Goths
Goths refer to a group of Germanic tribes that emerged prominently in historical records around the first century CE. They were originally part of the Wielbark culture located in what is now Poland. As they migrated southward due to various pressures, including the Marcomannic War in the second century CE, they expanded into regions around the Danube River and the Black Sea, engaging in conflicts and establishing trade with the Roman Empire. The Goths were initially pagan but became Christianized in the fourth century through the missionary work of Ulfilas, who also developed a written language for them.
By the late fourth century, the Goths split into two major branches: the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths, each developing distinct identities. The Visigoths famously sacked Rome in 410 CE under King Alaric I and later established a kingdom in southern Gaul and Spain. In contrast, the Ostrogoths, led by Theoderic the Great, settled in Italy after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The Gothic Wars in the mid-sixth century ultimately led to the decline of the Ostrogothic state, but the resilience of the Goths during these conflicts is notable. The Goths have left a lasting legacy in European history, particularly in their interactions with the Roman Empire and subsequent development of medieval European kingdoms.
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Goths
Also known as: Ostrogoths; Visigoths.
Date: c. 50-c. 730 c.e.
Locale: Poland, Ukraine, Balkans, Italy, Southern Gaul, Iberia
Goths
Contemporary scholarship dismisses ancient stories of Gothic origins in Scandinavia and places the Goths firmly among other Germanic tribes in Poland. Together, these peoples constituted the Wielbark culture. Literary evidence for the Goths dates only to the first century c.e. The second century c.e. Marcomannic War caused Goths to move southward toward the Danube River and Black Sea, affecting, and perhaps spawning, the Cernjachov (Cherniakhov) culture.
In the mid-third century c.e., Goths expanded contacts with Rome and broke into the Balkans and Aegean Sea, raiding Attica, Ephesus, and Cyprus. Driven back, they remained in the region from the Danube to the Don River and developed ties of trade and military assistance with Rome. They were loosely organized around petty kings in small agricultural settlements dominated by an upper freeman class and worked by lower class freemen and slaves. Pagan until converted by Ulfilas in the later fourth century c.e., they practiced inhumation, but generally without weapons. Ulfilas provided a written language centered on the Gothic Bible, but his semi-Arian Christianity, to which Goths came to adhere, created friction with Roman (Catholic) communities.
Pressure from the expanding Hun empire to the east in the later fourth century c.e. forced the movement of large numbers of western tribespeople (largely Tervingi), or Visigoths, into Roman territory. Clashes with Rome led to Emperor Valens’s great defeat at Adrianople in 378 c.e. Visigoths settled in the Balkans, and the Huns dominated the eastern Goths (largely Greuthungi), or Ostrogoths. These became the two major divisions of the Gothic peoples. Each developed stronger senses of ethnic identity and stronger monarchies.
Rebellious King Alaric I led the Visigoths to sack Rome in 410 c.e. His successor Ataulphus then moved his people into southern Gaul, establishing a kingdom in Toulouse (Septimania) and, after 416 c.e., in Spain. By the mid-470’s c.e., a Visigothic kingdom emerged in Spain that replaced a Roman administration with which it had generally cooperated. The Frank leader Clovis absorbed much of southern Gaul after his victory at Vouillé in 507 c.e. The Hispanic Visigoths developed an entrenched landed nobility based on the Roman latifundia. Under King Reccared, the Arian Visigoths converted to Catholicism (Third Council of Toledo, 589 c.e.). Muslim conquests from 711 c.e. ended Visigothic control of Iberia.
As Hunnish power waned, the Ostrogoths organized around a central ruling family (Amal). Under King Theoderic the Great, they moved into Italy with the blessing of Eastern Roman emperor Zeno (489 c.e.) and destroyed the power of the Germanic Herulians. Theoderic tried to mimic Roman ways in establishing this third Gothic kingdom and exercised authority over the Iberian Visigoths. The Gothic Wars of Emperor Justinian I (535-555 c.e.) destroyed the Ostrogothic state and people, but their twenty-year resistance suggests their strength and resolution.
Bibliography
Burns, Thomas. A History of the Ostrogoths. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1991.
Heather, Peter. The Goths. New York: Blackwell, 1996.
Wolfram, Herwig. History of the Goths. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988.