Early Germanic culture is the name given to describe the lifestyle of the early Germanic peoples. Researchers trace a distinctive Germanic identity as far back as the 6th-century BCE Jastorf culture located along the central part of the Elbe River in present-day central Germany. From there Germanic influence spread north to the ocean, east to the Vistula River, west to the Rhine River, and south to the Danube River. It came under significant external influence during the Migration Period, particularly from ancient Rome.
Germanic society was patriarchal. Roman sources described how the Lombard men owned their women, and how all women not beholden to a man were owned by a king. The Germanic peoples spoke mutually intelligible dialects, some of which developed in to modern times.
Germanic peoples eventually overwhelmed the Western Roman Empire. In the Middle Ages Greco-Roman and Irish influences gradually converted them from paganism to Christianity, and they abandoned their tribal way of life. Certain traces of early Germanic culture have survived among the Germanic peoples up to the present day.
Languages
Linguists postulate that an early Proto-Germanic language existed and was distinguishable from the other Indo-European languages as far back as 500 BCE.
From what is known, the early Germanic tribes may have spoken mutually intelligible dialects derived from a common parent language but there are no written records to verify this fact.
The Germanic tribes moved and interacted over the next centuries, and separate dialects among Germanic languages developed down to the present day. Some groups, such as the Suebi, have a continuous recorded existence, and so there is a reasonable confidence that their modern dialects can be traced back to those in classical times.
By extension, but sometimes controversially, the names of the sons of Mannus, Istvaeones, Irminones, and Ingvaeones, are sometimes used to divide up the medieval and modern West Germanic languages. The more easterly groups such as the Vandals are thought to have been united in the use of East Germanic languages, the most famous of which is Gothic. The dialect of the Germanic people who migrated to Scandinavia is not generally called Ingvaeonic, but is classified as North Germanic, which developed into Old Norse. Within the West Germanic group, linguists associate the Suebian or Hermionic group with an "Elbe Germanic" which developed into Upper German, including modern German. More speculatively, given the lack of any such clear explanation in any classical source, modern linguists sometimes designate the Frankish language (and its descendant Dutch) as Istvaeonic, although the geographical term "Weser–Rhine Germanic" is often preferred. However, the classical "Germani" near the Rhine, to whom the term was originally applied by Caesar, may not have even spoken Germanic languages, let alone a language recognizably ancestral to modern Dutch. The close relatives of Low German, English and Frisian, are sometimes designated as Ingvaeonic, or alternatively, "North Sea Germanic". Frankish, (and later Dutch, Luxembourgish and the Frankish dialects of German in Germany) has continuously been intelligible to some extent with both "Ingvaeonic" Low German, and some "Suebian" High German dialects, with which they form a spectrum of continental dialects. All these dialects or languages appear to have formed by the mixing of migrating peoples after the time of Julius Caesar. So it is not clear if these medieval dialect divisions correspond to any mentioned by Tacitus and Pliny.
Despite their common linguistic framework, by the 5th century CE, the Germanic peoples were linguistically differentiated and could no longer easily comprehend one another. Nonetheless, the line between Germanic and Romance peoples in central Europe remained at the western mouth of the Rhine river and while Gaul fell under Germanic domination and was firmly settled by the Franks, the linguistic patterns did not move much. Further west and south in Europe-proper, the linguistic presence of the Germanic languages is almost negligible. Despite the fact that the Visigoths ruled a kingdom in what is now Spain and Portugal for upwards of 250 years, there are almost no recognizable Gothic words borrowed into Spanish or Portuguese. Conversely, many common given names in the Iberian peninsula, and the surnames derived from them, are of Germanic origin (Álvaro – Álvarez; Fernando – Fernández/Hernández; Gonzalo – González; Rodrigo – Rodríguez, etc.).
By 500 CE, the West Germanic speakers had apparently developed a distinct language continuum with extensive loaning from Latin (due to their ongoing contact with the Romans), whereas the East Germanic languages were dying out.
Literature
Germanic literature includes all the oral and written literature which was common to the early Germanic peoples, in respect to form and nature of content. It was generally intended to honor the gods or to praise tribal ancestors.
The general public plays an insignificant role in Germanic literature, which revolves almost exclusively around chieftains, warriors and their associates. Wives and other female relatives of such leaders and warriors figure prominently in many pieces of Germanic literature.
Germanic literature is divided into literature transferred orally from generation to generation and literature written down at a later date. Some of this literature, such as the Grottasöngr, appears to have been passed down from a very early time.
Much of what is known about Germanic literature was passed down by skalds and scops, who were poets employed by a chieftain to memorize his deeds and those of his ancestors. Priscus notes that such skalds were also prominent at the court of Attila.
The structure of the verse and the rime system shows that Germanic poetry followed a distinct poetic form. A significant characteristic is the alliterative verse.
Riddles figure prominently in both Anglo-Saxon and early Scandinavian literature.
Important works are Germanic literature are Beowulf, the Nibelungenlied, and the Icelandic Eddas and sagas.
Powerful individuals of the distant past figure prominently in Germanic literature. Such individuals include Julius Caesar, Attila, Ermanaric, Theodoric the Great and Charlemagne. Accounts of the history of the Goths play and important role in Germanic literature, and although the Goths themselves disappeared, their deeds were remembered for centuries afterwards among Germanic peoples living as far as Iceland.
The works of Jordanes, Gregory of Tours, Paul the Deacon, Priscus and Saxo Grammaticus were written in Latin and Greek, but since their authors were of Germanic origin and because their works show traces of Germanic heritage, philologist Francis Owen considers these works part of Germanic literature as well.
A large amount of Germanic epic literature must have been produced during the violent years of the Migration Period, but few of these accounts appear to have been preserved.
During his reign, Charlemagne ordered a collection of the old heroic songs to be made, but this collection was later destroyed by order of Louis the Pious.
A common theme in Germanic literature is the consequences of failing to live up to one's moral principles, and the moral dilemma faced by an individual struggling to maintain his loyalty under difficult conditions. A key theme is the attempt of the individual to overcome his fate, referred to as wyrd by the Anglo-Saxons. In Germanic literature, dark humor figures prominently.
Scripts
The earliest known Germanic inscription was found at Negau (in what is now southern Austria) on a bronze helmet dating back to the first century BCE.
Some of the other earliest known physical records of the Germanic language appear on stone and wood carvings in Runic script from around 200 CE.
Runes had a special significance in early Germanic culture, and each runic letter had a distinct name associated with a particular subject. The origins of runes has been a source of controversy.
Runic writing likely disappeared due to the concerted opposition of the Christian Church, which regarded runic text as heathen symbols which supposedly contained inherent magical properties that they associated with the Germanic peoples' pagan past. Unfortunately, this primitive view ignores the abundance of "pious runic writing found on church-related objects" (ranging from inscriptions in the doorways of churches, on church bells and even those found on baptismal fonts) when Christianity was introduced into the Germanic North. As late as the 10th century there is evidence of runic writing on a stone monument erected by the first Christian king of Denmark, Harald Bluetooth. In the text, Harald honors his parents using runic script and on the other side of the stone is a depiction of 'Christ in His Glory', incorporating a runic inscription which extolls Harald for acquiring Denmark and Norway and for converting the Danes into Christians.
An important linguistic step was made by the Christian convert Ulfilas, who became a bishop to the Thervingi Goths in CE 341; he subsequently invented a Gothic alphabet and translated the scriptures from Greek into Gothic, creating a Gothic Bible, which is the earliest known translation of the Bible into a Germanic language.
Religion
Prior to the Middle Ages, Germanic peoples followed what is now referred to as Germanic paganism: "a system of interlocking and closely interrelated religious worldviews and practices rather than as one indivisible religion" and as such consisted of "individual worshippers, family traditions and regional cults within a broadly consistent framework".
Germanic religion was polytheistic in nature, with some underlying similarities to other European and Indo-European religions. Despite the unique practices of some tribes, there was a degree of cultural uniformity among the Germanic peoples concerning religion.
From its earliest descriptions by Roman authors in antiquity to the Icelandic accounts written in the Middle Ages, Germanic religion appears to have changed considerably.
Deities
Many of the deities found in Germanic paganism appeared under similar names across the Germanic peoples, most notably the god known to the Germans as Wodan or Wōden, to the Anglo-Saxons as Woden, and to the Norse as Óðinn, as well as the god Thor – known to the Germans as Donar, to the Anglo-Saxons as Þunor and to the Norse as Þórr.
Tacitus writes that the Germanic peoples primarily worshipped "Mercury", but also "Hercules" and "Mars". These have generally been identified with Odin, Thor and Týr, the gods of wisdom, thunder and war respectively.
Rituals
Archaeological findings suggest that the early Germanic peoples practiced some of the same 'spiritual' rituals as the Celts, including human sacrifice, divination, and the belief in spiritual connection with the natural environment around them.
In Germanic religion, one distinguishes between household worship and community worship. This was similar to religious worship in Roman religion. In household worship the male head of the household would act as the "priest".
Spiritual rituals frequently occurred in consecrated groves or upon islands on lakes where perpetual fires burned. The Germanic peoples did not construct temples to carry out their religious rites.
Priests
Unlike the Celts, who had their druids, there does not appear to have been a priestly caste among the Germanic peoples. There were however individuals who performed certain religious duties. This included carrying out sacrifices and punishing those found guilty of crimes against the tribe.