Germanic Warriors Elite of The Migration Era

It is without doubt that early Germanic society was a warrior society, as described by the Roman historian Tacitus. However, their warrior society would have probably something that the Romans could not comprehend. When the Roman wage wars, it was for either total subjugation of their opponents, or total annihilation, a fate that befell Carthage at the closing of the 2nd Punic Wars. On the other hand, warfare to the Germanic societies was a ritual part of life, something that is common with all other warrior socities. Family feuds and inter-clan or inter-tribal conflict were the norms and battle were fought for either wealth, prestige, revenge or a combination or the three. However, all soon changed when the Germanic people came in contact with rome.

When they came face to face with the Romans, it was not the normal feuding tribes that they usually came across, but rather, an established state bent on conquest. Despite the Roman loses against the barbarians they fought with, its superior discipline, tactcis and weaponry always won them the war; as such, it was through this prestige that earlier Germanic people were drawn to serve under the Roman army. But to those who remained hostile to the Romans, their existence became a matter of fighting for survival, as such, smaller tribes living on the frontiers often formed into loose confederacies, like the Alamanni and Franks. As such, for those warriors who could gather bigger manpower to fight against the Romans, victories meant that they gained more prestige and power within their tribal societies. On the other hand, for those who did join the Romans, they eventually became romanized and few of them returned to their homeland with wealth, prestige and knowledge beyond anything that could be imagine from those who stayed behind.

Such was the changes that were brought to after the contact with rome. By the 2nd century AD, the Germanic tribes who faced the Romans were rarely the mythical democratic warrior-farmers society, but rather, a society that developed hierarchy based on martial prowess. Perhaps their predecessors may have instigated semi-divine hereditary rule, but with the rising numbers of these prestigious warriors, that meant the earlier tribal system were eroded and replaced by the rising men of wealth and power; Men who gathered large number of followers from across the tribes and maintained them through success in War. For those who had served under the Roman, they learn the Roman ways of command and control, which equipped them to become war leaders in their tribes. These great Germanic men and their followers later evolved into the kings and nobles of the early feudal medieval society.

In this drawing, I have attempted to draw a rich Germanic warrior of the Migration era, perhaps a leader of his tribes, an officer of the increasingly Germanic late Roman army, or a lord's companion. The latter is an interesting case because a war-leader/chieftain followers would have surely enjoyed expensive arms and armors, most likely granted by their superior whome the swore an oath, but at the same time, they were obliged to return them when they renounce their oath or died. As one can see, wealthy and powerful Germanic warriors carried their wealth in person, even to battle, so a display of expensive jewelries, swords and other items of prestige were probably the norm.

Various Germanic fibulae (A) of the migration era were unearthed from Allemanic, Frankish and Gothic graves, some gilded with precious metal and stones, while others were made with intricate design based on animals or other motifs. These richly decorated fibulae disagree with the Roman portrayal of Germanic people as unwashed barbarian savages; far from being primitive, they were superb artisants and skilled metal-workers. Interestingly enough, the brooch with the shape of fish is a rare motif for Germanic warriors and most likely belonged to a Christian.

His sword is a finely constructed double ege with decorated hilt and pommel, with some familiar design as depicted in (B) across the Germanic Era, including the Lombard ring hilt (middle) of the 6th century, which came to popularity towards the end of Migration period. The Helmets as shown at (C) is based on contemporary archeological findings the famous spangenhelm, a brilliantly constructed helmet that saw wide use during the migration era. These helmet were made up of several plates held together with reinforced band and sometimes were decorated, perhaps for personal preference. About 29 of such helmets have been found by archeologist across the European continent.

Also, Warriors like him would have worn armor, either mail or scale (from Roman) and later, lamellar, influenced by their contacts with the steppe nomads of the east. Apart from that, his shield would have been adorned with gilded decoration sometimes in the shape of animal. Metallic shield ornaments as shown in (D), which is based on a Lombard warrior's shield, saw increasing popularity in the later migration era. While it did little in terms of practicality, the Germanic warriors knew how to fight (and probably die) in style!

That fibulae took me 2 hours to draw, but so totally worth it! apart from that, Hope you enjoy this drawings and feel free to drop any feedback