Germanic tribes
Also called: Barbarian tribes · Topic: The Roman Empire · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 2 "An Empire Across Three Continents"; Class 11, Ch 4 "The Three Orders"
Meaning
Germanic tribes were peoples living beyond Rome's northern frontiers, the Rhine and the Danube rivers. They included the Alamanni, Franks, Goths (Visigoths and Ostrogoths), Vandals and Lombards. The Romans called them "barbarians". From the third century, groups of these tribes joined together and attacked the frontier provinces. In the fifth century they took over the western provinces and set up "post-Roman" kingdoms. These kingdoms helped shape the medieval world.
Example
The Goths crushed a Roman army at Adrianople in 378. The Visigoths sacked Rome in 410, and the Vandals took Africa in 428. Later kingdoms included the Visigoths in Spain, the Franks in Gaul and the Lombards in Italy (568–774).
Don't confuse with
- Huns: they were nomads from Central Asia, not a Germanic people. Their empire under Attila lasted from 434 to 453.