Transcript The Germans Ch. 17

Arch of St Louis
Gateway to the West
The Germans
Ch. 17
Germanic Invasions
I. Village Life
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Came from Northern
Europe. Why?
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Warmer climate
Get away from Huns
 Fearsome warriors
from china
 Drank from enemy
skulls
 Rome paid ransom
for them to leave
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Hadrian Wall- built to
keep Germanic tribes
out of Roman territory
A description of the Huns
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"They made their foes flee in horror because their swarthy
aspect was fearful, and they had, if I may call it so, a sort of
shapeless lump, not a head, with pin-holes rather than eyes.
Their hardihood is evident in their wild appearance, and they
are beings who are cruel to their children on the very day they
are born. For they cut the cheeks of the males with a sword,
so that before they receive the nourishment of milk they
must learn to endure wounds. Hence they grow old beardless
and their young men are without comeliness, because a face
furrowed by the sword spoils by its scars the natural beauty
of a beard. They are short in stature, quick in bodily
movement, alert horsemen, broad shouldered, ready in the
use of bow and arrow, and have firm-set necks which are
ever erect in pride. Though they live in the form of men, they
have the cruelty of wild beasts."[7]:127-8
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Villages
Lived in clans of 50 families
 Thatched roofed huts
 Animals lived inside huts
Life
 Warriors because of religion- Wodin, Valhalla
 Children given sword and shield when they become
men
 Cattle herders and farmers
 Most work done by women or slaves
 Dress was simple
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Law
Laws not written down like Roman Laws
 People made accusations
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Oath helpers
 Ordeals
 Hot coals
 Thrown into water
 Wergelds- fines
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Everyone not equal in Germanic Law
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II. The Conquerors
Alaric
 Allied with Rome but problems break out
 Laid siege to Rome in 410 AD but dies
Odoacer
 Eastern Roman Emperor Zeno helps him defeat
Rome. Zeno wants to rule a reunited Roman Empire
 Official end of Roman Empire
 Odoacer and son assassinated at a banquet. By who?
Theodoric
 Kidnapped by Constantinople until 18 years old
 Killed Odoacer. Ruled Italy. Viceroy of Emperor
Zeno.
The End of the Roman Empire