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Jutes

Jutes

The Jutes were a Germanic people who are believed to have originated from Jutland in modern Denmark and part of the Frisian coast. The Jutes, along with the Angles, Saxons and Frisians, were amongst the Germanic tribes who sailed across the North Sea to raid and eventually invade Great Britain from the late fourth century onwards, either displacing, absorbing or destroying the native Celtic peoples there. According to the Venerable Bede, they ended up settling in Kent, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. There are a number of toponyms that attest to the presence of the Jutes in the area, such as Ytene, which Florence of Worcester states was the contemporary English name for the New Forest. While it is commonplace to detect their influences in Kent (for example, the practice of partible inheritance known as gavelkind), the Jutes in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight vanished, leaving only the slightest of traces. One recent scholar, Robin Bush, has argued that the Jutes of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight became victims of a policy of ethnic cleansing by the West Saxons, although this has been the subject of debate amongst academics, with the counter-claim that it was just the aristocracy who were wiped out. It is thought that others remained in their continental homeland, and became the indigenous people of modern Jutland. If they are indeed the same as the Euthiones, they are mentioned in a poem by Venantius Fortunatus (583).

Jutes and Geats

Some authorities believe the Jutes are identical with the Geats (the "Jutish hypothesis"), a people who once lived in southern Sweden, such as the OED, which speculatively identifies the Swedish Geats (through Eotas, Iótas, Iútan and Geátas) with the Danish Jutes. However, in both Widsith and Beowulf, the two tribes are neatly distinguished. In Beowulf the Jutes appear as the Eotenas in the Finn passage (see Finnsburg Fragment), making them a people distinct from the Geatas. It may be that the two tribal names happened to be confused, which has happened, for example, in the sources about the death of the Swedish king Östen.

External links

- [http://www.channel4.com/history/timeteam/archive/timeteamlive2001/feature_jutes.html The Jutes in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight]
- [http://www.channel4.com/history/timeteam/archive/timeteamlive2001/feature_ethnic.html Were the West Saxons guilty of ethnic cleansing?] Category:Ancient Germanic peoples Category:Anglo-Saxon England Category:History of the Germanic peoples Category:Ethnic groups of Europe

Jutland

Jutland (Danish: Jylland; German: Jütland) is a peninsula in northern Europe that forms the mainland part of Denmark and a northern part of Germany, dividing the North Sea from the Baltic Sea. Its terrain is relatively flat, with low hills and peat bogs. It has an area of 29,775 km² (11,496 square miles), and a population of 2,491,852 (2004). Much of the peninsula is occupied by the Kingdom of Denmark. The southern portion is made up of the German Bundesland of Schleswig-Holstein, possession of which has passed back and forth between the Danes and various German rulers, with Denmark most recently reclaiming North Schleswig (Nordslesvig in Danish) by plebiscite in 1920. The largest cities in the Danish part of the Jutland Peninsula are Århus, Aalborg, Billund, Esbjerg, Frederikshavn, Randers, Kolding, Ribe, Vejle, Viborg, and Horsens. The five largest cities in Schleswig-Holstein are Kiel, Lübeck, Flensburg, Neumünster, and Norderstedt, although Lübeck and Norderstedt are arguably not in Jutland.

History

Jutland has historically been one of the three main parts or lands of Denmark. Some Angles, Saxons, Jutes, and Vandals moved from continental Europe to Britain starting in c. 450 AD. The Angles themselves gave their name to the new emerging kingdoms called England (Angle-land). This is thought by some to be related to the drive of the Huns from Asia across Europe, although the arrival of the Danes would more likely have been a major contributory factor, since conflicts between the Danes and the Jutes were both many and bloody. The Danes themselves trace their ancestry back to the ancient Scylfing kings who lived around Uppsala, Sweden in the time before recorded history in Scandinavia. In time, however, these hostilities were decreased by intermarriage between Jutes and Danes. The Danes took considerable steps to protect themselves from the depredations of the Christian Frankish emperors, principally with the building of the Danevirke, a wall stretching from the North Sea to the Baltic Sea. Charlemagne removed pagan Saxons from east Jutland at the Baltic Sea — the later Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg areas — and moved Abodrites (or Obotrites), a group of Wendish Slavs who pledged allegiance to Charlemagne and who had for the most part converted to Christianity, into the area instead. Typical of Jutland is the distinctive Jutish (or Jutlandic) dialect, sometimes considered to be more different from standard Danish than Swedish is. (This is the case in the Linguasphere linguistic classification.) To speed transit between the Baltic and the North Sea, canals have been built across the peninsula, notably the Eiderkanal in the late 18th century and the Kiel Canal, completed in 1895 and still in use. During World War I, the Battle of Jutland was one of the largest naval battles in history. In this pitched battle, the Royal Navy engaged the German Navy leading to massive casualties and ship losses on both sides. Although the Royal Navy suffered greater immediate losses, its Grand Fleet remained battle-ready. Damage to several heavy vessels of the German High Seas Fleet would have prevented them from doing the same, and the German Navy never again challenged Britain's, resorting instead to covert submarine warfare.

Denmark

The Kingdom of Denmark (Danish: Kongeriget Danmark) is geographically the smallest and southernmost Nordic country, and is part of the European Union. It is located at in Scandinavia which is in northern Europe, but it does not lie on the Scandinavian Peninsula. Denmark borders the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, and consists of a peninsula attached to Northern Germany named Jutland (Jylland), the islands Funen (Fyn), Zealand (Sjælland), Bornholm and many smaller islands, the waters of which are often referred to as the Danish Archipelago. Denmark lies north of Germany (its only land neighbour), southwest of Sweden, and south of Norway. Greenland and the Faroe Islands are Crown territories of Denmark, each with political home rule.

History

:Main article: History of Denmark The origin of Denmark is lost in prehistory. The oldest Danevirke is from the 7th century, at the same time as the new Runic alphabet. Oldest city: Ribe is from about 810. Up into the 10th century the Danes were known as Vikings, together with Norwegians and Swedes, colonising, raiding and trading in all parts of Europe. Viking explorers first discovered Iceland by accident in the ninth century, en route to the Faroe Islands. Erik the Red, or Erik Thorvaldson, was exiled from the colony for manslaughter in 980, and set sail for the west, to explore the lands to the west. He established the first settelments in Greenland around this time, naming the land, according to ledgend, to attract settelers. Erik's son Leif the Lucky(Leif Ericson)finally set foot in the Americas around the year 1000. While some say he was blown off course, it is most likely that he was diliberatly seeking the land spotted by Bjarni Herjulfsson several years earlier. He established a colony at L'Anse aux Meadows, which lasted only a year. Two further attempts at colonization by his brother ended in failure. At various times the King of Denmark has ruled parts of England and Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, France, especially Normandy and the Virgin Islands, Tranquebar in India, Estonia and what is now Northern Germany. Scania, Blekinge and Halland were part of Denmark for most of its early history, but were lost to Sweden in 1658. The union with Norway was dissolved in 1814, when Norway entered a new union with Sweden (until 1905). The Danish liberal and national movement gained momentum in the 1830s, and after the European revolutions of 1848 Denmark became a constitutional monarchy June 5 1849. After the Second War of Schleswig (Danish: Slesvig) in 1864 Denmark was forced to cede Schleswig-Holstein to Prussia, in a defeat that left deep marks in the Danish national identity. After this point Denmark adopted a policy of neutrality, as a result of which Denmark stayed neutral in World War I. Following the defeat of Germany, Denmark was offered by the Versailles powers the return of Schleswig-Holstein. Fearing German irredentism Denmark refused to consider the return of Holstein and insisted on a plebiscite concerning the return of Schleswig. In 1920, following the plebiscite, Northern Schleswig was recovered by Denmark. Despite its continued neutrality Denmark was invaded by Germany (Operation Weserübung), on April 9, 1940. Though at first accorded self-rule (which ended in 1943 due to a mounting resistance movement), Denmark remained militarily occupied throughout World War II. The Danish sympathy for the Allied Cause was strong; 1,900 Danish Police Officers were arrested by the Gestapo and sent, under guard, to be interned in Buchenwald. After the war, Denmark became one of the founding members of NATO and, in 1973, joined the European Economic Community (later, the European Union).

Politics and government

:Main article: Politics of Denmark Denmark is the oldest monarchy in the world. In 1849, it became a constitutional monarchy with the adoption of a new constitution. The monarch is formally head of state, a role which is mainly ceremonial, since executive power is exercised by the cabinet ministers, with the prime minister acting as the first among equals (primus inter pares). Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Danish parliament, known as the Folketing, which consists of (no more than) 179 members. The Danish Judiciary is functionally and administratively independent of the executive and the legislature. Elections for parliament must be held at least every four years; but the prime minister can call for an earlier election, if he so decides. Should parliament succeed in a vote of no confidence against the Prime Minister the entire government resigns. The country is often run by minority governments.

Counties

:Main article: Counties of Denmark Denmark is divided into 13 counties (amter, singular: amt), and 271 municipalities (kommuner, singular kommune). The coming Danish Municipal Reform will replace the counties with five new regions and reduce the number of municipalities to 98. The new municipalities will take over most of the responsibilities of the former counties. Most of the new municipalities will have a population of at least 20,000 people. The reform will be implemented on 1 January 2007.
- Aarhus (Århus)
- Frederiksborg
- Funen (Fyn)
- Copenhagen (København)
- North Jutland (Nordjylland)
- Ribe
- Ringkjøbing
- Roskilde
- South Jutland (Sønderjylland)
- Storstrøm
- Vejle
- Viborg
- West Zealand (Vestsjælland) Three municipalities have county privileges:
- Bornholm (regional municipality)
- Copenhagen (København)
- Frederiksberg Copenhagen County comprises the municipalities of metropolitan Copenhagen, except Copenhagen Municipality and Frederiksberg Municipality. Bornholm Regional Municipality comprise the five former municipalities on the island Bornholm and the island's former county. Greenland and the Faroe Islands also belong to the Kingdom of Denmark, but have autonomous status and are largely self-governing, and are each represented by two seats in the parliament.

Geography

Faroe Islands Faroe Islands :Main article: Geography of Denmark Denmark consists of the peninsula of Jutland (Jylland) and 405 named islands. Of these, 323 are habited, with the largest being Zealand (Sjælland) and Funen (Fyn). The island of Bornholm is located somewhat east of the rest of the country, in the Baltic Sea. Many of the larger islands are connected by bridges; the Øresund Bridge connects Zealand with Sweden, the Great Belt Bridge connects Funen with Zealand, and the Small Belt Bridge connects Jutland with Funen. Ferries connect one to the smaller islands. The country is mostly flat with little elevation; the highest natural point is Møllehøj, at 170.86 metres. The climate is temperate, with mild winters and cool summers. Main cities are the capital Copenhagen (on Zealand), Aarhus, Aalborg (on Jutland) and Odense (on Fyn)..

Economy

:Main article: Economy of Denmark This thoroughly modern market economy features high-tech agriculture, up-to-date small-scale and corporate industry, extensive government welfare measures, comfortable living standards, a stable currency, and high dependence on foreign trade. Denmark is a net exporter of food and energy and has a comfortable balance of payments surplus. The Danish economy is highly unionized; 75% of its labour force [http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/01/10/business/unions2.html] are members of a union in the Danish Confederation of Trade Unions. Relationships between unions and employers are cooperative: unions have a day-to-day role in managing the workplace, and their representatives sit on most companies' board of directors. Rules on work schedules and pay are negotiated between unions and employers, with minimal government involvement. The government has been very successful in meeting, and even exceeding, the economic convergence criteria for participating in the third phase (a common European currency) of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), but Denmark, in a September 2000 referendum, reconfirmed its decision not to join the 12 other EU members in the euro. Even so, the Danish currency remains pegged to the euro. Denmark has also placed first on the Economist Intelligence Unit's "e-readiness" rankings for the past two years. "A country's "e-readiness" is a measure of its e-business environment, a collection of factors that indicate how amenable a market is to Internet-based opportunities."

Demographics

:Main article: Demographics of Denmark The majority of the population is of Scandinavian descent, with small groups of Inuit (from Greenland), Faroese, and immigrants. According to official statistics in 2003 immigrants made up 6.2% of the total population. Danish is spoken in the entire country, although a small group near the German border also speaks German. Many Danes are fluent in English as well, particularly those in larger cities and the youth, who are taught English in school. Of the religions in Denmark, according to official statistics from January 2002 84.3% of Danes are members of the Lutheran state church, the Danish People's Church (Den Danske Folkekirke), also known as the Church of Denmark. The rest are primarily of other Christian denominations and also about 2% are Muslims. For the last decade Danish People's Church has seen a decline in the number of memberships. In the later years, the old norse religion Asatru has begun to reemerge. Asatru was approved as a religious movement by the Danish government on November 8th 2003.

Culture

:Main article: Culture of Denmark Perhaps the most famous Dane is actually a mythical figure: Hamlet, the title character of William Shakespeare's greatest play, which was set in a real castle (Kronborg) in Helsingør, north of Copenhagen. The Dane most well-known in foreign countries is probably Hans Christian Andersen, a writer mostly famous for such fairy tales as The Emperor's New Clothes, The Little Mermaid, and The Ugly Duckling. Other Danes that is probably known outside of Denmark in various degrees, includes: :See also: List of Danes
- Morten Andersen, NFL kicker (Only in the United States)
- Bille August, film director
- Vitus Bering, explorer and navigator
- Karen Blixen, also known as Isak Dinesen, author
- Niels Bohr, physicist and Nobel Prize laureate
- Victor Borge, entertainer, pianist
- Tycho Brahe, astronomer
- Ole Kirk Christiansen, inventor of LEGO
- René Dif, member of the pop band Aqua
- N.F.S. Grundtvig, poet, hymnalist, educationalist
- Piet Hein, polymath
- Anders Hejlsberg, computer scientist, inventor of the C# programming language
- Georg Jensen, designer
- Søren Kierkegaard, existentialist philosopher
- Michael Laudrup, soccer player. Winner of Confederations Cup 1995
- Viggo Mortensen, actor in USA
- Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller, transport and business mogul
- Connie Nielsen, actor in USA
- Brigitte Nielsen, actress
- Carl Nielsen, composer
- Mickey Beyer-Clausen, Philanthropist, Entrepreneur
- Bjarne Riis, professional road bicycle racer, winner of the 1996 Tour de France
- Peter Schmeichel soccer player (goalkeeper). Winner of European Football Championship 1992, Confederations Cup 1995 and UEFA Champions League 1999.
- Bjarne Stroustrup, computer scientist, inventor of the C++ programming language
- Lars von Trier, film director
- Lars Ulrich, musician, member of band Metallica
- Jørn Utzon, architect
- Whigfield, singer
- Hans Christian Ørsted, physicist, discoverer of electromagnetism

Miscellaneous topics

- Courts of Denmark
- Communications in Denmark
- Danish colonization of the Americas
- Education in Denmark
- Foreign relations of Denmark
- Holidays in Denmark
- List of Danish monarchs - Danish monarchs family tree
- Danish Orders of Chivalry
- List of towns in Denmark
- Military of Denmark
- Rescue of the Danish Jews
- Stamps and postal history of Denmark
- Tourism in Denmark
- Transportation in Denmark
- Trees of Denmark
- Reporters without borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2004: Ranked 1 out of 166 countries (in an 8-way tie)

References

- [http://www.um.dk/Publikationer/UM/English/Denmark/index.asp In-depth description of Denmark published by the Royal Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs]

External links

- [http://www.milhist.dk/index_uk.htm Danish military history]
- [http://www.mediatico.com/en/newspapers/europe/denmark Danish Newspapers]
- [http://denmark.dk/portal/page?_pageid=374,477789&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL Official Portal of Denmark]
- [http://www.amnestyusa.org/countries/denmark/index.do Human rights reports] from Amnesty International
- [http://www.world-gazetteer.com/s/p_dk.htm List of Danish cities] from world-gazetteer.com
- [http://www.bo-k.dk/dk/ Old Denmark in Cyberspace - Information about Denmark and the Danes]
- [http://www.kms.dk/C1256C62002F8C6B/ Online charts and maps by the Danish survey authority]
- [http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=14785 Satellite image of Denmark] at NASA's Earth Observatory Category:European Union member states Category:Monarchies Category:NUTS 2 Statistical Regions of Europe fiu-vro:Taani zh-min-nan:Dan-kok als:Dänemark ko:덴마크 ms:Denmark ja:デンマーク simple:Denmark th:ประเทศเดนมาร์ก

Frisia

Frisia (known in German and Dutch as Friesland) is a region along the southeastern coasts of the North Sea. Frisia extends from the northwestern Netherlands across northern Germany to southwestern Denmark. Western Frisia is roughly identical with the Dutch province of Friesland, the northern part of North Holland province (called Westfriesland [see also West-Friesland]) and also modern Groningen province, though the Western Frisian language is only spoken in Fryslân proper. In Groningen and West-Friesland, dialects with strong Frisian substrates are spoken (Plattdüütsch and Low Franconian dialect variants, respectively). East Frisia (German Ostfriesland) includes areas located in the northwest of the German state of Lower Saxony, including the districts of Aurich, Leer, Wittmund and Friesland, as well as the district-free cities of Emden and Wilhelmshaven/Rüstringen. The portions of Frisia within the state of Schleswig-Holstein are called Nordfriesland and stretch along the coast, and including also the coastal islands from the River Eider to the border of Denmark in the north. It is coterminous with the Schleswig-Holstein district of the same name. The island of Helgoland (English 'Helligoland' and North Frisian 'Lun'), is also part of traditional 'Northern Frisia'. The West Frisian Islands, the East Frisian Islands and previously noted North Frisian Islands stretch along the entirety of the Frisian coast. Frisia is the traditional homeland of the Frisians, a Germanic people who speak Frisian, a language closely related to the English language. A half million Frisians of Fryslân (or Friesland) province in the Netherlands speak Frisian. Several thousand more Frisian language speakers, speaking a collection of dialects often unintelligible with each other and certainly unintelligible with forms spoken beyond Nordfriesland, are to be found in Nordfriesland in Germany, while a small number of speakers of the Sater-Frisian language are located in four villages of Lower Saxony in the Saterland region of Cloppenburg county, just beyond the boundaries of traditional East Frisia.

Angles

Angles (German: Angeln, Old English: Englas, Latin: singular Anglus, plural Anglii) were Germanic people, from Angeln in Schleswig, who settled in East Anglia, Mercia and Northumbria in the 5th century. Southern and eastern Britain was later called Engla-lond (in Old English, "Land of the Angles"), thus England.

Early history

Possibly the first instance of the Angles in recorded history is in Tacitus' Germania, chapter 40, in which the Anglii are mentioned in passing in a list of Germanic tribes. He gives no precise indication of their geographical position, but states that, together with six other tribes, including the Varini (the Warni of later times), they worshipped a goddess named Nerthus, whose sanctuary was situated on "an island in the Ocean." Ptolemy in his Geography (ii. 11. § 15), half a century later, locates them with more precision between the Rhine, or rather perhaps the Ems, and the Elbe, and speaks of them as one of the chief tribes of the interior. Unfortunately, however, it is clear from a comparison of his map with the evidence furnished by Tacitus and other Roman writers that the indications which he gives cannot be correct. Owing to the uncertainty of these passages there has been much speculation regarding the original home of the Angli. One theory, which however has little to recommend it, is that they dwelt in the basin of the Saale (in the neighbourhood of the canton Engilin), from which region the Lex Angliorum et Werinorum hoc est Thuringorum is believed by many to have come. At the present time the majority of scholars believe that the Angli had lived from the beginning on the coasts of the Baltic, probably in the southern part of the Jutish peninsula. The evidence for this view is derived partly from English and Danish traditions dealing with persons and events of the 4th century (see below), and partly from the fact that striking affinities to the cult of Nerthus as described by Tacitus are to be found in Scandinavian, especially Swedish and Danish, religion. Investigations in this subject have rendered it very probable that the island of Nerthus was Sjælland (Zealand), and it is further to be observed that the kings of Wessex traced their ancestry ultimately to a certain Scyld, who is clearly to be identified with Skiöldr, the mythical founder of the Danish royal family (Skiöldungar). In English tradition this person is connected with "Scedeland" (pl.), i.e. Scandinavia, while in Scandinavian tradition he is specially associated with the ancient royal residence at Leire in Sjælland. There is a theory that the name of the Angles came from Germanic words for "narrow" (compare German eng = "narrow"), and meant "the people who live beside the Narrow [Water]", i.e. beside the Schlei estuary. Bede states that the Angli before they came to Britain dwelt in a land called Angulus, and similar evidence is given by the Historia Brittonum. King Alfred the Great and the chronicler Æthelweard identified this place with the district which is now called Angel in the province of Schleswig (Slesvig), though it may then have been of greater extent, and this identification agrees very well with the indications given by Bede. Full confirmation is afforded by English and Danish traditions relating to two kings named Wermund and Offa, from whom the Mercian royal family were descended, and whose exploits are connected with Angel, Schleswig and Rendsburg. Danish tradition has preserved record of two governors of Schleswig, father and son, in their service, Frowinus (Freawine) and Wigo (Wig), from whom the royal family of Wessex claimed descent. During the 5th century the Angli invaded Britain, after which time their name does not recur on the continent except in the title of the code mentioned above. The province of Schleswig has proved exceptionally rich in prehistoric antiquities which date apparently from the 4th and 5th centuries. Among the places where these have been found, special mention should be made of the large cremation cemetery at Borgstedterfeld, between Rendsburg and Eckernförde, which has yielded many urns and brooches closely resembling those found in heathen graves in England. Of still greater importance are the great deposits at Thorsbjaerg (in Angel) and Nydam, which contained large quantities of arms, ornaments, articles of clothing, agricultural implements, &c., and in the latter case even ships. By the help of these discoveries we are able to reconstruct a fairly detailed picture of Angle civilization in the age preceding the invasion of Britain.

Angle influence in Britain

According to sources such as the Venerable Bede, after the invasion of Britain the Angles split up and founded the kingdoms of the Nord Angelnen (Northumbria), Ost Angelnen (East Anglia), and the Mittlere Angelnen (Mercia). Thanks to the major influence of the Saxons, the tribes were collectively called Anglo-Saxons by the Normans. A region of the United Kingdom is still known by the name East Anglia. The center of the Angle homeland in the north-eastern portion of the modern German bundesland of Schleswig-Holstein, itself on the Jutland Peninsula, is where the rest of that people stayed, a small peninsular form still called Angeln today and is formed as a triangle drawn roughly from modern Flensburg on the Flensburger Fjord to the City of Schleswig and then to Maasholm on the Schlei inlet. In any case, this small and relatively easterly geographic localisation of the original Angeln tribal group has led to one of the Anglo-Saxon Invasion's enduring mysteries: how it is possible that the Angelns were so frequently mentioned as colonisers of ancient Britain in all the ancient and medieval written sources, while evidence of the neighbouring and much more powerful Frisians' concurrent colonising activities in Britain has been so limited to discoveries in archeological science, and more often to logical deductions and inferences alone? Of course, ethnic Frisians are known to have inhabited the land directly in the path of any migration route from Angeln to Great Britain (except for the long and difficult route by sea around the northern tip of Denmark), and, in fact, they also inhabited lands between the ancient Saxon domain and Britain; yet they are rarely mentioned as having taken part in the vast migration.

St. Gregory

The Angles are the subject of a legend about Pope Gregory I. As an abbreviated version of the story goes, Gregory happened to see a group of Angle children from Deira for sale as slaves in the Roman market. Struck by the beauty of their fair-skinned complexions and bright blue eyes, Gregory inquired about their background. When told they were Angles, he replied with a Latin pun that translates well into English: "Not Angles, but angels". Supposedly, he thereafter resolved to convert their pagan homeland to Christianity.

References

- Chadwick, Hector Munro. Angli. 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica

External link

- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/2076470.stm English and Welsh are races apart]; BBC; 30 June, 2002. Angli Category:Ancient Germanic peoples Category:Anglo-Saxon England Category:History of the Germanic peoples Category:History of Northumberland Category:Ethnic groups of Europe

Saxon people

The Saxon people or Saxons were a large Germanic people located in what is now northwestern Germany and a small section of the eastern Netherlands. It is important to note that the historical Saxons did not inhabit the modern German federal state called Saxony. They are first mentioned by the geographer Ptolemy as a people of southern Jutland and present-day Schleswig-Holstein, hence they appear subsequently to have expanded to the south and west. The word 'Saxon' is believed to be derived from the word seax, meaning a variety of single-edged knife. The Saxons were considered by Charlemagne, and some historians, to be especially war-like and ferocious.

Continental Saxons

A majority of the Saxons remained in continental Europe dwelling in a territory known as Old Saxony. The Anglo-Saxon historian Bede writing around the year 730 remarks that "the old Saxons have no king, but they are governed by several eorldermen (satrapas) who during war cast lots for leadership, but who in time of peace are equal in power". However, the territory appears to have consolidated itself and by the end of the 8th century there was a political entity called the Duchy of Saxony. The Saxons long avoided becoming Christians (see Ewald the Black) and being incorporated into the orbit of the Frankish kingdom, but were decisively conquered by Charlemagne in a long series of annual campaigns (772 - 804). With defeat came the enforced baptism and conversion of the Saxon leaders and their people. Even their sacred tree, Irminsul, was destroyed. Under Carolingian rule, the Saxons were reduced to a tributary status. There is evidence that the Saxons, as well as Slavic tributaries like the Abodrites and the Wends, often provided troops to their Carolingian overlords. The dukes of Saxony became kings (Henry I, the Fowler, 919) and later the first Emperors (Henry's son, Otto I, the Great) of Germany during the 10th century, but lost this position in 1024. The duchy was divided up in 1180 when Duke Henry the Lion, Emperor Otto's grandson, refused to follow his cousin, Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, into war in Italy. The region in southeastern Germany known as the Kingdom of Saxony between 1806 to 1918 and the Free State of Saxony after 1990, was not a traditional homeland of the Saxon peoples. This region acquired its name through political circumstances and was originally called the Margrave of Meissen. The rulers of this area acquired control of the Duchy of Saxony in 1423 and eventually applied the name Saxony to the whole of their kingdom. Since then this section of southeastern Germany has been referred to as Saxony (German: Sachsen), a source of many misunderstandings about the original homeland of the Saxons, mostly in the present-day German state of Lower Saxony (German: Niedersachsen). The label "Saxons" was generally applied to German settlers who migrated during the 13th century to south-eastern Transylvania in present-day Romania, where their descendants numbered a quarter of a million in the early decades of the 20th century. Most have left since World War II, many of them during the 1970s and 1980s due to the Romanianisation policies of the Ceauşescu regime.

Invasion of Britain

A number of Saxons, along with Angles, Jutes, Franks and Frisians, invaded or migrated to the island of Great Britain (Britannia) around the time of the collapse of Roman authority in the west. Saxon "pirates" had been harassing the eastern and southern shores of Britannia for centuries before - prompting the construction of a string of coastal forts called the litora Saxonica or Saxon Shore and many Saxons and other folk had been permitted to settle in these areas as farmers long before the end of Roman rule in Britannia. However, in 449 following a particularly devastating raid in the north from the Picts and their allies the Romano-British administration invited two Jutish warlords - namely Hengist and Horsa - to occupy the island of Thanet in north Kent and act as mercenaries against the Picts at sea. After the Jutes had executed this mission and defeated the Picts they returned with demands for more lands. When this was rejected they rose in revolt and provoked an insurrection amongst all the settled farming folk of Germanic stock with them. Three separate Saxon Kingdoms emerged 1. The East Saxons: Settled around Colchester, creating the area of Essex. 2. The South Saxons: led by Aelle, created the area of Sussex 3. The West Saxons: led by Cerdic, ruled the Kingdom of Wessex from their capital Winchester. During the period of Ecbert to Alfred the kings of Wessex emerged as Bretwalda, unifying the country, with the shorter-lived Middlesex eventually became part of the kingdom of England in the face of Danish Viking invasions. Historians are divided about what followed. Some argue that the takeover of lowland Britain by the Anglo-Saxons was peaceful. However, there is only one known account from a native Briton who lived at this time (Gildas) and his description is anything but:

"For the fire...spread from sea to sea, fed by the hands of our foes in the east, and did not cease, until, destroying the neighbouring towns and lands, it reached the other side of the island, and dipped its red and savage tongue in the western ocean. In these assaults...all the columns were levelled with the ground by the frequent strokes of the battering-ram, all the husbandmen routed, together with their bishops, priests, and people, whilst the sword gleamed, and the flames crackled around them on every side. Lamentable to behold, in the midst of the streets lay the tops of lofty towers, tumbled to the ground, stones of high walls, holy altars, fragments of human bodies, covered with livid clots of coagulated blood, looking as if they had been squeezed together in a press; and with no chance of being buried, save in the ruins of the houses, or in the ravening bellies of wild beasts and birds; with reverence be it spoken for their blessed souls, if, indeed, there were many found who were carried, at that time, into the high heaven by the holy angels...Some, therefore, of the miserable remnant, being taken in the mountains, were murdered in great numbers; others, constrained by famine, came and yielded themselves to be slaves for ever to their foes, running the risk of being instantly slain, which truly was the greatest favour that could be offered them: some others passed beyond the seas with loud lamentations instead of the voice of exhortation...Others, committing the safeguard of their lives, which were in continual jeopardy, to the mountains, precipices, thickly wooded forests, and to the rocks of the seas (albeit with trembling hearts), remained still in their country."

Gildas Sapiens
De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniæ c.560AD

Wars between the native Romano-Britons and the invading Jutes, Saxons and Angles continued for over 400 years with the Britons being gradually driven to and contained in the mountain strongholds of Wales and Scotland. Collectively the Germanic settlers of Britain, mostly Saxons, Angles and Jutes, came to be called the Anglo-Saxons. Both Old English and modern Middle Low German are derived from Old Saxon.

Modern remnants of the Saxon name

Since reunification in 1990, three federal states of Germany derive their name from the Saxons: Niedersachsen, or Lower Saxony, whose area corresponds roughly to the traditional Saxon lands between the Netherlands and the Elbe River; Sachsen-Anhalt, or Saxony-Anhalt, located around the city of Magdeburg; and the Free State of Sachsen, or Saxony, which includes the city of Dresden. In the Finnish and Estonian languages the words that historically applied to ancient Saxons have changed their meaning over the centuries to denote the whole country of Germany (Saksa in both) and the Germans (saksalaiset and sakslased, respectively) now. In some Celtic languages the word for the English nationality is derived from Saxon, e.g. the Scottish term Sassenach, and the Welsh term Sais. The German-speaking minority in Romania is still referred to as Transylvanian Saxons as well.

External links

- [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/britannia/saxonadvent/saxonadvent.html James Grout: Saxon Advent, part of the Encyclopædia Romana] Category:Ancient Germanic peoples Category:Anglo-Saxon England Category:History of the Germanic peoples Category:Ethnic groups of Europe ja:サクソン人

Frisian people

The Roman historian Tacitus, in his Germania, mentioned the Frisians among people he grouped together as the Ingvaeones. Two different types, or classes are mentioned by Tacitus, the maioribus frisii and the minoribus frisii. Divided by the soil of their farmlands, the maioribus frisii or Clay Frisians populated fertile clay soil increasing the size of their harvests, lifestock and even their posture. The small and relatively unhealthy minoribus frisii (Sand Frisians) farmed on sand lands and subsequently their crops lacked size or number compared to those of the maioribus frisii. According to Tacitus even the armies of the maioribus were larger and better equipped. They were probably a people of seafarers, the North Sea spanning from Bretagne to Eastern Denmark, was referred to as the Mare Frisia at that time. Small groups of Frisians settled the surrounding lands and their settlements have been traced to England, Scotland, Denmark, Germany, Belgium, France and obviously to The Netherlands. Their territory followed the coast of the North Sea from the mouth of the Rhine river up to that of the Ems, their eastern border according to Ptolemy's Geographica. Pliny the Elder states in Belgica that they were conquered by the Roman general Drusus in 12 BC, after that several uprisings have been mentioned by Tacitus. The most noted of these is their partake in the Batavii Rebellion. Thereafter the Frisians largely sank into historical obscurity, until coming into contact with the expanding Merovingian and Carolingian empires. In the 5th Century, during this period of historical silence, many of them no doubt joined the migration of the Anglo-Saxons who went through Frisian territory to invade Britain, while those who stayed on the continent expanded into the newly-emptied lands previously occupied by the Anglo-Saxons. By the end of the sixth century the Frisians occupied the coast all the way to the mouth of the Weser and spread farther still in the seventh century, southward down to Dorestad and even Bruges. This farthest extent of Frisian territory is known as Frisia Magna. The empire that came in to being after the fall of the Western Roman Empire was governed by a king or a duke. The earliest document referring to a independ state ruled by a king is dated 678. Early attempts of to Christianize Frisia were unable to convert the fierce pagan Frisians and various monks were murdered or banished, with the legendary example of the murder of Bonifatius in Dokkum. King Radbod was even ably to beat the mighty Charles Martel in 714 to preserve independence. Twenty years later Charles Martel got his revenge and effectively subjecated the entire Frisian empire. Christianity was also enforced by the christian Franks and in Utrecht a Bishop was installed to see to christian affairs in Frisia. Not until the early 800's did they fully reclaim their independence from the Frankish grip. Christianity had however taken root and had been adopted by most Frisians.

Dukes of Friesland

- Sibbelt ???-???
- Ritzard ???-???
- Aldegisel ???-680
- Radbod 680-719
- Poppo 719-734
- Radbod ???-???

Friesland in the middle-ages

Modern Frisians

The modern remnants of Frisia Magna are small and scattered. Most of it became dominated by its expanding neighbors: the Saxons (who were moving north and west) and the Franks (who were pushing north and east). Western and Middle Frisia are solidly within the modern state of the Netherlands, which now includes the "heartland" of the Frisians from the North Sea coast from Alkmaar in the modern province of Noord-Holland, along the coasts of the modern provinces of Friesland and Groningen, and up to the mouth of the Ems. Culturally, it has shrunk down to the province of Friesland alone. The Frisian language is now spoken only there and in parts of only the Wadden Sea islands of Terschelling and Schiermonnikoog. East and North Frisia have been absorbed into the northern states of Germany, with only the marshes of Saterland, well inland from the coast, still retaining any cultural identity. There are also descendants of Frisians living on the coast of the Jutland peninsula and nearby islands. It is unclear when they arrived there, or even whether they lived first on the islands and then spread to the mainland, or vice-versa. What remains of their language is under heavy pressure from Low German, standard German, and Danish, and is generally expected to become extinct.

Germanic tribes

The term Germanic tribes (or Teutonic tribes) applies to the ancient Germanic peoples of Europe. The Germanic tribes spoke mutually intelligible dialects and shared a mythology (see Germanic mythology) and storytelling, as is indicated by Beowulf and the Volsunga saga. One example of their shared identity is their common Germanic name for non-Germanic peoples,
- walhaz (plural of
- walhoz), from which the local names Welsh, Wallis, Walloon, Wallachia and Cornwall were derived. A second example of a recognized ethnic unity is the fact that the Romans knew them as one and gave them a common name, Germani, the source of our German and Germanic (see Etymology below). In the absence of large-scale political unification, such as that imposed forcibly by the Romans upon the peoples of Italy, the various tribes remained free, led by their own hereditary or chosen leaders.

Etymology of "German"

As the Germanic tribes never called themselves so, but the Romans first knew them as allies of the Celts, Germani is thought to be the Celtic name for them. However, there is also a Latin adjective germanus (<- germen, seed or offshoot), which has the sense of "related" or "kindred" and whence derives the Portuguese irmão and the Spanish hermano, "brother". If the proper name Germani derives from this word, it may refer to the Roman experience of the Germanic tribes as allies of the Celts. Another possible derivation is the one proffered by The Oxford Etymological Dictionary (1966 Edition), which relates the name to Old Irish gair, "neighbor", which actually means "near". The Welsh is ger. Considering the earliest historical relationship between the Germans and the Celts, "neighbor" ought perhaps to be interpreted as "ally." McBain's An Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language relates the word to Irish gearr, "cut, short" (a short distance) and states the Proto-Celtic root to be
- gerso-s, further related to ancient Greek chereion, "inferior" and English gash. Here the etymological trail seems to recede into a prehistoric morass, but there is a good reason for this disappearing trail. English gash leads by one path or another to the Greek word character, which is an engraving for an identity sign of some sort. There is no clear root for this word. It could be an Indo-european root,
- khar-,
- kher-,
- ghar-,
- gher-, "cut", from which also Hittite kar-, "cut". Or, it could be a pre-Indo-European root, related perhaps to Egyptian kha-, "cut", or the Indo-European root could come from the pre-Indo-European root. The self names for the Germanics reveal something of a unity as well. The best known are the Deutsch/Dutch/Dietsch /Dansk words, which come from Indo-European
- teuta-, "tribe" or "people". Not all the Germanics use that word, but there is another, used by all, which is so obvious that it escapes notice: man. We read of the man first in the Germania of Tacitus (Chapter 2, Oxford text): :"Celebrant carminibus antiquis, quod unum apud illos memoriae et annalium genus est, Tuistonem deum terra editum. ei filium Mannum originem gentis conditoresque Manno tres filios adsignant..." :"They celebrate, in ancient songs, which are the only kind of memory and annals among them, Tuisto, the god brought forth from the earth, and assign to him a son, Mannus, the author, and three sons to Mannus, the founders, of the people..."

History

Origin

Mannus]] Regarding the question of ethnic origins, evidence developed by both archaeologists and linguists suggests that a people or group of peoples sharing a common material culture dwelt in northern Germany and southern Scandinavia during the late European Bronze Age (1000 BC-500 BC). This culture group is called the Nordic Bronze Age and spread from southern Scandinavia into northern Germany. The long presence of Germanic tribes in southern Scandinavia (an Indo-European language had probably arrived by 2000 BC) is also evidenced by the fact that no pre-Germanic place names have been found in this area. Linguists, working backwards from historically-known Germanic languages, suggest that this group spoke proto-Germanic, a distinct branch of the Indo-European language family. Cultural features at that time included small, independent settlements, and an economy strongly based on the keeping of livestock. Indo-European, ca 500 BC-60 BC. The area south of Scandinavia is the Jastorf culture]] The southward movement was probably influenced by a deteriorating climate in Scandinavia ca 600 BC - ca 300 BC. The warm and dry climate of southern Scandinavia (2-3 degrees warmer than today) deteriorated considerably, which not only dramatically changed the flora, but forced people to change their way of living and to leave settlements. At around this time, this culture discovered how to extract bog iron from the ore in peat bogs. Their technology for gaining iron ore from local sources may have helped them expand into new territories. The Germanic culture grew to the southwest and southeast, without sudden breaks, and it can be distinguished from the culture of the Celts inhabiting the more southerly Danube and Alpine regions during the same period. The details of the expansion are known only generally, but it is clear that the forebears of the Goths were settled on the southern Baltic shore by 100 AD. According to some scholars, along the lower and middle Rhine, previous local inhabitants seem to have come under the leadership of Germanic figures from outside.

Collision with Rome

By the late 2nd century, B.C., Roman authors recount Gaul (modern France), Italy, and Iberia (modern Portugal and Spain) were invaded by migrating Germanic tribes, culminating in military conflict with the armies of the Roman Empire. Six decades later, Julius Caesar invoked the threat of such attacks as one justification for his annexation of Gaul to Rome. Julius Caesar, an ethnographic work on the diverse group of Germanic tribes outside of the Roman Empire.]] As Rome advanced her borders to the Rhine and Danube, incorporating many Celtic societies into the Empire, the tribal homelands to the north and east emerged collectively in the records as Germania, whose peoples were sometimes at war with the Empire, but who also engaged in complex and long-term trade relations, military alliances, and cultural exchanges with their neighbors to the south. The wars against the Cimbri and Teutoni whose military incursion into Roman Italy was thrust back in 101 BC were written up by Caesar and others as historical prototypes of a Northern danger for the Empire to be controlled. In the Augustean period there was - as a result of Roman activity as far as the Elbe River - a first definition of the "Germania magna": from Rhine and Danube in the West and South to the Vistula and the Baltic Sea in the East and North. Caesar's ethnographic excurses finally established the term Germania. The initial purpose of the Roman campaigns was to protect Gaul by controlling the area between the Rhine and the Elbe. In 9 AD a revolt of their subject Germanics headed by Arminius (decisive defeat of Quintilius Varus in the Teutoburg Forest) ended in the withdrawal of the Roman frontier to the Rhine. At the end of the 1st century two provinces west of the Rhine called Germania inferior and Germania superior were established. Important medieval cities like Aachen, Cologne, Trier, Mainz, Worms and Speyer were part of these Roman structures.

Migration Period

:Main article: Migration Period During the 5th century, as the Roman Empire drew toward its end, numerous Germanic tribes, under pressure from invading Asian peoples and/or population growth and climate change, began migrating en masse in far and diverse directions, taking them to England and as far south through present day Continental Europe to the Mediterranean and northern Africa. Over time, this wandering meant intrusions into other tribal territories, and the ensuing wars for land escalated with the dwindling amount of unoccupied territory. Wandering tribes then began staking out permanent homes as a means of protection. Much of this resulted in fixed settlements from which many, under a powerful leader, expanded outwards. A defeat meant either scattering or merging with the dominant tribe, and this continued to be how nations were formed. In Denmark the Jutes merged with the Danes, in Sweden the Geats merged with the Swedes. In England, for example, we now most often refer to the Anglo-Saxons rather than the two separate tribes.

Role of the Germanics in the Fall of Rome

Some of the Germanic tribes are frequently blamed in popular conceptions for the fall of the Roman Empire in the late 5th century. Professional historians and archaeologists have since the 1950s shifted their interpretations in such a way that the Germanic peoples are no longer seen as invading a decaying empire but as being co-opted into helping defend territory the central government could no longer adequately administer. Individuals and small groups from Germanic tribes had long been recruited from the territories beyond the limes (i.e., the regions just outside the Roman Empire), and some of them had risen high in the command structure of the army. Then the Empire recruited entire tribal groups under their native leaders as officers. Assisting with defense eventually shifted into administration and then outright rule, as Roman traditions of government passed into the hands of Germanic leaders. Odoacer, who deposed Romulus Augustulus, is the ultimate example. The presence of successor states controlled by a nobility from one of the Germanic tribes is evident in the 6th century - even in Italy, the former heart of the Empire, where Odoacer was followed by Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths, who was regarded by Roman citizens and Gothic settlers alike as legitimate successor to the rule of Rome and Italy.

Culture

Italy.]] See: Germanic king, Germanic paganism The Germanic tribes were each politically independent, under a hereditary king. The kings appear to have claimed descendancy from mythical founders of the tribes, the name of some of which is preserved:
- Angul — Angles (the Kings of Mercia, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, other Anglo-Saxon dynasties are derived from other descendents of Woden)
- Aurvandil — Vandals (uncertain)
- Burgundus — Burgundians
- Cibidus — Cibidi
- Dan — Danes
- Gothus — Goths
- Ingve — Ynglings
- Irmin — Irminones
- Longobardus — Lombards
- Saxneat — Saxons
- Valagothus — Valagoths

Conversion to Christianity

The Ostrogoths, Visigoths, and Vandals were Christianized while they were still outside the bounds of the Empire; however, they converted to Arianism rather than to orthodox Catholicism, and were soon regarded as heretics. The one great written remnant of the Gothic language is a translation of portions of the Bible made by Ulfilas, the missionary who converted them. The Lombards were not converted until after their entrance into the Empire, but received Christianity from Arian Germanic groups. The Franks were converted directly from paganism to Catholicism without an intervening time as Arians. Several centuries later, Anglo-Saxon and Frankish missionaries and warriors undertook the conversion of their Saxon neighbours. A key event was the felling of Thor's Oak near Fritzlar by Boniface, apostle of the Germans, in 723. Eventually, the conversion was forced by armed force, successfully completed by Charlemagne, in a series of campaigns (the Saxon Wars), that also brought Saxon lands into the Frankish empire.

Languages

- Germanic languages

List of Germanic tribes

- Adrabaecampi, Alamanni, Ambrones, Ampsivarii, Angles, Angrivarii, Avarpi, Aviones
- Baemi, Banochaemae, Batavii or Batavi, Batini, Bavarii, Brisgavi, Brondings, Bructeri, Burgundiones, Buri (Germanic tribe)
- Calucones, Canninefates, Caritni, Chaedini, Chaemae, Chali, Chamavi, Charudes, Chasuarii, Chattuarii, Chauci, Cherusci, Chatti, Cimbri, Cobandi, Condrusi, Corconti
- Dani, Dauciones, Diduni, Dulgubnii
- Eburones, Eudoses
- Favonae, Firaesi, Fosi (Germanic tribe), Franks, Frisians, Fundusi
- Gambrivii, Geats, Gepidae, Goths
- Harii, Hasdingi, Helisii, Helveconae, Heruli, Hermunduri, Hilleviones
- Ingriones, Ingvaeones (North Sea Germans), Intuergi, Irminones (Elbe Germans), Istvaeones (Rhine-Weser Germans)
- Jutes, Juthungi
- Lacringi, Landi, Lemovii, Levoni, Lombards or Langobardes, Lugii
- Manimi, Marcomanni, Marsi (Germanic), Marsigni, Mattiaci, Mugilones
- Naharvali, Nemetes, Nertereanes, Nervii, Njars, Nuitones
- Ostrogoths
- Parmaecampi, Pharodini
- Quadi
- Racatae, Racatriae, Reudigni, Rugii, Ruticli
- Sabalingi, Saxons, Scirii, Segni, Semnoni, Sibini, Sidini, Sigulones, Silingi, Sitones, Suarini, Suebi, Suiones, Sugambri
- Tencteri, Teuriochaemae, Teutons, Treviri, Triboci, Tubantes, Tungri, Turcilingi
- Ubii, Usipetes, Usipi
- Vandals, Vangiones, Varini, Varisci, Visburgi, Visigoths
- Zumi Precautionary Note: These ethnic names were culled from a variety of ancient and mediaeval sources dating from the middle of the 1st millennium BC to the early 2nd millennium AD. They do not necessarily represent contemporaneous, distinct or Germanic-speaking populations. The peoples referenced do not necessarily have common ancestral populations. Some identities closely fit the concept of a tribe. Others are confederations or even unions of tribes. Some may not have spoken Germanic at all, but were bundled by the sources with the Germanic speakers. Some were undoubtedly of mixed culture. Some tribes may have assimilated to Germanic; others to other cultures from Germanic. Long-lasting ethnic identities changed population base and language over the centuries. As for genetic characteristics, they must be considered unrelated to these names. Apart from these limitations, it is probably safe to assume that, on the whole, most of these populations spoke some branch of Germanic and contributed to pools of descendants who currently live in the Germanic-speaking countries. Many of the names descend to modern place names. Some tribal maps of ancient Germany can be found at:
- [http://www.ourcivilisation.com/smartboard/shop/tacitusc/germany/map.htm Germany of Tacitus]
- [http://www.reisenett.no/map_collection/historical/Ancient_Germania.jpg A speculative Findlay map of 1849] Note: these maps or any other maps represent an interpretation of the information available to the map-maker. Typically the ancients did not know or did not leave enough information for us to locate them exactly. The maps only give us a rough idea of the features and ethnic locations of ancient Germany. In addition, some of tribes, e.g. the Bastarnae are not identified as Germanic with any certainty and large areas in Central Europe the Germanic tribes probably only constituted a newly arrived minority among Slavs and remaining Celts. Wolfram (1990:91f), for instance, points out that the early Visigoths, called Tervingi also comprised many Taifalans (unknown origin) and Alans (Iranians). The Alans became so Gothicized that non-Germanic people considered them to be Goths.

Classification

The concept of "Germanic" as a distinct ethnic identity was hinted at by the early Greek geographer Strabo [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0198;query=section%3D%2341;chunk=section;layout=;loc=7.1.1], who distinguished a barbarian group in northern Europe similar to, but not part of, the Celts. Posidonius, to our knowledge, is the first to have used the name. By the 1st century A.D., the writings of Caesar, Tacitus and other Roman era writers indicate a division of Germanic-speaking peoples into tribal groupings centred on:
- the rivers Oder and Vistula (Poland) (East Germanic tribes),
- the lower Rhine river (Istvaeones),
- the river Elbe (Irminones),
- Jutland and the Danish islands (Ingvaeones). The Istvaeones, Irminones, and Ingvaeones are collectively called West Germanic tribes. In addition to this those Germanic people who remained in Scandinavia are referred to as North Germanic. These groups all developed separate dialects, the basis for the differences among Germanic languages down to the present day. The divison of peoples into west-Germanic, east-Germanic, and north-Germanic was a 19th century hypothesis of linguists. Many Greek scholars only classified Celts and Scyths in the Northwest and Northeast of the Mediterranean and this classification was widely maintained in Greek literature until Late Antiquity. Latin-Greek ethnographers (Tacitus, Pliny the Elder, Ptolemy, and Strabo) mentioned in the first two centuries AD the names of peoples they classified as Germanic along the Elbe, the Rhine, and the Danube, the Vistula and on the Baltic Sea. Tacitus mentioned 40, Ptolemy 69 peoples. Classical ethnography applied the name Suebi to many tribes in the first century. It appeared that this native name had all but replaced the foreign name Germanic. After the Marcomannic wars the Gothic name steadily gained importance. Some of the ethnic names mentioned by the ethnographers of the first two centuries AD on the shores of the Oder and the Vistula (Gutones, Vandali) reappear from the 3rd century on in the area of the lower Danube and north of the Carpathian Mountains. Modern scholarship has no explanation for the ethnic processes causing this continuity. For the end of the 5th century the Gothic name can be used - according to the historical sources - for such different peoples like the Goths in Gaul, Iberia and Italy, the Vandals in Africa, the Gepids along the Tisza and the Danube, the Rugians, Sciri and Burgundians, even the Iranian Alans. These peoples were classified as Scyths and often deducted from the ancient Getae (most important: Cassiodor/Jordanes, Getica approx. 550 AD).

The concept of Volk

In the last decade of the 20th century and the first decade of the 21st there has been debate about exactly what "tribe" or "people" meant to these groups, whose fluidity and willingness to sometimes blend is seen while at the same time forced mergers as a result of war were taking place and the tribe as it had been known vanished. The late classical sources are especially clear in the matter of the blended nature of the Alamanni. The idea of a unified German people, or Volk, was expressed openly in print by 19th century Ethnic Nationalist writers and thinkers after the Napoleonic Wars. Such an identity, however, had existed more implicitly since the Middle Ages, helping to fuel the Protestant Reformation, when many Germanic lands pulled away religiously and politically from the Roman Catholic Church.

Great Britain

:For an explanation of often confusing terms like England, (Great) Britain and United Kingdom see British Isles (terminology). British Isles (terminology) Great Britain is an island lying off the north-western coast of Europe, comprising the main territory of the United Kingdom (UK). Great Britain is also used as a political term describing the combination of England, Scotland, and Wales, the three countries which together comprise the entire island and include some outlying islands. Great Britain is also widely, but inaccurately, used as a synonym for the sovereign state properly known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Geographical definition

With an area of 218 595km² (84,400 sq.mi) the island of Great Britain is the largest of the British Isles. It is the largest island in Europe, and eighth largest in the world. It is the third most populous island after Java and Honshu. Great Britain stretches over approximately ten degrees of latitude on its longer, north-south axis. Geographically, the island is marked by low, rolling countryside in the east and south, while hills and mountains predominate in the western and northern regions. Before the end of the last ice age, Great Britain was a peninsula of Europe; the rising sea levels caused by glacial melting at the end of the ice age caused the formation of the English Channel, the body of water which now divides Great Britain from the European mainland. The climate of Great Britain is milder than that of other regions of the Northern Hemisphere at the same latitude, because the warm waters of the Gulf Stream pass by the British Isles and exert a moderating influence on the weather. Cool, but not cold, temperatures, clouds more often than sun, and abundant rain are the rule in most years.

Political definition

Politically, Great Britain describes the combination of England, Scotland, and Wales. It includes outlying islands such as the Isles of Scilly, the Hebrides, and the island groups of Orkney and Shetland but does not include the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands. Over the centuries, Great Britain has evolved politically from several independent countries (England, Scotland, and Wales) through two kingdoms with a shared monarch (England and Scotland), a single all-island Kingdom of Great Britain, to the situation following 1801, in which Great Britain together with the island of Ireland constituted the larger United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (UK). The UK became the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in the 1920s following the independence of five-sixths of Ireland as the Republic of Ireland.

History

The Roman geographer Ptolemy called the larger island Megale Brettania (Great Britain), and the smaller island Micra Bretannia (Little Britain). Hence, originally, the term Great Britain referred to the largest island in the British Isles, just as the largest of the Canary Islands is still called Gran Canaria, and the largest of the Comoros is Grande Comore. Nevertheless, it is sometimes supposed that Great Britain is a translation of the French term Grande Bretagne, which is used in France to distinguish Britain from Brittany (in French: Bretagne), which had been settled in late Roman times by Romano-Celtic refugees from Roman Britain, then under attack by the Anglo-Saxons. Since the English court and aristocracy was largely French-speaking for several hundred years after the Norman Conquest of 1066, the French term naturally passed into English usage. The term was revived during the reign of King James VI of Scotland, I of England to describe the island, on which co-existed two separate kingdoms, both at that time ruled by the same monarch. Though England and Scotland each remained legally in existence as separate countries with their own parliaments, collectively they were sometimes referred to as Great Britain. In 1707, an Act of Union joined both parliaments. That Act used two different terms to describe the new all island nation, a 'United Kingdom' and the 'Kingdom of Great Britain'. However, the former term is regarded by many as having been a description of the union rather than its name at that stage. Most reference books therefore describe the all-island kingdom that existed between

Jutes

Jutes and Geats

External links

Jutland

History

See also

Denmark

History

Politics and government

Counties

Geography

Economy

Demographics

Culture

Miscellaneous topics

See also

References

External links

Frisia

See also

Angles

Early history

Angle influence in Britain

St. Gregory

References

External link

Saxon people

Continental Saxons

Invasion of Britain

Modern remnants of the Saxon name

External links

Frisian people

Dukes of Friesland

Friesland in the middle-ages

Modern Frisians

See also

Germanic tribes

Etymology of "German"

History

Origin

Collision with Rome

Migration Period

Role of the Germanics in the Fall of Rome

Culture

Conversion to Christianity

Languages

List of Germanic tribes

Classification

The concept of Volk

See also

Further reading

Great Britain

Geographical definition

Political definition

History