3 ms·
Caesar mixing his Celts and Germans also leads us to wonder if England really was Germanized in the 5th century with the Angle invasion, or if the east of the i
by ocschwar 9y ago
Caesar mixing his Celts and Germans also leads us to wonder if England really was Germanized in the 5th century with the Angle invasion, or if the east of the island was already Germanic when Caesar first visited.
- megaman22 9y agoCaesar's "Germans" were almost certainly Celtic/Gallic - "Celtic" cultures and tribes stretched from Iberia in the west to Galatia (Anatolia) in the east. I'm sketchier on where the Angles/Saxons/Jutes came from before they emerged into the historical record in modern-day northwestern Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands. Whether they were a reconfiguration of the tribes that had been there since time immemorial, or were groups previously to the east, displaced westward as a ripple effect of the great migrations out of central Asia.
- ocschwar 9y agoThe bigger question is whether the Belgae, who were in southeastern Britain when Caesar arrived, were Celtic or German.
- pm90 9y agoI can't find the sources right now, but I think linguistic studies have confirmed that the celts and germans could not have come from the same origin. My impression has always been that the celts were the original inhabitants of western Europe and the British Isles and the Germanic/Nordic tribes slowly conquered and assimilated them into their culture. I am not a historian of course. Would love to hear counterpoints; I'm interested in historical facts not propaganda :) .
- arethuza 9y agoSpeaking of "original inhabitants" of the British Isles there was a fascinating Time Team special that mentioned that there were 7 waves of human occupation of Britain - with each of the previous six waves completely dying out.