Among the more important migrations of
Germanic people’s during the
Völkerwanderungen (meaning basically "the migration of the peoples") was that of the Goths. Though the historical evidence of early Germanic
history is rather light on the ground, there are some few things that history does know and some sources that one may look to in order to understand their
migrations, movements and
cultures better.
Besides the Germanic laws developed by the tribes, which settled areas and established kingdoms, there are a few books and other sources from which to glean some small knowledge of these peoples. Our understanding of the Germanic people’s comes from a few written sources, both seemingly biased in their very base. Tacitus’ "Germania" is a prime source and generally accepted as the best, though it is skewed towards the Roman view of the uncivilized barbarian. On the other hand one has the historian Cassiodorus who, as an advisor to the Ostrogoth king Theodoric the Great, wrote another history that some may call the world’s first work of propaganda. But his is almost a lost work and survives to this day mostly because of its abridgement, called “On the Origin and Deeds of the Getae” or the "Getica", which was written by Jordanes in 551 AD.
Tacitus gives us some idea of the Goths, stating that they were identifiable by their round shields, short swords and extreme obedience to their kings. Contrary to the popular misconceptions, the Goth tribe did not ride to battle on horses. In fact the first Goth tribesmen to ride horses into battle were probably those Ostrogoths in serving in the Hun armies, in the 5th century AD. The Goths were not the feared destroyers and pillagers that many know from the historical stories or myths. Instead they were quite apt at developing their own culture and at integrating other cultures within their own. They were a feared tribe though, but mostly due to the fact that they would often sacrifice their captives to their God (who was very much like the Mars of Roman mythology) by hanging arms in trees as offerings.
Their culture, especially where they interacted with the Mediterranean was quite advanced, but the Goths did not lack for their own culture even from the beginning. Priests and kings were said to come from a separate and distinct class and kings typically achieved a god-like status after death. They had a well developed system of laws, which are said to have been first given to the Goths by one Dicineus and would eventually be brought into written form later in history. Many of these laws were replaced over time by the Latin codes of law, but some, like the swearing of oaths and the judging of the truth of accused crimes remained. Metalworking was one of the prime Gothic, and Germanic in general, arts. Their skill in metalworking, in fact, was well above what much of the Roman peoples could do, and was probably a very large reason for the effectiveness of the Goth forces in their later conquests.
One must mostly depend on archeological evidence for the migrations of the Germanic peoples. It is accepted that the Goths moved south from Scandinavia; some point to the island of Gotland as proof. The migrations were probably partially triggered by overpopulation of the Scandinavian region and partially that of expelled tribes; these being the same primary reason that would start the remarkably similar, if by water rather than land the second time, Viking migrations of later centuries. Whatever the fact that forced the Goths to move from their homeland, they did journey south and eventually made their way to the Black Sea area, centering on the northwest coast and the Crimea.
The original migration of the Goths would have reached the Black Sea by the mid-2nd century AD. Here they consolidated their power and pushed the lesser Germanic tribes before them; as well as subjugating the small Slavic populations of the areas they moved into. This push on weaker tribes was probably the cause of the increased raiding of the Roman Empire during the period, as the tribes fled south from the Goths and into Roman controlled lands. The first major raids by Gothic peoples on the Roman Empire came in the late 3rd century when they raided the Balkans, sacked Athens and were finally defeated, in the battle of Battle of Naissus, in September, 269.
It was around this time that the main Goth tribe became two distinct tribes. Those dwelling between the Dniester and Danube rivers would become a separate tribe from those still living around the Black Sea and in the Ukraine. These would become the Visigoths and the first major invaders of the Roman Empire. Striking south in the late 4th century, though they would be beaten back at first by the Roman legions; though they would prompt the Romans to abandon the province of Dacia. Their leader Alaric would sack Rome on August 24, 410, but the tribe would remain homeless for a short while afterward. Eventually they would be granted the position of federate in Gaul, becoming an independent kingdom that stretched from southern Gaul throughout most of Spain. The Visigoths were smashed by the Islamic invasion into Spain in 711 AD, but their example though would go on to inspire the Spanish reconquest of Iberia in later centuries.
The tribe which became the Ostrogoths remained in the areas reaching from the Black Sea and north into the Ukraine and Belarus. They would remain the unchallenged masters of this vast stretch for more than a century. Eventually though their dominance would come to an end at the hands of the Huns. Forced to become vassals, they fought with the Huns, under Attila the Hun, at the Battle of Chalons in 451 AD. Following the death of Attila they reclaimed their independence and would eventually become federates of the Roman Empire themselves, eventually being settled in the Pannonia area of the east. It would be Theodoric I who would lead the Ostrogoth’s to their own kingdom, by taking Italy for the Byzantium and creating his own throne. They would survive but a short time though, eventually being conquered by the Byzantine forces. The Ostrogoths, unlike their cousins the Visigoths, created no real lasting legacy among the people of Italy.
See:
Ostrogoth
Visigoth
Sources:
Cantor, N. F. (1993) The civilization of the middle ages. Harper Perennial, New York, NY.
Goth Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved September 16, 2004, from Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service.
(http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?tocId=9037486)
Goth. Retrieved September 16, 2004, from Wikipedia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goths)
Successors of Rome: Germania. Retrieved September 13, 2004, from the Friesian School.
(http://www.friesian.com/germania.htm)