Indigenous groups

Germanic peoples (ca 300 BC-400 AD)

Updated on
Franks Germanic tribe

Note: This is general collected information that is under ongoing speculation. We recommend that you double check all information reported before referencing to it for your own projects.

General information

  • Germanic peoples were historical groups of people that occupied central Europe and Scandinavia during antiquity and into the early Middle Ages.
  • They are defined based on speaking earlier and medieval Germanic languages.

Geography and Timing

  • Romans called the territory they lived in Germania, located east and west between the Vistula and Rhine rivers, and north and south from lower Scandinavia to the lower Danube.
  • Germanic people lived in southern Sweden, the Danish peninsula and northern Germany between the Ems River on the west, Oder River on the east and Harz Mountains in the south.
  • Earliest Germanic people noted are the Jastorf Culture (6th century BC-1st century BC) in current Denmark and northeastern Germany.
  • Over centuries Germanic peoples warred with each other, as well as with the Roman empire. As a result, the geographic boundaries of Germanic peoples frequently changed over time and tribes vanished while new tribes emerged. Some tribes also settled within the Roman empire and established their own internal kingdoms.
  • Circa mid-300s AD, the Huns, nomadic people from Central Asia, the Caucasus and Eastern Europe, began attacking eastern Germanic tribes, triggering a mass migration.

Language

  • All Germanic languages started from the Proto-Indo-European language, generalized to have been spoken 4500-2500 BC.
  • Pre-Germanic linguistic period – 2500-500 BC – shows influences of an unknown non-Indo-European language. The differences suggest early contact between Germanic and Indo-European Baltic languages.
  • Evidence of the language emerged after Caesar’s conquest of Gaul in 1st century BC. Before then they were considered preliterate societies.
  • Germanic languages are divided by East, North and West Germanic branches.
    • Northwest Germanic
      • North Germanic or Primitive Norse
      • West Germanic, including Old Saxon, Old English, Old Frisian, Frankish, Old High Germany. Anglo Saxon migrations influenced the dialect circa 5-6 centuries AD.
    • East Germanic
      • Gothic. Went extinct after the collapse of the Visigoth Kingdom in early 8th century. The latest reported East Germanic language is Crimean, noted in 16th century.

Religion

  • Those close to the Rhine and eastern and northern Scandinavia shared similar religion as the Slavs, Celts and Finnic peoples.
  • Germanic paganism covered a period of around 1000 years.
  • Deities mainly divided based on Old High German, Old Norse, Old English and Proto-Germanic Reconstruction.
  • Old Norse mythology was recorded in various sources, most notably Poetic Edda and Prose Edda (13th century).
  • There is very little detail about West Germanic mythology and Gothic/Eastern Germanic mythology.
Conversion to Christianity
  • During late antiquity most Germanic peoples and Anglo Saxons of Britain converted to Christianity. Saxons and Scandinavians converted much later.
  • Germanic peoples entered the Roman Empire around the same time Christianity was spreading.
  • East Germanic peoples, Langobards and Suevi in Spain converted to Arian Christianity.
  • Visigoths converted to Christianity in 376 when they entered the Roman Empire.
  • Missionary work took place. In 341 a bishop translated the bible into Gothic.
  • Arian Germanic people eventually converted to Nicene Christianity.
  • Frankish territory was missionized.
  • Saxons initially rejected Christianity, but then were forced to convert under Charlemagne after the Saxon Wars in 776/777.
  • Scandinavians were the last to convert, mostly converting during the 10th and 11th centuries. Pagan Temple of Uppsala is said to have existed until early 1100s.

Society and Culture

  • Germanic law – Earliest written legal sources, the Leges Barbarorum, were written under Roman and Christian influence with the help of Roman jurists, with large amounts of vulgar Latin Law, an unofficial legal system that functioned in the Roman provinces.
  • Literature – Germanic peoples were a predominantly oral society and for centuries did not have a written language. Written literature of Germanic language started in 6th century (Gothic bible) or 8th century in modern England and Germany.
  • Items – Everyday items like dishes were made of wood. Were found to have produced ships, furniture and pottery. Influenced by Roman production. Clothing was mostly made of flax and wool. Leather was sowed for shoes, belts and other items. Iron was used for agriculture tools, craft tools and weapons.

Sources

“Germanic peoples.” Wikipedia.

“Germanic peoples.” Britannica.

Featured image: Franks, a Germanic tribe that conquered present-day France and neighboring lands in the 400s AD.

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