177 



TEUTONIC NATIONS. 



TEUTONIC NATIONS. 



178 



nourisher (Thor, Tu.itco) ; tkut or Mud, earth; toll dote, dote, god- 

 father ; tuda, nurse ; Odod, father of the people, lord, ruler, king, in 

 Gothic tldudam, in old Bavarian theodo ; diet, people, in old Swedish, 

 thiaut and thyd ; thiud/nassua, in Gothic, kingdom. (Fulda, ' Wurzel- 

 Worterbuch.') The idea of ruling, expressed by the root Teut, explains 

 why this word occurs so frequently in the names of the ancient 

 Teutonic kings, dukes, or chiefs, such as Teutoboch, Theudorix, 

 Diorix, Theodorix, Theodoric, Theodomir, Theodimir, Teutagon, &c. 

 It is likewise contained in the general name of all the Teutonic nations, 

 and in those of various tribes, as the Teutones, the Teutonoarii, 

 Thaifali, and the Dithmarses or Dietmarses. Teuton is identical with 

 Deutsche or Teuttche (in Low German, Outsell ; in Dutch, Dmtich ; in 

 Danish, Tysk ; in English, Dutch), which from the remotest time has 

 been and is still the general name of that part of the Teutonic nations 

 which we now call Germans, who considered the god or hero Tuisco 

 as their common ancestor. There are no direct proofs of the word 

 Teuton having had this extensive meaning in the earliest German 

 history, but this is perhaps the result of the political state of the 

 Teutonic nations, which were originally divided into numerous tribes, 

 each of which became separately known to the Romans. 



(Sriffin of the Teutonic Natima. The Teutonic race is originally from 

 Asia. The Teutones immigrated into Europe at different periods un- 

 known to history, although it appears that the last of them entered 

 Europe during the migration of nations in the 4th and 5th centuries. 

 Some account of their Asiatic origin is given in their ancient national 

 songs, principally in the Sagas of the Scandinavians. It is also said 

 that Benedict Goesius (Goez), a Jesuit, found in 1603, in the mountains 

 of the Hindu Rush, north-east of Cabul, a people with fair hair like 

 the Dutch, and who are perhaps identical with that tribe of which 

 Pliny speaks, and which was settled in the Monies Emodi. But all 

 this is of little value, unless it is corroborated by other facts. Such 

 facts have been furnished by the learned philologists of our age, espe- 

 cially by Friedrich von Schlegel, Adelung, Bopp, Grimm, and Hammer- 

 Purgstall. A comparison of the Teutonic languages with the Persian, 

 the Zend, and the Sanskrit, has shown the relationship which exists 

 among these languages [LANGUAGE ; ;SASSKBIT LANGUAGE and LITE- 

 RATURE], and by means of these facts, the Mythes and Sagas become 

 important for history. 



When the Teutonic nations appeared in history, they were divided 

 into many bodies or confederations of tribes, such as, at a later period, 

 the Franks, the Suevi, the Saxons, the Marcomanui, and the Alemanui. 

 Long before these names were known, there was a similar confedera- 

 tion of tribes which came from the north-north-east and conquered the 

 countries on the left bank of the Rhine, then inhabited by Celtic 

 nations, which fled to their brethren in Central Gaul. The epoch of 

 this invasion is not known, but the event happened a long time before 

 the age of Caesar, who found those countries settled by a Teutonic 

 population. Tribes of the Condrusi, the Eburones, the Caeraesi, and 

 the Paemani, were united in a confederation, and had adopted the 

 name of Gennani, or " war-like men." This name was gradually used 

 by the Romans to designate other nations which belonged to the Teu- 

 tonic race (Tacitus, ' Germ.,' c. 2), and subsequently it was adopted by 

 the English as a name for the " Deutsche," while this very name, 

 changed into Dutch, now designates the inhabitants of Holland. 



The Teutonic Nationi after Caiar. When Caesar reached the Rhine, 

 Northern Germany, Holland, Belgium, and a part of the countries on 

 the Middle Rhine were inhabited by Teutonic nations which belonged 

 to the northern, now Saxon, branch. They had been settled in fixed 

 habitations for several centuries, and they must be considered as the 

 first of this race which settled in Germany. The southern part of this 

 country was then inhabited by Celts and Rhaetians, except the tract 

 between the Upper Rhine and the Upper Danube, which was con- 

 quered by the Suevi, who belonged to the Teutonic race. The word 

 " Suevi," which comes from " schweifen," may be translated " wan- 

 derers," or people who rambled about for the purpose of settling in 

 any convenient country. It was adopted by a great number of tribes, 

 the majority of which belonged to the High Germans, and came from 

 the countries on the Baltic between the Oder and the Niemen. Caesar 

 was obliged to fight with their leader Ariovistus (B.C. 58), who had 

 invaded GauL Ariovistus was compelled to go back to Germany. 



Tacitus divides the Germani into three great bodies : the Ingaevones, 

 in the north ; the Istaevones, in the west, from the mouths of the 

 Rhine upwards to Basel ; and the Hermiones, in Middle Germany and 

 tuwanl.s the north-east. This division seems to have an ethnographic 

 and still more .1 jxjlitical value. The position of the Ingaevones corre- 

 sponds to that of the later Saxons, and both the names have onu 

 meaning, Saxon signifying a settled people, and In-gae-vones a people 

 who live in a cultivated country divided into districts (In-gau-wohner 

 or Inwohner). The Istaevones, or Western Germani (West-wohner), 

 correspond to the later Franks, and the Hermiones to the Suevi, in- 

 cluding the Alemanni. Further, the name of Hermiones is undoubtedly 

 identical with Hennunduri, one of the greatest Suevian or High-German 

 tribex, the name of which is generally supposed to be the same witli 

 JJoriniji or Thuringi, the present Thuringians. 



From the time when Caesar first met with the Suevi under Ariovistus, 

 there was a deadly enmity between the Romans and the Germans. 

 The Romans wished to make Germany into a province, and the Ger- 

 mans aimed at the possession of Gaul : on both sides there was the 



ARTS AMD SCI. DIV. VOL. VIII. 



passion of conquest and the necessity of self-defence. Ambition 

 pushed the Romans into Germany, and want of fertile lauds, and 

 perhaps some great revolution among the nations of Eastern Europe, 

 led the Germans into Gaul and Italy. The Roman eagles were seen 

 in the wilds of the Hercyniau forest, but Arminius saved his nation 

 from slavery in the forest of Teutoburg, in Detmold, where Varus was 

 slain with three legions (A.D. 9). The campaign of Germanicus, who 

 advanced as far as the Elbe, led to no results, though he gamed a com- 

 plete victory over the Germans on the field of Idistavisus near the 

 Weser (A.D. 16) ; when he celebrated his triumph in Rome (A.D. 17), 

 the Germans between the Rhine and the Weser were as free as before. 

 These tribes made a confederation, and chose Arminius for their leader. 

 A war arose between him and Maroboduus, king of the Marcomanni, 

 Who was defeated and obliged to implore the assistance of the Romans 

 (A.D. 19). Being attacked by Catwald, or Catualdus, the chief of the 

 Gothones, he lost his crown, and the confederation of the Marcomanni 

 was broken. Arminius, the hero of Germany, fell by the hands of his 

 jealous kinsmen, in his thirty-seventh year. (Tacitus, ' Annal.,' ii. 88.) 



Notwithstanding the civil wars in Germany, the Romans gave up 

 the idea of conquering the country, and Tiberius ordered a defensive 

 system to be observed on the frontiers, which were formed by the 

 Rhine from its mouths to the Moselle, and from the junction of this 

 river with the Rhine they followed the Lahn as far as the present 

 district of Wetterau. The frontier then took a southern direction, 

 passed the Main at Obemburg, the Jagst at Jagsthausen, the Kocher 

 at Hall, and joined the Danube near Pforing, from which town it ran 

 along the Danube as far as Pannonia. The rivers were defended by 

 castles, and the tracts between them by a strong rampart with towers, 

 the Vallum Romanum of Hadrianus, a considerable part of which, the 

 Pfahlgraben, is still visible. The Germans west and south of this 

 barrier became Roman subjects, but those who lived east and north of 

 it enjoyed then- ancient liberty. 



All the German tribes practised agriculture, but warfare being their 

 favourite occupation, they abandoned their fields and their flocks to 

 the care of bondsmen. The fine arts were not exercised among the 

 Germans, but they were acquainted with the art of writing [RUNES], 

 although only for religious purposes. (Rhabanus Maurus, in Goldast, 

 ' Script. Rer. Alem.,' ii. 1 ; Hickesius, ' Thes. Ling. Septentr.') The 

 groundwork of their social and political constitution was the union of 

 a certain number of families into a community, " Marcha," " erd- 

 marcha," now " Mark-Genossenschaft." Mr. Kemble, in his ' Saxons 

 in England,' has shown the prevalence and the importance of the 

 divisional mark in England. Several marchas formed a " gow," now 

 " gau," a district which had its own administration. Twice a month, 

 and sometimes every week, the members of a gow assembled and held 

 the " gowding; " the gowdings were civil and criminal courts, and also 

 meetings for legislation, and war and peace were decided on in them. 

 Besides the gowdings there were " graven " or " greven " (graviones, 

 comites), or delegates of the gowding, who were assisted in their judi- 

 ciary functions by a certain number of freemen. The magistrates 

 were dhosen from the nobles (edelings or adelings), the " principes " of 

 Tacitus, who had also the right of forming a kind of senate, where they 

 deliberated on important affairs previously to their being brought be- 

 fore the gowding, |and they despatched matters of little importance, 

 which did not come before the gowding. The nobles had also the 

 privilege of keeping a " dienst-gefolge," or a band of freemen who 

 served them in their feuds and wars ; and they had individually the 

 right of protecting unfree people in the gowding, a right which also 

 belonged to the community as a body, but not to individual freemen. 

 The privileges of the nobles were probably connected with the religious 

 institutions, of which we have no positive knowledge, although it 

 appears that priests and nobles formed only one class, an opinion which 

 is corroborated by the fact that wherever Christianity was introduced 

 into Germany, it met with no opposition from the common people as 

 soon as the nobles were converted. Some of the earlier Teutonic 

 nations had hereditary kings, the " reges " of Tacitus, who however 

 had a very limited authority. The greater part of them chose princes 

 only as commanders of the army in time of war. The name of these 

 commanders was " herzog," in low German " hertog," or " hartog," in 

 Latin " dux." 



Besides the freemen and the nobles, there were bondsmen, " lazzi," 

 " lati," or " liti," now " leute ; " in low German " liide," or " lide ; " 

 who were either the primitive inhabitants of a conquered territory, or 

 prisoners of war, or freemen who had lost or sold their liberty. Their 

 condition was in 'no way like that of the Roman servi, who, legally 

 speaking, were not considered as persons, but in most respects things. 

 Domestic and personal services, and especially agriculture, were their 

 exclusive occupations. 



The military organisation of the Teutonic nations was founded on 

 two principles. When a gow, or a confederation of several gows, 

 determined on war, every freeman was obliged to take up arms for the 

 defence of the commonwealth. But war was sometimes made for tho 

 private interest of some powerful noble, who carried it on with his 

 " dienst-gefolge," which was a numerous body when the military renown 

 of the chiefs, or the hope of easy conquests, promised rich rewards to 

 the adventurous band. 



We know little about the religion of the ancient Teutonic nations. 

 They worshipped a supreme being under tho name of Woden or Odin, 



