When we meet the Germans at the close of the third century we are
surprised to find that the tribal names which they bore in the time
of Hermann have nearly all disappeared, and new names of wider
significance have taken their places. Instead of thirty to forty petty
tribes, they are now consolidated into four chief nationalities with
two or three inferior, but independent branches. Their geographical
situation is no longer the same, migrations have taken place, large
tracts of territory have changed hands, and many leading families have
been overthrown and new ones arisen. Nothing but the constant clash of
arms could have wrought such change. As each of these new nationalities
plays a prominent part in the following centuries, a short description
of them is given:
1. _The Alemanni._—The name of this division (_Alle Mannen_, signifying
“all men”) shows that it was composed of fragments of many tribes. The
Alemanni first made their appearance along the Main, and gradually
pushed southward over the Tithe lands, where the military veterans of
Rome had settled, until they occupied the greater part of southwestern
Germany, and eastern Switzerland to the Alps. Their descendants occupy
the same territory to this day.
2. _The Franks._—It is not known whence this name is derived, nor what
is its meaning. The Franks are believed to have been formed out of
the Sicambrians in Westphalia, a portion of the Chatti and the Batavi
in Holland, together with other tribes. We first hear of them on the
Lower Rhine, but they soon extended their territory over a great part
of Belgium and Westphalia. Their chiefs were already called kings, and
their authority was hereditary.
3. _The Saxons._—This was one of the small original tribes settled in
Holstein. The name “Saxon” is derived from their peculiar weapon, a
short sword, called _sahs_. We find them occupying at the close of the
third century nearly all the territory between the Harz Mountains and
the North Sea, from the Elbe westward to the Rhine. There appears to
have been a natural enmity—no doubt bequeathed from the earlier tribes
out of which both grew—between them and the Franks.
4. _The Goths._—Their traditions state that they were settled in Sweden
before they were found by the Greek navigators on the southern shore of
the Baltic in 330 B. C. It is probable that only a portion of the tribe
navigated, and that the present Scandinavian race is descended from the
remainder. They came in contact with the Romans beyond the mouth of the
Danube about the beginning of the third century.[C]