THURINGIANS
 
The history of
the Thuringians makes the most Interesting lead-in possible!
There’s no doubt that
the land Thuringia was named for the tribe and not the other way around, but
it’s not clear, where the name of the tribe came from. In the past one mostly
assumed that it would be based on the old Germanic tribe of the “Hermunduren = Hermunduries”,
and Thuringia was indeed often written as “Düringen“ in the
Middle-Ages. However linguists have strongly questioned this origineg in the
meantime and it has very remarkable “concurrence”:
- A long time before
the description of the land as “Reich der Thüringer = Reich of the
Thuringians“, the Greek Ptolemaios described a close region as the home of
the “Teuriochaimai (German: Teurier)”.
- The most
convincing (and at the same time also most beautiful!!!) theory sees the
origine of the name “Thueringer = Thuringians“ however in a part of the Goths(!),
the “Terwingen”. The Terwingen were also noted as ”Teruingi“ and the Thuringians as “Tueringi”. Already
in the late antiquity they were “confused” with each other! -
... or not confused! ...
It certainly
doesn’t need to be explained, what it would mean, if such an important, but
apparently „extinct“ tribe as the Goths would still exist today (as a part of
the German people) - just feel it:
There are still
Goths(?)!!! - Theudisc Goths!!!
...
Archaeology confirms the reference to the
“Terwingen/ Teruingi” in every case. They came into the land and did their
share to the development of the Thuringians, which are, like all German
old-tribes (except of the Friesians) a union of smaller groups, which merged
into them.
Another tribe
that melted into the Thuringians are the Angles!!! -
Town- and region-names, that end on “-engel“, give the map of
Thuringia almost something humorous, if one recognizes the name of “Sachsen =
Saxony” next to it …
… and than there
is also the very well-known Thuringian district town of Gotha, which’s
existence is already profed for the year 775 ...
What’s also
„fitting“ to the Goths, is the fact that the “Reich of the Thuringians” tends
to “vanishing“. Just like the big group of the Ostrogoths they probably got
under the rule of the Asian Huns for a while. Sidonius Apollinaris reported
that Thuringians had to fight on the side of the Huns in the battle on the
Catalaunian fields (451), where Germans and Romans defeated the Huns
together. - At about 480 the Thuringians get mentioned as allies of the
Alemans. Around the year 500 the
Reich of the Thuringians was the biggest power in the old Germany.
100 years later
the Thuringian King Irminfried (a.k.a. Herminafried) married the niece of the
famous Ostrogothic king Theoderich, named Amalaberga. The death
of Theoderich in 526 appears decisive for history, as this is the point, at
which Germany got shattered by aggressions of the Franks under the
(romanised/ “welsch”) Merovingians. Already in 531 the Reich of the
Thuringians was annexed by the Franks. The Burgundies (allies of the
Ostrogoths too) experienced the same.
When the German
tribal-dukedoms established a Reich without the Gallo-Romanic parts of the
Frankish Kingdom, there was no tribal-dukedom of Thuringia. This shows (like
so many parts of German history), that people do not necessarily need a state
for their identity and their relation to their homeland, because Thuringia as
a region prevailed. In the middle of the 11th century the
Ludowinger line became powerful here and in 1130 the “Landgrafschaft
Thüringen = county of the landgrave of Thuringia“ arose under their leadership. Next to
it arose the “Thüringer Mark“/ “Mark Meißen“
= Thuringian Mark.
Generally the
history of the Thuringians can’t be separated from the history of the
“Ostsiedlung = (re)settlement of Germans in the
east” and thereby also of the German New Tribes. The Thuringians were
very important here.
Back on the maps,
Thuringia promptly stands out as a centre of German history: In the Wartburg the best “Minnesänger = minnesingers = German lyric poets of the
12th and 13th century” are coming together. -
This so called “Sängerstreit = singers’ battle“ in the Wartburg became
historic and revived in the work of Richard Wagner.
But when the
Ludowinger line had no male heir anymore (1247), Thuringia fell apart. Thereby Hesse got lost to Brabant, which is
especially mentioned here because of the similarity of the Hessian and the
Thuringian coat of arms.
Martin Luther
translated (hidden on the Wartburg) the bible into German. Thuringia was the
centre of the Christian reformation and here (in Schmalkalden) also the
protestants Schmalkaldic league of the was founded, for which the
Schmalkaldic War was named.
 
Martin Luther and Johann Sebastian
Bach. Two very well known Thuringians from different eras. Bach is also
called the greatest protestant composer of sacred music.
Like the
Thuringians are, they outlasted every division ... - and many divisions
were still to come ... - but therefore the land Thuringia
also gained something hereby, as every tiny “state“ that arose in the
next centuries, built it’s own little capital, it’s own palace, it’s own
theatre and concert hall. It fits, that one of the most important musicians
of human history was a Thuringian of this epoch: Johann Sebastian
Bach - and later two of the greatest German poets of all times
came together in the small city of Weimar :
Goethe and Schiller! - Both weren’t Thuringians, but they were
attracted by surroundings, the Thuringians had created. The “Weimarer Klassik = classical
period poetry of Weimar“ doesn’t need to fear any comparison to the
Bajuvarian lederhosen, if it is about the worldwide perception of German
culture ...
For the German
national- und democracy-movement Thuringia is of special importance as well. A
few years after the destruction of the Old Reich by Napoleons France, it was
Thuringia, that became a symbol. In 1817 Students gathered at the Wartburg
to (officially) celebrate the 300th anniversary of the
reformation, as well as the victory over Napoleon in the “Battle of Nations”
at Leipzig (Saxony) in 1813. At the Wartburgfest the Prussian Black and White
was shown most often, in order to honour General Blücher, who’s troops had
decided the battle of Waterloo, but the students from Jena (Thuringia) already
bore the flag that the Thuringian maid Amalie Nitschke had designed,
and soon the colours black, red and gold caught on in the entire
national-movement as the colours of the old Reich-symbols. In the flag of the
people they become the symbol for the unity of all Germans -
united, without having a common state
- just like the Thuringians.
 
This parallel
continued to exist in 1848/49: Just like the foundation of a liberal democratic
German national-state, the try to unite Thuringia failed. But freed from
monarchy a Free State of Thuringia arose in 1920 and in the cultural centre
Weimar the Constitution of the republican German Reich and thereby once again
great history was written. - Therefore this German Reich got the name
“Weimarer Republik“.
It also belongs
to the truth, that there were many supporters of the nazi-movement among the
Thuringians. Also that the Concentration Camp ”Buchenwald“ existed next to
Weimar belongs to the warning changes in history, just as much as the fact,
that the communists continued torturing and murdering in this camp after the
war, despite Thuringia had actually been occupied by the US-Army in April
1945. The US-forces had however withdrawn in July and left the Thuringians to
the Soviet-dictatorship of the mass-murderer Stalin. Just having been
provided with a new coat of arms by the communists (see below), Thuringia as
a state was already abolished again in 1952, like all other states in the so
called German Democratic Republic*.
In 1990 the
Freestate of Thuringia was re-established.
* This State was never democratic and
never a republic (a state of the people)! Just using this name would be
incorrect, manipulating and morally wrong.
For it’s big
forests Thuringia is called the “Green Heart of Germany“, but this
name also fits to it’s place in history. Furthermore it’s also a „magnet” for
snow. Than arises a white land of tales between often visited “fairy-grottos“
and history. It’s a land of deep valleys and castles on the heights -
built to outlast hard times ...
One may also
mention the Goths her once again, because let’s be honest: Considering how
much the Thuringians are not ”to bring down“, they actually can only
be the last Goths! ...
Accordingly the
Thuringians are a fascinating tribe and an inspiration for everyone! -
Never give up! - Stay true to yourself! -
... and who could give Germerika’s Project more hope than these
Thuringians!
|
