and haplogroup
R1a collectively account for more than 40% of males
in Sweden; over 50% in Norway, 60% in Iceland, 60–
70% in Germany, and between 50%–70% of the males
in England and the Netherlands depending on region.[243]
However this might simply be because of more ancient
similar settlement patterns of pre-Germanic, Celtic and
certainly pre-Roman, populations once established, are
After the decline of Germanic paganism in the High Middle Ages, the cultural identity of Europe was built on the
idea of Christendom as opposed to Islam (the "Saracens",
and later the "Turks"). The Germanic peoples of Roman historiography were lumped with the other agents
of the "barbarian invasions”, the Alans and the Huns, as
opposed to the civilized “Roman” identity of the Holy
Roman Empire.
The Renaissance revived interest in pre-Christian
Classical Antiquity and only in a second phase in preChristian Northern Europe. Early modern publications
dealing with Old Norse culture appeared in the 16th
century, e.g. Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus
(Olaus Magnus, 1555) and the first edition of the 13th
century Gesta Danorum (Saxo Grammaticus), in 1514.
Authors of the German Renaissance such as Johannes
Aventinus discovered the Germanii of Tacitus as the
“Old Germans”, whose virtue and unspoiled manhood,
as it appears in the Roman accounts of noble savagery,
they contrast with the decadence of their own day.
The pace of publication increased during the 17th century with Latin translations of the Edda (notably Peder
Resen’s Edda Islandorum of 1665). The Viking revival of
18th century Romanticism finally establishes the fascination with anything “Nordic”. The beginning of Germanic
philology proper begins in the early 19th century, with
Rasmus Rask's Icelandic Lexicon of 1814, and was in
full bloom by the 1830s, with Jacob Grimm's Deutsche
Mythologie giving an extensive account of reconstructed
Germanic mythology and his Deutsches Wörterbuch of
Germanic etymology.
The development of Germanic studies as an academic
discipline in the 19th century ran parallel to the rise of
nationalism in Europe and the search for national histories for the nascent nation states developing after the end
of the Napoleonic Wars. A “Germanic” national ethnic-
21
ity offered itself for the unification of Germany, contrasting the emerging German Empire with its neighboring rivals, the Welsche French Third Republic and the "Slavic"
Russian Empire. The nascent German ethnicity was consequently built on national myths of Germanic antiquity,
in instances such as the Walhalla temple and the Hermann
Heights Monument.
These tendencies culminated in Pan-Germanism, the Alldeutsche Bewegung aiming for the political unity of all of
German-speaking Europe (all Volksdeutsche) into a Teutonic nation state. Contemporary Romantic nationalism
in Scandinavia placed more weight on the Viking Age,
resulting in the movement known as Scandinavism. The
theories of race developed in the same period identified
the Germanic peoples of the Migration period as members of a Nordic race expanding at the expense of an
Alpine race native to Central and Eastern Europe.
8
See also
• List of Germanic peoples
• Nordic race
9
References
[1] Waldman & Mason 2006, p. 296.
[2] “Germanic Peoples”. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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[4] Pavlovic, Zoran (2007). Europe. Infobase Publishing. p.
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[5] “Germans”. Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia. Columbia
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[7] Rübekeil, Suebica, Innsbruck 1992, 161f.
[8] Stümpel, Gustav (1932). Name und Nationalität der Germanen. Eine neue Untersuchung zu Poseidonios, Caesar
und Tacitus (in German). Leipzig: Dieterich. p. 60.
[9] Feist, Sigmund (1927). Germanen und Kelten in der antiken Überlieferung (in German). Baden-Baden.
[10] Heather (2012). Empires and Barbarians: The Fall of
Rome and the Birth of Europe, pp. 5–8.
[11] De Bello Gallico 2.4
[12] "Germania" chapter 2.
[13] Manco 2013, p. 207.
[14] Lamarcq, Danny; Rogge, Marc (1996), De Taalgrens:
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[15] Lamarcq, Danny; Rogge, Marc (1996), De Taalgrens:
Van de oude tot de nieuwe Belgen, Davidsfonds page 47.
[16] Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology 1966
[17] McBain’s An Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language
[18] Schulze (1998). Germany: A New History, p. 4.
[19] “German”, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. Ed. T. F. Hoad. Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 1996. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 4 March 2008.
[20] Partridge, Eric, Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary
of Modern English, p. 1265
[21] Mallory; Adams, The Oxford Introduction to Proto-IndoEuropean and the Proto-Indo-European World, Oxford, p.
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[22] L. Rübekeil, Suebica. Völkernamen und Ethnos, Innsbruck 1992, 187–214.
[23] The Order of The Teutonic Knights of St. Mary’s Hospital
in Jerusalem - 1190-2012, “The History of The Term Germanic”, Stable URL: http://www.imperialteutonicorder.
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[24] Burns 2003, pp. 15–16.
[25] Burns 2003, pp. 232–233.
[26] Burns 2003, p. 19.
[27] The Order of The Teutonic Knights of St.
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[28] Dalby (1999). Dictionary of Languages, p. 224.
[29] Detwiler (1999). Germany: A Short History, p. 3.
[30] Burns 2003, pp. 66–67.
[31] Tac. Ger. 38-40
[32] The Cherusci people are the progenitors of Arminius, who
once a Roman general, betrayed his erstwhile Roman legions by attacking them using the combined forces of Germanic tribes in 9 AD at Teutoberg Forest, a move which
ended the Roman Empire’s efforts to expand east of the
Rhine. See: Steven Ozment, A Mighty Fortress: A New
History of the German People (New York: Harper Perennial, 2005), 20–21.
[33] Geography 7.1
[34] The Order of The Teutonic Knights of St. Mary’s
Hospital in Jerusalem - 1190-2012, “The Classification of The Germanic Race”, Stable URL: http://www.
imperialteutonicorder.com/id43.html
22
[35] Waldman & Mason 2006, p. 300.
[36] Todd 1999, pp. 12–13.
[37] Halsall (1981). The Old English Rune Poem: A Critical
Edition, p. 15.
[38] Antonsen (2002). Runes and Germanic Linguistics, p. 37.
[39] As late as the 10th century there is evidence of runic writing on a stone monument erected by the first Christian
king of Denmark, Harald Bluetooth. In the text, Harald
honors his parents using runic script and on the other side
of the stone is a depiction of 'Christ in His Glory', incorporating a runic inscription which extolls Harald for acquiring Denmark and Norway and for converting the Danes
into Christians. See: Moltke (1985). Runes and Their
Origin: Denmark and Elsewhere, pp. 207–220.
9
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[54] Kurt Braunmüller, “Was ist Germanisch heute?" Sprachwissenschaft 25 (2000): 271–295.
[55] Kinder & Hilgemann (2004). The Penguin Atlas of World
History, p. 109.
[56] The Order of The Teutonic Knights of St. Mary’s Hospital in Jerusalem - 1190-2012, “The Bronze Age”, Stable
URL: http://www.imperialteutonicorder.com/id43.html
[57] The New Encyclopædia Britannica, 15th edition, 20:67
[58] Cunliffe 2011, p. 309–316.
[59] Waldman & Mason 2006, pp. 296–297.
[60] Leo Verhart, Op zoek naar de Kelten, 2006,ISBN 905345-303-2, pp. 81–82.
[40] Bauer 2010, p. 44.
[61] Bury 2000, p. 5.
[41] The Order of The Teutonic Knights of St. Mary’s Hospital in Jerusalem - 1190-2012, “The Pre-Roman Iron
Age”, Stable URL: http://www.imperialteutonicorder.
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[62] The New Encyclopædia Britannica, 15th edition, 22: pp.
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[42] The New Encyclopædia Britannica, 15th edition, 20:640–
642
[43] Lucien Musset, The Germanic Invasions, the Making of
Europe 400–600 AD, ISBN 1-56619-326-5, 1993 Barnes
& Noble Books, pp. 12–13
[44] Ostler (2006). Empires of the Word: A Language History
of the World, p. 307.
[45] Dalby (1999). Dictionary of Languages, pp. 224–225.
[46] Robinson, Orrin (1992). Old English and its Closest Relatives, pp. 194–195.
[47] The Order of The Teutonic Knights of St. Mary’s
Hospital in Jerusalem - 1190-2012, “The Classification of the Germanic Race”, Stable URL: http://www.
imperialteutonicorder.com/id43.html
[48] For more info, see: Ostler (2006). Empires of the Word:
A Language History of the World, pp. 304–314.
[49] Wightman, Edith Mary (1985). Gallia Belgica, Berkeley
and Los Angeles: University of California Press, pp. 12–
14.
[50] Of the Germanic languages, the only well-attested east
Germanic language was Gothic. See: Don Ringe, A Linguistic History of English: From Proto-Indo-European to
Proto-Germanic (New York: Oxford University Press,
2006), 213.
[51] These combined West Germanic languages are spoken as
a primary tongue by more than 450 million people today.
See: Waldman & Mason 2006, p. 300.
[52] Dalby (1999). Dictionary of Languages, p. 225.
[53] Only a mere 20 million people or so currently speak the
North Germanic languages as their native tongue. See:
Waldman & Mason 2006, p. 300.
[63] Leo Verhart, Op Zoek naar de Kelten, Nieuwe archeologische ontdekkingen tussen Noordzee en Rijn, ISBN 90-5345303-2, 2006, p. 67
[64] Colin Well, “Celts and Germans in the Rhineland” in The
Celtic World, edited by Miranda Green (New York, Routledge, 1996), pp. 603–611.
[65] Bogucki & Crabtree, eds. (vol. 2) 2003, p. 152.
[66] Adams, Douglas Q.; Mallory, J. P. (1997). “Germanic
languages”. Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781884964985.
[67] Rolf Hachmann, Georg Kossack and Hans Kuhn (1986).
Völker zwischen Germanen und Kelten, pp. 183–212.
[68] Leo Verhart (2006). Op Zoek naar de Kelten, Nieuwe
archeologische ontdekkingen tussen Noordzee en Rijn, pp.
175–176. ISBN 90-5345-303-2
[69] Bury 2000, p. 6.
[70] Bury 2000, pp. 6–7.
[71] Bury 2000, pp. 7–9.
[72] Waldman & Mason 2006, p. 301.
[73] The only ancient authors we know by name who saw
Pytheas’ text were Dicaearchus, Timaeus, Eratosthenes,
Crates of Mallus, Hipparchus, Polybius, Artemidorus
and Posidonius, as Lionel Pearson remarked in reviewing Hans Joachim Mette, Pytheas von Massalia (Berlin:
Gruyter) 1952, in Classical Philology 49.3 (July 1954), pp.
212–214.
[74] Osborne (2008). Civilization: A New History of the Western World, p. 38.
[75] Cunliffe 2011, pp. 6–8.
[76] Burns 2003, pp. 51–52.
23
[77] Plutarch writes of these Cimbrian warriors with “sky blue” [100] Collins 1999, pp. 2–3.
colored eyes, see: Truces et cærulei oculi. -- Germ. IX.
Plutarch (in Marius, XI). Cited from Francis B. Gum- [101] Waldman & Mason 2006, pp. 304–305.
mere, Germanic Origins: A Study in Primitive Culture
[102] Collins 1999, p. 46.
(New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1892), 58 fn.
[78] Ozment (2005). A Mighty Fortress: A New History of the [103]
German People, p. 18.
[104]
[79] Woolf (2012). Rome: An Empire’s Story, pp. 105–107.
[105]
[80] Cunliffe 2011, pp. 369–371.
[106]
[81] Gaius Julius Caesar, Commentarii De Bello Gallico, VI.
XX–XXI
[107]
Bury 2000, p. 61.
Waldman & Mason 2006, p. 305–306.
Waldman & Mason 2006, p. 306.
Pohl 1997, pp. 34–35.
Bauer 2010, p. 45.
[82] Tacitus, The Agricola and the Germany of Tacitus, p. 48. [108] Bauer 2010, pp. 45–46.
[83] Pagden (2001). Peoples and Empires, p. 22.
[109] Bury 2000, pp. 129–130.
[84] Todd 1999, pp. 34–35.
[110] Katz (1955). The Decline of Rome and the Rise of Mediaeval Europe, p. 88.
[85] Waldman & Mason 2006, p. 302.
[86] Todd 1999, p. 23.
[111] Katz (1955). The Decline of Rome and the Rise of Mediaeval Europe, pp. 88–89.
[87] The tribal Helvetii lend their namesake to the formal epithet for the nation of Switzerland – the Helvetic Confed- [112] Bury 2000, p. 16.
eracy (or Helvetia). See: The Encyclopædia Britannica
(2015), “Helvetii”. Stable URL: http://www.britannica. [113] Bury 2000, pp. 16–33.
com/topic/Helvetii
[114] Kishlansky et al. (2008). Civilization in the West, p. 166.
[88] Todd 1999, pp. 23–24.
[115] Manco 2013, p. 204.
[89] Waldman & Mason 2006, pp. 301–302.
[116] Waldman & Mason 2006, p. 26.
[90] Ozment (2005). A Mighty Fortress: A New History of the
[117] Edward James, “The Northern World in the Dark Ages,
German People, p. 19.
400–900”, in The Oxford History of Medieval Europe,
[91] Pohl (2002). Die Völkerwanderung. Eroberung und Inteedited by George Holmes (New York: Oxford University
gration, p. 16.
Press, 1995), pp. 60–67.
[92] Wolfram 1997, pp. 36–37.
[93] Cunliffe 2011, p. 384.
[118] Drinkwater (2007). Alamanni and Rome 213–496: Caracalla to Clovis, p. 81.
[119] T.D. Kendrick (2013). A History of the Vikings, pp. 60–
[94] Mary T. Boatwright, Daniel J. Gargola, and Richard J. A.
63.
Talbert, The Romans: From Village to Empire (New York:
Oxford University Press, 2004), 360.
[120] Pagden (2001). Peoples and Empires, p. 37.
[95] Burns 2003, p. 183.
[121] J.H.F. Bloemers & T. van Dorp. Pre- en Protohistorie van
de Lage Landen. De Haan/Open Universiteit, 1991, ISBN
[96] An interesting tidbit about the 4th century Gothic Tervingi
90-269-4448-9, NUGI 644, pp 329–338
proves telling in this regard; they are most famous among
scholars of Classical Rome and pre-modern Europe be[122] More recent academic work from the likes of Peter
cause the majority of them sought asylum inside the heart
Heather supports this argument. (See: Heather, Peof the Roman Empire in 376 AD. See: Heather (2012).
ter. (2012) Empires and Barbarians: The Fall of Rome
Empires and Barbarians: The Fall of Rome and the Birth
and the Birth of Europe). Conversely, historian Bryan
of Europe, p. 594.
Ward-Perkins paints a different picture altogether. WardPerkins states that, “The invaders were not guilty of mur[97] The texts of the chronicler Marcellinus demonstrate that,
der, but they had committed manslaughter.” (See: Wardat the very least, military cooperation between the GerPerkins, (2005) The Fall of Rome: And the End of Civilizamanic tribes and the Romans took place at times since he
tion, p. 134.) The two titles alone speak to their divergent
makes reference to a "pactum vicissitudinus reddendae".
positions.
See Bury 2000, p. 10.
[98] Waldman & Mason 2006, p. 304.
[123] Davies (1998). Europe: A History, p. 229.
[99] Geary 1999, p. 109.
[124] Bury 2000, pp. 65–66.
24
9
REFERENCES
[125] Not only was Alaric I able to establish a Gothic confedera- [150] For a period of upwards of 1300 years since the Franktion comprising Theruingian and Greuthungic peoples, he
ish king Clovis was converted to Christianity (he ruled
also was able to play the eastern and western Roman EmGaul in what eventually became modern France), eighteen
pires off against one another for his benefit. See: Collins
monarchs of France have been Christened with a French
1999, pp. 53–54.
derivation of his Latin name Ludovicus or “Louis” in modern French. See: Diarmaid MacCulloch, Christianity: The
[126] Davies (1998). Europe: A History, pp. 231–232.
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p. 324.
[127] Davies (1998). Europe: A History, p. 232.
[151] Bauer 2010, pp. 178–179.
[128] Roberts (1997). A Short History of the World, pp. 146–
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[129] Chrysos 2003, pp. 13–14.
[153] Bury 2000, p. 239.
[130] Waldman & Mason 2006, p. 307.
[154] Edward James, “The Northern World in the Dark Ages,
400–900”, in The Oxford History of Medieval Europe,
[131] Ward-Perkins (2005). The Fall of Rome: And the End of
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[132] O’Donnell (2008). The Ruin of the Roman Empire, p. 105. [155] Morgan (2001). The Oxford History of Britain, pp. 61–
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[133] Santosuo (2004). Barbarians, Marauders, and Infidels:
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[134] O’Donnell (2008). The Ruin of the Roman Empire, pp. [157] Derry (2012). A History of Scandinavia: Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, pp. 16–35.
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[135] Waldman & Mason 2006, p. 308.
[136] Ward-Perkins (2005). The Fall of Rome: And the End of
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[159] Sykes (2006). Saxons, Vikings, and Celts: The Genetic
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[160] Geary 1999, p. 110.
[137] Ward-Perkins (2005). The Fall of Rome: And the End of
[161] Evidence exists that for 2nd and 3rd century Goths as well
Civilization, p. 72.
as for 4th and 5th century Lombards that significant population displacement throughout Roman-occupied Europe
[138] Wolfram (1988). History of the Goths, p. 332.
occurred. See: Heather (2012). Empires and Barbarians:
[139] Wolfram 1997, p. 308.
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This quite likely contributed to their linguistic assimilation
[140] Cunliffe 2011, p. 442.
[162] Ostler (2006). Empires of the Word: A Language History
of the World, pp. 306–307.
[141] Cunliffe 2011, pp. 442–444.
[142] Heather (2014). The Restoration of Rome: Barbarian [163] Pidal R. Menéndez, Manual de Gramática Histórica Española, 13 ed. (Madrid: Espasa Calpe, 1968), 19.
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[143] Heather (2014). The Restoration of Rome: Barbarian
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[144] Pohl 1997, p. 33.
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[165] Clements (2005). A Brief History of the Vikings: Last Pagans or the First Modern Europeans?, pp. 214–229.
[145] Kitchen (1996). The Cambridge Illustrated History of Ger- [166] Waldman & Mason 2006, p. 310.
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[167] Ferguson (2010). The Vikings: A History, p. 240.
[146] Kitchen (1996). The Cambridge Illustrated History of Ger[168] Oliver (2011). The Body Legal in Barbarian Law, p. 27.
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[147] Bauer 2010, p. 172.
[169] E.g. “If a freeman steal from the king, let him pay ninefold”, in the Law of Æthelberht, paragraph 4.
[148] Edward James, “The Northern World in the Dark Ages, [170] E.g. reduction of the weregild to half the regular amount
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if the man responsible for the killing is employed by the
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[171] Oliver (2011). The Body Legal in Barbarian Law, pp.
[149] Bauer 2010, p. 173.
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25
[172] Wolfram 1997, p. 310.
[198] Manco 2013, p. 202.
[173] Geary 1999, p. 113.
[199] Waldman & Mason 2006, pp. 315–316.
[174] Geary 1999, p. 112.
[200] Waldman & Mason 2006, p. 318.
[175] Archer et al. (2008). World History of Warfare, p. 105.
[201] Geary 1999, p. 111.
[176] J. M. Roberts, A History of Europe, pp. 65–66.
[202] Encyclopædia Britannica (2015). “Comitatus”, Stable
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[203] Todd 1999, pp. 31–32.
[178] Waldman & Mason 2006, p. 836.
[204] Tacitus, The Agricola and the Germany of Tacitus, p. 49.
[179] Waldman & Mason 2006, p. 321.
[205] Heather (2003). The Visigoths from the Migration Period
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[180] Waldman & Mason 2006, pp. 321–322.
[181] Heather (2005). The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New
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[182] Santosuo (2004). Barbarians, Marauders, and Infidels:
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[183] Todd 1999, pp. 36–37.
[184] Todd 1999, p. 37.
[185] Bémont & Monod 2012, pp. 485–486.
[207] Murray (1983). Germanic Kinship Structure: Studies in
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[208] Todd 1999, p. 30.
[209] Todd 1999, p. 32.
[210] Williams 1998, p. 79.
[186] Waldman & Mason 2006, p. 322.
[211] Young, Bruce W. (2008). Family Life in the Age of Shakespeare. Greenwood Press, pp. 16–17.
[187] Warriors were physically adept and owed much of their
esprit de corps to the loyalty existing between themselves
and their tribal chieftains. After forming a shield wall, [212] Bémont & Monod 2012, pp. 410–415.
they would then hurl a single spear in unison as a sacri[213] Pohl 1997, p. 34.
fice to Odin. Fighting thereafter normally devolved to a
gang raid and individual combat. See: Waldman & Ma- [214] Santosuo (2004). Barbarians, Marauders, and Infidels:
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The Ways of Medieval Warfare, p. 9.
[188] Waldman & Mason 2006, pp. 322–323.
[189] Waldman & Mason 2006, p. 312.
[190] Waldman & Mason 2006, p. 313.
[215] Ward-Perkins (2005). The Fall of Rome: And the End of
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[216] Tacitus, The Agricola and the Germany of Tacitus, p. 52.
[217] Tacitus (by commentator Edward Brooks). 2013. The
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[219] Green, Dennis Howard and Siegmund, Frank. 2003. The
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[193] Osborne (2008). Civilization: A New History of the Western World, p. 39.
[220] Bury 2000, p. 281.
[194] The Order of The Teutonic Knights of St. Mary’s Hos[221] Wolfram 1997, p. 105.
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[196] Waldman & Mason 2006, pp. 314–315.
[225] Burns 2003, p. 367.
[197] Waldman & Mason 2006, p. 315.
[226] Williams 1998, pp. 81–82.
26
10 BIBLIOGRAPHY AND FURTHER READING
[227] Williams 1998, p. 82.
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[231] Santosuo (2004). Barbarians, Marauders, and Infidels:
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[232] Waldman & Mason 2006, p. 327.
[233] Waldman & Mason 2006, p. 497.
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• Morgan, Kenneth. The Oxford History of Britain.
Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press,
2001. ISBN 978-0-19280-135-7
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• Ringe, Don. A Linguistic History of English: From
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• Santosuo, Antonio. Barbarians, Marauders, and Infidels: The Ways of Medieval Warfare. New York:
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29
11
External links
• "Germanic Races and Languages". The American
Cyclopædia. 1879.
30
12
12
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1.png License: CC BY-SA 2.5-2.0-1.0 Contributors: Based on Germanic Groups ca. 0CE.jpg by Varoon Arya (source used is König,
Werner (2001). dtv-Atlas Deutsche Sprache. München: Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag 2001. ISBN: 3-423-03025-9; pp. 46, 52.). Additionally, corrections have been made (e.g. North Germanic spoken on the island of Zealand, rather than East Germanic). Original artist:
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png License: Public domain Contributors: Public domain Historical Atlas by William R. Shepherd from University of Texas Libraries
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