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Germanic peoplesGermanic peoples,also called Teutonic Peoples,
any of the Indo-European speakers of Germaniclanguages.
The origins of the Germanic peoples are obscure. During the late
Bronze Age, they are believed tohave inhabited southern Sweden, the
Danish peninsula, and northern Germany between the EmsRiver on the
west, the Oder River on the east, and the Harz Mountains on the
south. The Vandals,Gepidae, and Goths migrated from southern Sweden
in the closing centuries BC and occupied thearea of the southern
Baltic coast roughly between the Oder on the west and the Vistula
River on theeast. At an early date there was also migration toward
the south and west at the expense of the Celtic peoples who
theninhabited much of western Germany: the Celtic Helvetii, for
example, who were confined by the Germanic peoples to the areathat
is now Switzerland in the 1st century BC, had once extended as far
east as the Main River.
By the time of Julius Caesar, Germans were established west of
the Rhine River and toward the south had reached the DanubeRiver.
Their first great clash with Romans came at the end of the 2nd
century BC, when the Cimbri and Teutoni (Teutones)invaded southern
Gaul and northern Italy and were annihilated by Gaius Marius in 102
and 101. Although individual travelersfrom the time of Pytheas
onward had visited Teutonic countries in the north, it was not
until the 1st century BC was welladvanced that the Romans learned
to distinguish precisely between the Germans and the Celts, a
distinction that is made withgreat clarity by Julius Caesar. It was
Caesar who incorporated within the frontiers of the Roman Empire
those Germans who hadpenetrated west of the Rhine, and it is he who
gave the earliest extant description of Germanic culture. In 9 BC
the Romanspushed their frontier eastward from the Rhine to the
Elbe, but in AD 9 a revolt of their subject Germans headed by
Arminiusended in the withdrawal of the Roman frontier to the Rhine.
In this period of occupation and during the numerous wars
foughtbetween Rome and the Germans in the 1st century AD, enormous
quantities of information about the Germans reached Rome,and, when
Tacitus published in AD 98 the book now known as the Germania, he
had reliable sources of information on which todraw. The book is
one of the most valuable ethnographic works in existence;
archaeology has in many ways supplemented theinformation Tacitus
gives, but in general it has tended only to confirm his accuracy
and to illustrate his insight into his subject.
Tacitus relates that according to their ancient songs the
Germans were descended from the three sons of Mannus, the son of
thegod Tuisto, the son of Earth. Hence they were divided into three
groupsthe Ingaevones, the Herminones, and the Istaevonesbut the
basis for this grouping is unknown. Tacitus records a variant form
of the genealogy according to which Mannus had alarger number of
sons, who were regarded as the ancestors of the Suebi, the Vandals,
and others. At any rate, the currency ofthese songs suggests that
in Tacitus time the various Germanic peoples were conscious of
their relationship with one another.While individual Germans in
Roman service would sometimes refer to themselves as Germani, the
free Germans beyond theRhine had no collective name for themselves
until the 11th century AD, when the adjective diutisc (modern
German deutsch, ofthe people) came into fashion. The meaning of the
word Germani and the language to which it belongs are unknown.
The principal Germanic peoples were distributed as follows in
the time of Tacitus. The Chatti lived in what is now Hesse. The
Frisiiinhabited the coastlands between the Rhine and the Ems. The
Chauci were at the mouth of the Weser, and south of them livedthe
Cherusci, the people of Arminius. The Suebi, who have given their
name to Schwaben, were a group of peoples inhabitingMecklenburg,
Brandenburg, Saxony, and Thuringia; the Semnones, living around the
Havel and the Spree rivers, were a Suebicpeople, as were the
Langobardi (Lombards), who lived northwest of the Semnones. Among
the seven peoples who worshipedthe goddess Nerthus were the Angli
(Angles), centred on the peninsula of Angeln in eastern Schleswig.
As for the Danubianfrontier of the Roman Empire, the Hermunduri
extended from the neighbourhood of Regensburg northward through
Franconiato Thuringia. The Marcomanni, who had previously lived in
the Main valley, migrated during the last decade BC to Bohemia
(whichhad hitherto been occupied by a Celtic people called the
Boii), where their eastern neighbours were the Quadi in Moravia. On
thelower Danube were a people called the Bastarnae, who are usually
thought to have been Germans. The Goths, Gepidae, andVandals were
on the southern Baltic coast. Tacitus mentions the Suiones and the
Sitones as living in Sweden. He also speaks ofseveral other peoples
of less historical importance, but he knows nothing of the Saxons,
the Burgundians, and others whobecame prominent after his time.
By the end of the 3rd century AD important changes had taken
place. East of the Rhine there were three great confederacies
ofpeoples unknown to Tacitus. The Roman frontier on the lower Rhine
faced the Franks. The Main valley was occupied from about260 by the
Burgundians, while the Agri Decumates (of the Black Forest region)
were held by the Alemanni. The Burgundiansappear to have been
immigrants from eastern Germany. The Franks and the Alemanni may
have been confederacies of peopleswho had lived in these respective
areas in Tacitus day, though perhaps with an admixture of
immigrants from the east. Thepeoples whom Tacitus mentions as
living on the Baltic coast had moved southeastward in the second
half of the 2nd century.Thus the Goths now controlled the Ukraine
and much of what is now Romania; the Gepidae were in the mountains
north ofTransylvania with the Vandals as their western
neighbours.
By the year 500, the Angles and Saxons were in England and the
Franks controlled northeastern Gaul. The Burgundians were inthe
Rhne valley with the Visigoths as their western neighbours. The
Ostrogoths were established in Italy and the Vandals inAfrica. In
507 the Franks expelled the Visigoths from most of the Gallic
possessions, which had stretched from the Pyrenees tothe Loire
River, and the Visigoths thereafter lived in Spain until their
extinction by the Muslims in 711. In 568 the Lombardsentered Italy
and lived there in an independent kingdom until they were
overthrown by Charlemagne (774). The areas of easternGermany
vacated by the Goths and others were filled up by the Slavs, who
extended westward as far as Bohemia and the basinof the Elbe. After
the 8th century the Germans recovered eastern Germany, lower
Austria, and much of Styria and Carinthia fromthe Slavs.
Table of ContentsIntroductionMaterial cultureWarfareForm of
governmentConversion to Christianity
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According to Julius Caesar, the Germans were pastoralists, and
the bulk of their foodstuffsmilk, cheese, and meatcame fromtheir
flocks and herds. Some farming was also carried out, the main crops
being grain, root crops, and vegetables. Both the cattleand the
horses of the Germans were of poor quality by Roman standards.
The Iron Age had begun in Germany about four centuries before
the days of Caesar, but even in his time metal appears to havebeen
a luxury material for domestic utensils, most of which were made of
wood, leather, or clay. Of the larger metal objects usedby them,
most were still made of bronze, though this was not the case with
weapons. Pottery was for the most part still made byhand, and pots
turned on the wheel were relatively rare.
The degree to which trade was developed in early Germany is
obscure. There was certainly a slave trade, and many slaves
weresold to the Romans. Such potters as used the wheeland these
were very fewand smiths and miners no doubt sold theirproducts. But
in general the average Germanic village is unlikely to have used
many objects that had not been made at home.Foreign merchants
dealing in Italian as well as Celtic wares were active in Germany
in Caesars time and supplied prosperouswarriors with such goods as
wine and bronze vessels. But from the reign of Augustus onward,
there was a huge increase inGerman imports from the Roman Empire.
The German leaders were now able to buy whole categories of
goodsglass vessels,red tableware, Roman weapons, brooches,
statuettes, ornaments of various kinds, and other objectsthat had
not reachedthem before. These Roman products brought their owners
much prestige, but how the Germans paid for them is not
fullyknown.
In the period of the early Roman Empire, German weapons, both
offensive and defensive, were characterized by shortage ofmetal.
Their chief weapon was a long lance, and few carried swords.
Helmets and breastplates were almost unknown. A lightwooden or
wicker shield, sometimes fitted with an iron rim and sometimes
strengthened with leather, was the only defensiveweapon. This lack
of adequate equipment explains the swift, fierce rush with which
the Germans would charge the ranks of theheavily armed Romans. If
they became entangled in a prolonged, hand-to-hand grapple, where
their light shields and thrustingspears were confronted with Roman
swords and armour, they had little hope of success. Even by the 6th
century, few of theGermanic peoples had adequate military
equipment. None evolved a force adequate to deal with the heavily
armed mountedarchers of Justinian I.
No trace of autocracy can be found among the Germans whom Caesar
describes. The leading men of the pagi (kindred groups)would try to
patch up disputes as they arose, but they acted only in those
disputes that broke out between members of theirown pagus. There
appears to have been no mediatory body at this date. In fact, in
peacetime there appears to have been nocentral authority that could
issue orders to, or exercise influence over, all the pagi of which
any one people was composed. Inwartime, according to Caesar, a
number of confederate chieftains were elected, but they were joint
leaders and held office onlyin time of war.
By Tacitus time a new type of military chieftainship had come
into being. For this office only the members of a recognized
royalclan, such as is known to have existed among the 1st-century
Cherusci and Batavians, the 6th-century Heruli, and others,
wereeligible. Any member of this royal clan was eligible for
election, and the chieftainship was in no way hereditary. A chief
of thistype held office for life and had religious as well as
military duties. He could be overruled by the council of the
leading men, andhis proposals to the general assembly of the
warriors might be rejected by them. The degree of his influence
depended largelyon his own personal qualities.
A rudimentary judicial apparatus had come into existence among
the Germanic peoples by Tacitus time. The general assemblyelected a
number of the leading men to act as judges, and these judges
traveled through the villages to hear private suits. Eachof them
was accompanied by 100 attendants to lend authority to his
decisions. A person who was found guilty by these judgeshad to pay
a number of horses or cattle proportionate to the gravity of his
offense. But many disputes (e.g., those arising fromhomicide,
wounding, or theft) continued to be settled by the kindreds
themselves, and the blood feuds to which they gave risemight
continue from generation to generation. Long after the conversion
to Christianity the German rulers found it difficult tostamp out
the blood feud.
Only one Germanic chieftain is known to have set up a personal
tyranny over his people: Maroboduus, who led the Marcomannifrom
their homes in the Main valley about 9 BC and settled them in
Bohemia. From there he conquered a considerable numberof other
Germanic peoples between the Elbe and the Vistula, including the
Semnones, the Lombards, and the Lugii. But theCherusci, joined by
some of the kings subjects, attacked him in AD 17, overthrew him,
and drove him into the Roman Empire. Allother chiefs who attempted
in this period to establish monarchies were, so far as is known,
defeated.
The monarchy did not become fully established in the Germanic
world until German peoples had settled as federates inside theRoman
Empire, and the leaders of the Ostrogoths in Italy, the Visigoths
in Gaul and Spain, the Vandals in Africa, and so on arethe first
Germanic kings. Other famous German chieftains in this period, such
as Athanaric and Alaric, who either lived outsidethe Roman frontier
or whose peoples were not federates settled in the provinces under
a treaty (foedus) to defend the frontier,seem to have had little
more personal authority than the leaders described by Tacitus.
Material culture.
Warfare.
Form of government.
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Evidence suggests that before the fall of the Western Roman
Empire in 476, none of the great Germanic peoples was convertedto
Christianity while still living outside the Roman frontier, but
that all the Germanic peoples who moved into the Romanprovinces
before that date were converted to Christianity within a
generation. The Vandals seem to have been converted whenin Spain in
409429, the Burgundians when in eastern Gaul in 412436, and the
Ostrogoths when in the province of Pannoniaabout 456472. In all
these cases the Germans embraced the Arian form of Christianity;
none of the major Germanic peoplesbecame officially Catholic until
the conversion of the Franks under Clovis (496) and of the
Burgundians under Sigismund. Thereason for their adoption of
Arianism rather than Catholicism is very obscure. The last Germanic
people on the Europeancontinent to be converted to Christianity
were the Old Saxons (second half of the 8th century), while the
Scandinavian peopleswere converted in the 10th century. England had
been converted in the 7th century.
"Germanic peoples".Encyclopdia Britannica. Encyclopdia
Britannica Online.Encyclopdia Britannica Inc., 2015. Web. 06 Apr.
2015.
Conversion to Christianity.
