Early Medieval Barbarians' Sense of Ethnicity

Early Medieval Barbarians' Sense of Ethnicity

There has always been, and will most likely continue to be, great

debate as to what we can or cant truly known about the “Barbarians”.

To the peoples of ancient Greece, and later, Rome, a barbarian was

‘anyone who was not of their extraction or culture. Because most of

these "strangers" regularly practiced raids upon these civilizations,

the term "barbarian" gradually evolved into a perjorative term: a

person who was sub-human, uncivilized, and regularly practiced the

most vile and inhuman acts imaginable’. [1] In a good overall summary

of the barbarians, it has been stated that these ‘Barbarians’ were ‘a

tall, fierce, fair- haired and fair-skinned people, in contrast to

their swarthy counterparts from whence they had traveled. Quickly

displacing or assimilating the indigenous people of the regions they

entered, they (the barbarians) never truly settled anywhere,

ever-moving as their needs and resources changed. Eventually they did

settle and create homes and lifestyles for themselves, yet their

culture was never elaborate. Those who they came in contact with

considered them uncivilized, and yet were fascinated by their

strength, stamina, force of will, charisma, and versatility. They

were respected by those they befriended, and feared by those who

opposed them. Even within their own society, they fought amongst

themselves, seeking supremacy of power and controllership of the lands

they acquired.

Their fierce, warlike nature and coarse behaviors earned them the name

"barbarians", meaning both "illiterates" and "wanderers".’[2]

There is a small selection of primary written...

... middle of paper ...

...d Germany : the creation and

transformation of the Merovingian world’, (New York, 1988),p.54.

[11] Marcellinus, Ammianus, op. Cit., p.414.

[12] Heather, Peter, ‘The Huns and the End of the Roman Empire in

Western Europe’,p.11

[13] Ibid., p.10.

[14] Crystal, Ellie, , op. Cit.

[15] Geary, Patrick, op. Cit., p.57.

[16] Wolfram, Herwig, ‘History of the Goths’, (Berkeley, 1988), p.11.

[17] Burns, Thomas, ‘A history of the Ostro-Goths’, (Bloomington,

1984), p.xiii.

[18] Wolfram, Herwig, op. Cit., p.7.

[19] Heather, Peter, ‘The Goths’, (oxford and Cambrdige, 1996),p. 311.

[20] Ibid.,p.312.

[21] Ibid.

[22] Ibid., p.317.

[23] Ibid., p.314.

[24] Ibid.

[25] Geary, Patrick, op. Cit., p.51.

[26] Geary, Patrick, op. Cit., p.50.

[27] Heather, Peter, op. Cit., p.317.