The Thuringii , or Thuringians were a Germanic people who lived in the kingdom of the Thuringians that appeared during the late Migration Period south of the Harz Mountains of central Germania , a region still known today as Thuringia . The Thuringian kingdom came into conflict with the Merovingian Franks , and it later came under their influence and Frankish control as a stem duchy . The name is still used for one of modern Germany's federal states ( Bundesländer ).
149-627: The Thuringians do not appear in classical Roman texts under that name, but some have suggested that they were the remnants of the Suebic Hermanduri , the last part of whose name ( -duri ) could represent the same sound as ( -thuri ) and the Germanic suffix -ing , suggests a meaning of "descendants of (the [Herman]duri)". This people were living near the Marcomanni . Tacitus , in his Germania , describes their homeland as being where
298-617: A Germanic language , the Suebi are generally agreed to have spoken one or more Germanic languages. Tacitus refers to Suebian languages, implying there was more than one by the end of the first century. In particular, the Suebi are associated with the concept of an "Elbe Germanic" group of early dialects spoken by the Irminones , entering Germany from the east, and originating on the Baltic. In late classical times, these dialects, by now situated to
447-748: A hemorrhage on his wedding night. After Attila's death in 453, the Hunnic Empire faced an internal power struggle between its vassalized Germanic peoples and the Hunnic ruling body. Led by Ellak , Attila's favored son and ruler of the Akatziri , the Huns engaged the Gepid king Ardaric at the Battle of Nedao , who led a Germanic coalition to overthrow Hunnic imperial authority. The Amali Goths would revolt
596-719: A Germanic presence in the immediate areas north of the Danube . In particular, Caesar saw the Suebians as the most warlike of the Germanic peoples. During the reign of Augustus the first emperor, Rome made aggressive campaigns into Germania , east of the Rhine and north of the Danube, pushing towards the Elbe. After suffering a major defeat to the Romans in 9 BC, Maroboduus became king of
745-604: A Suevian kingdom which was established within the protective mountains and forests of Bohemia . The Suevians did not join the alliance led by Arminius . In 69 AD the Suebian kings Italicus and Sido provided support to the Flavian faction under Vespasian . Under the reign of Marcus Aurelius in the 2nd century AD, the Marcomanni, perhaps under pressure from East Germanic tribes to their north, invaded Italy. By
894-419: A broad chest and a large head; his eyes were small, his beard thin and sprinkled with grey; and he had a flat nose and tanned skin, showing evidence of his origin." Many scholars take these to be unflattering depictions of East Asian (obsolete " Mongoloid ") racial characteristics. Maenchen-Helfen argues that, while many Huns had East Asian racial characteristics, they were unlikely to have looked as Asiatic as
1043-497: A fixed rank with fixed duties. Kim affirms the importance of the logades for Hunnic administration, but notes that there were differences of rank between them, and suggests that it was more likely lower ranking officials who gathered taxes and tribute. He suggests that various Roman defectors to the Huns may have worked in a sort of imperial bureaucracy. Unlike the Iranian Huns , who quickly began to mint their own coinage,
1192-542: A genetic study of individuals from the around the Tian Shan mountains of central Asia dating from the late second century CE, Damgaard et al. 2018 found that these individuals represented a population of mixed East Asian and West Eurasian origin. They argued that this population descended from Xiongnu who expanded westward and mixed with Iranian Sakas . This population in the Tian Shan mountains may be connected to
1341-672: A group of Huns and Alans fighting against Radagaisus in defense of Italy. Uldin was also known for defeating Gothic rebels who troubled the East Romans around the Danube and for beheading the Goth Gainas around 400–401. The East Romans began to feel the pressure from Uldin's Huns again in 408. Uldin crossed the Danube and pillaged Thrace. The East Romans tried to buy off Uldin, but his sum was too high so they instead bought off Uldin's subordinates. This resulted in many desertions from Uldin's group of Huns. Uldin himself escaped back across
1490-729: A horse takes him on his back". They appear to have spent so much time riding that they walked clumsily, something observed in other nomadic groups. Roman sources characterize the Hunnic horses as ugly. It is not possible to determine the exact breed of horse the Huns used, despite a relatively good description by the Roman writer Vegetius . Sinor believes that it was likely a breed of Mongolian pony. However, horse remains are absent from all identified Hun burials. Based on anthropological descriptions and archaeological finds of other nomadic horses, Maenchen-Helfen believes that they rode mostly geldings . Apart from horses, ancient sources indicate that
1639-634: A king of the Thuringii, Fisud , as a contemporary of Theudebert I . Suebi The Suebi (also spelled Suavi , Suevi or Suebians ) were a large group of Germanic peoples originally from the Elbe river region in what is now Germany and the Czech Republic . In the early Roman era they included many peoples with their own names such as the Marcomanni , Quadi , Hermunduri , Semnones , and Lombards . New groupings formed later, such as
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#17327661732911788-564: A large grouping of Germanic peoples that at least overlaps with the classical terms "Suevi" and "Irminones". However, this term was developed mainly as an attempt to define the ancient peoples who must have spoken the Germanic dialects that led to modern Upper German dialects spoken in Austria, Bavaria , Thuringia , Alsace , Baden-Württemberg and German speaking Switzerland. This was proposed by Friedrich Maurer as one of five major Kulturkreise or "culture-groups" whose dialects developed in
1937-845: A main source of the later High German languages , especially the Upper-German dialects predominant in Southern Germany, Switzerland and Austria, which experienced the Second consonant shift some time after about 600 AD. Etymologists trace the name from Proto-Germanic * swēbaz based on the Proto-Germanic root * swē- found in the third-person reflexive pronoun , giving the meaning "one's own" people, in turn from an earlier Indo-European root *swe- (Polish swe, swój, swoi, Latin sui, Italian suo, Sanskrit swa , each meaning "one's own"). The etymological sources list
2086-513: A name with this same meaning, but recorded with a different pronunciation by the Romans. Alternatively, it may be borrowed from a Celtic word for "vagabond". Caesar placed the Suebi east of the Ubii apparently near modern Hesse , in the position where later writers mention the Chatti , and he distinguished them from their allies the Marcomanni . Some commentators believe that Caesar's Suebi were
2235-537: A people who practiced artificial cranial deformation as evidence of Hunnic agriculture. Kim similarly argues that all steppe empires have possessed both pastoralist and sedentary populations, classifying the Huns as "agro-pastoralist". As a nomadic people, the Huns spent a great deal of time riding horses: Ammianus claimed that the Huns "are almost glued to their horses", Zosimus claimed that they "live and sleep on their horses", and Sidonius claimed that "[s]carce had an infant learnt to stand without his mother's aid when
2384-562: A rank rather than an ethnicity. Robert Werner has advanced an etymology from Tocharian ku (dog), suggesting—as the Chinese called the Xiongnu dogs—that the dog was the totem animal of the Hunnic tribe. He also compares the name Massagetae , noting that the element saka in that name means dog. Others such as Harold Bailey, S. Parlato, and Jamsheed Choksy have argued that the name derives from an Iranian word akin to Avestan Ẋyaona , and
2533-537: A ranking hierarchy, much like Germanic societies. Denis Sinor similarly notes that, with the exception of the historically uncertain Balamber , no Hun leaders are named in the sources until Uldin , indicating their relative unimportance. Thompson argues that permanent kingship only developed with the Huns' invasion of Europe and the near-constant warfare that followed. Regarding the organization of Hunnic rule under Attila, Peter Golden comments "it can hardly be called
2682-584: A single nation. They actually occupy more than half of Germania, and are divided into a number of distinct tribes under distinct names, though all generally are called Suebi". Although no classical authors explicitly call the Chatti Suevic, Pliny the Elder (23 AD – 79 AD), reported in his Natural History that the Irminones were a large grouping of related Germanic gentes or "tribes" including not only
2831-531: A specific tribe more or less "Suebian". Caesar noted that rather than grain crops, they spent time on animal husbandry and hunting. They wore animal skins, bathed in rivers, consumed milk and meat products, and prohibited wine, allowing trade only to dispose of their booty and otherwise they had no goods to export. They had no private ownership of land and were not permitted to stay resident in one place for more than one year. They were divided into 100 cantons, each of which had to provide and support 1000 armed men for
2980-493: A state, much less an empire". Golden speaks instead of a "Hunnic confederacy". Kim, however, argues that the Huns were far more organized and centralized, with some basis in organization of the Xiongnu state. Walter Pohl notes the correspondences of Hunnic government to those of other steppe empires, but nevertheless argues that the Huns do not appear to have been a unified group when they arrived in Europe. Ammianus wrote that
3129-468: A unified government when they entered Europe but rather to have developed a unified tribal leadership in the course of their wars with the Romans. The Huns ruled over a variety of peoples who spoke numerous languages, and some maintained their own rulers. Their main military technique was mounted archery . The Huns may have stimulated the Great Migration , a contributing factor in the collapse of
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#17327661732913278-524: A variety of genetic signatures. Maróti et al. 2022 showed that the genomes of nine Hun-era individuals who lived in the basin varied from European to Northeast Asian connections, with those individuals showing associations with Northeast Asia being most similar to groups found in Mongolia such as the Xiongnu and the Xianbei . An analysis of Hun-era genomes by Gnecchi-Ruscone et al. 2022 likewise found
3427-589: A version of the Germanic word for "home". Ptolemy also for example mentions a people called the Bainochaimai , located to the west of the Elbe.) The name of the Thuringians appears to be first mentioned in the veterinary treatise of Vegetius , written early in the fifth century. The formation of the Thuringian kingdom may have had also been influenced by two longer-known tribes more associated with
3576-529: A wide range of genetic variability, with two individuals showing a connection to ancient Northeast Asians and others showing European ancestry. The history of the Huns in the fourth century is not very clear, and the Huns left no sources themselves. The Romans became aware of the Huns when the latter's invasion of the Pontic steppes forced thousands of Goths to move to the Lower Danube to seek refuge in
3725-476: Is "no general consensus" and "scholarship is divided" on the issue of a Hun-Xiongnu connection. Recent supporters of a connection between the Huns and Xiongnu include Hyun Jin Kim and Etienne de la Vaissière . De la Vaissière argues that ancient Chinese and Indian sources used Xiongnu and Hun to translate each other, and that the various "Iranian Huns" were similarly identified with the Xiongnu. Kim believes that
3874-574: Is likewise disputed, but probably in 406/407 and 431/433 respectively. Otherwise, the Huns made no attempt to conquer or settle on Roman territory. Following Attila's death, the Huns were driven out of Pannonia and some appear to have returned to the Pontic Steppe, while one group settled in Dobruja . One of the only written sources for the size of Attila's domain is given by the Roman historian Priscus. Priscus refers to Attila ruling as far as
4023-606: The 18th century , modern historians have associated the Huns who appeared on the borders of Europe in the 4th century AD with the Xiongnu who had invaded numerous Central Plain polities from the Mongolian Plateau between the 3rd century BC and the 2nd century AD . After the devastating defeat by the Han dynasty , the northern branch of the Xiongnu retreated north-westward; their descendants may have migrated through
4172-605: The Alamanni and Bavarians , and two kingdoms in the Migration Period were simply referred to as Suebian. Although Tacitus specified that the Suebian group was not an old tribal group itself, the Suebian peoples are associated by Pliny the Elder with the Irminones , a grouping of Germanic peoples who claimed ancestral connections. Tacitus mentions Suebian languages, and a geographical "Suevia". The Suevians were first mentioned by Julius Caesar in connection with
4321-687: The Battle of Nedao there was also a short-lived Kingdom of the Suebi on the Danube, under Hunimund . They were defeated by the Ostrogoths , one of the peoples of eastern origin who had been allies of the Huns. In the sixth century the Suevic Longobards moved from the Elbe to become one of the major powers of the Middle Danube , in competition with the dynasties from the east such as the Herules , Gepids and Ostrogoths . During
4470-632: The Boii further east near the Hercynian forest . In addition, near the Hercynian forest Caesar believed that the Celtic Tectosages had once lived. All of these peoples had for the most part moved by the time of Tacitus. Nevertheless, Cassius Dio wrote that the Suebi, who dwelt across the Rhine, were called Celts. This may follow a Greek tradition of labelling all barbarian people north of
4619-889: The Crisis of the Third Century , new Suebian groups had emerged, and Italy was invaded again by the Juthungi , while the Alamanni ravaged Gaul and settled the Agri Decumates . The Alamanni continued exerting pressure on Gaul, while the Alamannic chieftain Chrocus played an important role in elevating Constantine the Great to Roman emperor . By the late 4th century AD, the Middle Danubian frontier inhabited by
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4768-712: The Elbe starts, but also having colonies at the Danube , and even within the Roman province of Rhaetia . Claudius Ptolemy mentions neither the Hermunduri nor the Thuringians in his geography, but instead the Teuriochaemae , who are described as living just north of the Sudetes mountains in, what is thought to be, the Ore Mountains . These may also be connected to later Thuringians. (" Chaemae " may represent
4917-610: The Eurasian Steppe and consequently they may have some degree of cultural and genetic continuity with the Huns. Scholars also discussed the relationship between the Xiongnu, the Huns, and a number of people in central Asia who were also known as or came to be identified with the name "Hun" or " Iranian Huns ". The most prominent of these were Chionites , the Kidarites , and the Hephthalites . Otto J. Maenchen-Helfen
5066-487: The Iranian Huns and the Huna people of South Asia , have also been disputed. Very little is known about Hunnic culture, and very few archaeological remains have been conclusively associated with the Huns. They are believed to have used bronze cauldrons and to have performed artificial cranial deformation . No description exists of the Hunnic religion of the time of Attila, but practices such as divination are attested, and
5215-479: The King of Germany . Christianity had reached the Thuringii in the fifth century, but their exposure to it was limited. Their real Christianisation took place, alongside the ecclesiastical organisation of their territory, during the early and mid eighth century under Boniface, who felled their "sacred oak" at Geismar in 724, abolishing the vestiges of their paganism. In the 1020s, Aribo, Archbishop of Mainz , began
5364-758: The Lahn , Main , and Neckar rivers were included. The Naab formed the south-eastern border of Thuringia at the time. The Werra and Fulda valleys were within it also and it reached as far as the Saxon plain in the north. Its central location in Germania , beyond the Rhine , was the reason it became the point d'appui of Boniface's mission work. The Thuringii had a separate identity as late as 785–786, when one of their leading men, Hardrad , led an abortive insurrection against Charlemagne . The Carolingians codified
5513-532: The Lombardic language spoken by the Lombards of Italy, and standard "High German" itself, are also at least partly derived from the dialects spoken by the Suebi. (The only non-Suebian name among the major groups of Upper Germanic dialects is High Franconian German , but this is on the transitional frontier with Central German , as is neighboring Thuringian.) Julius Caesar (100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) describes
5662-911: The Marcomanni , who under King Marobodus had moved into the same Hercynian forest as the Coldui (possibly the Quadi ), taking over an area called "Boihaemum". This king "took the rulership and acquired, in addition to the peoples aforementioned, the Lugii (a large tribe), the Zumi , the Butones , the Mugilones , the Sibini , and also the Semnones , a large tribe of the Suevi themselves". Some of these tribes were "inside
5811-403: The Marsigni , and Buri , who "in their language and manner of life, resemble the Suevi". (Living partly subject to the Quadi are the Gotini and Osi , who Tacitus says speak respectively Gaulish and Pannonian , and are therefore not Germans.) Ptolemy also places the " Lugi Buri " in mountains, along with a tribe called the Corconti . These mountains, stretching from near the upper Elbe to
5960-486: The North Caucasian Huns , were genuine Huns. The rulers of various post-Hunnic steppe peoples are known to have claimed descent from Attila in order to legitimize their right to the power, and various steppe peoples were also called "Huns" by Western and Byzantine sources from the fourth century onward. The Huns have traditionally been described as pastoral nomads , living off of herding and moving from pasture to pasture to graze their animals. Hyun Jin Kim, however, holds
6109-448: The Peace of Anatolius with the two Hun kings. Bleda died in 445, and Attila became the sole ruler of the Huns. In 447, Attila invaded the Balkans and Thrace. The war came to an end in 449 with an agreement in which the East Romans agreed to pay Attila an annual tribute of 2100 pounds of gold. Throughout their raids on the Eastern Roman Empire , the Huns had maintained good relations with the Western Empire. However, Honoria , sister of
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6258-402: The Sabirs . In 463, the Saragurs defeated the Akatziri, or Akatir Huns, and asserted dominance in the Pontic region. The western Huns under Dengizich experienced difficulties in 461 when they were defeated by Valamir in a war against the Sadages , a people allied with the Huns. His campaigning was also met with dissatisfaction from Ernak , ruler of the Akatziri Huns, who wanted to focus on
6407-506: The Sogdian merchants under their rule, who were involved in the trade along the Silk Road to China. Atwood notes that Jordanes describes how the Crimean city of Cherson , "where the avaricious traders bring in the goods of Asia", was under the control of the Akatziri Huns in the sixth century. Hunnic governmental structure has long been debated. Peter Heather argues that the Huns were a disorganized confederation in which leaders acted completely independently and that eventually established
6556-410: The Volga River, in an area that was part of Scythia at the time. By 370 AD, the Huns had arrived on the Volga, causing the westwards movement of Goths and Alans . By 430, they had established a vast, but short-lived, empire on the Danubian frontier of the Roman empire in Europe. Either under Hunnic hegemony , or fleeing from it, several central and eastern European peoples established kingdoms in
6705-420: The Western Roman Empire . The memory of the Huns also lived on in various Christian saints' lives , where the Huns play the roles of antagonists, as well as in Germanic heroic legend , where the Huns are variously antagonists or allies to the Germanic main figures. In Hungary , a legend developed based on medieval chronicles that the Hungarians , and the Székely ethnic group in particular, are descended from
6854-456: The Yakut or Tungus . He notes that archaeological finds of presumed Huns suggest that they were a racially mixed group containing only some individuals with East Asian features. Kim similarly cautions against seeing the Huns as a homogenous racial group, while still arguing that they were "partially or predominantly of Mongoloid extraction (at least initially)." Some archaeologists have argued that archaeological finds have failed to prove that
7003-409: The invasion of Gaul led by the Germanic king Ariovistus during the Gallic Wars . Unlike Strabo and Tacitus who wrote later, he described them as a single people, distinct from the Marcomanni, within the larger Germanic category, who he saw as a growing threat to Gaul and Italy in the first century BC, as they had been moving southwards aggressively, at the expense of Gallic tribes, and establishing
7152-407: The "Rugiclei" up to the Vistula river (probably referring to the "Rugii" of Tacitus). He does not specify if these are Suevi. In the sea, the states of the Suiones , "powerful in ships" are, according to Tacitus, Germans with the Suevic (Baltic) sea on one side and an "almost motionless" sea on the other more remote side. Modern commentators believe this refers to Scandinavia . Closely bordering on
7301-400: The "coastal" regions north of the Rhine. The geographer Ptolemy (c. AD 90 – c. AD 168), in a fairly extensive account of Greater Germany, makes several unusual mentions of Suebi between the Rhine and the Elbe. He describes their position as stretching out in a band from the Elbe, all the way to the northern Rhine, near the Sugambri . The "Suevi Langobardi " are the Suevi located closest to
7450-402: The Adrabaecampi, are the Sudini and then the Marcomanni living in the Gambreta forest. North of them, but south of the Sudetes mountains (which are not likely to be the same as the modern ones of that name) are the Varisti , who are probably the same as Tacitus' "Naristi" mentioned above. Jordanes writes that in the early 4th century the Vandals had moved to the north of the Danube, but with
7599-458: The Alps as Celtic. Strabo (64/63 BC – c. 24 AD), in Book IV (6.9) of his Geography also associates the Suebi with the Hercynian Forest and the south of Germania north of the Danube. He describes a chain of mountains north of the Danube that is like a lower extension of the Alps, possibly the Swabian Alps , and further east the Gabreta Forest , possibly the modern Bohemian forest . In Book VII (1.3) Strabo specifically mentions as Suevic peoples
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#17327661732917748-409: The Angles and Langobardi west of the Elbe, where they may indeed have been present at some points in time, given that the Suebi were often mobile. It is already mentioned above that stretching between the Elbe and the Oder, the classical authors place the Suebic Semnones. Ptolemy places the Silingi to their south in the stretch between these rivers. These Silingi appear in later history as a branch of
7897-438: The Battle of Chalons (451), "the vast majority" of Attila's entourage and troops appears to have been of European origin, while Attila himself seems to have had East Asian features. Genetic data is difficult to apply to steppe nomad societies, because they frequently migrated, intermixed, and were assimilated into each other. Nevertheless, genetics can supply information on migrations from East Asia to Europe and vice versa. In
8046-574: The Carpathian Mountains, have been attributed to the time of Attila and associated with the nomadic milieu of the Huns. While scholars have speculated about direct Hunnic control and settlement here, it is entirely unclear what kind of relationship the population of these regions had to the Huns. The Huns ruled over numerous other groups, including Goths , Gepids , Sarmatians , Heruli , Alans , Rugii , Suevi , and Sciri , alongside other groups where they occasionally asserted control. Peter Heather suggests that some of these groups were resettled along
8195-568: The Caucasus until the early 8th century. In the 18th century, French scholar Joseph de Guignes became the first to propose a link between the Huns and the Xiongnu people, who lived in northern China from the 3rd century BC to the late 1st century AD. Since Guignes's time, considerable scholarly effort has been devoted to investigating such a connection. The issue remains controversial, but recent archaeogenetic studies show some Hun-era individuals to have DNA similar to populations in ancient Mongolia. Their relationships with other entities, such as
8344-418: The Danube by the Huns. Subject peoples of the Huns were led by their own kings. Those recognized as ethnic Huns appear to have had more rights and status, as evidenced by the account of Priscus. One of the principal sources of information on Hunnic warfare is Ammianus Marcellinus , who includes an extended description of the Huns' methods of war: They also sometimes fight when provoked, and then they enter
8493-489: The Danube in this period. Procopius in his Gothic Wars describes the land of the Varini in the 6th century as being south of the Danes, but north of the Slavs , who were in turn north of the uncultivated lands which lay north of the Danube. Procopius describes a marriage alliance between the Angles of Britain and the Varni in the sixth century. They appear in some lists of the peoples involved in Attila 's invasion of Gaul . Walter Pohl has also proposed that they may be
8642-401: The Danube, after which he is not mentioned again in history. Hunnish mercenaries are mentioned on several occasions being employed by the East and West Romans, as well as the Goths, during the late 4th and 5th century. In 433 some parts of Pannonia were ceded to them by Flavius Aetius , the magister militum of the Western Roman Empire . From 434 the brothers Attila and Bleda ruled
8791-422: The Danube, during this period. Caesar describes the Suebi as pressing the German tribes of the Rhine, such as the Tencteri , Usipetes and Ubii , from the east, forcing them from their homes. While emphasizing their warlike nature he writes as if they had a settled homeland somewhere between the Cherusci and the Ubii , and separated from the Cherusci by a deep forest called the Silva Bacenis. He also describes
8940-402: The Elbe Germanic. In the time of Caesar, southern Germany had a mixture of Celtic and Germanic tribes and was increasingly coming under pressure from Germanic groups led by the Suebi. As described later by Tacitus, what is today southern Germany between the Danube , the Main , and the Rhine had been deserted by the departure of two large Celtic nations, the Helvetii in modern Schwaben and
9089-403: The Elder (as opposed to Tacitus) as being not Suevic but Vandili , amongst whom he also included the Goths, and the Varini, both being people living north of them near the Baltic coast. Pliny's "Vandili" are generally thought to be speakers of what modern linguists refer to as Eastern Germanic . Between the coastal Saxons and inland Suebi, Ptolemy names the Teutonari and the "Viruni" (presumably
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#17327661732919238-411: The European Huns by individual burials that contains objects stylistically related to those used by the European Huns, although this could be a sign of the exchange of goods and the connections between elites rather than a sign of migration. As of 2023, there is little genetic data from the Carpathian basin in the Hunnic period (5th century), and the population living there during the Hunnic period shows
9387-448: The European Huns did not strike their own coins. The extent of Hunnish control in Barbarian Europe is poorly understood, as it is not much covered in Roman sources. It is generally assumed that they established an empire that stretched as far West as the Rhine and perhaps as far north as the Baltic, though it is difficult to establish its boundaries with certainty. Some scholars, such as Otto Maenchen-Helfen and Peter Golden, believe that
9536-503: The Franks. Gregory of Tours , a Gallo-Roman , includes the nearest account in time of the fall of the Thuringian Empire. Widukind of Corvey , writing in tenth-century Saxony , inundates his similar account with various legends. The Thuringii make brief appearances in contemporary Italian sources when their activities affect the land south of the Alps . Procopius , the Eastern Roman author, mentions them and speaks of their fall. The seventh-century Origo Gentis Langobardorum mentions
9685-410: The Hermiones". North of the Lugii, near the Baltic Sea , Tacitus places the Gothones (Goths) , Rugii , and Lemovii . These three Germanic tribes share a tradition of having kings, and also similar arms – round shields and short swords. Ptolemy says that east of the Saxons, from the "Chalusus" river to the "Suevian" river are the Farodini , then the Sidini up to the "Viadua" river, and after these
9834-488: The Huns and Romans, and the Huns overcame a weak Roman army to raze the cities of Margus, Singidunum and Viminacium . Although a truce was concluded in 441, two years later Constantinople again failed to deliver the tribute and war resumed. In the following campaign, Hun armies approached Constantinople and sacked several cities before defeating the Romans at the Battle of Chersonesus . The Eastern Roman Emperor Theodosius II gave in to Hun demands and in autumn 443 signed
9983-477: The Huns had any "Mongoloid" features at all, and some scholars have argued that the Huns were predominantly " Caucasian " in appearance. Other archaeologists have argued that "Mongoloid" features are found primarily among members of the Hunnic aristocracy, which, however, also included Germanic leaders who were integrated into the Hun polity. Kim argues that the composition of the Huns became progressively more "Caucasian" during their time in Europe; he notes that by
10132-423: The Huns having several kings, with one being the "first of the kings". Ammianus also mentions that the Huns made their decisions in a general council ( omnes in commune ) while seated on horseback. He makes no mention of the Huns being organized into tribes, but Priscus and other writers do, naming some of them. The first Hunnic ruler known by name is Uldin . Thompson takes Uldin's sudden disappearance after he
10281-445: The Huns is disputed. Classical sources also frequently use the names of older and unrelated steppe nomads instead of the name Hun , calling them Massagetae , Scythians , and Cimmerians , among other names. The etymology of Hun is unclear. Various proposed etymologies generally assume at least that the names of the various Eurasian groups known as Huns are related. There have been a number of proposed Turkic etymologies, deriving
10430-443: The Huns of his day had no kings, but rather that each group of Huns instead had a group of leading men ( primates ) for times of war . E.A. Thompson supposes that, even in war, the leading men had little actual power. He further argues that they most likely did not acquire their position purely hereditarily. Heather, however, argues that Ammianus merely meant that the Huns didn't have a single ruler; he notes that Olympiodorus mentions
10579-399: The Huns together. Attila and Bleda were as ambitious as their uncle Rugila . In 435 they forced the Eastern Roman Empire to sign the Treaty of Margus , giving the Huns trade rights and an annual tribute from the Romans. When the Romans breached the treaty in 440, Attila and Bleda attacked Castra Constantias, a Roman fortress and marketplace on the banks of the Danube . War broke out between
10728-420: The Huns traded their horses for what he considered to have been "a very considerable source of income in gold", he is otherwise skeptical of Thompson's argument. He notes that the Romans strictly regulated trade with the barbarians and that, according to Priscus, trade only occurred at a fair once a year. While he notes that smuggling also likely occurred, he argues that "the volume of both legal and illegal trade
10877-417: The Huns used wagons for transportation. Maenchen-Helfen suggests that these wagons were mainly utilized to carry their tents, loot, as well as the elderly, women, and children. The Huns received a large amount of gold from the Romans, either in exchange for fighting for them as mercenaries or as tribute. Raiding and looting also furnished the Huns with gold and other valuables. Denis Sinor has argued that at
11026-632: The Huns. However, mainstream scholarship dismisses a close connection between the Hungarians and Huns. Modern culture generally associates the Huns with extreme cruelty and barbarism. The origins of the Huns and their links to other steppe people remain uncertain: scholars generally agree that they originated in Central Asia but disagree on the specifics of their origins. Classical sources assert that they appeared in Europe suddenly around 370. Most typically, Roman writers' attempts to elucidate
11175-807: The Lugii north of the mountains, he named two large groups, the Lougoi Omanoi and the Lougoi Didounoi, who live between the "Suevus" river (probably the Saale ( Sorbian : Solawa ) or Oder river) and the Vistula, south of the Burgundi . These Burgundians who according to Ptolemy lived between the Baltic sea Germans and the Lugii, stretching between the Suevus and Vistula rivers, were described by Pliny
11324-409: The Marcomanni as a tribe distinct from the Suebi, and also active within the same alliance. But he does not describe where they were living. Strabo wrote that the Suebi "excel all the others in power and numbers." He describes Suebic peoples (Greek ethnē ) as having come to dominate Germany between the Rhine and Elbe, with the exception of the Rhine valley, on the frontier with the Roman empire, and
11473-609: The Marcomanni still to their west, and the Hermunduri still to their north. A possible sign of confusion in this comment is that he equates the area in question to later Gepidia , which was further south, in Pannonia, modern Hungary, and east of the Danube. In general, as discussed below, the Danubian Suebi, along with the neighbours such as the Vandals, apparently moved southwards into Roman territories, both south and east of
11622-481: The Nomads, they load their household belongings on their wagons and with their beasts turn whithersoever they think best. Notable in classical sources, the Suebi can be identified by their hair style called the " Suebian knot ", which "distinguishes the freeman from the slave"; or in other words served as a badge of social rank. The same passage points out that chiefs "use an even more elaborate style". Tacitus mentions
11771-584: The Pontic Steppe north of the Black Sea. They had conquered the Hungarian Plain in stages. The precise date that they conquered the north bank of the Danube is unclear. Maenchen-Helfen argued that they may have already taken control of it in the 370s. The dates when they gained control of the Roman territory south of the Middle Danube, Pannonia Valeria and the other provinces of Pannonia ,
11920-620: The Quadi and Marcomanni received large numbers of Gothic and other eastern peoples escaping disturbances associated with the Huns . In 406 AD, Suebian tribes led by Hermeric , together with other Danubian groups including Alans and Vandals, crossed the Rhine and overran Gaul and Hispania . They eventually established the Kingdom of the Suebi in Galicia . With the breaking up of Hunnic power after
12069-470: The Rhine, far to the east of where most sources report them. To the east of the Langobardi, are the "Suevi Angili ", extending as far north as the middle Elbe, also to the east of the position reported in other sources. It has been speculated that Ptolemy may have been confused by his sources, or else that this position of the Langobardi represented a particular moment in history. As discussed below, in
12218-833: The Roman Empire in 376. The Huns conquered the Alans , most of the Greuthungi or Eastern Goths, and then most of the Thervingi or Western Goths, with many fleeing into the Roman Empire . In 395 the Huns began their first large-scale attack on the Eastern Roman Empire . Huns attacked in Thrace, overran Armenia , and pillaged Cappadocia . They entered parts of Syria , threatened Antioch , and passed through
12367-479: The Romans from entering into Gaul. Caesar on the other hand saw himself and Rome as an ally and defender of the Aedui. The forces Caesar faced in battle were composed of " Harudes , Marcomanni , Tribocci , Vangiones , Nemetes , Sedusii , and Suevi". While Caesar was preparing for conflict, a new force of Suebi was led to the Rhine by two brothers, Nasuas and Cimberius, forcing Caesar to rush in order to try to avoid
12516-606: The Suebi in his firsthand account, De Bello Gallico , as the "largest and the most warlike nation of all the Germans". Caesar confronted a large army led by a Suevic King named Ariovistus in 58 BC who had been settled for some time in Gaul already, at the invitation of the Gaulish Arverni and Sequani as part of their war against the Aedui. He had already been recognized as a king by the Roman senate. Ariovistus forbade
12665-619: The Suebi live there, naming only specifically the Hermunduri and the Langobardi . But he mentions these are there because of recent defeats at Roman hands which had forced them over the river. (Tacitus mentions that the Hermunduri were later welcomed on to the Roman border at the Danube.) In any case he says that the area near the Elbe itself is held by the Suebi. From Tacitus and Ptolemy we can derive more details: Note that while various errors and confusions are possible, Ptolemy places
12814-456: The Suebi, and the Tencteri and Usipetes, already forced from their homes, tried to cross the Rhine and enter Gaul by force. Caesar bridged the Rhine, the first known to do so, with a pile bridge , which though considered a marvel, was dismantled after only eighteen days. The Suebi abandoned their towns closest to the Romans, retreated to the forest and assembled an army. Caesar moved back across
12963-475: The Suebi, but also the Hermunduri, Chatti and Cherusci . Whether or not the Chatti were ever considered Suevi, both Tacitus and Strabo distinguish the two partly because the Chatti were more settled in one territory, whereas Suevi remained less settled. The definitions of the greater ethnic groupings within Germania were apparently not always consistent and clear, especially in the case of mobile groups such as
13112-568: The Suevi, while their language is more like the British." After giving this account, Tacitus says: "Here Suebia ends." Therefore, for Tacitus geographic "Suebia" comprises the entire periphery of the Baltic Sea , including within it tribes not identified as Suebi or even Germanic. On the other hand, Tacitus does clearly consider there to be not only a Suebian region, but also Suebian languages, and Suebian customs, which all contribute to making
13261-549: The Suevi. Whereas Tacitus reported three main kinds of German peoples, Irminones, Istvaeones , and Ingaevones , Pliny specifically adds two more genera or "kinds", the Bastarnae and the Vandili ( Vandals ). The Vandals were tribes east of the Elbe, including the well-known Silingi , Goths , and Burgundians , an area that Tacitus treated as Suebic. That the Vandals might be a separate type of Germanic people, corresponding to
13410-576: The Suiones and closely resembling them, are the tribes of the Sitones . Ptolemy describes Scandinavia as being inhabited by Chaedini in the west, Favonae and Firaesi in the east, Finni in the north, Gautae and Dauciones in the south, and Levoni in the middle. He does not describe them as Suebi. Tacitus describes the non-Germanic Aestii on the eastern shore of the "Suevic Sea" (Baltic), "whose rites and fashions and style of dress are those of
13559-520: The Thuringian legal customs (but perhaps did not use them extensively) as the Lex Thuringorum and continued to exact a tribute of pigs, presumably a Merovingian imposition, from the province. In the tenth century, under the Ottonians , the centre of Thuringian power lay in the north-east, near Erfurt . As late as the end of the tenth century, the porcine tribute was still being accepted by
13708-696: The Vandals, and were therefore likely to be speakers of East Germanic dialects. Their name is associated with medieval Silesia . Further south on the Elbe are the Baenochaemae and between them and the Askibourgian mountains Ptolemy names a tribe called the Batini (Βατεινοὶ), apparently north and/or east of the Elbe. According to Tacitus, around the north of the Danubian Marcomanni and Quadi, "dwelling in forests and on mountain-tops", live
13857-820: The Varini of Tacitus), and further east, between the coastal Farodini and the Suebi are the Teutones and then the Avarni . Further east again, between the Burgundians and the coastal Rugiclei were the "Aelvaeones" (presumably the Helveconae of Tacitus). Tacitus called the Baltic sea the Suebian sea. Pomponius Mela wrote in his Description of the World (III.3.31) beyond the Danish isles are "the farthest people of Germania,
14006-718: The Western Roman Emperor Valentinian III , sent Attila a ring and requested his help to escape her betrothal to a senator. Attila claimed her as his bride and half the Western Roman Empire as dowry. Additionally, a dispute arose about the rightful heir to a king of the Salian Franks . In 451, Attila's forces entered Gaul . Once in Gaul, the Huns first attacked Metz , then their armies continued westward, passing both Paris and Troyes to lay siege to Orléans . Flavius Aetius
14155-610: The allies who fought under Attila when he entered Gaul in 451. During the reign of Childeric I , Gregory of Tours and Fredegar record that the Frankish King married the runaway wife of the King of the Thuringians, but the story may be distorted. (For example, the area of Tongeren , now in Belgium, may have been intended.) More clearly, correspondence is recorded with a kingdom of Thuringians by Procopius and Cassiodorus during
14304-435: The ancient descriptions of the Huns stress their strange appearance from a Roman perspective. These descriptions typically caricature the Huns as monsters. Jordanes stresses that the Huns were short of stature, had tanned skin and round and shapeless heads. Various writers mention that the Huns had small eyes and flat noses. The Roman writer Priscus gives the following eyewitness description of Attila: "Short of stature, with
14453-532: The assistance of the settled agricultural population at the edge of the steppe they could not have survived". He argues that the Huns were forced to supplement their diet by hunting and gathering. Maenchen-Helfen, however, notes that archaeological finds indicate that various steppe nomad populations did grow grain; in particular, he identifies a find at Kunya Uaz in Khwarezm on the Ob River of agriculture among
14602-485: The battle drawn up in wedge-shaped masses, while their medley of voices makes a savage noise. And as they are lightly equipped for swift motion, and unexpected in action, they purposely divide suddenly into scattered bands and attack, rushing about in disorder here and there, dealing terrific slaughter; and because of their extraordinary rapidity of movement they are never seen to attack a rampart or pillage an enemy's camp. And on this account you would not hesitate to call them
14751-652: The bridge and broke it down, stating that he had achieved his objective of warning the Suebi. They in turn supposedly stopped harassing the Ubii. The Ubii were later resettled on the west bank of the Rhine, in Roman territory. Huns#Unified Empire under Attila The Huns were a nomadic people who lived in Central Asia , the Caucasus , and Eastern Europe between the 4th and 6th centuries AD. According to European tradition, they were first reported living east of
14900-541: The collapse of the Hunnic Empire . There is also evidence from jewellery found in graves that the Thuringians sought marriages with Ostrogothic and Lombard women. Under the leadership of Alboin , a large group of Thuringii joined the Lombards on their migration into Italy. The Lombard king Agilulf (590–616) was of Thuringian descent. After their conquest, the Thuringii were placed under Frankish dukes, but they rebelled and had regained their independence by
15049-416: The constant pursuit of war. Strabo describes the Suebi and people from their part of the world as highly mobile and nomadic, unlike more settled and agricultural tribes such as the Chatti and Cherusci : ...they do not till the soil or even store up food, but live in small huts that are merely temporary structures; and they live for the most part off their flocks, as the Nomads do, so that, in imitation of
15198-459: The death of Attila in 453, the Huns ceased to be a major threat to Rome and lost much of their empire following the Battle of Nedao (c. 454). Descendants of the Huns, or successors with similar names, are recorded by neighboring populations to the south, east, and west as having occupied parts of Eastern Europe and Central Asia from about the 4th to 6th centuries. Variants of the Hun name are recorded in
15347-647: The eastern bank of the lower Elbe river, northeast of Thuringia, because the Carolingian law code written for them was called the "law of the Angles and Varini that is the Thuringians". Much earlier, in his Germania for example, Tacitus had grouped the Anglii and Varini among the more distant Suebic tribes, living beyond the Elbe, and near a sea where they worshipped a goddess called Nerthus . These two tribes are among Germanic groups known to have been found north of
15496-403: The existence of shamans is likely. It is also known that the Huns had a language of their own ; however, only three words and personal names attest to it. Economically, the Huns are known to have practiced a form of nomadic pastoralism . As their contact with the Roman world grew, their economy became increasingly tied with Rome through tribute, raiding, and trade. They do not seem to have had
15645-513: The extant of Attila's empire has been exaggerated and he probably only controlled Pannonia and some adjacent areas. In the 390s, the majority of the Huns were probably based around the Volga and Don on the Pontic Steppe. But by the 420s, the Huns were based on Great Hungarian Plain , the only large grassland near the Roman empire capable of supporting large numbers of horses. However, Aleksander Paroń believes that they likely continued to control
15794-460: The following ethnic names as being from the same root: Suiones (whence also the name of the Swedes ), Samnites , Sabellians , Sabines , and, according to one of the hypotheses, Slavs , indicating the possibility of a prior more extended and common Indo-European ethnic name, "our own people". Notably, the Semnones , known to classical authors as one of the largest Suebian groups, also seem to have
15943-479: The forest" and some "outside of it". Tacitus confirms the name "Boiemum", saying it was a survival marking the old traditional population of the place, the Celtic Boii , though the population had changed. Tacitus describes a series of very powerful Suebian states in his own time, running along the north of the Danube which was the frontier with Rome, and stretching into the lands where the Elbe originates in
16092-493: The great confederations of steppe warriors was ethnically homogenous, and the same name was used by different groups for reasons of prestige, or by outsiders to describe their lifestyle or geographic origin. [...] It is therefore futile to speculate about identity or blood relationships between H(s)iung-nu, Hephthalites, and Attila's Huns, for instance. All we can safely say is that the name Huns , in late antiquity, described prestigious ruling groups of steppe warriors. Today, there
16241-679: The headwaters of the Vistula , he calls the Askibourgian mountains. Between these mountains and the Quadi he adds several tribes, from north to south these are the Sidones , Cotini (possibly Tacitus' Gotini) and the Visburgi . There is then the Orcynian (Hercyian) forest, which Ptolemy defines with relatively restricted boundaries, and then the Quadi. Beyond this mountain range (probably
16390-614: The help of his bucellarii , then attacked the quarreling Goths and Huns, defeating them. In 469, Dengizich was defeated and killed in Thrace. After Dengizich's death, the Huns seem to have been absorbed by other ethnic groups such as the Bulgars . Kim, however, argues that the Huns continued under Ernak, becoming the Kutrigur and Utigur Hunno- Bulgars . This conclusion is still subject to some controversy. Some scholars also argue that another group identified in ancient sources as Huns,
16539-455: The high civilian officers Gennadius Avienus and Trigetius, as well as Pope Leo I , who met Attila at Mincio in the vicinity of Mantua , and obtained from him the promise that he would withdraw from Italy and negotiate peace with the emperor. The new Eastern Roman Emperor Marcian then halted tribute payments, resulting in Attila planning to attack Constantinople. However, in 453 Attila died of
16688-427: The hinge upon which the entire administration of the Hun empire turned": he argues for their existence in the government of Uldin, and that each had command over detachments of the Hunnic army and ruled over specific portions of the Hunnic empire, where they were responsible also for collecting tribute and provisions. Maenchen-Helfen, however, argues that the word logades denotes simply prominent individuals and not
16837-462: The incoming Oghur speaking peoples. Dengizich attacked the Romans in 467, without the assistance of Ernak. He was surrounded by the Romans and besieged, and came to an agreement that he would surrender if his people were given land for their herds and his starving forces given food. During the negotiations, a Hun in service of the Romans named Chelchel persuaded the enemy Goths to attack their Hun overlords. The Romans, under their General Aspar and with
16986-619: The islands in the "ocean" ( Ὠκεανός ), but it is unclear if this meant the Baltic Sea or the world-encircling Ocean that the Greeks and Romans believed in. In either case, the description of Attila ruling as far as the islands in the "ocean" may be hyperbole. Archaeology is often used to argue for an area having been under Hunnic control; however, nomadic peoples often control territories beyond their immediate settlement. A large number of major finds from Silesia and Lesser Poland , north of
17135-580: The joining of forces. Caesar defeated Ariovistus in battle, forcing him to escape across the Rhine. When news of this spread, the fresh Suebian forces turned back in some panic, which led local tribes on the Rhine to take advantage of the situation and attack them. Also reported within Caesar's accounts of the Gallic wars, the Suebi posed another threat in 55 BC. The Germanic Ubii , who had worked out an alliance with Caesar, were complaining of being harassed by
17284-524: The last years of the decline of the Western Roman Empire , the Suebian general Ricimer was its de facto ruler. The Lombards, with many Danubian peoples both Suebian and eastern, later settled Italy and established the Kingdom of the Lombards . The Alamanni, Bavarii and Thuringii who remained in Germania gave their names to the still-existing German regions of Swabia , Bavaria and Thuringia respectively. Suebian languages are thought to be
17433-521: The late seventh century under Radulf . Towards the end of this century, parts of Thuringia came under Saxon rule. By the time of Charles Martel and Saint Boniface , they were again subject to the Franks and ruled by Frankish dukes, with their seat at Würzburg in the south. Under Martel, the Thuringian dukes' authority was extended over a part of Austrasia and the Bavarian plateau. The valleys of
17582-423: The later Chatti or possibly the Hermunduri , or Semnones . Later authors use the term Suebi more broadly, "to cover a large number of tribes in central Germany". While Caesar treated them as one Germanic tribe within an alliance, albeit the largest and most warlike one, later authors, such as Tacitus , Pliny the Elder and Strabo , specified that the Suevi "do not, like the Chatti or Tencteri , constitute
17731-507: The meat of these animals, with Maenchen-Helfen arguing, on the basis of what is known of other steppe nomads, that they likely mostly ate mutton, along with sheep's cheese and milk. They also "certainly" ate horse meat, drank mare's milk, and likely made cheese and kumis . In times of starvation, they may have boiled their horses' blood for food. Ancient sources uniformly deny that the Huns practiced any sort of agriculture. Thompson, taking these accounts at their word, argues that "[w]ithout
17880-655: The minting of coins at Erfurt , the oldest market town in Thuringia with a history going back to the Merovingian period. The economy, especially trade (such as with the Slavs), greatly increased after that. The Thuringian nobility, which had an admixture of Frankish, Thuringian, and Saxon blood, was not as landed as that of Francia . There was also a larger population of free peasant farmers than in Francia, though there
18029-562: The modern Sudetes ) where the Marsigni and Buri lived, in the area of modern southwest Poland, Tacitus reported a multitude of tribes, the most widespread name of which was the Lugii . These included the Harii , Helveconae , Manimi , Helisii and Naharvali . (Tacitus does not mention the language of the Lugii.) As mentioned above, Ptolemy categorizes the Buri amongst the Lugii, and concerning
18178-484: The modern concept of East Germanic , is a possibility that Tacitus also noted, but for example the Varini are named as Vandilic by Pliny, and specifically Suebic by Tacitus. At one time, classical ethnography had applied the name Suevi to so many Germanic tribes that it appeared as if, in the first centuries AD, that native name would replace the foreign name "Germans". The modern term "Elbe Germanic" similarly covers
18327-540: The modern day Czech Republic . Going from west to east the first were the Hermunduri , living near the sources of the Elbe and stretching across the Danube into Roman Rhaetia . Next came the Naristi , the Marcomanni , and then the Quadi . The Quadi are on the edge of greater Suebia, having the Sarmatians to the southeast. Claudius Ptolemy the geographer did not always state which tribes were Suebi, but along
18476-497: The most terrible of all warriors, because they fight from a distance with missiles having sharp bone, instead of their usual points, joined to the shafts with wonderful skill; then they gallop over the intervening spaces and fight hand to hand with swords, regardless of their own lives; and while the enemy are guarding against wounds from the sabre-thrusts, they throw strips of cloth plaited into nooses over their opponents and so entangle them that they fetter their limbs and take from them
18625-410: The name variously from Turkic ön , öna (to grow), qun (glutton), kün , gün , a plural suffix "supposedly meaning 'people'", qun (force), and hün (ferocious). Maenchen-Helfen dismisses all of these Turkic etymologies as "mere guesses" and proposes an Iranian etymology, from a word akin to Avestan hūnarā (skill), hūnaravant- (skillful). He suggests that it may originally have designated
18774-785: The northern bank of the Danube, from west to east and starting at the " desert " formerly occupied by the Helvetii , he names the Parmaecampi , then the Adrabaecampi , and then a "large people" known as the Baemoi (whose name appears to recall the Boii again), and then the Racatriae . North of the Baemoi, is the Luna forest which has iron mines, and which is south of the Quadi. North of
18923-504: The origins of the Huns simply equated them with earlier steppe peoples. Roman writers repeated a tale that the Huns had entered the domain of the Goths while they were pursuing a wild stag, or else one of their cows that had escaped, across the Kerch Strait into Crimea . Discovering the land fertile, they then attacked the Goths. Jordanes ' Getica relates that the Goths held the Huns to be offspring of "unclean spirits" and Gothic witches ( Getica 24:121). Since Joseph de Guignes in
19072-464: The pastures may vary, the winter quarters always remained the same. This is, in fact, what Jordanes writes of the Hunnic Altziagiri tribe: they pastured near Cherson on the Crimea and then wintered further north, with Maenchen-Helfen holding the Syvash as a likely location. Ancient sources mention that the Huns' herds consisted of various animals, including cattle, horses, and goats; sheep, though unmentioned in ancient sources, "are more essential to
19221-446: The province of Euphratesia . At the same time, the Huns invaded the Sasanian Empire . This invasion was initially successful, coming close to the capital of the empire at Ctesiphon ; however, they were defeated badly during the Persian counterattack. During their brief diversion from the Eastern Roman Empire, the Huns may have threatened tribes further west. Uldin , the first Hun identified by name in contemporary sources, headed
19370-435: The region, including not only Goths and Alans, but also Vandals , Gepids , Heruli , Suebians and Rugians . The Huns, especially under their King Attila , made frequent and devastating raids into the Eastern Roman Empire . In 451, they invaded the Western Roman province of Gaul , where they fought a combined army of Romans and Visigoths at the Battle of the Catalaunian Fields , and in 452, they invaded Italy. After
19519-519: The reigns of Theoderic the Great (454–526) and Clovis I (approx. 466–511), after the downfall of Attila and Odoacer. The Thuringii established an empire in the late fifth century. It reached its territorial peak in the first half of the sixth before it was conquered by the Franks in 531–532. Examination of Thuringian grave sites reveal cranial features which suggest the strong presence of Hunnic women or slaves, perhaps indicating that many Thuringians took Hunnic wives or Hunnic slaves following
19668-475: The sacrifice of humans practiced by the Semnones in a sacred grove and the murder of slaves used in the rites of Nerthus practiced by the tribes of Schleswig-Holstein . The chief priest of the Naharvali dresses as a woman and that tribe also worships in groves. The Harii fight at night dyed black. The Suiones own fleets of rowing vessels with prows at both ends. While there is debate possible about whether all tribes identified by Romans as Germanic spoke
19817-481: The same as the Turcilingi (or Torcolingi) who were one of the tribes near the middle Danube after the collapse of the empire of Attila, to whom they had apparently all been subject. They are specifically associated with Odoacer , who later became King of Italy, and are sometimes thought to have formed a part of the Sciri . Other tribes in this region at the time included the Rugii and the Heruls . Sidonius Apollinaris , in his seventh poem, explicitly lists them among
19966-414: The same year under Valamir , allegedly defeating the Huns in a separate engagement. However, this did not result in the complete collapse of Hunnic power in the Carpathian region, but did result in the loss of many of their Germanic vassals. At the same time, the Huns were also dealing with the arrival of more Oghur Turkic-speaking peoples from the East, including the Oghurs , Saragurs , Onogurs , and
20115-550: The slaves would have been used to manage the Huns' herds of cattle, sheep, and goats. Priscus attests that slaves were used as domestic servants, but also that educated slaves were used by the Huns in positions of administration or even architects. Some slaves were even used as warriors. The Huns also traded with the Romans. E. A. Thompson argued that this trade was very large scale, with the Huns trading horses, furs, meat, and slaves for Roman weapons, linen, and grain, and various other luxury goods. While Maenchen-Helfen concedes that
20264-399: The south of the Elbe, and stretching across the Danube into the Roman empire, experienced the High German consonant shift that defines modern High German languages , and in its most extreme form, Upper German . Modern Swabian German , and Alemannic German more broadly, are therefore "assumed to have evolved at least in part" from Suebian. However, Bavarian , the Thuringian dialect ,
20413-419: The southern German area from the first century BC through to the fourth century AD. Apart from his own linguistic work with modern dialects, he also referred to the archaeological and literary analysis of Germanic tribes done earlier by Gustaf Kossinna In terms of these proposed ancient dialects, the Vandals, Goths and Burgundians are generally referred to as members of the Eastern Germanic group, distinct from
20562-416: The steppe nomad even than horses" and must have been a large part of their herds. Sheep bones are frequently found in Hun period graves. Additionally, Maenchen-Helfen argues that the Huns may have kept small herds of Bactrian camels in the part of their territory in modern Romania and Ukraine, something attested for the Sarmatians. Ammianus Marcellinus says that the majority of the Huns' diet came from
20711-524: The term "nomad" to be misleading: [T]he term 'nomad', if it denotes a wandering group of people with no clear sense of territory, cannot be applied wholesale to the Huns. All the so-called 'nomads' of Eurasian steppe history were peoples whose territory/territories were usually clearly defined, who as pastoralists moved about in search of pasture, but within a fixed territorial space. Maenchen-Helfen notes that pastoral nomads (or "seminomads") typically alternate between summer pastures and winter quarters: while
20860-516: The term Hun was "not primarily an ethnic group, but a political category" and argues for a fundamental political and cultural continuity between the Xiongnu and the European Huns, as well as between the Xiongnu and the "Iranian Huns". The name Hun is attested in classical European sources as Greek Οὖννοι ( Ounnoi ) and Latin Hunni or Chuni . John Malalas records their name as Οὖννα ( Ounna ). Another possible Greek variant may be Χοὖνοι ( Khounoi ), although this group's identification with
21009-403: The third century a large group of Suebi, also referred to as the Allemanni , moved up to the Rhine bank in modern Schwaben , which had previously been controlled by the Romans. They competed in this region with Burgundians who had arrived from further east. Strabo does not say much about the Suebi east of the Elbe, saying that this region was still unknown to Romans, but mentions that a part of
21158-505: The time of Attila, the Hunnic economy became almost entirely dependent on plunder and tribute from the Roman provinces. Civilians and soldiers captured by the Huns might also be ransomed back, or else sold to Roman slave dealers as slaves. The Huns themselves, Maenchen-Helfen argued, had little use for slaves due to their nomadic pastoralist lifestyle. More recent scholarship, however, has demonstrated that pastoral nomadists are actually more likely to use slave labor than sedentary societies:
21307-420: The time of the report of Olympiodorus, the Huns at some point developed a system of ranked kings, including a senior king by the time of Charaton . Priscus also speaks of "picked men" or logades ( λογάδες ) forming part of Attila's government, naming five of them. Some of the "picked men" seem to have been chosen because of birth, others for reasons of merit. Thompson argued that these "picked men" "were
21456-410: Was a generalized term meaning "hostiles, opponents". Christopher Atwood dismisses this possibility on phonological and chronological grounds. While not arriving at an etymology per se , Atwood derives the name from the Ongi River in Mongolia, which was pronounced the same as, or similarly to, the name Xiongnu, and suggests that it was originally a dynastic name rather than an ethnic name. Most of
21605-400: Was apparently modest". He does note that wine and silk appear to have been imported into the Hunnic Empire in large quantities, however. Roman gold coins appear to have been in circulation as currency within the whole of the Hunnic Empire. Christopher Atwood has suggested that the purpose of the original Hunnic incursion into Europe may have been to establish an outlet to the Black Sea for
21754-453: Was given the duty of relieving Orléans by Emperor Valentinian III. A combined army of Roman and Visigoths then fought the Huns at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains . The following year, Attila renewed his claims to Honoria and territory in the Western Roman Empire . Leading his army across the Alps and into Northern Italy, he sacked and razed a number of cities. Hoping to avoid the sack of Rome, Emperor Valentinian III sent three envoys,
21903-434: Was still a large number of serfs . The obligations of serfs there were also generally less oppressive. There were also fewer clergymen before Boniface came. There was a small number of artisans and merchants, mostly trading with the Slavs to the east. The town of Erfurt was the easternmost trading post in Frankish territory at the time. The history of the Thuringii is best known from the writings concerning their conquerors,
22052-425: Was the first to challenge the traditional approach, based primarily on the study of written sources, and to emphasize the importance of archaeological research. Since Maenchen-Helfen's work, the identification of the Xiongnu as the Huns' ancestors has become controversial. Additionally, several scholars have questioned the identification of the "Iranian Huns" with the European Huns. Walter Pohl cautions that none of
22201-492: Was unsuccessful at war as a sign that the Hunnic kingship was "democratic" at this time rather than a permanent institution. Kim, however, argues that Uldin is actually a title and that he was likely merely a subking. Priscus calls Attila "king" or "emperor" ( βασιλέυς ), but it is unknown what native title he was translating. With the exception of the sole rule of Attila, the Huns often had two rulers; Attila himself later appointed his son Ellac as co-king. Heather argues that by
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