Germanic peoples

Germanic peoples, any of the Indo-European speakers of Germanic languages.

The origins of the Germanic peoples are obscure. During the late Bronze Age, they are believed to have inhabited southern Sweden, the Danish peninsula, and northern Germany between the Ems River 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 the area of the southern Baltic coast roughly between the Oder on the west and the Vistula River on the east. At an early date there was also migration toward the south and west at the expense of the Celtic peoples who then inhabited much of western Germany: the Celtic Helvetii, for example, who were confined by the Germanic peoples to the area that 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 Danube River. 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 travelers from the time of Pytheas onward had visited Teutonic countries in the north, it was not until the 1st century bc was well advanced that the Romans learned to distinguish precisely between the Germans and the Celts, a distinction that is made with great clarity by Julius Caesar. It was Caesar who incorporated within the frontiers of the Roman Empire those Germans who had penetrated west of the Rhine, and it is he who gave the earliest extant description of Germanic culture. In 9 bc the Romans pushed their frontier eastward from the Rhine to the Elbe, but in ad 9 a revolt of their subject Germans headed by Arminius ended in the withdrawal of the Roman frontier to the Rhine. In this period of occupation and during the numerous wars fought between 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 to draw. The book is one of the most valuable ethnographic works in existence; archaeology has in many ways supplemented the information Tacitus gives, but in general it has tended only to confirm his accuracy and to illustrate his insight into his subject.

Discover how ordinary objects work, and expand your understanding of the familiar.

SIGN UP

" height="20" alt="HEW Logo">

Thank you for signing up!"

Back to homepage

By clicking "Sign Up", you consent to the Britannica Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

Tacitus relates that according to their ancient songs the Germans were descended from the three sons of Mannus, the son of the god Tuisto, the son of Earth. Hence they were divided into three groups—the Ingaevones, the Herminones, and the Istaevones—but the basis for this grouping is unknown. Tacitus records a variant form of the genealogy according to which Mannus had a larger number of sons, who were regarded as the ancestors of the Suebi, the Vandals, and others. At any rate, the currency of these 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 the Rhine had no collective name for themselves until the 11th century ad, when the adjective diutisc (modern German deutsch, “of the 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 Frisii inhabited the coastlands between the Rhine and the Ems. The Chauci were at the mouth of the Weser, and south of them lived the Cherusci, the people of Arminius. The Suebi, who have given their name to Schwaben, were a group of peoples inhabiting Mecklenburg, Brandenburg, Saxony, and Thuringia; the Semnones, living around the Havel and the Spree rivers, were a Suebic people, as were the Langobardi (Lombards), who lived northwest of the Semnones. Among the seven peoples who worshiped the goddess Nerthus were the Angli (Angles), centred on the peninsula of Angeln in eastern Schleswig. As for the Danubian frontier of the Roman Empire, the Hermunduri extended from the neighbourhood of Regensburg northward through Franconia to Thuringia. The Marcomanni, who had previously lived in the Main valley, migrated during the last decade bc to Bohemia (which had hitherto been occupied by a Celtic people called the Boii), where their eastern neighbours were the Quadi in Moravia. On the lower Danube were a people called the Bastarnae, who are usually thought to have been Germans. The Goths, Gepidae, and Vandals were on the southern Baltic coast. Tacitus mentions the Suiones and the Sitones as living in Sweden. He also speaks of several other peoples of less historical importance, but he knows nothing of the Saxons, the Burgundians, and others who became 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 of peoples unknown to Tacitus. The Roman frontier on the lower Rhine faced the Franks. The Main valley was occupied from about 260 by the Burgundians, while the Agri Decumates (of the Black Forest region) were held by the Alemanni. The Burgundians appear to have been immigrants from eastern Germany. The Franks and the Alemanni may have been confederacies of peoples who had lived in these respective areas in Tacitus’ day, though perhaps with an admixture of immigrants from the east. The peoples 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 of Transylvania 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 in the Rhône valley with the Visigoths as their western neighbours. The Ostrogoths were established in Italy and the Vandals in Africa. In 507 the Franks expelled the Visigoths from most of the Gallic possessions, which had stretched from the Pyrenees to the Loire River, and the Visigoths thereafter lived in Spain until their extinction by the Muslims in 711. In 568 the Lombards entered Italy and lived there in an independent kingdom until they were overthrown by Charlemagne (774). The areas of eastern Germany vacated by the Goths and others were filled up by the Slavs, who extended westward as far as Bohemia and the basin of the Elbe. After the 8th century the Germans recovered eastern Germany, lower Austria, and much of Styria and Carinthia from the Slavs.

Explore Britannica Premium!

The trusted destination for professionals, college students, and lifelong learners.

SUBSCRIBE