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GOTHITE
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GOTHITE , or GoETHITE, a See also:mineral composed of an See also:iron See also:hydrate, Fe2O3•HzO, crystallizing in the orthorhombic See also:system and isomorphous with See also:diaspore and See also:manganite (q.v.). It was first noticed in 1789, and in 18o6 was named after the poet See also:Goethe. Crystals are prismatic, acicular or scaly in See also:habit; they have a perfect cleavage parallel to the brachypinacoid (M in the figure). Reniform and stalactitic masses with a radiated fibrous structure also occur. The See also:colour varies from yellowish or reddish to blackish-See also: The metallic glitter
GOTHS
of avanturine or See also:sun-See also: The See also:legend was not See also:peculiar to the Goths, similar traditions being current among the Langobardi, the Burgundians, and apparently several other Teutonic nations. It has been observed with truth that so many populous nations can hardly have sprung from the Scandinavian See also:peninsula; on the other See also:hand, the existence of these traditions certainly requires some explanation. Possibly, however, many of the royal families may have contained an See also:element of Scandinavian blood, a See also:hypothesis which would well See also:accord with the social conditions of the migration See also:period, as illustrated, e.g., in Volsunga See also:Saga and in Hervarar Saga ok Heil'reks Konungs. In the See also:case of the Goths a connexion with See also:Gotland is not unlikely, since it is clear from archaeological See also:evidence that this island had an extensive See also:trade with the coasts about the mouth of the Vistula in early times. If, however, there was ,any migration at all, one would rather have expected it to have taken See also:place in the See also:reverse direction. For the origin of the Goths can hardly be separated from that of the Vandals, whom according to See also:Procopius they resembled in See also:language and in all other respects. Moreover the Gepidae, another Teutonic people, who are said to have formerly inhabited the See also:delta of the Vistula, also appear to have been closely connected, with the Goths. According to Jordanes they participated in the migration from Scandza. Apart from a doubtful reference by See also:Pliny to a statement of the early traveller See also:Pytheas, the first notices we have of the Goths go back to the first years of the Christian era, at which See also:time they seem to have been subject to the Marcomannic king Maroboduus. They do not enter into See also:Roman history, however, until after the beginning of the 3rd century, at which time they appear to have come in conflict with the See also:emperor See also:Caracalla, During this century their frontier seems to have been advanced considerably farther See also:south, and the whole See also:country as far as the See also:lower See also:Danube was frequently ravaged by them. The emperor Gordianus is called " See also:victor Gothorum " by Capitolinus, though we have no See also:record of the ground for the claim, and further conflicts are recorded with his successors, one of whom, See also:Decius, was slain by the Goths in See also:Moesia. According to Jordanes the See also:kings of the Goths during these See also:campaigns were Ostrogotha and after-wards Cniva, the former of whom is praised also in the Anglo-Saxon poem Widsilh. The emperor See also:Gallus was forced to pay See also:tribute to the Goths. By this time they had reached the coasts of the See also:Black See also:Sea, and during the next twenty years they frequently ravaged the maritime regions of See also:Asia See also:Minor and See also:Greece. See also:Aurelian is said to have won a victory over them, but the See also:province of See also:Dacia had to be given up. In the time of See also:Constantine the See also:Great See also:Thrace and Moesia were again plundered by the Goths, A.D. 321. Constantine drove them back and concluded See also:peace with their king Ariaric in 336. From the end of the 3rd century we hear of subdivisions of the nation called Greutungi, Teruingi, Austrogothi (Ostrogothi), Visigothi, Taifali, though it is not clear whether these were all distinct. Though by this time the Goths had extended their territories far to the south and See also:east, it must not be assumed that they had evacuated their old lands on the Vistula. Jordanes records several traditions of their conflicts with other Teutonic tribes, in particular a victory won by Ostrogotha over Fastida, king of the Gepidae, and another by Geberic over Visimar, king of the Vandals, about the end of Constantine's reign, in consequence of which the Vandals sought and obtained permission to See also:settle in See also:Pannonia. Geberic was succeeded by the most famous of the See also:Gothic kings, Hermanaric (Eormenric, Iormunrekr), whose deeds are recorded in the traditions of all Teutonic nations. According to Jordanes he conquered the See also:Heruli, the Aestii, the Venedi, and a number of other tribes who seem to have been settled in the See also:southern part of Russia. From Anglo-Saxon See also:sources it seems probable that his supremacy reached westwards as far as See also:Holstein. He was of a cruel disposition, and is said to have killed his nephews Embrica (Emerca) and Fritla (Fridla) in See also:order to obtain the great treasure which they possessed. Still more famous is the story of Suanihilda (Svanhildr), who according to See also:Northern tradition was his wife and was cruelly put to See also:death on a false See also:charge of unfaithfulness. An See also:attempt to avenge her death was made by her See also:brothers Ammius (HamMr) and Sarus (Sorli) by whom Hermanaric was severely wounded. To his time belong a number of other heroes whose exploits are recorded in See also:English and Northern tradition, amongst whom we may mention Wudga (Vidigoia), Hama and several others, who in Widsith are represented as defending their country against the See also:Huns in the See also:forest of the Vistula. Hermanaric committed See also:suicide in his See also:distress at an invasion of the Huns about A.D. 370, and the portion of the nation called See also:Ostrogoths then came under Hunnish supremacy. The Visigoths obtained permission to See also:cross the Danube and settle in Moesia. A large part of the nation became Christian about this time (see below). The exactions of the Roman See also:governors, however, soon led to a See also:quarrel, which ended in the See also:total defeat and death of See also:Valens at See also:Adrianople in the See also:year 378. • (F. G. M. B.) From about 370 the history of the East and See also:West Goths parts asunder, to be joined together again only incidentally Later and for a See also:season. The great See also:mass of the East Goths history. stayed See also:north of the Danube, and passed under the overlordship of the Hun. They do not for the See also:present See also:play any important part in the affairs of the See also:Empire. The great mass of the West Goths crossed the Danube into the Roman provinces, and there played a most important part in various characters of See also:alliance and enmity. The great migration was in 376, when they were allowed to pass as peaceful settlers under their See also:chief Frithigern. His See also:rival See also:Athanaric seems to have tried to maintain his party for a while north of the Danube in See also:defiance of the Huns; but he had presently to follow the example of the great mass of the nation. The peaceful designs of Frithigern were meanwhile thwarted by the See also:ill-treatment which the Goths suffered from the Roman officials, which led first to disputes and then to open See also:war. In 378 the Goths won the great See also:battle of Adrianople, and after this See also:Theodosius the Great, the successor of Valens, made terms with them in 381, and the mass of the Gothic warriors entered the Roman service as foederati. Many of their chiefs were in high favour; but it seems that the orthodox Theodosius showed more favour to the still remaining See also:heathen party among the Goths than to the larger part of them who had embraced Arian See also:Christianity. Athanaric himself came to See also:Constantinople in 381; he was received with high honours, and had a See also:solemn funeral when he died. His saying is See also:worth recording, as an example of the effect which Roman See also:civilization had on the Teutonic mind. " The emperor," he said, " was a See also:god upon See also:earth, and he who resisted him would have his blood on his own See also:head." The death of Theodosius in 395 See also:broke up the See also:union between the West Goths and the Empire. Dissensions arose between them and the ministers of See also:Arcadius; the Goths threw off their See also:allegiance, and See also:chose See also:Alaric as their king. This was a restoration alike of See also:national unity and of national See also:independence. The royal See also:title .had not been See also:borne by their leaders in the Roman service. Alaric's position is quite different from that of several Goths in the Roman service, who appear as See also:simple rebels. He was of the great West Gothic See also:house of the Balthi, or Bold-men, a house second in See also:nobility only to that of the Amali. His whole career was taken up with marchings to and fro within the lands, first of the Eastern, then of the Western empire. The Goths are under him an See also:independent people under a national king; their independence is in no way interfered with if the Gothic king, in a moment of peace, accepts the See also:office and titles of a Roman See also:general. But under Alaric the Goths make no lasting See also:settlement. In the long See also:tale of intrigue and warfare between the Goths and the two imperial courts which fills up this whole time, cessions of territory are offered to the Goths, provinces are occupied by them, but as yet they do not take See also:root anywhere; no Western See also:land as yet becomes Gothia. Alaric's designs of settlement seem in his first See also:stage to have still kept east of the Adriatic, in Illyricum, possibly in Greece. Towards the end of his career his eyes seem fixed on See also:Africa. Greece was the See also:scene of his great See also:campaign in 395-96, the second Gothic invasion of that country. In this campaign the religious position of the Goths is strongly marked. The Arian appeared as an enemy alike to the See also:pagan See also:majority and the See also:Catholic minority; but he came surrounded by monks, and his chief wrath was directed against the heathen temples (vide G. F. See also:Hertzberg, Geschichte Griechenlands, iii. 391). His See also:Italian campaigns fall into two great divisions, that of 402-3, when he was driven back by See also:Stilicho, and that of 4o8-ro, after Stilicho's death. In"this second war he thrice besieged See also:Rome (408, 409, 410). The second time it suited a momentary policy to set up a puppet emperor of his own, and even to accept a military See also:commission from him. The third time he sacked the See also:city, the first time since See also:Brennus that Rome had been taken by an See also:army of utter foreigners. The intricate See also:political and military details of these campaigns are of less importance in the history of the Gothic nation than the stage which Alaric's reign marks in the history of that nation. It stands between two periods of settlement within the Empire and of service under the Empire. Under Alaric there is no settlement, and service is quite secondary and See also:precarious; after his death in 410 the two begin again in new shapes. Contemporary with the campaigns of Alaric was a See also:barbarian invasion of See also:Italy, which, according to one view, again brings the East and West Goths together. The great mass of the East Goths, as has been already said, became one of the many nations which were under vassalage to the Huns; but their relation was one merely of vassalage. They remained a distinct peop',: under kings of their own, kings of the house of the Amali and of the kindred of See also:Ermanaric (Jordanes, 48). They had to follow the See also:lead of the Huns in war, but they were also able to carry on See also:wars of their own; and it has been held that among these See also:separate East Gothic enterprises we are to place the invasion of Italy in 405 by Radagaisus (whom R. Pallmannl writes Ratiger, and takes him for the chief of the heathen part of the East Goths). One chronicler, Prosper, makes this invasion preceded by another in 400, in which Alaric and Radagaisus appear as partners. The paganism of Radagaisus is certain. The presence of Goths in his army is certain, but it seems dangerous to infer that his invasion was a national Gothic enterprise. Under See also:Ataulphus, the See also:brother-in-See also:law and successor of Alaric, another era opens, the beginning of enterprises which did in the end lead to the See also:establishment of a settled Gothic See also:monarchy in the West. The position of Ataulphus is well marked by the speech put into his mouth by See also:Orosius. He had at one time dreamed of destroying the Roman See also:power, of turning Romania into Gothia, and putting Ataulphus in the See also:stead of See also:Augustus; but he had learned that the See also:world could be governed only by the See also:laws of Rome and he had determined to use the Gothic arms for the support of the Roman power. • And in the confused and contradictory accounts of his actions (for the story in Jordanes cannot be reconciled with the accounts in See also:Olympiodorus and the chroniclers), we can see something of this principle at worx throughout. See also:Gaul and See also:Spain were overrun both by barbarian 1 Geschichte der Volkerwanderung (See also:Gotha, 1863-1864). invaders and by rival emperors. The See also:sword of the Goth was to win back the last lands for Rome. And, amid many shiftings of allegiance, Ataulphus seems never to have wholly given up the position of an ally of the Empire. His See also:marriage with Placidia, the daughter of the great Theodosius, was taken as the See also:seal of the union between Goth and Roman, and, had their son Theodosius lived, a See also:dynasty might have arisen uniting both claims. But the career of Ataulphus was cut See also:short at See also:Barcelona in 415, by his See also:murder at the hands of another See also:faction of the Goths. The reign of Sigeric was momentary. Under Wallia in 418 a more settled See also:state of things was established. The Empire received again, as the See also:prize of Gothic victories, the Tarraconensis in Spain, and Novempopulana and the Narbonensis in Gaul. The " second See also:Aquitaine," with the sea-See also:coast from the mouth of the See also:Garonne to the mouth of the See also:Loire, became the West Gothic See also:kingdom of See also:Toulouse. The dominion of the Goths was now strictly Gaulish; their lasting See also:Spanish dominion does not yet begin. The reign of the first West Gothic See also:Theodoric (419-451) shows a shifting state of relations between the Roman and Gothic See also:powers; but, after defeats and successes both ways, the older relation of alliance against See also:common enemies was again established. At last Goth and Roman had to join together against the common enemy of See also:Europe and Christendom, See also:Attila the Hun. But they met Gothic warriors in his army. By the terms of their subjection to the Huns, the East Goths came to fight for Attila against Christendom at Chalons, just as the Servians came to fight for Bajazet against Christendom at See also:Nicopolis. Theodoric See also:fell in the battle (451). After this momentary See also:meeting, the history of the East and West Goths again separates for a while. The kingdom of Toulouse See also:grew within Gaul at the expense of the Empire, and in Spain at the expense of the Suevi. Under Euric (466-485) the West Gothic power again became largely a Spanish power. The kingdom of Toulouse took in nearly all Gaul south of the Loire and west of the See also:Rhone, with all Spain, except the north-west corner, which was still held by the Suevi. See also:Provence alone remained to the Empire. The West Gothic kings largely adopted Roman See also:manners and culture; but, as they still kept to their See also:original Arian creed, their See also:rule never became thoroughly acceptable to their Catholic subjects. They stood, therefore, at a great disadvantage when a new and aggressive Catholic power appeared in Gaul through the See also:conversion of the See also:Frank See also:Clovis or Chlodwig. Toulouse was, as in days long after, the seat of an heretical power, against which the forces of northern Gaul marched as on a crusade. In 507 the West Gothic king Alaric II. fell before the Frankish arms at Campus Vogladensis, near See also:Poitiers, and his kingdom, as a great power north of the See also:Alps, fell with him. That Spain and a fragment of Gaul still remained to form a West Gothic kingdom was owing to the intervention of the East Goths under the rule of the greatest See also:man in Gothic history. When the Hunnish power broke in pieces on the death of Attila, the East Goths recovered their full independence. They now entered into relations with the Empire, and were settled on lands in Pannonia. During the greater part of the latter See also:half of the 5th century, the East Goths play in south-eastern Europe nearly the same part which the West Goths played in the century before. They are seen going to and fro, in every conceivable relation of friendship and enmity with the Eastern Roman power, till, just as the West Goths had done before them, they pass from the East to the West. They are still ruled by kings of the house of the Amali, and from that house there now steps forward a great figure, famous alike in history and in See also:romance, in the See also:person of Theodoric, son of Theodemir.. See also:Born about 454, his childhood was spent at Constantinople as a See also:hostage, where he was carefully educated. The early part of his See also:life is taken up with- various disputes, intrigues and wars within the Eastern empire, in which he has as his rival another Theodoric, son of Triarius, and surnamed See also:Strabo. This older but lesser Theodoric seems to have been the chief, not the king, of that See also:branch of the East Goths which had settled within the Empire at an earlier time. Theodoric the Great, as he is some-times distinguished, is sometimes the friend, sometimes the enemy, of the Empire. In the former case he is clothed with various Roman titles and offices, as patrician and See also:consul; but in all cases alike he remains the national East Gothic king. It was in both characters together that he set out in 488, by commission from the emperor See also:Zeno, to recover Italy from See also:Odoacer.. By 493 See also:Ravenna was taken; Odoacer was killed by Theodoric's own hand; and the East Gothic power was fully established over Italy, See also:Sicily, See also:Dalmatia and the lands to the north of Italy. In this war the history of the East and West Goths begins again to unite, if we may accept the See also:witness of one writer that Theodoric was helped by West Gothic auxiliaries. The two branches of the nation were soon brought much more closely together, when, through the overthrow of the West Gothic kingdom of Toulouse, the power of Theodoric was practically extended over a large part of Gaul and over nearly the whole of Spain. A time of confusion followed the fall of Alaric II., and, as that See also:prince was the son-in-law of Theodoric; the East Gothic king stepped in as the See also:guardian of his See also:grandson Amalaric, and pre-served for him all his Spanish and a fragment of his Gaulish dominion. Toulouse passed away to the Frank; but the Goth kept See also:Narbonne and its district, the land of Septimania—the land which, as the last part of Gaul held by the Goths, kept the name of Gothia for many ages. While Theodoric lived, the West Gothic kingdom was practically See also:united to his own dominion. He seems also to have claimed a See also:kind of protect-orate over the Teutonic powers generally, and indeed to have practically exercised it, except in the case of the See also:Franks. The East Gothic dominion was now again as great in extent and far more splendid than it could have been in the time of Ermanaric. But it was now of a wholly different See also:character. The dominion of Theodoric was not a barbarian but a civilized power. His twofold position ran through everything. He was at once national king of the Goths, and successor, though without any imperial titles, of the Roman emperors of the West. The two nations, differing in manners, language and See also:religion, lived See also:side by side on the See also:soil of Italy; each was ruled according to its own law, by the prince who was, in his two separate characters, the common See also:sovereign of both. The picture of Theodoric's rule is See also:drawn for us in the state papers drawn up in his name and in the names of his successors by his Roman See also:minister Cassiodorus. The Goths seem to have been thick on the ground in northern Italy; in the south they formed little more than garrisons. In Theodoric's theory the Goth was the armed See also:protector of the peaceful Roman; the Gothic king had the toil of See also:government, while the Roman consul had the See also:honour. All the forms of the Roman See also:administration went on, and the Roman polity and Roman culture had great See also:influence on the Goths themselves. The rule of the prince over two distinct nations in the same land was necessarily despotic; the old Teutonic freedom was necessarily lost. Such a system as that which Theodoric established needed a Theodoric to carry it on. It broke in pieces after his death. On the death of Theodoric (526) the East and West Goths were again separated. The few instances in which they are found acting together after this time are as scattered and incidental as they were before. Amalaric succeeded to the West Gothic kingdom in Spain and Septimania. Provence was added to the dominion of the new East Gothic king See also:Athalaric, the grandson of Theodoric through his daughter See also:Amalasuntha. The weakness of the East Gothic position in Italy now showed itself. The long wars of Justinian's reign (535-555) recovered Italy for the Empire, and the Gothic name died out on Italian soil. The See also:chance of forming a national state in Italy by the union of Roman and Teutonic elements, such as those which arose in Gaul, in Spain, and in parts of Italy under Lombard rule, was thus lost. The East Gothic kingdom was destroyed before Goths and Italians had at all mingled together. The war of course made the distinction stronger; under the kings who were chosen for the purposes of the war national Gothic feeling had revived. The Goths were now again, if not a wandering people, yet an armed See also:host, no longer the protectors but the enemies of the Roman people of Italy. The East Gothic dominion and the East Gothic name wholly passed away. The nation had followed Theodoric. It is only once or twice after his expedition that we hear of Goths, or even of Gothic leaders, in the eastern provinces. From the soil of Italy the nation passed away almost without a trace, while the next Teutonic conquerors stamped their name on the two ends of the land, one of which keeps it to this See also:day. The West Gothic kingdom lasted much longer, and came much nearer to establishing itself as a national power in the lands which it took in. But the difference of See also:race and faith between the Arian Goths and the Catholic See also:Romans of Gaul and Spain influenced the history of the West Gothic kingdom for a long time. The Arian Goths ruled over Catholic subjects, and were surrounded by Catholic neighbours. The Franks were Catholics from their first conversion; the Suevi became Catholics much earlier than the Goths. The See also:African conquests of See also:Belisarius gave the Goths of Spain, instead of the Arian Vandals, another Catholic See also:neighbour in the form of the restored Roman power. The Catholics everywhere preferred either Roman, Suevian or Frankish rule to that of the heretical Goths; even the unconquerable mountaineers of Cantabria seem for a while to have received a Frankish See also:governor. In some other See also:mountain districts the Roman inhabitants long maintained their independence, and in 534 a large part of the south of Spain, including the great cities of See also:Cadiz, See also:Cordova, See also:Seville and New See also:Carthage, was, with the See also:good will of its Roman inhabitants, reunited to the Empire, which kept some points on the coast as See also:late as 624. That is to say, the same See also:work which the Empire was carrying on in Italy against the East Goths was at the same moment carried on in Spain against the West Goths. But in Italy the whole land was for a while won back, and the Gothic power passed away for ever. In Spain the Gothic power outlived the Roman power, but it outlived it only by itself becoming in some measure Roman. The greatest period of the Gothic pcwer as such was in the reign of See also:Leovigild (568-586). He reunited the Gaulish and Spanish parts of the kingdom which had been parted for a moment; he united the Suevian dominion to his own; he overcame some of the independent districts, and won back part of the recovered Roman province in southern Spain. He further established the power of the See also:crown over the Gothic nobles, who were beginning to grow into territorial lords. The next reign, that of his son Recared (586-6oi), was marked by a See also:change which took away the great hindrance which had thus far stood in the way of any national union between Goths and Romans. The king and the greater part of the Gothic people embraced the Catholic faith. A vast degree of influence now fell into the hands of the Catholic bishops; the two nations began to unite; the Goths were gradually romanized and the Gothic language began to go out of use. In short, the Romance nation and the Romance speech of Spain began to be formed. The Goths supplied the Teutonic infusion into the Roman mass. The kingdom, however, still remained a Gothic kingdom. " Gothic," not " Roman " or " Spanish," is its formal title; only a single late instance of the use of the See also:formula " regnum Hispaniae " is known. In the first half of the 7th century that name became for the first time geographically applicable by the See also:conquest of the still Roman coast of southern Spain. The Empire was then engaged in the great struggle with the See also:Avars and Persians, and, now that the Gothic kings were Catholic, the great objection to their rule on the part of the Roman inhabitants was taken away. The Gothic nobility still remained a distinct class, and held, along with the Catholic prelacy, the right of choosing the king. Union with the Catholic See also: The West Gothic crown therefore remained elective till the end. The modern Spanish nation is the growth of the long struggle with the Mussulmans; but it has a See also:direct connexion with the West Gothic kingdom. We see at once that the Goths hold altogether a different place in Spanish memory from that which they hold in Italian memory. In Italy the Goth was but a momentary invader and ruler; the Teutonic element in Italy comes from other sources. In Spain the Goth supplies an. important element in the modern nation. And that element has been neither forgotten nor despised. Part of the unconquered region of northern Spain, the land of Asturia, kept for a while the name of Gothia, as did the Gothic possessions in Gaul and in Crim. The name of the people who played so great a part in all southern Europe, and who actually ruled over so large a part of it has now wholly passed away; but it is in Spain that its See also:historical impress is to be looked for. Of Gothic literature in the Gothic language we have the See also:Bible of See also:Ulfilas, and some other religious writings and fragments (see Gothic Language below). Of Gothic legislation in Latin we have the See also:edict of Theodoric of the year 500, edited by F. Bluhme in the Monumenta Germaniae historica; and the books of Variae of Cassiodorus may pass as a collection of the state papers of Theodoric and his immediate successors. Among the West Goths written laws had already been put forth by Euric. The second Alaric (484-507) put forth a Breviarium of Roman law for his Roman subjects; but the great collection of West Gothic laws See also:dates from the later days of the monarchy, being put forth by King Recceswinth about 654. This See also:code gave occasion to some well-known comments by See also:Montesquieu and See also:Gibbon, and has been discussed by See also:Savigny (Geschichte See also:des romischen Rechts, ii. 65) and various other writers. They are printed in the Monumenta Germaniae, leges, tome i. (1902). Of See also:special Gothic histories, besides that of Jordanes, already so often quoted, there is the Gothic history of Isidore, See also:archbishop of Seville, a special source of the history of the West Gothic kings down to Svinthala (621-63.1). But all the Latin and See also:Greek writers contemporary with the days of Gothic predominance make their See also:constant contributions. Not for special facts, but for a general estimate, no writer is more instructive than See also:Salvian of See also:Marseilles in the 5th century, whose work De Gubernatione Dei is full of passages contrasting the vices of the Romans with the virtues of the barbarians, especially of the Goths. In all such pictures we must allow a good See also:deal for exaggeration both ways, but there must be a ground-work of truth. The chief virtues which the Catholic See also:presbyter praises in the Arian Goths are their chastity, their piety according to their own creed, their tolerance towards the Catholics under their rule, and their general good treatment of their Roman subjects. He even ventures to See also:hope that such good people may be saved, notwithstanding their See also:heresy. All this must have had some ground-work of truth in the 5th century, but it is not very wonderful if the later West Goths of Spain had a good deal fallen away from the doubtless somewhat ideal picture of Salvian. (E. A. F.) There is now an extensive literature on the Goths, and among the See also:principal See also:works may be mentioned: T. See also:Hodgkin, Italy and her Invaders (See also:Oxford, 1880-1899); J. Aschbach, Geschichte der Westgoten (See also:Frankfort, 1827); F. See also:Dahn, See also:Die KOnige der Germanen (186'-1849) ; E. von Wietersheim, Geschichte der Volkerwanderung (188o-1881); R. Pallmann, Die Geschichte der Volkerwanderung (Gotha, 1863-1864); B. Rappaport, Die Einfalle der Goten in das remische Reich (See also:Leipzig, 1899), and K. Zeuss, Die Deutschen and die Nachbarstamme (See also:Munich, 1837). Other works which may be consulted are: E. Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, edited by J. B. See also:Bury (1896–1900); H. H. See also:Milman, History of Latin Christianity (1867); J. B. Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire (1889); P. See also:Villari, Le Invasioni barbariche in Italia (See also:Milan, 1901); and F. Martroye, L'Occideni a l'epoiue See also:byzantine: Goths et Vandales (See also:Paris, 1903). There is a popular history of the Goths by H. See also:Bradley in the " Story of the Nations " See also:series (See also:London, 1888). For the laws see the Leges in See also:Band I. of the Monuments Germaniae historica, leges (1902). --A. Helfferich, Entstehung and Geschichte des Westgotenrechts (See also:Berlin, 1858); F. Bluhme, Zur Textkritik des Westgotenrechts (1872); F. Dahn, Lex Visigothorum. Westgotische Studien (See also:Wurzburg, 1874) ; C. Rinaudo, Leggi dei Visigote, studio (See also:Turin, 1878) ; and K. Zeumer, " Geschichte der westgotischen Gesetzgebung " in the Neues Archie der Gesellschaft See also:fur altere deutsche Geschichtskunde. See also the See also:article
on THEODORIC.
Gothic Language.—Our knowledge of the Gothic language is derived almost entirely .from the fragments of a See also:translation
of the Bible which is believed to have been made by the Arian See also:bishop Wulfila or Ulfilas (d. 383) for the Goths who dwelt on the lower Danube. The See also:MSS. which have come down to us and which date from the period of Ostrogothic rule in Italy (489-555) contain the Second See also:Epistle to the See also:Corinthians See also:complete, together with more or less considerable fragments of the four Gospels and of all the other Pauline Epistles. The only remains of the Old Testament are three short fragments of See also:Ezra and See also:Nehemiah. There is also an incomplete commentary (skeireins) on St See also: It is based chiefly on the uncial Greek See also:alphabet, from which indeed most of the letters are obviously derived, and several orthographical peculiarities, e.g. the use of ai for e and ei for i reflect the Greek See also:pronunciation of the period. Other letters, however, have been taken over from the Runic and Latin alphabets. Apart from the texts mentioned above, the only remains of the Gothic language are the proper names and occasional words which occur in Greek and Latin writings, together with some notes, including the Gothic alphabet, in a See also:Salzburg MS. of the loth century, and two short See also:inscriptions on a See also:torque and a See also:spear-head, discovered at Buzeo (See also:Walachia) and Kovel (See also:Volhynia) respectively. The language itself, as might be expected from the date of Wulfila's translation, is of a much more archaic type than that of any other Teutonic writings which we possess, except a few of the earliest Northern inscriptions. This may be seen, e.g. in the better preservation of final and unaccented syllables and in the retention of the dual and the middle (passive) See also:voice in verbs. It would be quite erroneous, however, to regard the Gothic fragments as representing a type of language common to all Teutonic nations in the 4th century. Indeed the distinctive characteristics of the language are very marked, and there is good See also:reason for believing that it differed considerably from the various northern and western See also:languages, whereas the See also:differences among the latter at this time were probably comparatively slight (see TEUTONIC LANGUAGES). On the other hand, it must not be supposed that the language of the Goths stood quite isolated. Procopius (Vand. i. 2) states distinctly that the Gothic language was spoken not only by the Ostrogoths and Visigoths but also by the Vandals and the Gepidae; and in the former case there is sufficient evidence, chiefly from proper names, to prove that his statement is not far from the truth. With regard to the Gepidae we have less See also:information; but since the Goths, according to Jordanes (cap. 17), believed them to have been originally a branch of their own nation, it is highly probable that the two languages were at least closely related. Procopius elsewhere (Vand. i. 3; Goth. i. 1, iii. 2) speaks of the Rugii, Sciri and See also:Alani as Gothic nations. The fact that the two former were sprung from the north-east of See also:Germany renders it probable that they had Gothic See also:affinities, while the Alani, though non-Teutonic in origin, may have become gothicized in the course of the migration period. Some modern writers have included in the same class the Burgundians, a nation which had apparently come from the basin of the See also:Oder, but the evidence at our disposal on the whole hardly justifies the supposition that their language retained a See also:close See also:affinity with Gothic. In the 4th and 5th centuries the Gothic language—using the See also:term in its widest sense—must have spread over the greater part of Europe together with the'north coast of Africa. It disappeared, however, with surprising rapidity. There is no evidence for its survival in Italy or Africa after the fall of the Ostrogothic and Vandal kingdoms, while in Spain it is doubtful whether the Visigoths retained their language until the Arabic conquest. In central Europe it may have lingered somewhat longer in view of the evidence of the Salzburg MS. mentioned above. Possibly the information there given was derived from southern See also:Hungary or Transylvania where remains of the Gepidae were to be found shortly before the Magyar invasion (889). According to Walafridus Strabo (de Reb. See also:Eccles. cap. 7) also Gothic was still used in his time (the 9th century) in some churches in the region of the lower Danube. Thenceforth the language seems to have survived only among the Goths (Geti Tetraxitae) of the See also:Crimea, who are mentioned for the last time by Ogier Ghislain de See also:Busbecq, an imperial See also:envoy at Constantinople about the middle of the 16th century. He collected a number of words and phrases in use among them which show clearly that their language, though not unaffected by Iranian influence, was still essentially a form of Gothic. See H. C. von der See also:Gabelentz and J. Loebe, Ulfilas (See also:Altenburg and Leipzig, 1836—1846) ; E. See also:Bernhardt, Vulfila oder die gotische Bibel (See also:Halle, 1875). For other works on the Gothic language see J. See also:Wright, A Primer of the Gothic Language (Oxford, 1892), p: 143 f. To the references there given should be added: C. C. Uhlenbeck, EtymologischesWorterbuch d.got.Sprache(See also:Amsterdam,2nd ed.1901) ;F.Kluge, " Geschichte d. got. Sprache " in H. See also:Paul's Grundriss d. germ. Philologie (2nd ed., vol. i., See also:Strassburg, 1897) ; W. Streitberg, Gotisches Elementarbuch (See also:Heidelberg, 1897) ; Th. von Grienberger, Beitrage zur Geschichte d. deutschen Sprache u. Literatur, xxi. 185 ff. ; L. F. A. Wimmer, Die Runenschrift (Berlin, 1887), p. 61 ff.; G. See also:Stephens, Handbook to the Runic Monuments (London, 1884), p. 203; F. See also:Wrede, Ober die Sprache der Wandalen (Strassburg, 1886). For further references see K. Zeuss, Die Deutschen, p. 432 f. (where earlier references to the See also:Crimean Goths are also given) ; F. Kluge, op. cit., p. 515 ff.; and O. See also:Bremer, ib. vol. iii., p. 822. (H. M. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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