The Early Germans

The Peoples of Europe

by Malcolm Todd

For many centuries Germanic peoples occupied much of northern and central Europe. From the fourth century onward migrant groups extended their power and influence over much of western Europe and beyond to North Africa. In so doing, they established enduring states in France, Spain, Italy and Britain. This illustrated book makes use of archaeological and literary sources to outline the ethnogenesis and history of the early Germanic peoples. It provides an overview of current knowledge of these peoples, their social structure, settlements, trade, customs, religion, craftsmanship and relations with the Roman Empire.

In this second edition, the author incorporates important new archaeological evidence and reports on advances in historical interpretation. In particular, he offers new insights into developments in central and eastern Europe and the implications for our understanding of migration and settlement patterns, ethnicity and identity. Ten new plates have been added featuring significant new sites discovered in recent years.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Germany, Ancient History, Medieval History, European History, Ancient

282 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1992

About the author

Malcolm Todd is Senior Academic at Sheffield Hallam University, where he is Head of Learning and Teaching for the Faculty of Development and Society.

Reviews

[Michael Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

The growing number of volumes in the “Peoples of Europe” series are generally quite useful to students of early medieval history; at less than 300 pages, they do well as surveys. This one, unfortunately, is one of the less readable efforts. Todd is interested in the Germanic tribes and their migrations from the early Roman Empire up to about 700 A.D., but he wanders from a chronological coverage of all the multitude of Germanic peoples (who never thought of themselves as “Germans” in the first place), to a topical one (chapters on economy and agriculture, social institutions, burial practices, trade and diplomacy, art and technology, etc), to a geographical survey divided into sections on Goths, Vandals, Franks, Burgundians, Gepids, Lombards, and (oddly) Scandinavians. It’s a confusing book to read, with various groups appearing (naturally) in each other’s chapters. Todd also mentions in passing specialized information or rival interpretations of the sources that he apparently assumes everyone knows -- which is a bad assumption in a survey of this kind. While there’s useful stuff here, I would not suggest this as a first resource for someone new to the field. Instead, I would recommend the separate books in this series by James on the Franks, Heather on the Goths, and Christie on the Lombards -- and Heather’s latest, The Fall of the Roman Empire (2006), over all of them.

[Big Bear Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely a tough read. Historically heavy. Had to look up a lot of locations and historical figures. But overall a fascinating look at early Germanic tribes and there movements. Would have liked a little more detail into tribal fighting styles, warrior cults, and weapons. Still a good read for a better understanding of European heritage.

[Frigg's Daughter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dry, but you can take the knowledge you get here everywhere, if you intend to read more about the Germans and their ancestors. I'd recommend having a basic timeline of the Roman world in your head before diving in, though, you'll need it to orient yourself in the broader European context, since the author just throws out things like "up to the time of Nero" or similar.

[Connor]

Early German history is very often distorted by far right germanic groups such as the Nazi party of the 1930s/40s and recently some far right parties within Germany and Britain. The early German to them is a noble savage, an heir to Rome. Since the days of Gobineau, the subject of the early Germans have often been neglected by historians and is often left to the hands of far right parties to distort it.

[Nicolas · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Germans are one of the most interesting ancient peoples of Europe and Todd makes an amazing job in narrating what’s known about their history and their (possible) way of life. The book is divided in two parts, one for the origins before the age of migrations and one for the confederation groups that arose around the age and migrations and about their kingdoms at the core of what it was the western roman empire or at its fringes. The book is a masterpiece recommended for anyone interested in early Germanic studies.

His narration of the Germans origins in the first part of the book dives in so many different sources and archeology findings to describe to the greatest possible detail early German societies, from around 1 Century CE until 4th/5th Century CE. The topics ranged from societal structures to kinship, as well as diplomacy, arts, religion and trade, among others. The mixture of archeology and narration for history through historical sources comes up a bit heavy and for some people could be a bit boring, as they become complicated and entranced in many material and burial findings. Nonetheless, the author writes in such an interesting and cohesive way that is a worthy reading, for not saying exhaustive.

The author summarizes in the second part of the book the road to power of the main Germanic confederations, their armies and “peoples” who entered the roman empire or influenced from its limits; amassing kingdoms for themselves even on former roman soil. Some are way more described than others and its clear by his descriptions, the disparity of information that has come to our days between contemporary societies due to the amount of modern performed studies. From the ones we hear more are the ones who could stay in power longer and play bigger roles in European politics or that laid the foundations of actual states.

We hear of many Germanic peoples and some probably due to the virtual inexistent information are left behind, as is the case for the Herulii, the Rugii and the Scirii, who would probably disappear inside other more known and powerful groupings. Still, we learn about the Suevi, the Vandals, the Goths, the Franks, the Alamanni, the Burgundians, The Saxons, the Frisians, the Scandinavians, the Gepids, the Bavarians, the Lombards and the Thuringians. Many of the descriptions can only be described as introductions to each grouping, as it is clear that author’s main focus is not to go deep on each grouping, but rather to show a summarized and well written view on the actual knowledge derived from archeology and written sources

[Jana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Die erste Hälfte des Buches finde ich super, muss aber zugeben, dass ich den zweiten Teil aufgrund seiner Langatmigkeit größtenteils komplett geskippt habe. Trotzdem ist mir die erste Hälfte die vier Sterne wert, weil ich sie super informativ finde und hey, vielleicht kommt irgendwann der Zeitpunkt, an dem ich auch die anderen Kapitel spannend und nützlich finde.

[Shane Hill · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little dry but some good info also.....

[Gerald · Rating 3 out of 5]

Das Buch bietet einen breiten Überblick über die Geschichte der Germanen, von den Ursprüngen über das Verhältnis zum Römischen Reich, die Zeit der Völkerwanderung bis in die Zeit des Frankenreichs.
Es wird sowohl auf historische Quellen Bezug genommen, als auch Erkenntnisse aus archäologischen Funden berücksichtigt werden. Auf die Geschichte der verschiednen Stämme und Stammesverbände wird im Detail eingegangen. Ds Buch wird abgeschlossen mit einer Übersicht über die Forschung zu den und die Sicht auf die Germanen im Lauf der Jahrhunderte.
Das Werk ist sehr hilfreich als erste Übersicht bzw. Einstieg ins Thema, da auch viele Quellen und weiterführende Literatur angeführt wird. Allerdings trübt die etwas leseunfreundliche Struktur das Bild. Es kommt zu vielen Redundanzen und Sprüngen vor und zurück, sowohl aus chronologischer als auch aus thematischer Perspektive. Außerdem wurden zahlreiche Tippfehler wie auch Zahlendreher in den Jahreszahlen übersehen.