List of early Germanic peoples

This information is derived from various ancient historical sources, beginning in the 2nd century BC and extending into late antiquity.

In Northern Europe, influences from the Vendel Period (c.AD 550- 800) and the subsequent Viking Age (c. AD 800- 1050) played a significant role in the germanic historical context.

It is essentially an inventory of peoples, groups, alliances and associations stretching from the Barbaricum region east of the Rhine to the north of the Danube (also known as Germania), especially those that arrived during the Migration Period.

These are: Eight tribes or peoples are only mentioned by the Old Mainland Saxon wandering bard, of the Myrgingas tribe, named Widsith – Aenenes; Baningas; Deanas (they are differentiated from the Danes); Frumtingas; Herefaran; Hronas or Hronan; Mofdingas and Sycgas (not to be confused with Secgan, short name for the work in Old English called On the Resting-Places of the Saints about saints' resting places in England).

Many of the authors relating ethnic names of Germanic peoples speculated concerning their origin, from the earliest writers to approximately the Renaissance.

Settlement area reconstruction of Germanic tribes in the Provincial Roman Period
Map 1: Indo-European migrations as described in The Horse, the Wheel, and Language by David W. Anthony
Expansion of early Germanic tribes into previously mostly Celtic Central Europe : [ 8 ]
Settlements before 750 BC
New settlements by 500 BC
New settlements by 250 BC
New settlements by AD 1
Some sources also give a date of 750 BC for the earliest expansion out of southern Scandinavia and northern Germany along the North Sea coast towards the mouth of the Rhine. [ 9 ]
Map 3: One proposed theory for approximate distribution of the primary Germanic dialect groups, and matching peoples, in Europe around the year 1 AD:
North Germanic peoples :
North Germanic – Norsemen : Suiones / Swedes , Geats / Scandinavian Goths , Gutes , Danes , Raumarici , Arothi , Adogit , others
West Germanic peoples :
North Sea Germanic – Ingvaeonic peoples – Jutes , Angles , Saxons , Chauci , Frisians , others
Weser–Rhine Germanic – Istvaeonic peoples: Franks , others
Elbe Germanic – Herminonic/Irminonic peoples: Suebes / Alemanni , Swabians , Hermunduri / Thuringians , Marcomanni , Quadi , Bavarians , others
East Germanic peoples :
East Germanic – Vandilic peoples: Goths , Burgundians , Vandals , Gepids , Rugii , Buri , Herules , others
Map 4: Gothic associated regions and archaeological cultures
Götaland
the island of Gotland
Wielbark culture in the early 3rd century
Chernyakhov culture , in the early 4th century
Roman Empire
Map 5: Possible map of Scandza , with a selection of tribes
Map 6: Relief map of the Faroe Islands
Map 7: Travels of the first Scandinavians in Iceland during the ninth century AD or CE, Settlement of Iceland time
Map 8: A map of the Eastern Settlement on Greenland , covering approximately the modern municipality of Kujalleq . Eiriksfjord (Erik's fjord) and his farm Brattahlid are shown, as is the location of the bishopric at Garðar, Greenland .
Map 9: Depiction of Magna Germania in the early 2nd century including the location of many ancient Germanic peoples and tribes (by Alexander George Findlay 1849)
Map 10: Early Roman Empire with some ethnic names in and around Germania
Map 11: Suebic migrations across Europe
Map 12: Lombard migration from Scandinavia
Map 13: Old Saxony . The later stem duchy of Saxony (circa 1000 AD), which was based in the Saxons' traditional homeland bounded by the rivers Ems , Eider and Elbe . Saxon tribes (after later Saxon expansion) and their lands are also shown.
Map 14: Migration of Angles , Saxons and Jutes towards Britannia , today's England , and their settlement in the 5th and 6th centuries AD
insert description of map here Elmet Hatfield Chase Kingdom of Lindsey Pecsaetan Mercia Spalding North & South Gyrwa Wreocensæte Sweordora Magonsæte Kingdom of East Anglia Arosæte River Ivel Hitchin Hwicce Charlbury Cilternsæte Kingdom of Essex Kingdom of Kent Wessex Kingdom of Sussex Isle of Wight
Map 15: The tribes of the Tribal Hidage . Where an appropriate article exists, it can be found by clicking on the name.
Map 16: Subdivisions of Mercia , almost all of them matched Middle Anglian individual tribes or groups of tribes, except for the Middle Saxons ; see Tribal Hidage
Map 17: Approximate location of the original Frankish tribes in the 3rd century (in green)
Map 18: Salian settlement in Toxandria in 358 where Julian the Apostate made them dediticii
Roman Empire
Salian Franks
Germanic tribes east of the Rhine