Thuringian

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The Thuringians ( Latin: Thuringi , Tueringi or Thoringi ) were a West Germanic tribe that is documented in late antiquity in the 5th and early 6th centuries. The later area designation Thuringia goes back to him .

Name and origin

There are various hypotheses for the etymology of the tribal name “Thuringian”. The derivation of the name from the Elbe-Germanic Hermunduren , which has been common for a long time , has been called into doubt in recent times, as it is not tenable in phonetic history. Instead, a derivation from a Germanic-Celtic tribe of the Turons was considered.

The region north of the Thuringian Forest and the Ore Mountains  - the settlement area of ​​the Naumburg Group (300–60 BC) - was known to Ptolemy as the "home of the Teurians" (Τευριοχαῖμαι, Teuriochaĩmai ) in the second century AD . The archaeologists from the State Office for the Preservation of Monuments and Archeology in Saxony-Anhalt see a local archaeological culture connected to an ancient folk name for the first time.

According to another, much-noticed hypothesis presented by Heike Grahn-Hoek in 2002 , the name of the Thuringians (also Tueringi ) is derived from that of the Gothic Terwingen (also Teruingi ). Even in late antiquity , the two groups were often confused. It seems to be certain that the westward migration of various groups from Gothic Terwingen around the year 375 provided the impetus for the ethnogenesis of the later Thuringians; at least archeology allows such a conclusion. Grahn-Hoek suspects the eponymous part of the Thuringians who appeared after the middle of the fifth century in the area north of the Danube between Vienna and Passau in the Terwingian residents of Tyras (later Danaster ), the Thyringi (or Tyringi) ; The Don- Alans, named Tanaïten after the Tanais, would be comparable .

However, due to a renewed examination of the evidence of the name, Wolfgang Haubrichs considers this theory to be untenable and derives the name from a Germanic base * þur- "strong, powerful, large, rich". The spellings with th and t would therefore reflect Germanic * þ, while more recent spellings with d follow its more recent development.

With the beginning of the migration period, a population appeared in Central Germany that is archaeologically referred to as the Niemberger group . The burials of this group took place in mostly small grave fields, where the dead were usually buried individually in body graves. The Elbe Germanic tribe of the Lombards , who are associated with the archaeological finds of the Wahlitz group , settled in the Altmark at this time .

The Thuringian tribe probably formed in the third or fourth century through a merger of various Germanic groups and associations. It is traditionally assumed that individual groups of the Angles , Warn and other Germanic tribes immigrated to the area of ​​the Middle Elbe. These tribes probably allied themselves with the locals to form a new tribal association of the Thuringians, from which the Thuringian Empire probably later emerged. Indicate the presence of the fishing and Warning in Thuringia the Gauname Engilin in the Hainleite , the name of lying between the Saale and Elster landscape Werenofeld and Lex Angliorum et Werinorum hoc est Thuringorum out that Charlemagne had 800 record. The so-called “angel villages” (such as Feldengel, Kirchengel, Holzengel and Westerengel) near Großenehrich in the Kyffhäuserkreis could have got their root from this settlement. Various late antique source reports speak for a very close connection between the Warnings and the Thuringians. The settlement area of ​​these 'early Thuringians' probably comprised mainly parts of what is now Central Germany , i.e. the area between the Thuringian Forest ( Rennsteig ), lower reaches of the Werra , Harz and Elbe , in which Hermundurs still existed one or two centuries earlier during the early Roman Empire or the carriers of the Großromstedt culture settled.

history

Empire of the Thuringians on the eastern border of the Franconian Empire around 500 AD.

The Thuringians are first mentioned as Toringi around 400 in the work Mulomedicina by Flavius ​​Vegetius Renatus . Actually nothing is known about the further history of the Thuringians until the late 5th century; but if the account of Sidonius Apollinaris is correct, the Thuringians came under the rule of the Huns at the beginning of the 5th century . According to Sidonius Apollinaris, Thuringian contingents served the Hun king Attila in the middle of the fifth century , at whose side they also fought in the battle on the Catalaunian fields - an area between Troyes and Châlons-sur-Marne - in AD 451. The Thuringians were only able to free themselves from the rule of the Huns after the death of Attila and after the Battle of the Nedao in Pannonia in 454.

The alleged exile of the Frankish king Childerich I in Thuringia, on the other hand, probably comes from a fabulous story and is therefore hardly historical. However, at the end of the 5th century, certain contacts between Franks and Thuringians may well have existed, although this must remain speculative due to the sparse source situation. According to Eugippius and his Vita of Severin von Noricum , the Thuringians, together with the Alamanni, undertook around 480 raids against Passau and other cities on the Danube .

The first Thuringian king known by name and historically secured was Bisinus , who ruled around 500. His empire probably extended southwards from the middle Elbe across the Main , possibly almost to the Danube. Until the beginning of the sixth century, the East Franconian region was caught in the tension between Thuringians and Alemanni . The geographer of Ravenna wrote in the seventh century that the rivers Naab and Regen (in today's Upper Palatinate ) flow into the Danube in the Land of Thuringia. The presumed expansion of the Thuringian sphere of influence into the main areas cannot be proven with certainty. In Upper Franconia, relationships with Bohemian cultural groups seem to have existed until the Franks conquered. It is possible that a native Elbe-Germanic population group was predominant here as the bearer of tradition. Heike Grahn-Hoek assumes, however, that the Thuringian Empire extended over large parts of the Germania on the right bank of the Rhine at its height in the early 6th century and that the Thuringians thus exercised a supremacy in this area. The Thuringian empire was in any case around 500 the most powerful Germanic empire outside the old Roman imperial borders and thus an important power factor in the area between the Rhine and the Danube.

At the end of the sixth century, Gregor von Tours wrote in his Historien von Thoringern , who lived on the left bank of the Rhine and in the immediate vicinity of the Franks. From this it was concluded that around 500 there was a smaller Thuringian Empire on the left bank of the Rhine in addition to the East Rhenish Thuringian Empire. However, it is very questionable whether there was such a Thuringian Empire on the Rhine. In more recent research, the existence of a Thuringian empire on the left bank of the Rhine is rather rejected because it was a misinterpretation by Gregor.

According to Bisinus, Gregor von Tours mentions the brothers Baderich von Thuringia , Herminafried and Berthachar as kings of the Thuringians . Baderich was possibly killed before the beginning of the following Frankish invasion, but this is uncertain. It is possible that he and Berthachar only fell during the Frankish invasion (531). Ultimately, only Herminafried remained as an independent king. He was probably the most powerful of the three brothers and married the Goddess Amalaberga , a niece of the Ostrogoth king Theodoric . With Theodoric's death in 526, the previous equalization policy under the Germanic empires in the west ended. Even before the Thuringians could consolidate their rule, the Merovingians continued their aggressive expansion policy: They used the favorable opportunity to attack the Thuringians - who were now without the protection of the Amalers. In addition, the Thuringian empire seemed to have been weakened by the previous fratricidal struggles.

In a series of battles, the last of which is said to have taken place on the Unstrut in 531 (see Battle of the Unstrut ), the Merovingian Franks finally defeated the Thuringian people under King Herminafried. Maybe the Franks were militarily supported by the Saxons . The Thuringian royal family came to an end through flight, deportation and murder. The Iringlied is a literary processing of the events surrounding the fall of the Thuringian Empire and the end of Herminafried . The last member of the royal family, Radegundis , died in exile in Franconia in 587 and was later canonized . The Franks ended the rule of the Thuringians and joined their previous territory, the Thuringian Empire, to their own territory. In the following year (532) the Burgundy Empire was also conquered by the Franks.

Reading desk of the Radegundis, Sainte-Croix monastery in Saint-Benoît near Poitiers

The further development of Thuringia after the Empire of the Thuringians is presented in the article History of Thuringia ( Middle Ages ).

Timetable

  • Around 400: The name T (h) oringi or T (h) uringi is first mentioned by the Roman writer Flavius ​​Vegetius Renatus in connection with white horses.
  • In the middle of the fifth century, according to Sidonius Apollinaris, Thuringian contingents served the Hun king Attila .
  • 453: After the collapse of the Huns, the Thuringians established their own rulership in the area between the Danube, Main and Elbe, probably the most powerful Germanic empire outside the old Roman empire.
  • around 480: In association with the Alamanni , the Thuringian raids against Passau and other cities on the Danube .
  • Around 500: The first Thuringian king known by name and historically secured, Bisinus , presumably ruled an area around 500, which probably extended southwards over the Main and possibly almost to the Danube.
  • 502 or 506: The Franks under Clovis I finally defeated the Alamanni (probably in the battle of Strasbourg ) and also defeated an army of the Thuringians.
  • From 506 (?) King Herminafried ruled over the Thuringian Empire after the death of his father Bisinus (and his two brothers Baderich and Berthachar alone) and married Amalaberga, a niece of Theodoric the Great.
  • August 30, 526: Theodoric the Great dies, his underage grandson Athalaric succeeded him under the reign of his mother Amalasuntha . The Ostrogoth Empire was severely weakened by this death and a few years later was conquered by Ostrom . The Ostrogothic allies Burgundy and the Thuringian Empire soon fell to the Franks.
  • 528/29: Probably the first Franconian invasion of Thuringia.
  • 531: In a battle on the Unstrut, the Merovingian Franks defeated the Thuringians under King Herminafried. It is controversial whether Saxony also took part. The Thuringian royal family came to an end through flight, deportation and murder (Herminafrid 534 in Zülpich). The Thuringian Empire was smashed and incorporated into the Franconian Empire .

See also

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ For the criticism of recent research cf. in summary Wilhelm Heizmann, Matthias Springer, Claudia Theune-Vogt, Jürgen Udolph: Thüringer. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 30, Berlin / New York 2005, pp. 519-521, and Matthias Springer: There is no connection between Thuringians and (H) Ermunduren. In: Helmut Castritius (ed.): The early days of the Thuringians . Berlin / New York 2009, pp. 135ff.
  2. ↑ Ptolemy, Geographike 2,11,11 .
  3. ^ Lutz Richter-Bemburg, Dieter Timpe :  History of discovery. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 7, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1989, ISBN 3-11-011445-3 , pp. 307-391. Map of Ptolemy's Germania magna (p. 386)
  4. ↑ See Harald Meller (Ed.): Glutgeboren. Middle Bronze Age to Iron Age (= booklets accompanying the permanent exhibition in the Landesmuseum Halle. Volume 5). Halle an der Saale 2015, ISBN 978-3-944507-14-9 , pp. 75–82.
  5. ↑ a b c cf. Heike Grahn-Hoek: Tribe and empire of the early Thuringians according to the written sources . In: Journal of the Association for Thuringian History 56, 2002, pp. 9–32.
  6. ^ Conference report: The early days of the Thuringians. Archeology, Language, History, October 20, 2006 - October 22, 2006 Jena, in: H-Soz-Kult, December 22, 2006 ; published in: Castritius (Ed.), 2009, 83-102
  7. ^ A b c Günter Neumann :  Engilin. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 7, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1989, ISBN 3-11-011445-3 , pp. 288-289.
  8. ↑ Heike Grahn-Hoek: Tribe and empire of the early Thuringians according to the written sources . In: Journal of the Association for Thuringian History 56, 2002, p. 33f.
  9. ^ Sidonius Apollinaris carm. VII 323
  10. ↑ Heike Grahn-Hoek: Tribe and empire of the early Thuringians according to the written sources . In: Journal of the Association for Thuringian History 56, 2002, p. 38f.
  11. ↑ Cf. Matthias Becher : Chlodwig I. The rise of the Merovingians and the end of the ancient world. Munich 2011, pp. 124–127.
  12. ↑ For general information and for the following time, see Heike Grahn-Hoek: Stamm und Reich of the early Thuringians according to the written sources . In: Journal of the Association for Thuringian History 56, 2002, p. 40ff.
  13. ↑ Jochen Haberstroh : The rice mountain at Scheßlitz-Burgellern in the time of the migration. Reflections on the 5th century AD in Northern Bavaria. With a contribution by Jörg Faßbinder . In Germania 81/1. 2003, summary ( memento of February 5, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF file; 106 kB).
  14. ↑ Heike Grahn-Hoek: Tribe and empire of the early Thuringians according to the written sources . In: Journal of the Association for Thuringian History 56, 2002, p. 67ff.
  15. ^ Gregory of Tours, Histories 2.9.
  16. ↑ Cf. in general Heike Grahn-Hoek: Was there a Thuringian empire on the left bank of the Rhine before 531? . In: Journal of the Association for Thuringian History 55, 2001, pp. 15–55.
  17. ↑ Heike Grahn-Hoek: Tribe and empire of the early Thuringians according to the written sources . In: Journal of the Association for Thuringian History 56, 2002, p. 56f.
  18. ↑ Heike Grahn-Hoek: Tribe and empire of the early Thuringians according to the written sources . In: Journal of the Association for Thuringian History 56, 2002, p. 50ff.
  19. ↑ Cf. Heike Grahn-Hoek: Tribe and empire of the early Thuringians according to the written sources . In: Journal of the Association for Thuringian History 56, 2002, p. 65f. Widukind von Corvey mentions Burgscheidungen as a battle site. This is doubtful, however, as archaeological excavations have so far not been able to provide any evidence.