The Influence Of Rome & The Emergence of Tribal Confederations
Along the frontier between the Roman Empire and Germanic tribes, Roman goods drew both tribal leaders and comitatus leaders into trade with the Roman Empire. Some leaders concluded treaties that gave them Roman support, which elevated them above Germanic leaders who lacked this Roman endorsement. Some chiefs, in return for Roman goods, became de facto Roman champions among the Germanic tribes, promising to oppose Germanic groups antagonistic towards the Romans. Other “imperial Germans” led warriors into auxiliary service for the Roman army. The material attractions of Roman civilisation and Rome’s policy of supporting ‘client’ barbarian leaders led to an interaction between the two that disturbed the previous rough equilibrium of wealth and power maintained within Germanic society. The increasing economic and political disparity between Germanic tribes led to the so-called West Germanic Revolution along the Rhine and Danube rivers.
From the middle of the second century A.D., there began a process among the western Germans to re-group and integrate smaller groups into larger tribes and tribal confederations. These included the Alamanni, who were centred on the upper Rhine, the Franks, who occupied the lower Rhine, and the Saxons, who inhabited the area effectively cordoned off by the Weser and Elbe rivers and the Harz mountains. The end of the second century saw West German attacks on the Roman Empire. Marcus Aurelius fought the Marcomannic Wars of 167-175 A.D., which some scholars believe were induced by the pressure of East Germans expanding into West German land. There were also Saxon, Frankish and Alemannic raids into Roman provinces across the border.
Along the frontier between the Roman Empire and Germanic tribes, Roman goods drew both tribal leaders and comitatus leaders into trade with the Roman Empire. Some leaders concluded treaties that gave them Roman support, which elevated them above Germanic leaders who lacked this Roman endorsement. Some chiefs, in return for Roman goods, became de facto Roman champions among the Germanic tribes, promising to oppose Germanic groups antagonistic towards the Romans. Other “imperial Germans” led warriors into auxiliary service for the Roman army. The material attractions of Roman civilisation and Rome’s policy of supporting ‘client’ barbarian leaders led to an interaction between the two that disturbed the previous rough equilibrium of wealth and power maintained within Germanic society. The increasing economic and political disparity between Germanic tribes led to the so-called West Germanic Revolution along the Rhine and Danube rivers.
From the middle of the second century A.D., there began a process among the western Germans to re-group and integrate smaller groups into larger tribes and tribal confederations. These included the Alamanni, who were centred on the upper Rhine, the Franks, who occupied the lower Rhine, and the Saxons, who inhabited the area effectively cordoned off by the Weser and Elbe rivers and the Harz mountains. The end of the second century saw West German attacks on the Roman Empire. Marcus Aurelius fought the Marcomannic Wars of 167-175 A.D., which some scholars believe were induced by the pressure of East Germans expanding into West German land. There were also Saxon, Frankish and Alemannic raids into Roman provinces across the border.
| Updated >> 21 September 2004 |