system of medieva l Europe as well as the nationa l monarchies
that continue to exist in modern life.
Like the Celts, the Germans were members of a large
number of tribes, some of whose names remain familiar:
Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Vandals, Visigoths, Franks, Huns,
and numerous others. Many of these tribes, particularly the
Huns, became inveterate enemies of the Roman Empire, de-
feating them in battle and eventually forcing the collapse of
the empire in the west. Each of these tribes was ruled by a
hereditary king who had three primary functions. One was
to serve as a judge during assemblies of his nobles. Th e sec-
ond was to serve as the high priest of his tribe. Th e third was
to serve as a commander during times of war. Outside these
functions, the power of ancient Germanic kings was fairly
limited. When a king died, the throne passed to his son, but
when the king had more than one son, each of the sons could
lay claim to the throne, oft en leading to co-regencies, where
two sons ruled jointly. Incidentally, aft er the Germanic re-
gions became Christianized, the word kaiser arose to refer
to a king; kaiser is derived from the name Caesar, suggesting
that later Germanic kings thought of themselves as the de-
scendants of the Roman emperors.
Th e Germanic regions of ancient Europe had a more
complex governmental structure than did the Celts. Th e
foundation of the system was the clan, called the sibbe. Clan
relationships were so important that most ancient Germans
knew the names of their ancestors going back at least seven
generations. A typical sibbe consisted of about 10 families, in-
cluding members of both the father’s and mother’s familes,
and sometimes even slaves. Th e English word sibling, refer-
ring to a brother or sister, derives from this Germanic word.
Ty p i c a l l y, sibben were formed by the noblest families. Not
every family formed a separate sibbe, but rather many joined
the sibben of more infl uential families.
Several sibben, then, composed the tribe, and each tribe
had its own king. Sometimes coalition tribes formed for mu-
tual protection and benefi t, and the king of the most powerful
tribe led the coalition. Each tribe exercised control over its
own province, which was divided into districts called gauen.
A gau, analogous to a county, was ruled by an earl, who col-
lected taxes and raised troops. Earls who governed border
provinces had the additional duty of defending the border and
therefore were given more rights and privileges than ordinary
earls. Th e word used to refer to these border provinces was
mark, a word that survives in the name of modern Denmark,
which literally means “border province of the Danes.” Mul-
tiple gauen formed a dukedom led by a duke. Th ese nobles did
not necessarily inherit their titles from their fathers. Ancient
Germanic societies were meritocracies, meaning that people
achieved high positions because of merit, oft en success in
war, rather than strictly inheritance.
At the top of the governmental system was the king, who
was advised by a council. Among the Anglo-Saxons, for in-
stance, this council was called the Witenagemot, or “Meeting
of the Wise.” While kingship was hereditary, kings ruled with
the consent of their people and were chosen from the tribe’s
most important families. It was customary for the king’s loyal
followers to present him with gift s, including cattle, part of
a harvest, or manufactured items useful in the home. Only
later, during the medieval period, did this custom evolve into
obligatory taxes paid to the king.
Additionally, the Germanic tribes had a þing, or folk as-
sembly, which consisted of all the free people in the commu-
nity, including women and oft en older children. (Th e word
þing begins with an alphabetic symbol called the thorn, usu-
ally pronounced like the th in either thick or though.) His-
torians describe the governmental structure of the ancient
Germanic tribes as a mixture of a dictatorship and a democ-
racy. While the king during times of war and crisis was a
stable ruler, endowed with far-reaching powers, he remained
subject to the will of his people and the rulings of the þing.
Ve s t i g e s o f t h e a n c i e nt þing can be found in modern-day Eu-
ropean parliaments. In Norway, for example, the parliament
is called the Storting, or “Great þing,” while in Denmark it is
called the Folketing, or “People’s þing.”
Th e þing dealt primarily with judicial matters, standing
i n judg ment when people were accused of cr i mes or when d is-
putes arose between them. Additionally, the þing determined
whether to declare war and even intervened to solve personal
problems and to decide who was being truthful in a matter
of importance to the tribe. Th e þing usually met on a fi xed
date, oft en shortly aft er a new moon or shortly before a full
moon, though the body met at other times if the need arose.
In the event of a dispute, the parties assembled to tell all sides
of the story. Anyone, particularly infl uential members of the
community, could speak and off er an opinion. Sometimes
these assemblies became rowdy, as people who agreed with
a speaker signifi ed their agreement by stamping their feet
and clanging the weapons together; the greater the noise and
hubbub, the more the assembly agreed. Usually once a year
larger coalitions of tribes met to discuss the state of the larger
kingdom.
Th e Germanic tribes did not maintain standing armies.
Th e king, with the help of his nobles, raised an army when it
was necessary. Th is typically was not diffi cult. Th e Germanic
peoples tended to be warlike, and young men were expected
to be skilled in the arts of warfare and eager to join in the
bloodshed. Th e best of these warriors became personal body-
guards for the king. Th e guards swore an oath that they would
protect him at all costs; in turn, the king swore that he would
provide for the warrior and his family. Later, the warrior was
oft en given land in exchange for his service. Additionally, a
class of warlords led military forces in battle. Th ese warlords
were elected based primarily on their bravery, giving rise to
what was called the retinue system, meaning that a power-
ful warlord attracted around him a retinue, or gathering, of
intensely loyal followers. Meanwhile, the king was always the
leader of the army. A king could be deposed for not showing
courage in battle. Very few Germanic kings died of natural
causes; most were killed in battle.526 government organization: Europe