Everything about Germanic Monarchy totally explained
Germanic monarchy, also called
barbarian monarchy, was a monarchical systemof government which was predominant among the
Germanic tribes of
Late Antiquity and the
Early Middle Ages. It is often contrasted with
feudal monarchy and
national monarchy, the later medieval systems which developed out of it.
The term "barbarian monarchy" was proposed early in the twentieth century by
Russian medievalists who saw similarities between the Germanic tribal monarchies and those of the nomadic peoples of the
Steppe.
Germanic monarchies were primitive states. At the apex of a society of mostly free men stood the monarch (almost always a king), who had a few limited functions. The Germanic monarchies were originally
pagan, but their contact, during the
Völkerwanderung or
Migration Period, with the
Roman Empire and the
Christian Church greatly altered their structure. They soon developed into different entities in which the king was more than the leader of a war band and the law more than oral tradition.
Germanic kings
The Germanic king originally had three main functions:
- To serve as judge during the popular assemblies.
- To serve as a priest during the sacrifices.
- To serve as a military leader during wars.
The office was received hereditarily, but a new king required the consent of the people before assuming the throne. All sons of the king had the right to claim the throne, which often led to co-rulership (
diarchy) where two brothers were elected kings at the same time. This evolved into the territories being considered the hereditary property of the kings,
patrimonies, a system which fuelled feudal wars, because the kings could claim ownership of lands beyond their
de facto rule.
As a sort of pagan high priest, the king often claimed descent from some deity. In the
Scandinavian nations, he administered
blóts at important cult sites, such as the
Temple at Uppsala. Refusal to administer the blóts could lead to the king losing power (see
Haakon the Good and
Anund Gårdske).
Development
With the
decline of the Roman Empire, much of her provinces came under the rule of Germanic kings:
Hispania to the
Visigoths,
Italia to the
Ostrogoths,
Gallia to the
Franks,
Britannia to the
Anglo-Saxons, and
Africa to the
Vandals. These nations had by then been in contact with Rome for a century or more and had adopted many Roman customs. They had been Christianised too and pagan practice was slowly being replaced.
The Frankish state under her
Merovingian dynasty had many of the characteristics of Germanic monarchy under heavy influence from secular and ecclesiastic Rome. Her kings, through their division of the territory, treated her not as a state independent of themselves, but as their patrimony, land won by conquest (theirs and their forefathers'). The king was primarily a war leader and a judge. There are many theories to explain the collapse of Merovingian power, most of which blame the inability of later Merovingians in war as an important factor. The commonly-cited occasion of
Sigebert III sobbing in his saddle after a defeat (the king was then only ten years old) highlights the importance of victory in battle for a king who is chiefly a warrior.
The principle of election, which determined Germanic succession, was abandoned in those states under the heaviest influence from the papacy (such as Merovingian Gaul, where hereditary succession and the divine right of the reigning dynasty was recognised). However, in Visigothic Spain (so long under
Arian rule) the principle survived longer and has been seen as the root of Visigothic weakness at the time of the
Moorish invasion. In Anglo-Saxon Britain, the principle survived until the
Norman Conquest removed it. Anglo-Saxon kings were elected by the
witena gemót. Finally, the principle survived in some form or other for centuries after the demise of the last Germanic monarchies. The civil wars of medieval Scandinavia and the electorate of the
Holy Roman Empire are part of its legacy.
Germanic monarchies
Terminology
Etymology
The name
king is derived from the
Anglo-Saxon cyning, which in turn is derived from the
Proto-Germanic *
kuningaz. The original meaning is contested. One theory is that the element *
kun relates to the word
kindred or that it originally meant
descendant of a ruler. Another theory is that it's originally meant
belonging to the woman, for example belonging to the
mother goddess and referring to the king's role as a priest.
Modern forms of *
kuningaz:
Dutch: koning
English: king
German: König (or Koenig)
Icelandic: konungur or kóngur
Norwegian/Danish: kong or konge
Swedish: kung or konung
Faroese: kóngur
The word *kuningaz has been borrowed by several non-Germanic languages (note that Slavic kral, król and korol are not derived from this word):
Finnish/Estonian: kuningas
Latvian: kungs (lord) and ķēniņš (king)
Lithuanian: kunigaikštis(duke, older form - "kunigas")
Russian: knyaz
Saami: gonagas or konagas
Serbian: knez
Tatar: kenäz
Persian: kiAn
Interestingly, the word differs from other Indo-European words for "king", most of which are clearly related (Latin rex, Sanskrit rājan and Irish rí, for example).
Other names
In Germanic traditions there are many kennings for king, such as Giver of Rings used in Beowulf: a king was expected to give golden rings to reward his warriors.
Further Information
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