You germanic peoples are Indo-European ethnic groups originally established in Northern Europe.
The greatest source of knowledge that we have of the Germans dates from the government of Julius Caesar (100 BC. C - 44 a. C), when the Roman emperor waged several wars against these peoples.
Origin
The Germanic peoples inhabited northern Europe, where countries like Germany, Austria, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, United Kingdom and part of France are located today.
As they had no alphabet, there are no fonts written by the Germanic tribes themselves. Therefore, archaeological evidence is essential to discover how these peoples lived.
Check the map below where the main Germanic kingdoms were located:
Germanic Tribes
The main Germanic tribes are:
- alamans
- Alans
- bavarians
- francs
- Frisians
- Lombards
- Normans
- Ostrogoths
- Saxons
- Swabians
- Vandals
- Vikings
- Visigoths
social organization
We find the division of labor by sex with the woman being responsible for work in the field, in the house and for weaving. They wore clothes made of wool or cloth, which could be white, black and even dyed red.
The men, in turn, were occupied with herding, hunting and war. This was a constant activity, as the tribes were constantly at war with each other.
Despite the division of labor between the sexes, women occupied a special place within the tribal hierarchy, as they were priestesses, healers, midwives and seers.
political organization
Before the consolidation of the Germanic Kingdoms – after the fall of the Roman Empire – the organization of the tribes did not have a rigid hierarchy.
Kings, war chiefs and priests had circumstantial and consensus-based power. Decisions were often taken unanimously through acclamations in assemblies of free men.
The family group was very supportive and collectively responsible, especially to exact revenge or payment of the wergeld.
This was a hallmark of German law. If a person were killed or injured, the clan could do the same to the assailant. If wergeld if not realized, the tribes contracted a blood debt to the other clan.
Houses and Food
The Germanic tribes lived in communal houses, built of wood and clay, where men and animals lived. A tribe had no more than 20 houses.
They fed on nuts, roots and tubers. Their main activity was herding, but they rarely ate meat.
The Germanic peoples practiced agriculture and left large spaces of free land around their tribes, which served as pasture for their cattle.
Germanic Mythology
Germanic mythology is very similar to Norse mythology that some scholars use the terms synonymously.
They worshiped various gods who personified the nature, virtues and defects of men as was customary in the paganism.
For this reason, we find the Valkyries, and the gods Odin, Thor and Freya, as they exist in Scandinavian legends.
Contact with the Roman Empire
The first written sources about the Germans come from the observation of the Emperor Julius Caesar and the historian Tacitus, author of the book "germany".
Emperor Julius Caesar described the Swabians in this way:
The Germans are incredibly tall and incredibly brave; skilled with their weapons and their gaze, even, is unbearable to stare.
It was Caesar who called all the inhabitants east of the Rhine "Germans." However, the Germanic tribes were far from being a homogeneous block and some were even enemies of each other.
fall of the roman empire
Despite constant wars and invasions, some Germanic tribes were part of the Roman Empire as federated members or were hired as mercenaries.
However, the weakening of the Roman army and the expansion of the Germanic tribes, eventually defeat the Empire when Rome is conquered in the year 476.
Each tribe settles in different parts of the ancient empire, adapts Roman law to its reality and is gradually Christianized. This merger will give rise to the Holy Roman Empire Germanic.
