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Germanic monarchy, also called barbarian monarchy, was a monarchical system of government which was predominant among the Germanic tribes of Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. The Germanic peoples are a historical group of Indo-European -speaking peoples originating in Northern Europe and identified by their use of the Germanic Late Antiquity (c 300-600 is a Periodization used by historians to describe the transitional centuries from Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages, in The Early Middle Ages is a period in the History of Europe following the fall of the Western Roman Empire spanning roughly five centuries from AD 500 It is often contrasted with feudal monarchy and national monarchy, the later medieval systems which developed out of it. Feudalism, a term first used in the early modern period (17th century in its most classic sense refers to a Medieval Europe Political system composed For the online game see Jennifer Government NationStates. The nation-state is a certain form of State that derives its legitimacy

The term "barbarian monarchy" was proposed early in the twentieth century by Russian medievalists who saw similarities between the Germanic tribal monarchies and those of the nomadic peoples of the Steppe. Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending In academic usage medievalism is the study of the Middle Ages, also referred to as medieval studies. In physical Geography, a steppe ( German, from степь - "a flat and arid land" степ - /stɛp/ тал - tal дала - /dɑlɑ/ pronounced [1]

Germanic monarchies were primitive states. At the apex of a society of mostly free men stood the monarch (almost always a king), who had a few limited functions. The Germanic monarchies were originally pagan, but their contact, during the Völkerwanderung or Migration Period, with the Roman Empire and the Christian Church greatly altered their structure. Germanic paganism refers to the religious beliefs of the Germanic peoples preceding Christianization. The Migration Period, also called Barbarian Invasions, or sometimes Völkerwanderung ( German for "wandering of peoples" is the English name The Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial Church (disambiguation Christian Church and the word church are used to denote both a Christian association of people and a Place of worship They soon developed into different entities in which the king was more than the leader of a war band and the law more than oral tradition.

Contents

Germanic kings

The Germanic king originally had three main functions:

The office was received hereditarily, but a new king required the consent of the people before assuming the throne. All sons of the king had the right to claim the throne, which often led to co-rulership (diarchy) where two brothers were elected kings at the same time. Diarchy (or dyarchy) from the Greek "δύο" and αρχειν "to rule" is a form of government in which two diarchs are the heads of state This evolved into the territories being considered the hereditary property of the kings, patrimonies, a system which fueled feudal wars, because the kings could claim ownership of lands beyond their de facto rule.

As a sort of pagan high priest, the king often claimed descent from some deity. In the Scandinavian nations, he administered blóts at important cult sites, such as the Temple at Uppsala. Terminology and usage As a cultural term "Scandinavia" has no official definition and is subject to usage by those who identify with the culture in question as well The blót ( Old Norse plural same as singular refers to Norse pagan sacrifice to the Norse gods and Elves. The Temple at Uppsala was a religious site in Gamla Uppsala (Old Uppsala near modern Uppsala, Sweden, that was created to worship the Norse gods Refusal to administer the blóts could lead to the king losing power (see Haakon the Good and Anund Gårdske). Haakon I ( Old Norse: Hákon Aðalsteinsfóstri, Norwegian: Håkon Adalsteinsfostre) (c Anund of Gardarike, in Swedish Anund Gårdske, was the King of Sweden c

Development

With the decline of the Roman Empire, much of her provinces came under the rule of Germanic kings: Hispania to the Visigoths, Italia to the Ostrogoths, Gallia to the Franks, Britannia to the Anglo-Saxons, and Africa to the Vandals. The Decline of the Roman Empire, leading to the Fall of the Roman Empire, or the Fall of Rome, was the end of the Western Roman Empire. Hispania was the name given by the Romans to the whole of the Iberian Peninsula (modern Portugal, Spain, Andorra, Gibraltar The Visigoths (Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, or Wisi were one of two main branches of the Goths, an East Italia, under the Roman Republic and later Empire, was the name of the Italian peninsula. The Ostrogoths (Ostrogothi or Austrogothi were a branch of the Goths, an East Germanic tribe that played a major role in the political events of the late For Gaul before the Roman conquest see Gaul. Roman Gaul consisted of an area of provincial rule in the Roman Empire, in modern day The Franks or Frankish people (Franci or gens Francorum) were West Germanic tribes first identified in the 3rd century as an Ethnic group Roman Britain refers to those parts of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire between AD 43 and 410 For their language see Anglo-Saxon language. Anglo-Saxon is the term usually used to describe the invading Tribes in the south The Roman province of Africa was established after the Romans defeated Carthage in the Third Punic War. These nations had by then been in contact with Rome for a century or more and had adopted many Roman customs. They had been Christianised too and pagan practice was slowly being replaced.

The Frankish state under her Merovingian dynasty had many of the characteristics of Germanic monarchy under heavy influence from secular and ecclesiastic Rome. The Merovingians (also Merovings) were a Salian Frankish dynasty that came to rule the Franks in a region (known as Francia in Latin Her kings, through their division of the territory, treated her not as a state independent of themselves, but as their patrimony, land won by conquest (theirs and their forefathers'). The king was primarily a war leader and a judge. There are many theories to explain the collapse of Merovingian power, most of which blame the inability of later Merovingians in war as an important factor. The commonly-cited occasion of Sigebert III sobbing in his saddle after a defeat (the king was then only ten years old) highlights the importance of victory in battle for a king who is chiefly a warrior. Sigebert III (c 630&ndash656/660 was the king of Austrasia from 634 to his death probably on 1 February 656, or maybe as late as 660

The principle of election, which determined Germanic succession, was abandoned in those states under the heaviest influence from the papacy (such as Merovingian Gaul, where hereditary succession and the divine right of the reigning dynasty was recognised). However, in Visigothic Spain (so long under Arian rule) the principle survived longer and has been seen as the root of Visigothic weakness at the time of the Moorish invasion. Arianism is the theological teaching of Arius (c AD 250-336 who was ruled a heretic by the Christian church at the Council of Nicea. The Umayyad conquest of Hispania ( 711 – 718) began as an army of the Umayyad Caliphate consisting largely of Berbers inhabitants In Anglo-Saxon Britain, the principle survived until the Norman Conquest removed it. Anglo-Saxon kings were elected by the witena gemót. The Witenagemot or the Witena gemot (ˈwɪtənəgɪˌməʊt also known as the Witan (more properly the title of its members was a political institution in Finally, the principle survived in some form or other for centuries after the demise of the last Germanic monarchies. The civil wars of medieval Scandinavia and the electorate of the Holy Roman Empire are part of its legacy. The Holy Roman Empire ( HRE; German Heiliges Römisches Reich (HRR, Latin Sacrum Romanum Imperium (SRI was a union of territories in

Germanic monarchies

Lists

Tribes

Dynasties

Terminology

Etymology

The name king is derived from the Anglo-Saxon cyning, which in turn is derived from the Proto-Germanic *kuningaz. Members of Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish royal families have been Norwegian monarchs. This is a list of Swedish Monarchs, that is the Kings and ruling Queens of Sweden, with Regents and Viceroys of the Kalmar Union This is a list of Danish Monarchs, that is the Kings and Queens regnant of Denmark. The Franks were originally led by dukes (military leaders and reguli (petty kings The Kingdom of Mercia was an important state in the English Midlands from the 6th century to the 10th. Northumbria, a kingdom of Angles in northern England, was initially divided into two kingdoms Bernicia and Deira. This is a list of monarchs of Wessex until 924. For later monarchs see the List of monarchs in the British Isles. This is a chronological list of the monarchs of East Anglia, formally known as The Kingdom of the East Angles, one of the seven traditional kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon This is a list of the Kings of the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Kent. For their language see Anglo-Saxon language. Anglo-Saxon is the term usually used to describe the invading Tribes in the south The Franks or Frankish people (Franci or gens Francorum) were West Germanic tribes first identified in the 3rd century as an Ethnic group The Goths ( Gothic: Gothic usvg|14px|u]]Gothic asvg|14px|a]]Gothic s The Visigoths (Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, or Wisi were one of two main branches of the Goths, an East The Ostrogoths (Ostrogothi or Austrogothi were a branch of the Goths, an East Germanic tribe that played a major role in the political events of the late The Suebi or Suevi (from Proto-Germanic * swēbaz based on the Proto-Germanic root * swē- meaning "one's own" The Merovingians (also Merovings) were a Salian Frankish dynasty that came to rule the Franks in a region (known as Francia in Latin The Carolingian dynasty (known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolings, or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family with its origins in the The Agilolfings were a family of either Frankish or Bavarian nobility that ruled the Duchy of Bavaria on behalf of their Merovingian suzerains Anglo-Saxon monarchs were the rulers of the various kingdoms which arose in England following the withdrawal of the Romans in the fifth century Proto-Germanic, or Common Germanic, is the hypothetical common ancestor ( Proto-language) of all the Germanic languages such as modern English The original meaning is contested. One theory is that the element *kun relates to the word kindred or that it originally meant descendant of a ruler. Another theory is that it is originally meant belonging to the woman, i. e. belonging to the mother goddess and referring to the king's role as a priest. A mother goddess is a Goddess, often portrayed as the Earth Mother who serves as a general Fertility deity the bountiful embodiment of the Earth.

Modern forms of *kuningaz:

The word *kuningaz has been borrowed by several non-Germanic languages (note that Slavic kral, król and korol are not derived from this word):

Interestingly, the word differs from other Indo-European words for "king", most of which are clearly related (Latin rex, Sanskrit rājan and Irish rí, for example). Dutch ( is a West Germanic language spoken by around 24 million people 22 million of which are from the Netherlands, Belgium and Suriname English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. Icelandic ( is a North Germanic language, the language of Iceland. Norwegian ( norsk) is a North Germanic Language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is an official language Danish ( d̥ænsɡ̊ is one of the North Germanic languages (also called Scandinavian languages a sub-group of the Germanic branch of the Swedish ( is a North Germanic language spoken by more than nine million people predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along the Faroese ( føroyskt ˈføːɹɪst or) often also spelled Faeroese (cf The Slavic languages (also called Slavonic languages) a group of closely related Languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup of Indo-European languages Finnish ( or suomen kieli) is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland (92% As of 2006) and by ethnic Finns outside Estonian (; ˈeːsti ˈkeːl is the official language of Estonia, spoken by about 1 Latvian language (latviešu valoda is the official state language of Latvia. Lithuanian ( lietuvių kalba) is the official state language of Lithuania and is recognised as one of the official languages of the European Union. Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages Kniaz’ or knyaz is a word found in some Slavic languages, denoting a Nobility rank Sami or Saami is a general name for a group of Finnic languages spoken by the Sami people in parts of northern Finland, Norway Serbian (sr-Cyrl српски језик sr-Latn ''srpski jezik'' is a South Slavic language, The Tatar language (,, Татар теле, Татарча) is a Turkic Language spoken by the Tatars. Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Sanskrit (sa संस्कृता वाक् saṃskṛtā vāk, for short sa संस्कृतम् saṃskṛtam) is a historical For other uses see Raja (disambiguation and Rajah (disambiguation. Irish (ga ''Gaeilge'' is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish.

Other names

In Germanic traditions there are many kennings for king, such as Giver of Rings used in Beowulf: a king was expected to give golden rings to reward his warriors. A kenning ( Old Norse kenning, Modern Icelandic pronunciation) is a Circumlocution used instead of an ordinary Noun in Old Norse Beowulf is an Old English Heroic epic poem of anonymous authorship dating as recorded in the Nowell Codex manuscript from between

Notes

  1. ^ Painter, A History of the Middle Ages 284−1500.

Sources

See also

Several Latin Law codes of the Germanic peoples written in the Early Middle Ages (also known as leges barbarorum
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