Germanic peoples 12446 223122911 2008-07-02T17:54:03Z Kyle the bot 3115531 Bot: [[als:Germanen]] is a featured article {{sprotected2}} {{portalpar|Ancient Germanic culture}} The '''Germanic peoples''' are a historical group of [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]]-speaking peoples, originating in [[Northern Europe]] and identified by their use of the [[Germanic languages]] which diversified out of [[Common Germanic]] in the course of the [[Pre-Roman Iron Age]]. The ancestors of these peoples became the eponymous ethnic groups of North Western Europe, such as the Danes, Swedes, Norwegians, Germans, Dutch, and English. Migrating Germanic peoples spread throughout Europe in [[Late Antiquity]] and the [[Early Middle Ages]]. Germanic languages became dominant along the [[Limes|Roman borders]] ([[Austria]], [[Germany]], [[Netherlands]], and [[England]]), but in the rest of the (western) [[Roman province]]s, the Germanic immigrants adopted [[Latin]] ([[Romance languages|Romance]]) dialects. Furthermore, all Germanic peoples were eventually [[Germanic Christianity|Christianized]] to varying extents. The Germanic people played a large role in transforming the [[Roman empire]] into [[Middle Ages|Medieval Europe]], and they contributed in developing a common identity, history, and culture which transcended linguistic borders. ==Ethnonym== [[Image:Ardre Odin Sleipnir.jpg|thumb|220px|right|A depiction on the 8th century CE [[Tjängvide image stone]] often interpreted as [[Odin]] riding the eight-legged horse [[Sleipnir]].]] {{see|Theodiscus|Teutonic}} Various etymologies for Latin ''Germani'' are possible. As an adjective, ''germani'' is simply the plural of the adjective ''germanus'' (from ''germen'', "seed" or "offshoot"), which has the sense of "related" or "kindred"<ref>Whence derives [[Catalan language|Catalan]] ''germà'', [[Spanish language|Spanish]] ''hermano'' and [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] ''irmão'', "brother"</ref> or "authentic". According to [[Strabo]], the Romans introduced the name ''Germani'', because the Germanic tribes were the ''authentic Celts'' ({{Polytonic|γνησίους Γαλάτας}}; ''gnisíous Galátas'').<ref>Strabo, ''Geogr.'' 7.1.2. Cf. L. Rübekeil, ''Suebica. Völkernamen und Ethnos'', Innsbruck 1992, 182-7.</ref> Alternatively, it may refer from this use based on Roman experience of the Germanic tribes as allies of the [[Celts]]. The ethnonym seems to be attested in the ''Fasti Capitolini'' inscription for the year 222, DE GALLEIS INSVBRIBVS ET GERM(aneis), where it may simply refer to "related" peoples, namely related to the [[Gauls]]. Furthermore, since the inscriptions were erected only in 17 to 18 BCE, the word may be a later addition to the text. Another early mentioning of the name, this time by [[Poseidonios]] (writing around 80 BCE), is also dubious, as it only survives in a quotation by [[Athenaios]] (writing around 190 CE); the mention of ''Germani'' in this context was more likely inserted by Athenaios rather than by Poseidonios himself.<ref>Rübekeil, Suebica, Innsbruck 1992, 161f.</ref> The writer who apparently introduced the name "Germani" into the [[text corpus|corpus]] of classical literature is [[Julius Caesar]]. He uses ''Germani'' in two slightly differing ways: one to describe any non-gaulic peoples of ''[[Germania]]'', and one to denote the [[Germani Cisrhenani]], a somewhat diffuse group of peoples in north-eastern [[Gaul]], who cannot clearly be identified as either Celtic or Germanic. In this sense, ''Germani'' may be a loan from a [[Celtic languages|Celtic]] [[exonym]] applied to the Germanic tribes, based on a word for "neighbour". A third suggestion derives it directly from the name of the [[Hermunduri]]. [[Tacitus]] suggests that it might be from a tribe which changed its name after the Romans adapted it, but there is no evidence for this. The suggestion deriving the name from Gaulish term for "neighbour" invokes Old Irish ''gair'', Welsh ''ger'', "near",<ref>''[[Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology]]'' 1966)</ref> Irish ''gearr'', "cut, short" (a short distance), from a [[Proto-Celtic language|Proto-Celtic]] root ''*gerso-s'', further related to ancient Greek ''chereion'', "inferior" and English ''gash''.<ref>McBain's ''An Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language''</ref> The [[Proto-Indo-European root]] could be of the form ''*khar-, *kher-, *ghar-, *gher-'', "cut", from which also [[Hittite language|Hittite]] ''kar-'', "cut", whence also Greek ''[[character (word)|character]]''. Apparently, the Germanic tribes did not have a self-designation ("[[Exonym and endonym|endonym]]") that included all Germanic-speaking people but excluded all non-Germanic people. Non-Germanic peoples (primarily Celtic, Roman, Greek, the citizens of the [[Roman Empire]]), on the other hand, were called *''[[walha]]-'' (this word lives forth in names such as [[Wales]], [[Wiktionary:Welsh|Welsh]], [[Cornwall]], [[Walloons]], [[Vlachs]] etc.). Yet, the name of the ''[[Suebi]]'' — which designated a larger group of tribes and was used almost indiscriminately with ''Germani'' in Caesar — was possibly a Germanic equivalent of the Latin name (*''swē-ba-'' "authentic").<ref>L. Rübekeil, ''Suebica. Völkernamen und Ethnos'', Innsbruck 1992, 187-214.</ref> The generic *''[[theod|þiuda-]]'' "people" (occurring in many personal names such as ''[[Theodoric|Thiud-reks]]'' and also in the ethnonym of the ''[[Swedish people|Swedes]]'' from a cognate of Old English ''Sweo-ðēod'') is not a self-designation. However, the adjective derived from this noun, *''þiudiskaz'', "popular", was later used with reference to the language of the people in contrast to the [[Latin|Latin language]] (earliest recorded example 786 CE). The word is continued in [[German language|German]] ''[[Deutsch]]'' (meaning German), English "[[Dutch language|Dutch]]", Dutch ''Duits'' and ''[[Dietsch|Diets]]'' (the latter referring to Dutch, the former meaning German). Danish ''tysk'' (meaning German). Trying to identify a contemporary vernacular term and the associated nation with a classical name, Latin writers from the 10th century onwards used the learnèd adjective ''teutonicus'' (originally derived from the [[Teutones]]) to refer to [[East Francia]] (''"Regnum Teutonicum"'') and its inhabitants. This usage is still partly present in modern English; hence the English use of "Teutons" in reference to the Germanic peoples in general besides the specific tribe of the [[Teutons]] defeated at the [[Battle of Aquae Sextiae]] in 102 BCE. ==Classification== [[Image:Upplands Runinskrift 871 2.jpg|thumb|250px|Detail of the [[Uppland Rune Inscription 871]] (12th century)]] By the 1st century A.D., the writings of [[Julius Caesar|Caesar]], [[Gaius Cornelius Tacitus|Tacitus]] and other [[Roman era]] writers indicate a division of Germanic-speaking peoples into tribal groupings centred on: * the rivers [[Oder]] and [[Vistula]]/Weichsel ([[East Germanic tribes]]), * the lower [[Rhine]] river ([[Istvaeones]]), * the river [[Elbe]] ([[Irminones]]), * [[Jutland]] and the Danish islands ([[Ingvaeones]]). The Sons of [[Mannus]] [[Istvaeones]], [[Irminones]], and [[Ingvaeones]] are collectively called [[West Germanic tribes]]. In addition, those Germanic people who remained in Scandinavia are referred to as [[North Germanic]]. These groups all developed separate dialects, the basis for the differences among [[Germanic languages]] down to the present day. The division of peoples into West Germanic, East Germanic, and North Germanic is a modern linguistic classification. Many Greek scholars only classified [[Celts]] and [[Scythians]] in the Northwest and Northeast of the Mediterranean and this classification was widely maintained in Greek literature until Late Antiquity. Latin-Greek ethnographers ([[Tacitus]], [[Pliny the Elder]], [[Ptolemy]], and [[Strabo]]) mentioned in the first two centuries CE the names of peoples they classified as Germanic along the Elbe, the Rhine, and the Danube, the Vistula and on the Baltic Sea. [[Tacitus]] mentioned 40, [[Ptolemy]] 69 peoples. Classical [[ethnography]] applied the name ''[[Suebi]]'' to many tribes in the first century. It appeared that this native name had all but replaced the foreign name Germanic. After the [[Marcomannic]] wars the Gothic name steadily gained importance. Some of the ethnic names mentioned by the ethnographers of the first two centuries CE on the shores of the Oder and the Vistula ([[Gutones]], [[Vandali]]) reappear from the 3rd century on in the area of the lower Danube and north of the [[Carpathian Mountains]]. For the end of the 5th century the Gothic name can be used - according to the historical sources - for such different peoples like the [[Goths]] in [[Gaul]], [[Iberian Peninsula|Iberia]] and [[Italy]], the [[Vandals]] in [[Africa]], the [[Gepids]] along the Tisza and the [[Danube]], the [[Rugians]], [[Sciri]] and [[Burgundians]], even the Iranian [[Alans]]. These peoples were classified as Scyths and often deducted from the ancient [[Getae]] (most important: Cassiodor/Jordanes, Getica around 550 CE). ==History== ===Origin=== ====Genetics==== [[Image:I1a europe.jpg|thumb|Relative frequency of Y-DNA haplogroup I1a in Europe.]] {{see|Genetic history of Europe}} The most prevalent [[Y-chromosome haplogroup]]s in Germanic populations are [[Haplogroup I1 (Y-DNA)|I1]], [[Haplogroup R1a (Y-DNA)|R1a]] and [[Haplogroup I1 (Y-DNA)|R1b]], accounting for a frequency of roughly a third each in the population of southern [[Norway]], southwestern [[Sweden]], and [[Denmark]]. I1 itself occurs at its greatest frequency in [[Scandinavia]].<ref>[http://www.relativegenetics.com/genomics/images/haploMaps/originals/I1a_large_RG.jpg Map of I1]</ref> It displays a very clear frequency gradient, with a peak frequency of approximately 35% among the populations of southern Scandinavia, and rapidly decreasing frequencies toward the edges of the historically Germanic peoples. Frequency of the R1b haplogroup is significant of Western Europe (particularly the [[Atlantic Fringe]]), while R1a frequency peaks in Central Asia, Eastern Europe and Northern India (highest frequencies in [[Russians]], [[Uzbeks]], [[Indo-Aryans]], [[Altaians]]). It is the combination of roughly equal frequency of I1, R1a and R1b that is characteristic of North Germanic populations, with a gradient of increasing frequency of R1b towards Germanic speaking populations of the British Isles and the European continent. [[Sami]] populations have a frequency of I1 comparable to south Scandinavian values, but a lower incidence of haplogroup R in favour of haplogroup [[Haplogroup N (Y-DNA)|N]]. ====Bronze Age==== [[Image:Nordic Bronze Age.png|right|200px|thumb|Map of the [[Nordic Bronze Age]] culture, around 1200 BCE.]] Regarding the question of ethnic origins, evidence developed by archaeologists and linguists suggests that a people or group of peoples sharing a common material culture dwelt in a region defined by the [[Northern Bronze Age]] culture between 1700 BCE and 600 BCE. The Germanic tribes then inhabited southern [[Scandinavia]], [[Denmark]] and [[Schleswig]],<ref>Hermann Kinder and Werner Hilgemann, ''The Penguin Atlas of World History''; translated by Ernest A. Menze ; with maps designed by Harald and Ruth Bukor. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-051054-0 1988 Volume 1. p.109.</ref> but subsequent Iron Age cultures of the same region, like [[Wessenstedt]] (800 to 600 BCE) and [[Jastorf culture|Jastorf]], are also in consideration.<ref>''The New Encyclopaedia Britannica'', 15th edition, 20:67</ref> The change of [[PIE|Proto-Indo-European]] to [[Proto-Germanic]] has been defined by the first sound shift (or [[Grimm's law]]) and must have occurred when mutually intelligible dialects or languages in a [[Sprachbund]] were still able to convey such a change to the whole region. So far it has been impossible to date this event conclusively. The precise interaction between these peoples is not known, however, they are tied together and influenced by regional features and migration patterns linked to prehistoric cultures like Hügelgräber, [[Urnfield]], and [[La Tene]]. A deteriorating climate in Scandinavia around 850 BCE to 760 BCE and a later and more rapid one around 650 BCE might have triggered migrations to the coast of Eastern Germany and further towards the Vistula. A contemporary northern expansion of Hallstatt drew part of this peoples into the Celtic hemisphere, including [[nordwestblock]] areas and the region of [[Elp culture]]<ref>1979: Nederland in de bronstijd, J.J. Butler </ref> (1800 BCE to 800 BCE). At around this time, this culture became influenced by [[Hallstatt]] techniques of how to extract [[bog iron]] from the [[ore]] in [[peat bogs]], ushering in the [[Pre-Roman Iron Age]]. ====Early Iron Age==== {{main|Pre-Roman Iron Age}} {{Germanic tribes (750BC-1AD)}} [[Image:Homme de Tollund.jpg|200px|right|thumb|The [[Tollund Man]] was buried in [[Jutland]] in the 4th Century BCE, a historically important area inhabited by the Germanic peoples. His corpse is one of several well preserved [[bog bodies]] from the [[Pre-Roman Iron Age]].]] Archeological evidence suggests a relatively uniform Germanic people were located at about 750 BCE from the Netherlands to the Vistula and in Southern Scandinavia. In the west the coastal floodplains were populated for the first time, since in adjacent higher grounds the population had increased and the soil became exhausted.<ref>Leo Verhart, ''Op zoek naar de Kelten'', 2006,ISBN 90 5345 303 2, p. 81-82</ref> At about 250 BCE some expansion to the south had occurred and five general groups can be distinguished: ''North Germanic'' in southern Scandinavia, excluding Jutland; ''North Sea Germanic'', along the North Sea and in Jutland; ''Rhine-Weser Germanic'', along the middle Rhine and Weser; ''Elbe Germanic'', along the middle Elbe; and ''East Germanic'', between the middle Oder and the Vistula. This concurs with linguistic evidence pointing at the development of five linguistic groups, mutually linked into sets of two to four groups that shared linguistic innovations.<ref>''The New Encyclopaedia Britannica'', 15th edition, 22:641-642</ref> This period witnessed the advent of Celtic culture of [[Hallstatt]] and [[La Tene]] signature in previous Northern Bronze Age territory, especially to the western extends. However, some proposals<ref>by writers including Joke Delrue, University Gent{{Fact|date=April 2007}}</ref> suggest this Celtic superstrate was weak, while the general view in the Netherlands holds that this Celtic influence did not involve intrusions at all and assume fashion and a local development from Bronze Age culture.<ref>Leo Verhart, ''Op Zoek naar de Kelten, Nieuwe archeologische ontdekkingen tussen Noordzee en Rijn'', ISBN 90 5345 303 2, 2006, p. 67</ref> It is generally accepted such a Celtic superstratum was virtually absent to the East, featuring the Germanic [[Wessenstedt]] and [[Jastorf culture|Jastorf]] cultures. The Celtic influence and contacts between Gaulish and early Germanic culture along the Rhine is assumed as the source of a number of Celtic loanwords in Proto-Germanic. Frankenstein and Rowlands (1978), and Wells (1980) have suggested late Hallstatt trade contact to be a direct catalyst for the development of an elite class that came into existence around northeastern France, the Middle Rhine region, and adjacent Alpine regions (Collis 1984:41), culminating to new cultural developments and the advent of the classical Gaulish [[La Tene Culture]]<ref>Dr. Charles Orser, ''Complexity, Trade, and Death: Analysis of the shift in Burial Practices during the Late La Tène Period''[http://www.soa.ilstu.edu/anthropology/theses/smithburt/THESIS2.doc]</ref> The development of La Tene culture extended to the north around 200 to 150 BCE, including the North German Plain, Denmark and Southern Scandinavia:<ref>Parker Pearson 1989:202</ref> <blockquote>''In certain cremation graves, situated at some distance from other graves, Celtic metalwork appears: brooches and swords, together with wagons, Roman cauldrons and drinking vessels. The area of these rich graves is the same as the places where later (the first century CE) princely graves are found. A ruling class seems to have emerged, distinguished by the possession of large farms and rich gravegifts such as weapons for the men and silver objects for the women, imported earthenware and Celtic items.''<ref>Looijenga, Jantina Helena, ''Runes around the North Sea and on the Continent'' CE 150-700, II.2, From the pre-Roman Iron Age to the late-Germanic Iron Age, University of Groningen, 1997</ref></blockquote> The first ''Germani'' in Roman ethnography cannot be clearly identified as either Germanic or Celtic in the modern ethno-linguistic sense, and it has been generally held the traditional clear cut division along the Rhine between both ethnic groups was primarily motivated by Roman politics. Caesar described the [[Eburones]] as a Germanic tribe on the Gallic side of the Rhine, and held other tribes in the neighbourhood as merely calling themselves of Germanic stock. Even though names like Eburones and [[Ambiorix]] were Celtic and, archeologically, this area shows strong Celtic influences, the problem is difficult. Some 20th century writers consider the possibility of a separate "[[Nordwestblock]]" identity of the tribes settled along the Rhine at the time, assuming the arrival of a Germanic superstrate from the 1st century BCE and a subsequent "Germanization" or language replacement through the "elite-dominance" model.<ref>by Rolf Hachmann, Georg Kossack and Hans Kuhn, ''Völker zwischen Germanen und Kelten'', 1986, p. 183-212</ref> However, immigration of Germanic [[Batavians]] from Hessen in the northern extend of this same tribal region is, archeologically speaking, hardly noticeable and certainly did not populate an exterminated country, very unlike Tacitus suggested. Here, probably due to the local indigenous pastoral way of life, the acceptance of Roman culture turned out to be particularly slow and, contrary to expected, the indigenous culture of the previous Eburones rather seems to have absorbed the intruding (Batavian) element, thus making it very hard to define the real extends of the pre-Roman Germanic indigenous territories.<ref>Leo Verhart, ''Op Zoek naar de Kelten, Nieuwe archeologische ontdekkingen tussen Noordzee en Rijn'', ISBN 90 5345 303 2, 2006, p. 175-176</ref> ====Roman Times==== {{main|Roman Iron Age}} 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 Sea|Baltic]] shore by 100 CE. The early Germanic tribes are assumed to have spoken [[mutually intelligible]] dialects, in the sense that Germanic languages derive from a single earlier parent language. No written records of such a parent language exists.<ref>''The New Encyclopaedia Britannica'', 15th edition, 20:640-642 </ref> From what we know of scanty early written material, by the fifth century CE the Germanic languages were already "sufficiently different to render communication between the various peoples impossible".<ref name="musset">Lucien Musset, ''The Germanic Invasions, the Making of Europe 400-600 AD'', ISBN 1-56619-326-5, 1993 Barnes & Noble Books, p. 12-13</ref> Some evidence point to a common pantheon made up of several different chronological layers. However, as for [[mythology]] only the Scandinavian one (see [[Germanic paganism|Germanic mythology]]) is sufficiently known.<ref name="musset" /> Some traces of common traditions between various tribes are indicated by ''[[Beowulf]]'' and the ''[[Volsunga saga]]''. One indication of their shared identity is their common Germanic name for ''non''-Germanic peoples, ''*[[walha]]z'' (plural of *walhoz), from which the local names [[Wales|Welsh]], [[Valais|Wallis]], and others were derived. An indication of an ethnic unity is the fact that the Romans knew them as one and gave them a common name, Germani (this is the source of our ''German'' and ''Germanic'', see Etymology above), although it was well known for the Romans to give geographical rather than cultural names to peoples. The very extensive practice of cremation deprives us of anthropological comparative material for the earliest periods to support claims of a longstanding ethnic isolation of a common ([[Nordic race|Nordic]]) strain. In the absence of large-scale political unification, such as that imposed forcibly by the [[Ancient Rome|Romans]] upon the peoples of [[Italy]], the various tribes remained free, led by their own hereditary or chosen leaders. ===Collision with Rome=== [[Image:Pre Migration Age Germanic.png|thumb|300px|Map showing the pre-Migration Age distribution of the Germanic tribes in Proto-Germanic times, and stages of their expansion up to 50 BCE, 100 CE and 300 CE. The extent of the Roman Empire in 68 BCE and 117 CE is also shown.]] By the late 2nd century BCE, Roman authors recount, [[Gaul]], [[Italy]] and [[Hispania]] were invaded by migrating Germanic tribes, culminating in military conflict with the armies of the [[Roman Empire]].{{Fact|date=August 2007}} Six decades later, [[Julius Caesar]] invoked the threat of such attacks as one justification for his annexation of Gaul to Rome. As [[Rome]] expanded to the [[Rhine]] and [[Danube]] rivers, it incorporated many Celtic societies into the Empire. The tribal homelands to the north and east emerged collectively in the records as [[Germania]]. The peoples of this area were sometimes at war with Rome, but also engaged in complex and long-term trade relations, military alliances, and cultural exchanges with Rome as well. The [[Cimbri]] and [[Teutoni]] incursions into Roman Italy were thrust back in 101 BCE. These invasions were written up by Caesar and others as presaging of a Northern danger for the Empire, a danger that should be controlled. In the Augustean period there was &mdash; as a result of Roman activity as far as the Elbe River &mdash; a first definition of the "Germania magna": from Rhine and Danube in the West and South to the Vistula and the Baltic Sea in the East and North. Caesar's wars helped establish the term Germania. The initial purpose of the Roman campaigns was to protect Transalpine Gaul by controlling the area between the Rhine and the Elbe. In 9 CE a revolt of their Germanic subjects headed by the supposed Roman ally, [[Arminius]], (along with his decisive defeat of [[Publius Quinctilius Varus]] in the surprise attack on unprepared Romans at the [[Battle of the Teutoburg Forest]]) ended in the withdrawal of the Roman frontier to the Rhine. At the end of the 1st century two provinces west of the Rhine called [[Germania inferior]] and [[Germania superior]] were established. Important medieval cities like [[Aachen]], [[Cologne]], [[Trier]], [[Mainz]], [[Worms, Germany|Worms]] and [[Speyer]] were part of these Roman provinces. The ''[[Germania (book)|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. ===Migration Period=== {{main|Migration Period}} [[Image:Karte völkerwanderung.jpg|thumb|300px|2nd century CE to 5th century CE simplified migrations.]] During the 5th century, as the Western Roman Empire lost 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 [[England]] and as 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. Wandering tribes 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. A defeat meant either scattering or merging with the dominant tribe, and this continual process of assimilation was how [[nation]]s were formed. In [[Denmark]] the [[Jutes]] merged with the [[Danes]], in [[Sweden]] the [[Geats]] merged with the [[Swedish people|Swedes]]. In England, the [[Angles]] merged with the [[Saxons]] and other groups as well as a large number of natives to form the [[Anglo-Saxons]]. 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 has been used without interruption between the 4th and 9th century 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, archeological results of this period point to immigration from the north.<ref>J.H.F. Bloemers & T. van Dorp. Pre- en Protohistorie van de Lage Landen. De Haan/Open Universiteit, 1991, ISBN 90 269 4448 9, NUGI 644, pp 329-338</ref> ===Role in the Fall of Rome=== Some of the Germanic tribes are frequently blamed in popular depictions of the [[decline of the Roman Empire]] in the late 5th century. Professional [[historiography|historians]] and [[archaeology|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 government could no longer adequately administer. 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. Then the Empire recruited entire tribal groups under their native leaders as officers. Assisting with defense eventually shifted into administration and then outright rule, as Roman government passed into the hands of Germanic leaders. [[Odoacer]], who deposed [[Romulus Augustulus]], is the ultimate example. The presence of [[successor state]]s 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]]. ===Paganism and Christianization=== [[Image:Thor.jpg|right|thumb|200px|"Thor's battle against the giants" (1872) by [[Mårten Eskil Winge]].]] :''See also: [[Germanic paganism]]'' :''See also: [[Germanic mythology]]'' {{main|Germanic Christianity}} While the Germanic peoples were slowly converted to Christianity by varying means, many elements of the pre-Christian culture and indigenous beliefs remained firmly in place after the conversion process, particularly in the more rural and distant regions. The [[Ostrogoths]], [[Visigoths]], and [[Vandals]] were [[Christianized]] while they were still outside the bounds of the Empire; however, they converted to [[Arianism]] rather than to orthodox [[Catholicism]], and were soon regarded as [[Christian heresy|heretics]]. 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. The [[Lombards]] were not converted until after their entrance into the Empire, but received Christianity from [[Arian]] Germanic groups. The [[Franks]] were converted directly from [[paganism]] to [[Catholicism]] without an intervening time as [[Arians]]. Several centuries later, [[Anglo-Saxons|Anglo-Saxon]] and Frankish missionaries and warriors undertook the conversion of their [[Saxon people|Saxon]] neighbours. A key event was the felling of [[Thor's Oak]] near [[Fritzlar]] by [[Boniface]], apostle of the Germans, in 723 CE. Eventually, the conversion was forced by armed force, successfully completed by [[Charlemagne]], in a series of campaigns (the [[Saxon Wars]]), that also brought Saxon lands into the [[Frankish Empire|Frankish empire]]. Massacres, such as the [[Bloody Verdict of Verden]] were a direct result of this policy. In [[Scandinavia]], Germanic paganism continued to dominate until the 11th century in the form of [[Norse paganism]], when it was gradually replaced by Christianity. ===Assimilation=== {{see|Romanization (cultural)}} {{Original research|date=September 2007}} 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 [[Galloroman]]s becoming [[French people|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. 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 often [[Assimilation (sociology)|assimilate]]d into the ''[[walha]]'' substrate cultures of their subject populations. Thus, the [[Burgundians]] of [[Burgundy]], the [[Vandals]] of [[Andalusia]] and the [[Visigoths]] of western France and eastern Iberia all lost their Germanic identity and became part of [[Latin Europe]]. Likewise, the [[Franks]] of [[Western Francia]] form part of the ancestry of the [[French people]]. Examples of assimilation during the [[Viking Age]] include the [[Norsemen]] in [[Normandy]], and the societal elite in [[Kievan Rus'|medieval Russia]] among whom many were the descendants of Slavified Norsemen (a theory, however, contested by some Slavic scholars in the [[Russia|former]] [[Soviet Union]], who name it the ''[[Normanist theory]])''. Conversely, the Germanic settlement of [[Sub-Roman Britain|England]] resulted in Anglo-Saxon displacement of and/or cultural assimilation of the indigenous culture, the [[Brythonic]] speaking British culture. As in England, indigenous Brythonic Celtic culture in some of the south-eastern parts of what became [[Scotland]] (approximately the [[Lothian and Borders]] region) succumbed to Germanic influence c.600—800, due to the extension of overlordship and settlement from the English areas to the south. Between c. 1150 and c. 1400 most of the [[Scottish Lowlands]] became English speaking through immigration from England, France and Flanders and from the resulting assimilation of native Gaelic-speaking Scots. The [[Scots language]] is the resulting Germanic language still spoken in parts of Scotland. Between the 15th and 17th centuries Scots spread into [[Galloway]],[[Carrick, Scotland|Carrick]] and parts of the [[Scottish Highlands]], as well as 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 [[Norn language|version of the Norse language]] was spoken there from the [[Viking invasions]] until replaced by Scots. [[Portugal]] and [[Spain]] also had some measure of Germanic settlement, due to the [[Visigoths]], the [[Suebi]] ([[Quadi]] and [[Marcomanni]]) and the [[Buri (Germanic tribe)|Buri]], who settled permanently. The [[Vandals]] ([[Silingi]] and [[Hasdingi]]) were also present, before moving on to [[North Africa]]. Many words of Germanic origin entered into the [[Spanish language|Spanish]] and [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] [[Iberian languages|languages]] at this time and many more entered through other avenues (often [[French language|French]]) in the ensuing centuries (see: [[List of Spanish words of Germanic origin]] and [[List of Portuguese words of Germanic origin]]). [[Italy]] has also had a history of heavy Germanic settlement. Germanic tribes such as the [[Visigoths]], [[Vandals]], and [[Ostrogoths]] had successfully invaded and sparsely settled [[Italy]] in the 5th century CE. Most notably, in the 6th century CE, the Germanic tribe known as the [[Lombards]] entered and settled primarily in the area known today as [[Lombardy]]. The [[Normans]] also conquered and ruled [[Sicily]] and parts of [[southern Italy]] for a time. [[Crimean Gothic]] communities appear to have survived intact until the late 1700’s, when many were deported by [[Catherine the Great]].<ref>[http://www.ethnologue.com/14/show_language.asp?code=GOF GOTHIC: an extinct language of Ukraine]</ref> Their language vanished by the 1800’s. The territory of modern [[Germany]] was divided between Germanic and Celtic speaking groups in the last centuries BCE. The parts south of the [[Germanic Limes]] came under 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. In [[Scandinavia]] there is a long history of assimilation of and by the [[Sami people]] and [[Finnic peoples]], namely [[Finns]] and [[Karelians]]. In today's usage the term 'Nordic peoples' refers to the ethnic groups in all of the [[Nordic countries]]. {{clear}} ===Medieval to Modern ethnogeneses=== {{main|Germanic Europe}} 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 Age]]. The [[Goths]], [[Vandals]], [[Burgundians]] and [[Lombards]] were linguistically assimilated to their [[Latin Europe|Latin]] ([[Italo-Western languages|Italo-Western Romance]]) substrate populations (with the exception of the [[Crimean Goths]], who preserved their dialect into the 18th century). The Viking Age [[Norsemen]] split into an [[Old East Norse]] and an [[Old West Norse]] group, which further separated into [[Icelanders]] and [[Norwegians]] on one hand, and [[Swedish people|Swedes]] and [[Danes]] on the other. Politically, the union between Norway and Sweden was [[Dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden in 1905|dissolved]] as late as 1905, and the [[Republic of Iceland]] was established in 1944. In Great 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 "[[Germans|German]]" ethnicity had formed, consisting of [[Low Franconian]] ([[Dutch (ethnic group)|Dutch]], [[Flemish people|Flemish]]) and [[Alemannic]] ([[Old Swiss Confederacy|Swiss]]) populations. In the 19th century, the [[Austrian Empire]] became an entity separate from the [[German Empire]] ([[Austrians]]), leaving the rump [[Kingdom of Germany]] to form the [[Germans|German]] ethnicity by the 20th century, including sub-ethnicities such as the [[Franconians]], [[Swabians]], [[Bavarians]] or [[Saxons]]. The territory settled by [[Frisians]] remains divided between the [[Netherlands]] and [[Germany]]. The Alemannic-speaking [[Alsace]] was disputed between Germany and France from the 17th to the 20th centuries, finally passing to France in 1945, and largely [[Romanization (cultural)|romanized]] since then. Daughter-groups of Germanic ethnicities that emerged during the age of [[colonialism]] include [[Anglo-America]], [[Australians]] and [[New Zealanders]] ([[British Empire]], speaking [[varieties of English]]), the [[Afrikaaners]] ([[Dutch Empire]], speaking [[Afrikaans]]) and a scattered distribution of overseas [[Ethnic Germans]], most notably in [[Namibia]] (the former German colony of [[German South West Africa|South West Africa]]) and [[Argentina]]. ==See also== {{Indo-European topics}} * [[Confederations of Germanic Tribes]] * [[Germanic Europe]] * [[List of Germanic peoples]] * [[Norse clans]] * [[Nordicism]] * [[Endemic warfare|Tribal warfare]] ==References== {{reflist|2}} ==Further reading== <div class="references-small"> *Beck, Heinrich and Heiko Steuer and Dieter Timpe, eds. ''Die Germanen. Studienausgabe. Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde.'' Berlin, New York: Walter de Gruyter 1998. Xi + 258 pp. ISBN 3-11-016383-7. *Collins, Roger. ''Early medieval Europe. 300-1000.'' 2nd ed. Basingstoke: Macmillan 1999. XXV + 533 pp. ISBN 0-333-65807-8. *Geary, Patrick J. ''Before France and Germany. The creation and transformation of the Merovingian world.'' Oxford: Oxford University Press 1988. Xii + 259 pp. ISBN 0-19-504458-4. *Geary, Patrick J. ''The Myth of Nations. The Medieval Origins of Europe.'' Princeton: Princeton University Press 2002. X + 199 pp. ISBN 0-691-11481-1. *Herrmann, Joachim. Griechische und lateinische Quellen zur Frühgeschichte Mitteleuropas bis zur Mitte des 1. Jahrtausends unserer Zeitrechnung. I. Von Homer bis Plutarch. 8. Jh. v. u. Z. bis 1. Jh. v. u. Z. II. Tacitus-Germania. III. Von Tacitus bis Ausonius. 2. bis 4. Jh. u. Z. IV. Von Ammianus Marcellinus bis Zosimos. 4. und 5. Jh. u. Z. Berlin: Akademie Verlag 1988 -1992. I: 657 pp. ISBN 3-05-000348-0. II: 291 pp. ISBN 3-05-000349-9. III: 723 pp. ISBN 3-05-000571-8. IV: 656 pp. ISBN 3-05-000591-2. *Pohl, Walter. ''Die Germanen. Enzyklopädie deutscher Geschichte'' 57. München: Oldenbourg 2004. X + 156 pp. ISBN 3-486-56755-1. *Pohl, Walter. ''Die Völkerwanderung. Eroberung und Integration.'' Stuttgart: Kohlhammer 2002. 266 pp. ISBN 3-17-015566-0. Monograph, German. * Todd, Malcolm. ''The Early Germans.'' Oxford: Blackwell 2004. Xii + 266 pp. ISBN 0-631-16397-2. * Jürgen Udolph. ''Namenkundliche Studien zum Germanenproblem.'' DeGruyter, Berlin 1994, ISBN 3-11-014138-8 *Wolfram, Herwig. ''History of the Goths.'' Berkeley: University of California Press 1988. Xii + 613 pp. ISBN 0520052595 *Wolfram, Herwig. ''The Roman Empire and its Germanic peoples.'' Berkeley: University of California Press 1997. XX + 361 pp. ISBN 0-520-08511-6. </div> {{Germanic peoples}} [[Category:Germanic peoples| ]] [[Category:Ancient Germanic peoples| ]] [[Category:History of the Germanic peoples| ]] [[Category:Migration Period]] [[Category:Ethnic groups in Europe]] [[af:Germane]] [[als:Germanen]] {{Link FA|als}} [[ar:جرمانيون]] [[be:Германцы]] [[bs:Germani]] [[bg:Германи]] [[ca:Germànic]] [[cs:Germáni]] [[cy:Germaniaid]] [[da:Germaner]] [[de:Germanen]] [[et:Germaanlased]] [[es:Pueblos germánicos]] [[eo:Ĝermanoj]] [[eu:Antzinako germaniarrak]] [[fr:Peuples germaniques]] [[fy:Germanen]] [[gl:Pobos xermánicos]] [[ko:게르만족]] [[hr:Germani]] [[is:Germanir]] [[it:Germani]] [[he:שבטים גרמאניים]] [[ku:German]] [[la:Germani]] [[lv:Ģermāņi]] [[lt:Germanai]] [[hu:Germánok]] [[ms:Puak-puak Jermanik]] [[nl:Germanen]] [[ja:ゲルマン人]] [[no:Germanerne]] [[pms:Tribù germàniche]] [[nds:Germanen]] [[pl:Germanie]] [[pt:Germanos]] [[ro:Triburile germanice]] [[ru:Германцы]] [[simple:Germanic peoples]] [[sk:Germáni]] [[sl:Germani]] [[sr:Германи]] [[sh:Germani]] [[fi:Germaanit]] [[sv:Germaner]] [[zh:日尔曼人]]