The Germanic Nations

The Germanic peoples who brought low the Western Roman Empire often belonged to shifting, wandering confederacies, who were never as homogenous as their names suggested. Singular names such as Franks or Ostrogoths belied the fact that these peoples incorporated a disparate range of adventurers and opportunists, who were by no means even exclusively Germanic, let alone 'Frankish' or 'Gothic'. Yet they were to leave  an indelible mark on the map of Europe. Not only do the names of countries and regions of modern times (France, Burgundy, Lombardy, England...) owe much to the people who conquered them but in the English language even to this day, we speak of a person of wanton destructiveness as a 'Vandal' and equate 'frankness' with the right (enjoyed only by the Franks in Dark-Age Gaul) to speak one's mind.

Other Peoples

If the Germans dominated Western Europe, it was the Greek-speaking 'East Romans' who dominated the wealthy and sophisticated lands of the eastern Mediterranean and kept alight the flame of Classical civilisation. Ruling from Constantinople, the so-called Byzantine Emperors, never abandoned their claim to rule the old Western Empire, as well as the Eastern. Although they made impressive attempts, under Justinian's great generals, Belisarios and Narses, to reconquer Italy, Spain and North Africa, they were always over-stretched, not only because of constant wars in the Middle East against the Sassanid Persians but, later, by new barbarian incursions in the Balkans, both from Slavic peoples, and from fresh Asiatic hordes, such as the Avars and the Hunnic Bulgars.

Meanwhile, in Britain, Ireland and Armorica, the Celtic peoples clung on to independence, fighting both the Anglo-Saxons, Franks and, all too often, each other. It is from their darkest, most desperate years that the legend of King Arthur was born.

Volkeren

Thanks to the efforts of Rien van de Wall, this page is now available in Dutch translation at http://users.pandora.be/vroege-middeleeuwen/volkeren.htm (Or just click on the flag).

Mark Furnival, 2000

This page was last updated on 10 August, 2002