SUCCESSORS OF ROME:
GERMANIA, 395-774
At first I wanted to erase the Roman name and convert all Roman territory into a Gothic Empire: I longed for Romania to become Gothia, and Athaulf to be what Caesar Augustus had been. But long experience has taught me that the ungoverned wildness of the Goths will never submit to laws, and that without law, a state is not a state. Therefore I have more prudently chosen the different glory of reviving the Roman name with Gothic vigour, and I hope to be acknowledged by posterity as the initiator of a Roman restoration, since it is impossible for me to alter the character of this Empire.
Athaulf, King of the Visigoths [Orosius, Adversum Paganos, translated in Stephen Williams, Diocletian and the Roman Recovery, Routledge, 1985, 2000, p.218]
Introduction
Six major German tribes, the Visigoths, the Ostrogoths, the Vandals, the Burgundians, the Lombards, and the Franks participated in the fragmentation and the collapse of the Western Roman Empire. The Vandals were actually two tribes, the Asding and the Siling Vandals. 
Several other tribes were also involved, the Alans and the Suevi in particular, though the Alans were an Iranian steppe people, not Germans. The six major tribes, however, founded significant kingdoms. All of them disappeared except one, the Franks, who gave their name to Western Europe in languages like Arabic. The diagram illustrates the fate of the kingdoms, two overthrown by the Franks, two by Romania, and one by Islâm. The parts of Italy preserved from the Lombards by the Romans later, of course, fell to the Franks too (if then ceded to the Pope); and North Africa, retrieved by the Romans from the Vandals, then went to Islâm. The Frankish kingdom breaks up into the elements of Mediaeval European history. Although Burgundy and Lorraine are now gone as such, Switzerland and Monaco are Modern pieces of the former, and the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg are Modern pieces of the latter.
Besides the German tribes that entered and conquered or damaged the Western Roman Empire, there were the tribes that remained back in Germany proper. These were the Saxons, the Alemanni, the Thuringians, and the Rugians. When the Rugians were destroyed by Odoacer in 487, a new confederation of Germans formed in their place, the Bavarians. All these tribes in Germany were eventually subjugated by the Franks, the Alemanni in 496 and 505, the Thuringians in 531, the Bavarians at some point after 553, and then finally the Saxons by 804. When Germany eventually separated as East Francia, the old tribal areas assumed new identities as the Stem Duchies.
The Germanic Languages
Gothic is the first attested Germanic language. It is assigned to the Eastern group of Germanic languages. 
Unfortunately, the other possible members of the Eastern group are long gone, and so 
little remains attested of their languages that their affinities cannot be determined with certainty. Candidates for the Eastern group are Burgundian, Lombard, Vandal, and Gepid. Except for the Gepids, who disappeared under the realms of the Avars, Bulgars, and Magyars, all the languages were spoken by tribes who ended up scattered across Roman territory. This may be an artifact of their being indeed in the Eastern Germanic language area, where they bore the front of the Hun arrival and fled west. Otherwise, the Germanic languages are divided into Western and Northern. The Western languages derive from various dialects of the languages of Germany, where the Jutes, Angles, and many Saxons colonized Britain and led to the development of English, while the German lowlands gave rise to dialects of Franconian, Saxon, and Frisian, where Low Franconian developed into modern Dutch and Saxon into Low German. West German tribes that in their day would have had distinctive dialects or languages but that have disappeared or assimilated over time would include 
the Franks, Saxons, Thuringians, Alemanni, Bavarians, and Suevi. Most of these form the basis of the Stem Duchies of Mediaeval Germany. The Alemanni and Barvarians occupied the dialect area that developed into High German. 
Eventually, Standard German came to be based on a dialect of High German, whose sound changes had penetrated the Franconian areas. The Northern group of Germanic languages begins with Runic inscriptions and Old Norse and then leads to modern languages like Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic, Faeroese, Swedish, and Gutnish. The language of the earliest Runic inscriptions (c.300 AD) is a form of Norse so archaic that it seems almost equivalent to Proto-Germanic.
| Grimm's Law |
|---|
| PIE | G |
|---|
| *p | f |
| *t | þ |
| *k | x/h |
| *kw | hw |
| *b | p |
| *d | t |
| *g | k |
| *gw | kw |
| *bh | b |
| *dh | d |
| *gh | g |
| *ghw | gw/w |
The Germanic languages in general are characterized by some very distinctive sound changes. These were described by Jacob Grimm (yes, of the Grimm Bothers and their collection of fairy tales) in 1822 and consequently are formulated as "Grimm's Law" or the "First Germanic Sound Shift." The first part of the Law is that Proto-Indo-European voiceless stops, p, t, k, and kw, became fricatives, f, þ, x or h, and hw. Thus the Latin word for "foot," pês, corresponds to foot in English; the Latin word for "three," três, corresponds to three in English; the Latin word for "dog," canis -- kýon in Greek -- corresponds to hound in English, Hund in German; and the Latin word for "what," quod, correspond to what in English. The dental fricative can be written with the "thorn," þ, which is how the sound was written in Old English. The sound is often written with the modern pronunciation of the Greek 
. "X" writes the sound of the Modern Greek "khi," 
-- the sound written "gh" in Middle English and "ch" in Modern German (or Scottish).
The second part of the Law is that Proto-Indo-European voiced stops, b, d, g, and gw, became voiceless stops, p, t, k, and kw. Thus, Latin trabs, "wooden beam," and Lithuanian trobà, "house," correspond to Old English þorp, "farm, estate," and the New English suffix, "-thorp," used in place names and surnames; Latin decem, "ten," corresponds to English ten; Latin gelu, "frost, icy cold," corresponds to English cold; and Greek bíos, "life," which reflects the labial w more than the velar g, corresponds to English quick.
Finally, the third part of the Law is that Proto-Indo-European voiced aspirate stops, bh, dh, gh, and ghw, became simple voiced stops, b, d, g, and gw or w. Thus, "brother" in Sanskrit, bhrâta, in Greek, phratér, and Latin, frater, correspond to Gothic broþar and English brother; Greek thýra, "door," corresponds to English door; Greek khén, "goose," corresponds to English goose; and Proto-Indo-European *gwhermos, "warm," corresponds to Latin formus, Greek thermós, and English warm. There are some variations on these rules, influenced by environments like the position of the Proto-Indo-European accent, as was discovered by Karl Verner and formulated as "Verner's Law."
A fascinating feature of the Germanic languages is that the sort of consonsant shifts we see in Grimm's Law later begin to be repeated in the development of High German (the "Second Germanic Sound Shift"). These changes take place in sequence and spread like waves north through the German language community. Indeed, they are very good evidence for the "wave model" of language development. Most significantly, the different waves go different distances in different places,
| Grimm's Law | High German Sound Shift |
|---|
| PIE | G | PG | #1
4-5c | PHG | #2
5-8c |
|---|
| *b | p | *-p-/-*p | ff | *p-/-pp- | pf |
| *d | t | *-t-/-*t | ss | *t-/-tt- | ts |
| *g | k | *-k-/-*k | x/hh | *k-/-kk- | k(x) |
creating a transition zone in Germany between High German dialects that have experienced all the changes, and the Low German language that has experienced none. With the two sets of changes in the first table, the first changes affect medial and final voiceless stops. The second changes affect initial and "germinated" or doubled medial voiceless stops. These different changes, however, also occurred at different times, with the first occurring from the 4th to the 5th centuries AD, while the latter occurred in the 5th to the 8th. Thus, I have labelled the first shifts occurring to "Proto-Germanic" (PG), while the second affected "Proto-High-German" (PHG).
In the first wave, the voiceless stops become fricatives -- f, s, and x or h. Thus, English ship corresponds to High German Schiff; English eat and out correspond to High German essen and aus, respectively; and English make and Dutch ik, "I," correspond to High German machen and ich, respectively.
All of these changes are reflected in the extraordinary dialect map at left, the "Rhenish Fan," Rheinischer Fächer, where not only have the different sound changes extended different distances from their origin, but there is even a different distance with the same sound change (k/ch) in different words. These transition dialects are all regarded as belonging to High German, but they are then characterized as "Central" or "Middle" German rather than the "Upper" German of the Standard High German dialect. It is of interest that the official language of Luxembourg, Letzeburgish, is a dialect of Central German, falling between dorp/dorf Bad Honnef Line and the dat/das Sankt Goar Line. The Kur-Köln and Kur-Trier glosses refer to the old Imperial Electorates of Cologne and Trier, which were independent states until the Napoleonic era.
| Grimm's Law | High German
Sound Shift |
|---|
| PIE | G | PHG | #2
5-8c |
|---|
| *b | p | *p-/-pp- | pf |
| *d | t | *t-/-tt- | ts |
| *g | k | *k-/-kk- | k(x) |
In the second wave of sound changes, voiceless stops become affricatives, which start with the stop and ends with the fricative -- pf, ts, and kx. Thus, English penny and pound correspond to High German Pfennig and Pfund, respectively; and English two and time correspond to High German zwei and Zeit. In the third case we see something different. With the English word cow, the corresponding Standard High German word, Kuh, retains the simple stop. However, the Swiss word, pronounced kxû, relfects the expected change from stop to affricative. Thus, this sound change did not even continue far enough North to enter the Standard Dialect of High German. The dialects of southern Bavaria, Austria, and southern Swabia (High Alemannic) also share this feature, with a word like Kchind for Standard German Kind, "child." There is no word in my German dictionary [The New Cassell's German Dictionary, Funk & Wagnalls, 1958, 1965, p.258] that has an initial cluster of kch.
| Grimm's Law | High German
Sound Shifts |
|---|
| PIE | G | HG | #3
8-9c |
|---|
| *bh | b | b | p |
| *dh | d | d | t |
| *gh | g | g | k |
With the third set of sound changes, which took place between the 8th and 9th centuries, this difference between dialects of Upper German becomes pronounced: only one change, that from d to t, entered the Standard dialect of High German. Thus English day, Gothic dags, corresponds to High German Tag. Otherwise, Standard German Berg, "mountain," and Gott, "God" (showing the d to t), are Perg and Kot, respectively, in Bavarian.
| Grimm's Law | Germanic
Sound Shifts |
|---|
| PIE | PG | H/LG | #4
9-10c |
|---|
| *t | þ | *þ/ð | d |
The fate of the fourth sound change, from the 9th to the 10th centuries, was very different and startling. The dental fricative produced in Proto-Germanic, and that seems so different in contrast to Latin, Greek, and Sanskrit, changes into a voiced stop and disappears, not only from all of High German, but from all dialects and German and even from Dutch. Thus, English that corresponds to Standard German das but also Dutch and Low German dat. English brother (Latin frâter, Greek phrétêr, Sanskirt bhrâtar, and New Persian barâdar) corresponds to German Bruder and Dutch broeder.
English displays its own version of Germanic sound shifts, when the vowels of Middle English all move around into New English -- the "Great English Vowel Shift." With all such changes, linguists still hunt for explanations of why such things happen. In general, there is not going to be an explanation. Sounds change, and then the changes spread. It just happens, although features of social, political, or religious prestige may come into play. Thus, a certain dialect of High German came to be the Standard dialect for the modern German language apparently because that is what Martin Luther used for his German translation of the Bible -- the dialect we see as "East Middle German" on the map. He may have chosen that dialect because it already had some prestige, or just because that is what he spoke. Certainly the post-Luther prestige of the dialect accounts for its becoming spoken in Berlin -- the green salient on the map up into the East Low German dialect area.
My sources here are a couple of fine articles at Wikipedia, "Grimm's Law" and the "High German consonsant shift," and then R.L. Trask, Historical Linguistics [Arnold, London, New York, 1996], Winfred P. Lehmann, Historical Linguistics [Third Edition, Routledge, 1992, 1997, both maps here are adapted from Lehman, pp.126 & 128], Calvert Watkins, The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo-European Roots [Second Edition, Houghton Mifflin, 2000], Robert S.P. Beekes, Comparative Indo-European Linguistics, An Introduction [John Benjamins Publishing Company, Amsterdam, 1995], and J.P. Mallory and D.Q. Adams, The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World [Oxford, 2006, 2007].
The Great English Vowel Shift
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Philosophy of Science, Linguistics
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Philosophy of History
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The Great English Vowel Shift
While Germanic languages in general and High German in particular have their merry-go-round of consonant shifts, English switches over and does it with vowels. As Middle English develops into New English, between 1200 and 1600, the quality of the long vowels undergoes a distinctive transformation. The results are a great deal messier than indicated in the chart below. English no longer has "pure" vowels. Actual vowel sounds number somewhere between nine and thirteen, with most vowels reduced and rather indefinite, or diphthongized, with the places of articulation (the allophones) scattered around where the original vocalic phoneme ideally would have been pronounced. The shifting is thus not just confined to the great systematic change of the long vowels. The short vowels have also shifted somewhat, most notably where the short "a" is now usually pronounced /æ/, as in "bad," "rap," etc.
Nevertheless, there is a systematic change with the long vowels, which is indicated in a general way in the diagram. 
Thus, the long "a" is now pronounced /ê/ (or /êi/), as we see in words like "trade," "made," "date," etc. This ends up being the same result for the diphthong "ai" (or "ay"), as we see in "paid," "day," and "lay." The long "e," meanwhile, is pronounced /î/ as in "meet," "beet," "sleep," etc.; and long "i" has shifted around to the diphthong /ai/, as in "light," "spite," "dike," etc. With the back vowels, we are a little distracted by the spelling conventions of Middle English. People tend to think that "oo" is simply the digraph to write /û/, when of course it simply indicated a long "o" and the "u" sound is the result of the sound shift. Thus, the Dutch and German word Boot, "boat," is often pronounced by Americans as /bût/ (very common with the fine German submarine movie Das Boot [1982]) rather than /bôt/ -- like, as it happens, "boat" itself. Of course, English does have a word "boot," in which the long "o" has shifted into a long "u." More obscure is the use of "ou" to write the original long "u." This convention, however, is shared by French and even Greek. This long "u" then shifts into the /au/ diphthong, as in words like "pound," "round," "noun," etc. "Ou" may not be the most obvious way to write a long "u," but then the same sound is written "oe" in Dutch. The original diphthong "au" shifts back around to "o," but more to the quality (roughly) of the modern short "o" than the modern long "o." Thus we get, "paw," "Paul," "caulk," etc.
The vowel shift was a process that went on for centuries. Indeed, it has never been quite completed in the North of England or Scotland. Americans like to make fun of Canadians saying /abût/ for "about." I don't think they actually quite do that, but their "ou" is not the same as Americans pronounce it, and indeed there are places in England and Scotland where /abût/ is the pronounciation, because the Middle English vowel quality is retained. Even for standard English, however, the spelling gives no more than a clue about pronunciation. "Rough," for instance, which would have been /rûx/ in Middle English, has ended up with the vowel reduced to the indefinite "schwa," and the "gh" transformed into an "f." This is the sort of thing that makes English a nightmare for people learning it as a second language.
Germanic Languages
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Tense and Aspect, Expressed in English
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Philosophy of History
My sources for all these tables and maps can be found on the page for Francia and in "Decadence, Rome and Romania, the Emperors Who Weren't, and Other Reflections on Roman History." In particular, genealogies for the German kingdoms can be found in the Erzählende genealogische Stammtafeln zur europäischen Geschichte, Volume III, Europäiche Kaiser-, Königs- und Fürstenhäuser, Ergänzungsband [Andreas Thiele, R. G. Fischer Verlag, Second Edition, 2001].
This page continues and supplements the material in "Rome and Romania, 27 BC-1453 AD".
The Visigoths, 395-711
None of six main German tribes, save one, survived the early part of the Middle Ages. Only the Franks created an enduring state. The principal immediate damage to the Empire was done by the Visigoths, who, instead of being assimilated like earlier barbarians settled on Roman
| VISIGOTHS |
|---|
| Alaric I | 395-410 |
| Athaulf (Ataulfo) | 410-415 |
| Sigeric | 415 |
| Wallia | 415-417 |
defeat of Vandals &
Alans in Spain, 417 |
|---|
| Theodoric I | 417-451 |
| withdrawal to Aquitaine, 418; killed by Huns, battle of Chalôns-sur-Marne (otherwise known as the Campus Mauriacus or the Catalaunian Plains), 451 |
|---|
| Thorismund | 451-453 |
| Theodoric II | 453-466 |
| invades Spain, defeats Suevi, 456 |
|---|
| Euric (Eurico) I | 466-484 |
| Alaric (Alarico) II | 484-507 |
defeated by Franks,
driven from Gaul, 507 |
|---|
| Amalaric (Amalarico) | 508-511,
526-531 |
| capital at Toledo, 527 |
|---|
| Theodoric the Great | Ostrogoths,
493-526 |
| 511-526 |
| Theudes (Theudis) | 531-548 |
| Theudegisel | 548-549 |
| Agila I | 549-554 |
Romans in Cartagena
& Andalusia, 551 |
|---|
| Athanagild(o) | 554-567 |
| Theodomir | 567-571 |
| Leuva (Leova) I | 571-572 |
| Leu(/o)vigild(o) | 572-586 |
| Reccared(o) I | 586-601 |
| Catholic, 587, Kingdom, 589 |
|---|
| Leova II | 601-603 |
| Witterich | 603-610 |
| Gundemar | 610-612 |
| Sisebut (Sisebur) | 612-621 |
| Reccared II | 621 |
| Swintilla (Suinthila) | 621-631 |
| Sisenand(o) | 631-636 |
| Chintila | 636-640 |
| Tulga | 640-642 |
| Chindaswind(/suinto) | 642-653 |
| Recdeswinth | 653-672 |
| Wamba | 672-680 |
| Euric (Erwig) II | 680-687 |
| E(r)gica | 687-702 |
| Witiza | 702-709 |
| Roderic (Rodrigo) | 709-711 |
| Agila II | 711-714 |
Overthrown by Omayyads,
711; Christian Kingdom of
Asturias, 718 |
|---|
territory, which would have been the plan of Valens, could not be properly subdued by Theodosius I. They then began to operate against the Empire. With the attention of Stilicho, left by Theodosius in charge of the Army, occupied by the Visigoths, the Western frontiers were stripped of troops. On January 1, 407, the Alans, Vandals, and Suevi crossed a frozen Rhine to engage in an uncontested romp through Gaul and Spain. Settling in Spain in 409, these tribes were never troubled by the Romans.
| SUEVI |
|---|
| Hermeric | 409-438 |
| Rechila | 428-448 |
Mérida, 439;
Seville, 441 |
|---|
| Rechiar(ius) | 448-456 |
Peace with Romans, 452;
defeated & killed by
Visigoths, 456 |
|---|
| Aioulf | 456-467 |
| Maldras | 467-460 |
| Richimund | 460-c.463 |
| Frumar | 460-c.465 |
| Remisund | c.463-? |
| unknown kings |
|---|
| Carriaric | c.550-559 |
| Theodemar | 559-570 |
| Catholic, 561 |
|---|
| Miro | 570-582 |
| Eboric | 582-584 |
| Andeca | 584-585 |
| Visigoth conquest |
|---|
Instead, the Visigoths, who soon became semi-independent allies of the Western Emperors and settled in Aquitaine, turned upon them. In 416, the Visigoths broke up the kingdoms of the Alans and the Siling Vandals, leaving the Suevi and Asding Vandals as potential allies against possible Roman revival.
The Suevi became an established Kingdom in Spain, with the Kings detailed in the table at right. When the Visigoths expanded from Aquitaine into Spain, the Suevi continued in the northwest. The Kingdom survived until the Visigoths completed their conquest of Iberia in 585. Meanwhile, in 428, the Asding Vandals crossed over into Africa. By 442 they had established themselves, ending the ancient source of grain for Roman Italy. With the Western Empire obviously in collapse, the Visigoths then expanded into much of the rest of Gaul and Spain (469-478). The Visigothic Kingdom, pushed entirely into Spain by the Franks (507), absorbing the Suevi (584), and converting from Arianism to orthodox Catholicism (589), endured until the armies of Islâm arrived in 711. The history of Spain is then largely of Islâmic Spain, until the Christian north revives and Islâm power goes into decline, around the turn of the millennium. Local rulers of Islâmic Spain can be found as follows:
While the Visigoths are gone before we get the classic form of Mediaeval history, with the presence of Islam, Visigothic Spain nevertheless contributed substantially to the form that Mediaeval Western European (Frankish/Latin) culture would take. It did this in great measure through the work of St. Isidore of Seville (c.560-636). Isidore's massive 20 volume encyclopedia, the Etymologies or Orîginês, drew on all sources available to him, many now lost (and while Spain was still in easy and regular contact with Constantinople), to provide the basis for education for centuries, perhaps 800 years, to come. Thus we start off with the seven "liberal arts," in the form of the trivium (hence "trival"), grammar, rhetoric, and logic, and the quadrivium, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music. We end up with something like the first Mediaeval summa, one not confined to any particular subject, but to all subjects. As Paul Johnson says, it "founded a civilization" [A History of Christianity, Touchstone, 1976, p.154]. Seville itself, however, would soon belong to another civilization.
Slightly different lists of Visigothic Kings are given by the sources. The Oxford Dynasties of the World, by John E. Morby [Oxford University Press, 1989, 2002, p.59] looks good. The original version here was based on the Kingdoms of Europe, by Gene Gurney [Crown Publishers, New York, 1982] and Bruce R. Gordon's Regnal Chronologies. I've tried to combine and reconcile the lists to an extent, but I have no way of knowing at the moment which dates are preferable.
Many Visigothic names survive into modern Spanish. Of the Kings, the name of Rodrigo seems the most obvious example. Later names like Ferdinand (Ferdinando, Fernando) are also examples.
The origin and history of the Goths is a matter of great interest, dispute, and speculation. The island of Gotland off the coast of Sweden seems to testify to the location and antiquity of the name, but there is no real historical evidence linking the Goths to it, apart from much later, and legendary, accounts, like the history of the Goths completed in 551 by Jordanes, a Goth himself -- although it seems to be based on a larger history by Cassiodorus. What is better known is that in the first centuries A.D. German tribes expanded from the Baltic & North Sea coasts of Germany south and east along the frontier of the Roman Empire. In so doing they interacted with Roman culture, even developing their own writing system, the Runes. By the third century, the Goths were in the forefront of this expansion, passing around the Roman salient of Dacia, shown on the following map.
From this position, in 251 the Goths raided into the Balkans, killing the Emperors Decius and Herennius. In 267 the Goths even sailed down into Roman territory, in a kind of anticipation of the Viking (or Varangian) raids of later centuries, sacking Athens -- though, not really being seafaring themselves, they used ships from Greek colonials in the Crimea (the Cimmerian Bosporus) and nearby. The Emperor Gallienus inflicted some setbacks on them, before he was murdered, but they were finally defeated in 269 at the battle of Naissus by Claudius II, henceforth known as "Gothicus." Nevertheless, Aurelian then withdrew Roman legions and settlers from Dacia in 271. By then some of the Goths were moving on, and soon different Gothic communities can be distinguished. Previously, it was thought that Visigoths and Ostrogoths familiar from later history were already discernable. However, this now looks anachronistic, as discussed elsewhere. Gothic power did expand through the Ukraine. Eventually, it may have extended all the way to the Don, and then spread north, by some (questionable) reckonings all the way back to the Baltic. The Gothic "empire" of King Ermanaric (i.e. "King [riks] Herman," where "Herman" itself is from [h]er[i], "army," and man, "man") collapsed abruptly when the Huns arrived in about 370 -- Ermanaric is even supposed to have committed suicide. This pushed the Goths back into Roman territory, which began all the troubles for Rome.
But after some centuries in the area, the Goths had left a treasure hoard behind in what later would be modern Romania. A Runic inscription on one item in the hoard contains the words Gutani, which was the Goths' own name for themselves (it turns up in Latin as Gutones) and hailag, the Gothic word for "holy" and recognizably cognate to modern German heilig. The Ostrogoths left behind something else: a small community in the Crimea. This survived and was still speaking Gothic as late as the 16th century. The Imperial Ambassador to Constantinople, Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq, 1560-1562, took down sixty words from informants from the Crimea, confirming the Gothic identity of their language. But then the community vanished at some later period. The long episode of Germans in the East would later evoke dreadful ambitions. There is little doubt that Hitler saw himself as revenging Ermanaric with his invasion of Russia.
| BURGUNDIANS |
|---|
| Gebicca | d.407 | established at Worms |
Gundahar/
Gondikar/
Gunther | 407-434 | killed by Huns & Aëtius |
| Gundioc/Gunderic | 434-473 |
| ceded Sapaduia (cisjurane Burgundy), 443; Sequania (transjurane Burgundy), 458 |
|---|
| Chilperic I | 443-c.480 |
| Chilperic II | 473-493 | son of Gundioc, killed by Gundobad |
| Gundomar I? | 473-486 | son of Gundioc? |
| Godegisel | 473-501 | son of Gundioc, killed by Gundobad |
| Gundobad | 473-516 | son of Gundioc, West Roman Generalissimo, 472-473 |
| Sigismund | 516-524 | killed by Franks |
| Gudomar II | 524-532 |
| Overthrown by Franks |
|---|
The Burgundians, like the Franks, did not play a great role in undermining the Western Empire. They moved into the vacuum of Roman power, and were conveniently ceded Roman lands (443 & 458). King Gundobad briefly was a player in the last stages of Western politics, holding power as the commander of the Roman Army from 472 to 473. By 534, however, Frankish power could no longer be resisted, and Burgundy became another piece in the Frankish kingdom.
The Kingdom of the Burgundians remained a unit in the many divisions of the Merovingian and Carolingian domains, until independent kingdoms resulted in the 880's. The map shows later subdivisions, especially of the Duchy and the Free County, which remained distinct for the longest. Upper and Lower Burgundy became a united Kingdom, based at Arles (hence, the "Arelate"). Eventually the Kingdom disappeared, with its parts largely absorbed by France. The name of Burgundy became primarily associated with the French Duchy of Burgundy (which bestowed its name on the wine of the region) and its subsequent possessions in the Low Countries.
| VANDALS |
|---|
| Gunderic | c.406-428 |
| Gaiseric | 428-477 |
| Invasion of Africa, 428; Capture of Carthage, 439; Sack of Rome, 455; Joint E/W expedition against; Vandals fails, 468 |
|---|
| Huneric | 477-484 |
| Gunthamund | 484-496 |
| Thrasamund | 496-523 |
| Hilderic | 523-530 |
| Gelimer | 530-534 |
| Overthrown by Romans |
|---|
Establishing themselves in North Africa and then taking to the sea, the Vandals probably did the most damage in the long run to the structure of Roman power. 
This was the doing of one Vandal genius, Gaiseric, whose name significantly means "Caesar King." The sea power by which the Romans had defeated the Carthaginians and then tied together the Empire of the Mare Nostrum now disappeared for the first time. There was really no hope of restoring the Western Empire until the Vandals were swept from the sea and their base recovered. In 468 the last unified Eastern and Western military expedition was organized against the Vandals. That it failed was mainly due to incompetence and treachery. The Western military commanders, mainly Germans, who were jealous of their own power, were never interested in such combined action again. In the end, however, the plan was revived, after the Western Empire was gone; and in 534 Justinian's great general Belisarius ended the Vandal kingdom and restored Roman authority.
When the last Western military commander, Odoacer, decided to depose the child Emperor Romulus "Augustulus" and not appoint another one, this formally restored the unity of the Roman Empire. Odoacer returned the Imperial Regalia to Constantinople and legally became an official of the Emperor Zeno. This dependency, however, was in name only, and Zeno soon directed his uncomfortably active allies, the Ostrogoths, to overthrow Odoacer. Invading Italy in 489, the Ostrogoths did not succeed in killing Odoacer and taking Ravenna until 493.
| OSTROGOTHS |
|---|
Theodoric/
Thiudareiks
the Great | 493-526 |
Animal killing ended
in Colosseum, 523 |
|---|
| Athalaric | 526-534 |
Theodatus/
Theodahad | 534-536 |
| Vitiges | 536-540 |
| Theodebald | 540 |
| Eraric | 540-541 |
| Tortila (Baduila) | 541-552 |
| Teias | 552-553 |
| Overthrown by Romans |
|---|
Rather than 476, the "fall" of the Western Empire might be pegged instead to 493, when the last bona fide Roman officer, Odoacer, is overthrown by a German tribal king -- and the late Roman capital of Ravenna falls for the first time to an invader. The kingdom of Theodoric the Great then becomes the high water mark of German power in the Mediterranean West. Holding off the Franks, propping up the Visigoths, and enlarging the Italian Kingdom, Theodoric also presides over a good measure of prosperity and literary activity.
Theodoric's name, although it looks like an adjective from "Theodore" in Greek, "Gift of God," actually is a rendering of Thiudareiks or "King of the People" in Gothic. Thiuda or "people" is a cognate of theoda in Old English and of deutsch in modern German (or "Teuton" by way of Latin). Reiks is a cognate of rex in Latin and raja in Sanskrit. "Thiudareiks" itself has many modern descendants: Dietrich in German, Derek in English from German, Dirk in Dutch, Thierry in French, and Terry in English by way of French. "Terry" is now usually seen as an abbreviation of "Terence," but the Oxford Dictionary of First Names [Patrick Hanks and Flavia Hodges, 1990] says otherwise.
Like Visigothic Spain, Ostrogothic Italy would contribute towards the civilization of Mediaeval Europe. Cassiodorus (c.490-c.583) and Boethius (476-524) both were distinguished writers. Although himself executed by Theodoric for treason, Boethius produced a number of enduring philosophical classics that were essential Latin reading in the Middle Ages. These included his commentary on Porphyry's Isagoge -- the Introduction to Aristotle's logical works that was the starting point for Mediaeval philosophy -- and then his On the Consolation of Philosophy, written in prison before his execution. In the commentary-upon-commentary style of Medieval learning, Boethius would be followed much later by Peter Abelard (1079-1142). Although nominally a Christian, Boethius' Consolation owed little to religion.
In the genealogy below, we can see some Kings of the Ostrogoths before Theodoric's descent into Italy. The actual dynasty ends in 540, when Belisarius conquered the country for the Emperor Justinian. When Ostrogothic resistance revived, the Kings were unrelated to the old dynasty. The heiress of the dynasty, Matasuntha, actually then married into the house of Justinian. Her son, Germanus, would form the only actual link between the Justinian Emperors and their successors Tiberius II and Maurice. The last days of the Ostrogoths were an exhausting campaign against the Romans that may have damaged Italy far more then any previous event in the protracted "Fall" of Rome. Tortila was the principal King and most effective leader in this period. He fell in battle against the Roman general Narses.
The recovery of Italy by the Romans from the Ostrogoths turned out to be a devastating event for the country. Between 536 and 553 the war surged back and forth, probably doing more damage than all the previous fighting since the invasion of Italy by the Visigoths in 410.
| LOMBARDS |
|---|
| Alboin | 568-573 |
| Celph | 573-575 |
| Autharis | 584-590 |
| Theodelinda | 590-591 |
| Agilulf | 591-615 |
| Adaloald | 615-625 |
| Arioald | 625-636 |
| Rotharis | 636-652 |
| Aribert I | 652-661 |
| Grimoald | 662-671 |
| Garibald | 671-674 |
| Bertharit | 674-688 |
| Cunibert | 688-700 |
| Aribert II | 701-712 |
| Liutprand | 712-744 |
| Rachis of Friuli | 744-749 |
| Aistulf of Friuli | 749-756 |
| Desiderius | 756-774 |
| Overthrown by Franks |
|---|
Not until the 19th century would Italy ever again be the unified center of an important independent power. When the Lombards descended in 568, neither were they strong enough to secure the whole country nor were the Romans strong enough to throw them out. The peninsula was fragmented into the main Lombard kingdom in the north (Lombardy), a Roman salient from Rome to Ravenna and Venice, a couple of semi-independent Lombard duchies in the south (Spoleto and Benevento), and Roman footholds in the south at Naples, Sicily, and other points. The Rome-Ravenna corridor is later "donated" to the Pope by the Franks and becomes the Papal States, enduring as such, in whole or in part, until 1870, when the unified Kingdom of Italy finally occupies Rome. The Lombards themselves slowly waxed in power as the Romans suffered the devastating blows dealt by the rise of Islâm. Finding himself at the mercy of the advancing Lombards, the Pope began to appeal to the Franks. The Lombard kingdom was finally wholly defeated and annexed by Charlemagne in 774. The "Iron Crown of Lombardy" then was mostly at the mercy of political events beyond the Alps.
Other German Tribes, 508-806
Kings of the
Bavarians, Bavarii |
|---|
| Theodo I | 508-512 |
| Theodo II | 512-537 |
| Theodo III | 537-565 |
control by Franks,
after 553 |
|---|
| Theodobald I | 537-567 |
| Garibald I | 550-590 |
| Grimwald I | 590-595 |
| Tassilo I | 591-609 |
| Garibald II | 609-640 |
| Agilolf | 609-630 |
| Theodo IV | 640-680 |
| Theodo V | 680-702 |
| Theodobert | 702-725 |
| Grimwald II | 702-723 |
| Theodobald II | 702-715 |
| Tassilo II | 702-730 |
| Hubert | 725-737 |
| Odilo | 737-748 |
| Tassilo III | 748-788 |
| annexed by Franks |
|---|
| Kings of Thuringia |
|---|
| Widephus | 4th century |
occupied by the
Huns, c.450-c.455 |
|---|
| Bisin | 5th century |
| Baderich | 5th century |
| Berthachar | 5th century |
| Hermenefried | c.500-
531 |
annexed by
the Franks |
|---|
The list of the Kings of the Thuringians is something I have only seen at one source, a historical website. The dates are pretty early. The line ends with Frankish conquest, but a Duchy of Thuringia is later briefly revived, as seen below.
The confederation of the Bavarii was a relatively late creation. The original tribe in the area, the Rugians, were destroyed when they attempted to invade Italy against Odoacer in 487. The Bavarians formed in their place. Later, when Justinian succeeded in destroying the Ostrogoths (552), the Bavarians moved south of the Danube, but about the same time they also came under the control of the Franks. Thus, the line of Kings, or perhaps Dukes, after Frankish suzerainty, continues until formal annexation by Charlemagne in 788.
Kings of the Alemanni;
control by Franks,
496, 505 |
|---|
| Leuthari | c.536-554 |
| Butilin | c.536-554 |
| Haming | d.c.539 |
| Leutfred I | c.570-587 |
| Uncilen | 588-613 |
| Gunzo | d.613 |
| Chrodebert | c.615-639 |
| Leutfred II | c.640-673/95 |
| Godefred | c.700-709 |
| Huocin | d.c.712 |
| Willehari | d.c.712 |
| Lanfred I | c.720-730 |
| Nebi | d.746 |
| Theodobald | c.737-744 |
| Lanfred II | 746-749 |
| Gerold | 791-799 |
| Isenbard | 799-806 |
| annexed by the Franks |
|---|
The Alemanni were a confederation of German tribes, an old adversary of Rome, from the 3rd century. While they occupied the left bank of the Rhine during the collapse of the Western Empire, they otherwise were not particularly active in the "fall" of Rome. Then they became targets of Clovis, first Christian King of the Franks, who defeated them in 496 and 505. Henceforth, until annexation by Charlemagne in 806, they were dependents of the Franks.
Their domain, revived as the Duchy of Swabia, lost its name in Germany, but the word nevertheless survives as the name for Germany itself in the Romance languages, like Allemagne in French. The left bank of the Rhine, taken by the Alemanni and passed to Swabia, became Alsace. Alsace and Lorraine were gradually conquered by France, substantially beginning with the settlement of the Thirty Years War in 1648 (the Treaty of Westphalia). Although annexed by Germany in 1871, Alsace has been back with France since 1918. It retains, however, many Germanic place names (Strasbourg, Ensisheim, Haguenau, Hochfelden, Altkirch, etc.) and, at least until the post-World War I era, many native German speakers. Neither Germans nor French bothered with any plebiscite to see which country the locals preferred.
| Saxons |
|---|
Vegdegg
Odinson | 1st century AD |
| Gelder | ? |
| Freawine | 4th century |
| Guictglis | 5th century |
| Hulderic | 6th century |
 Alof the Great | 6th century |
| Boddic | 7th century |
| Berthold | ? |
| Sighard | ? |
| Dietrich | ? |
| Wernicke | 8th century |
Withukund
the Great | ?-777,
778-785 |
Frankish conquest,
777-778, 785-790,
rebellion, 790-804 |
|---|
What I was long missing here was a list of the Kings of the Saxons in the days before Charlemagne's conquest in 804. I had seen individual names in histories, but it seemed like the matter was not well enough known for a list to be assembled. Now, however, Bruce R. Gordon's Regnal Chronologies has such a list, which I am happy to reproduce. There do not seem to be enough Kings for the period covered, and with someone named "Odinson," we are back in a legendary period familiar from Scandinavia. It may also have been the case that the Saxons were not politically unified, and there was not a single succession of Kings for the whole people. There do seem to be some connections with the early Kings of adjacent Denmark, in a period when we also get a confused jumble of names there, which have not yet been convincingly assembled in a coherent order.
The Saxons were a tough fight for the Franks, just about the worst. It took Charlemagne 27 years (777-804) to effectively reduce the country. The fighting, by all accounts, was brutal, with little restraint or humanity shown by either side.
| Dukes of Thuringia |
|---|
| Radulf | c.634-642 |
| independent, 639 |
|---|
| Hetan I | c.642-687 |
| Gozbert | c.687-689 |
| Hetan II | c.689-719 |
| annexed by the Franks |
|---|
Saxon paganism, toughness, and ruthlessness perhaps foreshadows the future ferocity of the Vikings. Saxons, of course, had previously colonized Britain. The Saxon chiefs Aelle and Cissa are said to have established themselves in Sussex (the "Southern Saxons"), apparently some time between 449 and 491. As uncertain as these dates are, they are more than we have to go on for Saxony itself.
A telling sign of a bit of Merovingian decline is that Thuringia should drift into independence for 80 years. We can imagine that Frankish control of the Bavarians and Alemanni during the same period was likely to have been pretty slack. Significantly, Thuringian independence ends in the days of Charles Martel. The Bavarians and Alemanni must have been more entrenched. It was only Charlemagne, waxing in power, who eliminated the native lines.
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Copyright (c) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 Kelley L. Ross, Ph.D. All Rights Reserved
Anglo-Saxon England
Kings of Sussex, Bernicia, Deira,
Northumbria, Essex, Mercia, and East Anglia
Kings of Bernicia
Angles |
|---|
| Ida | 547-559 |
| Glappa | 559-560 |
| Adda | 560-568 |
| Aethelric | 568-572 |
| Theoderic | 572-579 |
| Frithuwald | 579-585 |
| Hussa | 585-592 |
Kings of Deira
Angles |
|---|
| Aelle | 560-599 |
| Aetheiric | 599-604 |
Kings of Northumbria,
Angles |
|---|
| Aethelfrith | Bernicia,
593-616;
Deira,
604-616 |
| annexed Bernicia, and Deira, 604 |
|---|
| Edwin | 616-633 |
| Osric | Deira,
633-634 |
| Eanfrith | Bernicia,
633-634 |
| St. Oswald | 634-642 |
| Oswiu | 642-670 |
| St. Oswine | Deira,
644-651 |
| Aethciwaid | Deira,
651-655 |
| Ecgfrith | 670-685 |
| Aldfrith | 686-705 |
| Eadwulf I | 705-706 |
| Osred I | 706-716 |
| Cenred | 716-718 |
| Osric | 718-729 |
| Ceotwulf | 720-737, d.760 |
| Eadberht | 737-758, d.768 |
| Oswulf | 758-759 |
| Aethelwald | 759-765 |
| Alhred | 765-774 |
| Aethelred I | 774-779,
790-796 |
| Aelfwald I | 779-788 |
| Osred II | 788-790, d.792 |
| Osbald | 796,
d.709 |
| Eardwulf | 796-808 |
| Aelfwald II | 808 |
| Eardwulf | 808-809 |
| Eanred | 809-841 |
| Aethelred II | 841-844,
844-848 |
| Redwulf | 844 |
| Osbert | 848-866,
d.867 |
| Aelle | 866-867 |
| Danish conquest of Deira, 867 |
|---|
| Egbert I | 867-873 |
| Ricsige | 873-876 |
| Egbert II | 876-878 |
| Eadwulf II | 878-913 |
| Aldred | 913-927 |
| Wessex annexes Bernicia, 927 |
|---|
Kings of Sussex
Saxons |
|---|
| Aelle & Cissa | 491-c.516 |
killed at Battle of Badon?
rule by Mercia, c.516-c.660 |
|---|
| Athelwalh | c.660-c.685 |
| Berthun | 685-686 |
| Nothhelm or Nunna | c.692-c.725 |
| Wattus | c.692 |
| Athelstan | c.714 |
| Athelbert | c.725-c.750 |
| Osmund | c.758-c.772 |
| Dukes of Sussex under Mercia |
|---|
| Oswald | c.772 |
| Oslac | c.772 |
| Ealdwulf | 765-c.791 |
| Elfwald | c.772-? |
When Constantine "III" took his troops out of Britain in 407 to try and seize the Roman throne, a Roman garrison was never restored. At first this just meant trying to repel Frisian and Saxon pirates. Around 455, however, Hengest from Jutland, the land of the Jutes, established himself in what would then become the Kingdom of Kent. Because of its priority, the Kings of Kent are listed on the Periphery of Francia page for the British Isles. The Venerable Bede says that the first Angles or Saxons arrived in or just after 449 [A History of the English Church and People, 1955, Penguin, p.55]. He says that the South Saxon Aelle was the first bretwalda, or overlord of the Saxons. However, Aelle may have been killed by Ambrosius Aurelius at the Battle of Badon Hill, some time between 493 and 518. The story of Ambrosius is assimilated into the Arthurian legends, as examined elsewhere, and the victory is supposed to have gained a respite. Before long, however, the Celtic Britons were pushed back into the west, especially Wales and Cornwall. From there many escaped to what would become Brittany. The Germans became organized into several Kingdoms. In the south the Jutes, who would soon disappear from their homeland with Danish conquest, established themselves in Kent and the Isle of Wight. In the north, Angles, who would similarly disappear from the southern part of Jutland but then would give their name to the whole of England (Anglia), established Mercia, East Anglia, Bernicia and Deira, which united to form Northumbria, and several smaller, subsidiary Kingdoms. Finally, in the south the Saxons, who would remain an important power on the continent, established the Kingdoms of the South Saxon, Sussex, of the East Saxons, Essex, and of the West Saxons, Wessex. Since Wessex eventually absorbs all the others and creates the united Kingdom of England, its Kings are given with Kent on the Periphery of Francia page.
Kings of Essex
Saxons |
|---|
| Sledda | 580's-c.600 |
| Saebert | c.600-c.616 |
| Sexred, Saeward, & Saexbald | c.616-623 |
| killed in battle against Wessex, 623 |
|---|
| Sigebert I Parvus | 623-c.650 |
| Sigebert II Sanctus | c.650-c.653 |
| Swithhelm | c.653-663 |
| Sigehere | 663-688 |
| Kent, 687-688 |
| Sebbi | 663-c.693 |
| Sigeheard | 693-c.707 |
| Swaefred or Swaefheard | Kent,
689-692 |
| 693-c.707 |
| Offa | 707-709 |
| Saelred | 709?-746 |
| Swebert | 709-738 |
| Swithred | 746-759 |
| Sigeric | 759-798 |
| Sigered | 798-825 |
| annexed by Wessex, 825 |
|---|
Actually, Wessex was not able to absorb all of England, for as it began to do this, the Vikings arrived. This started with the sacking of the Monastery at Lindisfarne, in Bernicia, in 793. Eventually, Northumbria, East Anglia, Essex, and about the north-eastern half of Mercia were overrun and became part of the Danelaw. At first the Vikings raided, sacked, and carried off slaves, or were bought off with "protection" money -- "Danegelt" -- but then Danes and Norwegians began to establish their own Kingdoms. They also passed around to Ireland and the Isle of Man and began encroaching from the west on Wales and England. This finally led to the outright annexation of England to Denmark by King Canute in 1016, though the Danish Kings only lasted until 1042. A fair number of Danish words ended up in English, like "skiff," which is simply the Danish cognate of the English word "ship."
Kings of Mercia
Angles |
|---|
| Creoda or Crida | c.585-c.593 |
| Pybba | c.593-c.606 |
| Ceorl | c.606-c.626 |
| Penda | 633-655 |
| Northumbrian rule, 655-658 |
|---|
| Wulfliere | 658-675 |
| Aetheired I | 675-704, d.716 |
| Cenred | 704-700 |
| Ceolred | 700-716 |
| Aethelbald | 716-757 |
| Beomred | 757, d.769 |
| Offa | 757-796 |
| Ecgfrith | 796 |
| Cenwulf | 796-821 |
| Ceolwulf I | 821-823 |
| Beornwulf | 823-825 |
| Ludeca | 825-827 |
| Wiglaf | 827-929,
830-840 |
| Wessex rule, 829-830 |
|---|
| Berhtwulf | 840-852 |
| Burgred | 852-874 |
| Ceolwulf II | 874-879 |
| subsequent control by Wessex |
|---|
| Aetheired II | c.883-911 |
| Aethelflaed | 911-918 |
| Aelfwyn | 918-919 |
| annexed by Wessex, 919 |
|---|
Kings of East Anglia
Angles |
|---|
| Uffa | 571-c.578 |
| Tytila | c.578-c.599 |
| Redwald | c.599-c.625 |
| Eorpwald | c.625-c.632 |
| Ricbert | c.632-c.634 |
| Sigebert | c.634-c.638,
d.c.641 |
| Egric | c.638-c.641 |
| Anna | c.641-c.653 |
| Athelhere | c.653-c.655 |
| Athelwold | 655-c.663 |
| Ealdwulf | c.663-c.713 |
| Alfwald | c.713-c.749 |
| Beonna | c.749-c.761 |
| Athelred | c.761-790 |
| Athelbert | 790-794 |
| overrun by Mercia, c.794-796 |
|---|
| Eadwald | c.796-c.799 |
| overrun by Mercia, c.799-823 |
|---|
| Athelstan | c.823-837 |
| subject to Wessex, 829 |
|---|
| Athelweard | 837-850? |
| Beorhtric | 852-854 |
| Edmund | 854-869 |
| Oswald | c.870 |
| overrun by the Danes, 869 |
|---|
If a contemporary was betting on which English Kingdom would have dominated the others, Mercia might long have seemed the one poised to do so, as it was larger and bordered on most of the others. With King Offa (757-796), this promise might have seemed on the verge of being fulfilled. Offa not only dominated several neighbors and treated with the new Frankish King Charlemagne, but he settled a permanent border with the Welsh. This was defined with a fortification, "Offa's Dike," that ran almost 150 miles from north to south. It remains the largest artifact of Saxon England, evidence of England emerging from the Dark Ages and becoming part of cosmopolitan Francia. After Offa, however, Mercia began to lose its grip and the advantage passed to Wessex.
If Offa begins to represent the European political coming of age of England, we could say this had already happened intellectually earlier in the century. With Bede (673-735) we have, according to Thomas Fuller, "the profoundest scholar of his age for Latin, Greek, musick and what not" [cf. Bede, Historical Works, on the title page and spine, Ecclesiastical History on the dust jacket, Books I-III, Loeb Classical Library, Harvard U. Press, 1930, 1999, p.xiii]. Bede is the first historian of Britain, perhaps since Tactitus, and the beginning of English history with his A History of the English Church and People [op.cit.]. It is noteworthy that this is included in the Loeb Classical Library, when few would think of Anglo-Saxon England as part of the Classical World. It is probably included just because it is a classic in Latin -- though the absence of Anna Comnena from the series, as a classic in Greek (or of many of Mediaeval works in Latin, like Isidore of Seville, St. Thomas Aquinas, etc.), is then awkward. Although perhaps not often appreciated, Bede does provide some interesting perspectives on Roman history. Bede is also the earliest source with which to begin trying to make sense of the King Arthur legends.
Today, some of the names of the early Kingdoms survive as Counties, like Kent and Essex. The County of Middlesex, occupied by the City of London, tended to be part of Essex, but this was the area where three Kingdoms came together and the border moved around a good bit. Some of the names have even passed to the New World, as with Middlesex County, New Jersey.
These tables are mainly based on The Mammoth Book of British Kings and Queens, by Mike Ashley [Carroll & Graf Publishers, Inc., New York, 1998, 1999, pp.208-321] but with the lists for Bernicia, Deira, Northumbria, and Mercia intially drawn up from the Oxford Dynasties of the World, by John E. Morby [Oxford University Press, 1989, 2002, pp.64-66].
Germania Index
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Legendary and Early
Kings of Scandinavia
A furore Normannorum libera nos, Domine.
"From the fury of the Northmen deliver us, O Lord."
This page supplements The Kings of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, 588 AD-Present with diagrams of the earliest kings, with some of their legendary and mythic progenitors. When that link is used, a new browser window will open for the page. If one of the windows is reduced in size and positioned conveniently, the diagrams here can be compared with the table there.
The information here is derived from the Royal Families of Medieval Scandinavia, Flanders, and Kiev by Rupert Alen and Anna Marie Dahlquist [Kings River Publications, Kingsburg, California, 1997], The Mammoth Book of British Kings and Queens by Mike Ashley [Carroll & Graf Publishers, Inc., New York, 1998, 1999], the large genealogical chart, Kings & Queens of Europe, compiled by Anne Tauté [University of North Carolina Press, 1989], and Kingdoms of Europe, by Gene Gurney [Crown Publishers, New York, 1982]. These sources are not consistent, and choices and compromises have been made, especially to simply get a coherent picture of some things, which is actually not always possible. Thus, neither of the two sets of dates for Ragnar Lodbrok (750-794 or 860-865), King of Denmark and Sweden, works if he is the Viking chief who sacked Paris in 845 and treated with Charles the Bald. If he was, then, actually, all we have to do is split the difference, more or less!
While writing exists in the Scandinavian countries for the entire period covered below (and eventually across a broad swath of Europe from Britain all the way to the Ukraine), namely the system of Runes, as shown at left, it ends up being of limited value for historical information. Objects and small monuments are inscribed with names and some references to events and transactions, but we do not find great monumental historical inscriptions like that of Ramesses II about the battle of Qadesh or like that of Darius at Behistun about his rise to power, 
much less texts on practical media that tell us much about ongoing developments. As Christianity crept into the region, bringing the Latin alphabet with it, full texts began to be written, preserving Sagas and instituting chronicles. One gets the impression that Runes were regarded as somewhat more magical than utilitarian, which is pretty much the way they were later remembered. Or the more practical media of utilitarian inscriptions may simply have decayed in the damp climates. Nevertheless, Runic inscriptions continue throughout the Middle Ages in Scandinavia for the traditional epigraphic and magical purposes.
The descent of the earliest kings is reckoned all the way back to Odin (Wotan, Woden -- hence "Wednesday"). This may be a dimly remembered historical person, but the fact that other Germans, like the Saxons who invaded Britain, also reckoned their descent 
from Odin may indicate that this is a mythic device and that Odin indeed is understood as the Odin, the king of the gods. That full genealogy is not shown here (it is in Ashley, p.209). Instead, I pick it up where the Danish line divides, with one branch picking up kings of Sweden, who otherwise seem to have a separate descent from Odin for earlier kings. These early, mythic kings are the Ynglings, which end in Sweden with Ingjald Illrade. Ingjald is succeeded either by Ivar Vidfamne or Olaf Tretelgia (or Tretelia), who is also said to have fled Sweden and founded the royal line of Norway. Ivar is also reckoned as a king of Denmark, but the coordination between the two lines is not always clear. Much the same can be said for subsequent kings down to Ragnar Lodbrok. Fortunately, the sons of Ragnar are supposed to have divided his inheritance, and this begins to get us on more secure historical ground (which means that the 9th century rather than the 8th century dates for Ragnar are probably more like it). Especially noteworthy is the line of descent that involves rulers of York (Saxon Northumbria), the Isle of Man, and Dublin -- note that the genealogy shown here is a bit different from that presented in the separate treatment of Dublin. Thus we are well into the period when Viking raiders are spread all over Western Europe, and Eastern as well (Randver Radbartsson is supposed to have been fathered by a Russian, i.e. a Norseman in Russia, a Varangian). This diagram continues with the Swedish kings, who, however, as described by Alen and Dahlquist, do not necessarily continue the same line of descent. This is a little more organized than we get with Denmark, but it may well indicate that kings are ruling simultaneously and that the legendary genealogy is in fact a mythic construction. Erik I thus may indeed precede Erik II, even though the dates here have him later in the 9th century. With Erik VI, however, we get into more historically secured material, which is where Tauté begins her diagram.
With the continuation of Swedish kings, there are just a few uncertainties. We are missing the name of Stenkil's wife, the daughter of King Edmund III. After Stenkil's death, there is some trouble, and two usurpers became sufficiently established, or remembered, that they get numbered as Erik VII and Erik VIII. One of these may be a king listed in other places as "Erik Arsaell," but there is no discussion of this name where I might expect it, in Alen and Dahlquist. Another uncertainty is whether King Blot-Sven was or was not married to a daughter of Stenkil. And then there is the question whether Sverker I was or was not descended from Blot-Sven. Alen and Dahlquist show that he was; Tauté does not show it. Some sources show rather different dates for Halsten and Inge I, and Inge II may also have been reigning simultaneously with Filip. Tauté does not list Magnus Nielsson at all, and Alen and Dahlquist have Inge II dying in 1125 on one page and living until 1130 on another. After they are all out of the way, we get rival lines, the "Sverkerska" and "Erikska" dynasties, between whom the Throne swaps back and forth, often violently, for a century. The execution of a number of heirs prepared the way for both male lines to die out, and the Throne passes to the sons of Birger Jarl, beginning the "Folkung" dynasty. From there, the genealogy of Sweden is continued on The Kings of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden page.
The diagram for the kings of Denmark begins with some of the same figures given for Sweden above. Here we get another phenomenon. From various sources we known of several kings who do not fit into the legendary succession or genealogy. While these figures can be found given authentic looking dates and listed in succession, the impression persists that most of them were in fact ruling simultaneously. If sufficient time had elapsed, they all either would have been dropped from memory or worked up into a seamless legendary picture. As it happened, history was fast approaching and a jumble is what we get. Denmark was not a unified kingdom, much as we get that sense from the earlier legendary material. It was probably much like contemporary and adjacent Saxony, which consisted of three major tribes (Westphalians, Angarii, and Eastphalians) and two minor ones (Wihmuodi and Nordalbingi). The chief of the Westphalians, Widukind, surrendered to Charlemagne in 785. Widukind is supposed to have been related to some Danish kings and spent some time there in refuge. The first properly historical king of Denmark was Gorm the Old, who is said to have been a son of Hardeknut (Canute I), but is shown by Ashley descended through Canute, Frodo, and Harald II. Harald is completely ignored by Alen and Dahlquist. This confusion gives us a fitting end to the legendary period -- though Gorm is more than a little legendary himself. We are then quickly into the fully history period, for which there don't seem to be major uncertainties, except for some overlapping reigns that result in some kings being dropped from some accounts. Again, from here, the genealogy of Denmark is continued on The Kings of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden page.
Norway may have begun as a colony of Sweden, represented by the legendary founder, Olaf Tretelgia. This simplifies things, since there may have not been the large number of rival kingdoms as may actually have existed in Sweden and Denmark, and which serve to confuse the account. As with Sweden above, branch 
lines lead to interesting colonial acquisitions of the Vikings. For instance, the line of Thorstein the Red intermarries with the Earls of Orkney -- the Orkneys are the group of islands off the north end of Scotland. Similarly, the line of Olaf Geirstade leads directly (according to Ashley) to Rolf (or Rollo) who became the first Duke of Normandy. For subsequent Norman influence on European history, this was one of the most fateful events.
An interesting career is that of Harald III Hårdråde. When his brother St. Olof II died in battle against Canute II the Great of Denmark in 1030, Harald flees into exile in Kiev. He makes his way as a mercenary all the way down to Sicily and eventually back home to Norway in 1047, where the Danes were gone and Olof's son, Magnus I the Good, ruled Norway and Denmark. Harald joins Magnus in rule, but the nephew doesn't last long. After Harald's long quest, then follow years of successful rule. In 1066, however, Harald's ambitions overwhelm him. He lands in England, intending to follow Canute in the rule of that country. He is unexpectedly defeated and killed, however, by Harold II. This is often regarded as the end of the Furor Normannicus, the Viking Terror. Harold, unfortunately, rode from victory over Harald to defeat and death at the hands of William of Normandy, who thus effects the conquest of England by Northmen, somewhat removed from their Viking past, after all.
After the succession jumps around a bit, we get a couple of major uncertainties. Harald IV may not really have been a son of Magnus III. And then Sverre almost certainly was not a son of Sigurd II, but he claimed to be -- probably just a convenient pretext upon which a usurper could fight for the Throne. Since his fight was successful, subsequent kings of Norway were descended from him. After this, as above, the genealogy of Norway is continued on The Kings of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden page.
Germania Index
The Kings of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden
Kings & Lords of the Isles
Earls of Orkney
Kings of York
The Danelaw
Kings of Dublin
Philosophy of History
Home Page
Kings & Lords of the Isles
| Kings and Lords of the Isles |
|---|
| Llywarch Hen | King of the Isles and Man, c.560-595 |
| Man conquered by Báetán mac Cairill of Ireland, 577, by Aedán mac Gabhrán of Dál Riata, 582 |
|---|
| Diwg | c.600 |
| Man conquered by Edwin of Northumbria, 620 |
|---|
| Gwyar | 630's |
| Tegid | 670's |
| Algwn | c.700 |
| Sandde | 730's |
| Elidr | 760's |
| Gwriad | c.800 |
Iona Monastery attacked by Vikings,
795, 802, 806 |
|---|
| Godred mac Fergus | Lord of the Hebrides, c.836-853 |
| Kentil Flatnose, or Caitill Find | c.853-c.866 |
| Vassal of Olaf the White of Dublin |
|---|
| Tryggvi | 870's |
| Asbjorn Skerjablesi | 880's |
| disputed between Dublin & York |
|---|
| Ragnall of York | c.914-c.921 |
| King of York, 910-c.921 |
| Gebeachan or Gibhleachán | ?-937 |
| Mac Ragnall | 937?-942 |
| Olaf Sitricson | c.942-972 |
| King of Dublin, 945-980 |
| Magnus Haraldsson | c.972-977 |
| Godred Haraldsson | 977-989 |
| Ragnald Godredson | c.1000 |
| Kenneth Godredson | 1005-? |
| Swein | ?-1034 |
Vassal of Orkney, 989-1014,
of Dublin, 1014-1035 |
|---|
| Thorfinn the Mighty | c.1038-1052 |
| Earl of Orkney, c.1018-c.1060 |
| Margad Ragnallson of Dublin | 1052-c.1061 |
| Murchaid mac Diarmait of Dublin | 1061-1070 |
| King of Dublin, 1052-1070 |
| Fingal Godredsson | 1070-1079 |
| Godred I Crovan | 1079-1095 |
| King of Man, 1079-1095 |
| King of Dublin, c.1091-1094 |
| Lagman | 1095-1099, d.1111? |
| King of Man, 1095-1099 |
| Sigurd III, I of Norway | 1099-1103, d.1130 |
| Earl of Orkney, 1099-1105 |
King of Norway,
1103-1130 |
| Dmnall mac Teige | King of the Isles & Man, 1103-1114?, d.1115 |
| Olaf I the Red | Isles & Man, 1114?-1153 |
| Godred II the Black | Isles & Man, 1153-1158, 1164-1187 |
| Somerled | 1156-1164 |
| King of Man, 1158-1164 |
| Ragnald | usurper, 1164 |
| Ragnald of Islay | King of the Isles, 1164-c.1210 |
| Dugald | Lord of Lorne & Argyll, 1164-c.1192 |
| Donald I | c.1210-1230 |
| Duncan mac Dougall | c.1210-c.1247 |
| Dugald Screech | c.1210-1235? |
| Uspak or Gillespie | 1230 |
| Ewen mac Dougall | c.1248-1266 |
| Dugald mac Ruari (MacRory) | 1249-1266 |
| Annexed to Scotland, 1266 |
|---|
| Angus Mór (the Great) MacDonald | King of the Isles, c.1266-1296 |
| Alexander I | 1296-1299, deposed, d.1308? |
| Angus II Og (the Younger) | 1299-1330 |
| John I | 1st Lord of the Isles, 1330-1387 |
| Donald II | 2nd Lord of the Isles, 1387-1423 |
| Alexander II | 3rd Lord of the Isles, 1423-1449,
Earl of Ross |
| John II | 4th Lord of the Isles, 1449-1493,
Earl of Ross |
| Angus III | usurper, 1480-1490 |
| Isles Revert to Scottish Crown, 1493 |
|---|
| Donald Dubh, the Black | claimant, 1545 |
The domain of the Isles principally means the Hebrides. These are all the islands off the north-west coast of Scotland, but we can subdivide them into the Outer Hebrides, with the large islands of Lewis, Harris, North Uist, and South Uist, and the Inner Hebrides. In the north the Inner Hebrides principally means the Isles of Skye, Rum, Coll, and Tiree. In the Southern Hebrides, which sometimes are not included in the Hebrides as such, we find the islands of Mull, Islay, and Jura. Altogether, there are over 500 islands off the coast of Scotland. This is now a backwater of history, but at one time it was the scene of intense conflict and movement.
The rule of the Isles often included that of more distant islands, like the Isle of Man and even the Orkney Islands. Here Man is give a separate treatment beginning with Godred Crovan in 1079. The Orkneys also have their own page, beginning with Ragnald the Wise around 874. But the history of the Isles goes back rather earlier, beginning with legendary or poorly documented British and Irish Kings. The first ruler here, Llywarch, has a name that even looks Welsh, and indeed he had a connection to the Kings of Gwynedd. The Isles, of course, were far beyond the control of Roman Britain, so it is interesting that the presence of the British themselves, which we also see with the Kingdom of Strathclyde, extends well beyond what we understand as Roman boundaries. Llywarch already had to contend with the Scots coming over from Ireland and from their Kingdom of Dál Riata, based in Argyll. Despite the obscurity of the period, the /gw/ element in names of the such rulers of the Isles as we have over the next couple of centuries still looks Welsh.
This picture begins to change radically with the arrival of the Vikings. The first Viking raids on the East and the West side of Britain seem to be almost simultaneous. Thus, the Saxon monastery of Lindisfarne, not far south of the present Scottish border at the River Tweed, was sacked in 793. In 795 a series of attacks began on the Scottish monastery on the island of Iona, off Mull. In short order, the Vikings had overrun the islands and were raiding well down into Ireland. The Norse Kingdom of Dublin was founded in 853. Meanwhile, in 841 Vikings had even appeared in the Seine, and Paris was sacked in 845.
The Vikings were not the sort to grab some land and then settle down to tend their gardens. Who was ruling what was thus often a very fluid business, and we find the Isles in the middle of a tug-of-war between Norse rulers of Dublin, York, and Orkney. In the background, of course, is the King of Norway; and when the Norwegian state gets organized in some kind of disciplined form, the ultimately sovereignty of Orkney, the Isles, and sometimes Man is assumed there. 
With Orkney also went the Shetland Islands to the north.
Perhaps the last sort of classic combination of the territories came with Somerled, King of Man and of the Isles. Somerled began with the Southern Hebrides (in purple on the map) and eventually spread to the rest of the Hebrides, part of Galloway (in yellow), and Man. With his death, things begin to permanently break up, not the least because of divisions and disputes between his sons. As Norway settles into being an ordinary sort of European state, Scotland begins to assume a more organized and modern form. Although Norway was probably still able to defeat the Scots in pitched battle, King Alexander III of Scotland maneuvered Scottish forces into control over the Isles and Man. In 1266, the Norwegians accepted a payment and annual tribute to surrender sovereignty to Scotland. By then, we begin to mostly have Celtic names in the Isles anyway. Although Man would not long remain with Scotland, the Isles were now secure, except for the threat of the locally autonomous nobility.
The local nobility became the MacDonalds. In the fight over the Scottish Throne between the Balliols, the English, and the Bruces (1290-1306), the MacDonalds sometimes picked the wrong side (Balliols) and were deposed (Alexander I and Angus II). With the rule of the Bruce and the Stuarts, things settled down, but the Kings became unhappy with the power and independence of the Lords of the Isles. Alexander II was captured by King James I of Scotland, as was John II by James III. After futher rebellions, James IV annexed the Isles to the Crown in 1493, shortly after the Orkneys and Shetlands were obtained from Norway (1472).
Today the MacDonalds are still the prominent nobility of the Isles. Not long ago, the MacDonald's hamburger chain tried suing Lord MacDonald over the use of the MacDonald name. British courts, of course, dismissed anything so absurd as a foreign claim on the name of the real and original MacDonalds.
The list here is entirely from The Mammoth Book of British Kings and Queens by Mike Ashley [Carroll & Graf Publishers, Inc., New York, 1998, 1999].
Germania Index
The Kings of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden
Kings of Dublin
Kings & Lords of the Isles
Kings & Lords of Man
Earls of Orkney
Kings of York
The Danelaw
Philosophy of History
Home Page
Earls of Orkney, Kings of York, and the Danelaw
| Earls of Orkney |
|---|
| Ragnald I the Wise | c.874-c.875,
d.894 |
| Sigurd I the Mighty | c.875-892 |
| Thorstein the Red | c.875-900 |
| Guthorm | c.892-893 |
| Hallard | c.893-894 |
| Einar I | 894-920? |
| Arnkel | 920?-954 |
| Erlend I | 920?-954 |
| Erik Bloodaxe | c.937-954 |
King of Norway,
933-934 |
Gunnhildr, Ragnfred,
& Godred | 954-955,
976-977 |
| Thorfinn I Skullsplitter | c.947-977 |
| Arfinn | 977-979? |
| Havard | 979?-981? |
| Liot | 981?-984? |
| Hlodvir | 984?-987? |
| Sigurd II | 987?-1014 |
| Somerled | 1014-1015 |
| Einar II | 1014-1020 |
| Brúsi | 1014-c.1030 |
| Thorfinn II the Mighty | c.1018-c.1060 |
| Ragnald II | 1038-1046 |
| Paul I | c.1060-1098 |
| Erlend II | c.1060-1098 |
Sigurd III the Crusader,
I of Norway | 1099-1105,
d.1130 |
King of the Isles,
1099-1103 |
King of Man,
1099-1103 |
King of Norway,
1103-1130 |
| Haakon | 1105-1126 |
| Magnus I | 1108-1117 |
| Paul II the Silent | 1126-1137 |
| Harald I Smoothtalker | 1126-1131 |
| Ragnald III | 1137-1158 |
| Harald II the Old | 1139-1206 |
| Erlend III | 1154-1156 |
| Harald III | 1195?-1198 |
| David | 1206-1214 |
| John I | 1206-1231 |
| Magnus II of Angus | 1231-1239 |
| Gilbert | 1239-1256 |
| Magnus III | 1256-1273 |
| Magnus IV | 1276-1284 |
| John II | 1284-1311 |
| Magnus V | 1311-c.1329 |
| Malise | c.1329-1353? |
| Erengisl | 1353-1357/60,
d.1392 |
| Henry I of St. Clair | 1363/1379-1400 |
| Henry II | 1400-1420 |
| William | 1420-1471,
d.1480 |
Scottish sovereignty, 1469;
resigned to Scottish crown, 1472 |
|---|
The Orkney Islands, 
whose inhabitants are "Orcadians," lie off the northern tip of Scotland. They were a fief of Norway founded in the ninth century by King Harald I Fairhair. The Lords, called Earls in English fashion, thus with equal or better justice could be called "Jarls," with the Norwegian cognate. Over time, Scottish influence increased, with even intermarriage into the Scottish Royal Family. Scottish control was initiated in 1469. The Islands had become collateral, with the Shetland Islands, for the dowry of Margaret of Oldenburg, daughter of Christian I, King of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, in her marriage to King James III of Scotland. Since Christian wasn't able to come up with money for the dowry, in 1471 the rule of the Islands was taken directly by James III and by 1472 they were formally annexed to Scotland.
The Orkneys were one set of North Atlantic Islands, including the Shetlands, Faeroes, and Hebrides, that were natural stepping stones and staging areas for Viking raids on Britain, Ireland, and elsewhere. Until the King of Norway asserted authority, the Islands were more or less nests of pirates. The way in which things became more organized we can see in one stunning connection: A son -- Hrólfur, Rolf, or Rollo -- of the first Earl, Ragnald, went on to become the first Duke of Normandy. The consequences of this for European history, from England to Sicily and beyond, are beyond calculation; yet this connection to the Orkneys is rarely noted.
The rulers of the Orkneys often tangled with those of the Hebrides and further islands. Sigurd III, installed by his father, King Magnus III of Norway, in Orkney, ended up ruling all the way down to the Isle of Man, before returning home to assume the throne of Norway.
The Orkneys retreat from the spotlight of history for many centuries. They suddenly acquire great significance, however, in World War I. A large sound south of the main island (Pomona), Scapa Flow, became the main base for the Grand Fleet of the British Royal Navy. This might seem to be rather far from anything, but it put the fleet in a position, at the entrance to the North Sea, to intercept the German High Seas Fleet whatever it might do. As it happened, the German fleet was thus intercepted in 1916, resulting in the Battle of Jutland. When the War ended, the German fleet was then interned in Scapa Flow. Rather than have the ships turned over to Britain or her allies in a post-war settlement, in June 1919 the Germans scuttled their ships in a dramatic, surprise action. There the ships still lie, long after most of their British rivals, however victorious, have been broken up and sold for scrap.
| Kings of York, Jorvik |
|---|
| Ivarr the Boneless | 866-873 |
| King of Dublin, 856-873 |
| Halfdan Ragnarson | 873-877 |
| King of Dublin, 873/5-877 |
| Gothfrith | 883-895 |
| Sigfrid | 895-c.899 |
| Canute | c.899-c.900 |
| Athelwold | 899-902 |
| Halfdan II | 902?-910 |
| Eowils | 902?-910 |
| Ragnall | 910-c.921 |
| King of the Isles, c.914-c.921 |
| Sitric Caech | King of Dublin, 917-921 |
| 921-927 |
| Godfrid | King of Dublin, 921-934 |
| 927? |
| York held by Æthelstan of England, 927-939 |
|---|
| Erik Bloodaxe | 939?, 947-948, 952-954 |
| Sitric? | King of Dublin, 941-943 |
| ?-943 |
| Ragnall II Gothfrithson | 943-945 |
| Held by England, 945-947, 948-952?; Annexed by England, 954 |
|---|
The Norse Kingdom of York, or Jorvik to them, represented one of the major and most permanent holdings of the Vikings on the mainland of Great Britain -- part of the "Danelaw," whose conquest began in 866 and which extended all the way down to London (held by Danes 871-885). York was the principal Roman city of northern Britain (Erboracum) and was the ecclesiastical center of the area, one of the Archbishoprics of England, from then until now. That the city should then have been taken by the Vikings was of great significance. Norse holdings also extended into Cumbria and Galloway, with Danes in the south shading over into Norwegian barons in the north of Cumbria and Galloway. In the early days of the kingdom, we see the involvement of the kings with other Norse domains, like Dublin and the Isles, where leaders hold more than one simultaneously, or move around from one to another.
There is not much time for this to settle down before the English begin to return. After about thirty years of conflict and confusion (927-954), York returns to England, until, of course, the Danes conquer all of England, 1013-1014 & 1016-1042.
The lists and genealogy here is entirely from The Mammoth Book of British Kings and Queens by Mike Ashley [Carroll & Graf Publishers, Inc., New York, 1998, 1999].
The "Danelaw" is the area of England that was occupied and ruled by Danish Vikings between 866 and about 917. Viking raids were nothing new, but the leaders of the virtual invasion of the period, Ivar the Boneless and his brother Halfdan, had set out from Dublin to avenge the killing of their father, Ragnar Lodbrok, by Alle, King of Northumbria. While one might think of the Danes coming directly across the North Sea from Denmark, which Ragnar may have done himself, Ivar and Halfdan were operating from their advanced base in Ireland. Their invasion of England was thus from the North,
| Kings of East Anglia |
|---|
| Guthrum or Athelstan | 879-890 |
| lands in England, 871; defeated by Alfred the Great, 878, enfeoffed with East Anglia |
|---|
| Eohric or Yorrik | 890-902 |
| Guthrum II | 902-916 |
| East Anglia joined to England, 917 |
|---|
into York (867), and then down into East Anglia (869). They even captured London (871). Mercia was largely under Danish control, and a vast area of it in the north-east was appropriated by Danish barons of the "five castles" or "five boroughs." Wessex, which since Egbert (802-839) we could consider the proto-kingdom of England (829), inflicted some defeats on the Danes but seemed ready to lose the war and be overrun. The Danes ended up stopped and defeated (the Battle of Ethandune, 878), if not ejected from England, by Alfred the Great. After the victory, when the Danish leader Gunthrum converted to Christianity, Alfred enfoeffed him with East Anglia, where Danish rule continued until 917. The new arrangements also allowed Alfred to subordinate Mercia, the last remaining Anglo-Saxon state, to his supervision. Alfred is supposed to have introduced the Carolingian penny coinage, of 24 sterling silver grains, to Britain. When the Norse Kings of York were finally subdued in 959, the Danish invasion had finally been repulsed, with the result also of a unified England from the English Channel to the Firth of Forth. Edgar (959-975) may have been the first King crowned and anointed in a Christian ceremony by the Archbishop of Canterbury (in this case, St. Dunstan). Unfortunately, the Danes would keep coming, and indeed would occupy all of England in 1013-1014 and 1016-1042. In 991, King Æðedred introduced the "Danegeld" tax, to have money to pay off the Danes. By the time of the later conquest, however, Denmark had become a Christian state, much more organized and "normal" in the ways of the Mediaeval world. King Canute was a ruler aspiring to Christian piety, which we see in the story of his demonstration of his inability to control the tide.
The list here is entirely from The Mammoth Book of British Kings and Queens by Mike Ashley [Carroll & Graf Publishers, Inc., New York, 1998, 1999]. The map is based on The Mammoth Book and also on The Anchor Atlas of World History, Volume I [Hermann Kinder, Werner Hilgemann, Ernest A. Menze, and Harald and Ruth Bukor, 1974, p.128], and The New Penguin Atlas of Medieval History [Colin McEvedy, 1992, pp.46-47].
Germania Index
The Kings of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden
Kings & Lords of the Isles
Kings of Dublin
Philosophy of History
Home Page
Kings of Dublin
| Kings of Dublin |
|---|
| 1a. Olaf the White (Amlaíb) | 853-871/3, or d.872 |
| 1b. Ivar I (Ímar) the Boneless | 856-873 |
| 1c. Ausile (Hásli) | 863-867 |
| 2. Eystein | 873-875 |
| 3. Halfdan? (Alband) | 873/5-877 |
| 4. Barid/Barith (Bard) | 875/7-881 |
| 5. Son of Auisle | 881-883 |
| Eoloir?, son of Jarnkne | ? |
| 6. Sichfrith (Sigfrid) | 883?-888 |
| 7a. Sitric I (Sigtryggr) | 888-893, 894-896 |
| 7b. Sichfrith Járl | 893-894 |
| 8. Ivar II | 896-902, d.904 |
| Interregnum, Dublin abandoned by Norse, 902-917 |
|---|
| 9. Sitric II (Sigtryggr Gale) | 917-921 |
| King of York, 921-927 |
| 10. Godfrid (Guthfrith) | 921-934 |
| King of York, 927 |
| 11. Olaf Godfridsson (Anlaf) | 934-941 |
| King of York, 937? |
| 12. Sitric? III | 941-943 |
| King of York, ?-943 |
| 13. Blacair mac Gofraid (Blákkr Godfridsson) | 943-945, d.948 |
| 14. Olaf Cuarán (Anlaf, Óláfr Sigtryggsson Kváran) | 945-980, d.981 |
| 15. Glúniarainn (Járnkné Óláfsson) | 980-989 |
| 16. Sitric IV (Sitric mac Amlaíb), Sihtric Silkbeard | 989-1036, d.1042 |
| 17. Echmarcach mac Ragnaill | 1036-1038, 1046-1052, d.1064/5 |
| King of Man & Galloway, 1052-1064 |
| 18. Ivar III Haraldsson (Ímar mac Arailt) | 1038-1046, d.1054 |
| Diarmait mac Máel | King of Leinster, 1042-1072 |
| High King of Ireland, 1042-1072 |
| 19. Murchad mac Diarmata | 1052-1070, Vassal of Leinster |
| King of the Isles, 1061-1070 |
| 20a. Gofraid mac Amlaíb | 1070/72?-1074, d.1075 |
| 20b. Domnall mac Murchada | 1070-1072, 1074-1075 |
| King of Leinster, 1072-1075 |
| Toirrdelbach Ua Briain | King of Munster, 1063-1086 |
| 1072? |
| 21. Muirchertach mac Toirrdelbaig Ua Briain | 1074-1086 |
| King of Munster, 1086-1119 |
| 22a. Donnchad mac Domnaill | 1086-1089? |
| King of Leinster, 1075-1089 |
| 22b. Énna mac Diarmata | 1086-1089? |
| King of Leinster, 1089-1092 |
| 23. Gofraid Meranach (Godred Crovan?) | King of Man, 1079-1095 |
| c.1091-1094, 1095 |
| Domnall mac Muirchertaig Ua Briain | 1094?-1118, d.1135 |
| Donnchad mac Murchada | ?-1115? |
| King of Leinster, 1098-1115 |
| Diarmait mac Énna | 1115-1117? |
| King of Leinster, 1115-1117 |
| Énna mac Donnchada | King of Leinster, 1117-1126 |
| 1118-1126 |
| Conchobar mac Toirrdelbaig | 1126-1127, d.1144 |
| King of Mide, 1142-1144 |
| Thorkell | c.1133 |
| Conchobar Ua Briain | 1141-1142 |
| Ottar | 1142-1148 |
| Ragnall mac Torcaill (Thorkellsson) | ?-1146 |
| Brótar mac Torcaill | 1146-1160 |
| Asculf (Ascall mac Torcaill) | 1160-1162?, 1166-1170, d.1171 |
| Diarmait mac Donnchada | King of Leinster, 1126-1171 |
| 1162-1166, 1170-1171 |
| English conquest, 1171 |
|---|
Today Dublin is the capital of the Republic of Ireland. Why this has happened is certainly of some interest. It all begins with a settlement and a kingdom of Vikings. Of the sons of Ragnar Lodbrok, it is striking that one becomes King of Denmark, another King of Sweden, and the other two both Kings of Dublin. Ivar, however, is apparently co-King with his distant cousins Olaf and Auisle, who are perhaps descendants of the earliest Kings of Norway. So it is all in the Scandinavian family. After a brief Viking retreat, we get Kings who straddle the Irish Sea and maintain a domain in York as well as Ireland. Before too long, however, the Irish begin to assert their presence. The High King Brian Boru defeats the Danes at Clontarf in 1014, at the cost of his life. A few years after this we begin to get Dublin dominated by the Kings of Leinster. The control is not unchallenged or continuous, but it occurs for over a century. It ends only with the arrival of Henry II of England. Dublin becomes for the English, as for the Vikings, the seat of their Irish domain. This does not always extend too far into the Island. The area of English settlement around Dublin became known as "the Pale." Henry simple styles himself "Lord of Ireland." Henry's Norman nobility, however, does begin to blend in with the Irish, as had the Vikings. Thus, what now looks like a traditional Irish name, "Fitzgerald," is of Norman origin. A more benign blending of English and Irish, however, was forestalled by the Reformation. Catholicism became the focus of Irish identity over and against the English, and the English used religion to deprive Irish nobility of their status and Irish subjects of their civic and economic rights. This helped mire the country in Mediaeval poverty and prevent development of a commercial culture that would have kept Ireland in step with modernity. Instead, the only recourse to the Irish was talk, violence, and emigration. In the end however, the foothold of foreign conquest, whether Norse, Norman, or English, continued as the political center of the country, as Dublin is today.
The table and genealogy here are based on A New History of Ireland, Volume IX, Maps, Genealogies, Lists -- a Companion to Irish History, Part II [Oxford University
Press, 1984, 2002, pp.134, 139, 208-210]. This information has been combined with parts of the tables for Sweden and Norway above; but A New History of Ireland does not always agree with my Norse sources, and precedence is given to it in this section. Thus the New History shows unknown antecedents for Olaf, the co-King of Ivar. My Norse sources identified him as Olaf the White, four generations removed from Halfdan I, King of Norway, and father of Thorstein the Red -- whose descendants figure among the Earls of Orkney. Perhaps Olaf of Dublin was not Olaf the White, so this identification may be taken with some caution. Another issue is over the grandsons of Ivar I. My Norse sources showed them as sons of Sitric I, but the New History expresses no commitment at all about which, or any, known sons of Ivar are their fathers. The subsequent generations are represented above only with two further Ivars. Which these are supposed to be cannot even be recognized in terms of the New History genealogy. Of course, there is no great certainty for any of the early Scandinavian information. Danish Kings are not fully historical until Gorm the Old (d.950). So conflicting information should not be too surprising. The uncertainties about the succession and identity of the Kings of Dublin are evident enough in the missing dates and many the question marks -- and the multiple lines of dots leading to King Echmarcach. The numbering of the Kings is that of the New History. It ends with the 23rd King, Gofraid Meranach. This may or may not be Godred Crovan, who founded a durable dynasty of the Kings of Man. The last days of the Kingdom, from 1126 to 1171, were a free-for-all of obscure Kings, though the entire period corresponds to the reign of a single King of Leinster, Diarmait mac Donnchada, whom we find asserting his influence in Dublin just in time to meet the arrival of the English.
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