European Kingdoms

Teutonic Barbarian Kingdoms (& Anti-Roman Tribes)
AD 3rd - 5th centuries

Through interaction with the Roman Empire from the first Roman invasion north of the Danube in the first century, the Germanic tribes based between the Rhine and the Pripet Marshes slowly consolidated their positions until they had formed into barbarian kingdoms that eventually threatened the Empire itself.

They were forced west and south by later incursions of Hunnic tribes into their lands. Six major tribes, the Visigoths (Western Goths), the Ostrogoths (Eastern Goths), the Vandals, the Burgundians, the Lombards (initially part of the Suevi confederation), and the Franks participated in the fragmentation and collapse of the Western Roman Empire.

The Vandals were actually two tribes, the Asding and the Siling Vandals. Several other tribes were also involved, the Alans and the Suevi confederation in particular, though the Alans were an Iranian steppe people, not Germans. The Burgundians crossed the Rhine in 407, founding their own kingdom on the Rhine's west bank. Through intermarriage, they became virtually indivisible from the Franks.

166 - 169

The First Invasion of German peoples across the Danube takes place, penetrating into Italy and forcing the Roman emperor, Marcus Aurelius, to spend the rest of his life campaigning in the Danube region to contain the problem.

The Goths

The Goths were the first of the Barbarian tribes to form a recognised kingdom, although few records of them exist other than brief mentions by Roman writers.

According to their own traditions, the Goths originated in a land called 'Gothiscandza', identified as southern Scandinavia. It was population pressure which, according to their legends, caused them to move en masse to what would become their long standing homeland between the Oder and the Vistula, in what is now Poland.

Unfortunately, there is no archaeological evidence to support the legend. What does seem to have happened is that there was a slow, steady drift from the Oder-Vistula region into Ukraine, or Scythia as it was known to the ancients. The Goths were constantly attended by a subject tribe, the Heruli.

fl 250 - 251

Kniva / Cniva

Led the Second Invasion across the Danube.

251

Kniva and his Goths cross the Danube to raid districts of Moesia and Thrace - the first occasion the Goths appear in any detail in the historical record. Kniva is surprised by the Roman emperor Decius while besieging Nicopolis on the Danube. The Goths flee through the Balkans, but double back and surprise the Romans near Beroë (modern Stara Zagora) and then attack Philippopolis (modern Plovdiv), which falls into their hands. Its commander, Titus Julius Priscus, declares himself emperor under Gothic protection.

The siege had so exhausted the numbers and resources of the Goths that they offer to surrender their booty and prisoners on condition of being allowed to retire unmolested. But Decius refuses to entertain their proposals and engages them at the Battle of Abrittus. Decius' army is annihilated the emperor slain. The Goths are eventually defeated by Aemilianus, Roman govenor of Moesia Superior and Pannonia.

fl 270

Cannabaudes

Killed by Emperor Aurelian (270-275).

270s

The death of Cannabaudes precipitates a major shift in the balance of power in Eastern Europe. The appearance of the Gepids to fill the vacuum drives a wedge between the Tervingi branch of the Goths (led by the Balti Goths), west of the Dniester, and the Greutungi (led by the Amali Goths), east of the Sea of Azov.

The Tervingi consolidate their realm between the Dniester and the Danube, and become known to the Romans as the Visigoths.

The Greutungi, or Ostrogoths, are conquered by the Huns, who sweep into Europe from the Asiatic steppes in the latter half of the fourth century.