Theoderic the Great became a barbarian king of Italy after he killed Odoacer. He initiated three decades of peace between the Ostrogoths and the Romans and united the two Germanic tribes.
In 771, Charlemagne became king of the Franks, a Germanic tribe in present-day Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and western Germany. He embarked on a mission to unite all Germanic peoples into one kingdom, and convert his subjects to Christianity.
ArminiusArminius (German: Hermann, /ɑːrˈmɪniəs/; 18/17 BC – 21 AD) was a Roman officer and later chieftain of the Germanic Cherusci tribe who is best known for commanding an alliance of Germanic tribes at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in 9 AD, in which three Roman legions under the command of general Publius Quinctilius ...
Origins. The Germanic peoples (also called Teutonic, Suebian, or Gothic in older literature) are an ethno-linguistic Indo-European group of northern European origin. They are identified by their use of Germanic languages, which diversified out of Proto-Germanic during the Pre-Roman Iron Age.
Political and diplomatic leaders, such as Odoacer and Theoderic the Great, changed the course of history in the late 400s CE and paved the way for later kings and conquerors. Odoacer, a German general, took over the Western Roman Empire in his own name, becoming the first barbarian king of Italy.
Charlemagne sought to unite all of the Germanic tribes into a single kingdom that was modeled after the Romans. The Frankish kingdom eventually included people of diverse cultures who spoke many languages, so Charlemagne appointed native members of the lands he conquered to administer the provinces in his name.
ArminiusArminius, German Hermann, (born 18 bce? —died 19 ce), German tribal leader who inflicted a major defeat on Rome by destroying three legions under Publius Quinctilius Varus in the Teutoburg Forest (southeast of modern Bielefeld, Germany), late in the summer of 9 ce.
Abstract. THE YEARS between 500 and 900 in Western Europe can best be understood if they are regarded as a period of transition from the civilizations of the early Germans and the Romans to the civilization of the Middle Ages. During this period the Germanic peoples settled down and developed their institutions.
The origins of the Germanic peoples are obscure. During the late Bronze Age, they are believed to have inhabited southern Sweden, the Danish peninsula, and northern Germany between the Ems River on the west, the Oder River on the east, and the Harz Mountains on the south.
Germanic culture is characterized as having significant roots from Scandinavian and Teutonic cultures, and has notable influences from other societies at the time, namely the Roman Empire, who gave the tribe its Latin name, Germani.
As Germanic tribes invaded Rome, centralized control of the Empire faded. While some tribes, like the Franks, assimilated into Roman culture and became an established part of the society, others, like the Anglo-Saxons, kept their own native culture dominant.