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THE BAVARIANS

Matthias Hardt

The early medieval Bavarians differ from the other regna and gentes
discussed in this volume by their great regional continuity and their
lack of formal kingship. Nonetheless, ethnogenesis took place in the
Roman provinces of Rhaetia and Noricum. As early as the mid-
sixth century, contemporary with the earliest mention of the Bavarians,
a family related to the house of the Agilolfings appeared, who ruled
the Bavarians in a nearly king-like manner up to the late eighth cen-
tury, despite being increasingly dependent upon the royal leadership
of the Frankish kingdom. Ethnogenesis, a royal ruling family, and
long-standing political independence justify the incorporation of the
Bavarians in a comparison of the kingdoms of the Migration Period
and the early Middle Ages. In order to render a real comparison
possible, the questions set out by the group will be followed in the
ensuing discussion. In view of the scarce source-material and an early
historiography that was exclusively written from the perspective of
neighbouring people, however, it will not always be easy to work
within this framework.

1. Is there a development from a Germanic gens of the Migration Period to

a Germanic kingdom? Or does a gens (or this gens) not exist until after the
establishment of a kingdom?

Any understanding of the relationship between ethnogenesis and king-

ship is closely connected to an interpretation of the name of the
people and a clarification of the provenance of the Bavarians; even
in the first half of the twentieth century, these questions were con-
sidered some of the “most difficult and controversial problems of
German history”.1 Further, there are two opposing opinions as to

1
L. Schmidt, Die Westgermanen (München 1940; repr. 1970) p. 194, similarly id.,
“Zum Ursprung der Baiern”, Zeitschrift für bayerische Landesgeschichte 10 (1937) pp.
12–8, esp. p. 12.
430  

whether the gens migrated as a single body into the region south of
the Danube, or rather whether an ethnogenesis took place in the
lands later possessed by the gens.2 Already in his biography of the
holy Columbanus, Jonas of Bobbio connected the Celtic Boii, who
in his days had long disappeared, with the Baioarii.3 From the very
outset, he thus had in mind a specific way of interpreting the Bavarians’
name, which a substantial part of present-day research still rightly
retains, namely that their name is foreign4 and indicates people from
a region called *Baiahaim5 or Baia. For a long time, however, there
was no uniform notion where this supposed home-land of the Bavarians

2
For the controversy on this question and on the history of research see E. Kle-
bel, “Langobarden, Bajuwaren, Slawen”, Mitteilungen der Anthropologischen Gesellschaft
in Wien 69 (1939) pp. 41–116 [repr. id., Probleme der bayerischen Verfassungsgeschichte
(München 1957) pp. 1–89], esp. pp. 48–54; R. Wenskus, Stammesbildung und Verfas-
sung. Das Werden der frühmittelalterlichen gentes (2nd edn., Köln-Wien 1977) pp. 560–9;
K. Reindel, “Das Zeitalter der Agilolfinger (bis 788)”, Handbuch der bayerischen Geschichte 1,
ed. M. Spindler (2nd edn., München 1981) pp. 101–245, esp. pp. 101–16; H. Beck,
S. Hamann and H. Roth, “Bajuwaren”, Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde 1
(2nd edn., 1973) pp. 601–27, esp. pp. 606–7 and 611–3; M. Menke, “150 Jahre
Forschungsgeschichte zu den Anfängen des Baiernstammes”, Typen der Ethnogenese
unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Bayern 2, ed. H. Friesinger and F. Daim, Denkschriften
der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, philosophisch-historische Klasse
204. Veröffentlichungen der Kommission für Frühmittelalterforschung 13 (Wien
1990) pp. 123–220; H.L.G. Gastroph, Herrschaft und Gesellschaft in der Lex Baiuvariorum.
Ein Beitrag zur Strukturanalyse des Agilolfingischen Stammesherzogtums vom 6. zum 8. Jahrhundert,
Miscellanea Bavarica monacensia 53. Neue Schriftenreihe des Stadtarchivs München
71 (München 1974) pp. 20–35; A. Kraus, “Die Herkunft der Bayern. Zu Neuerschei-
nungen des letzten Jahrzehnts”, Bayerisch-schwäbische Landesgeschichte an der Universität
Augsburg 1975–1977, ed. P. Fried, Veröffentlichungen der Schwäbischen Forschungs-
gemeinschaft bei der Kommission für Bayerische Landesgeschichte, Reihe 7, Augsburger
Beiträge zur Landesgeschichte Bayerisch-Schwabens 1 (Sigmaringen 1979) pp. 27–46,
esp. pp. 27–8; 30; K. Reindel, “Die Bajuwaren. Quellen, Hypothesen, Tatsachen”,
Deutsches Archiv 37 (1981) pp. 451–73, esp. pp. 454–7.
3
Jonas of Bobbio, Vita Columbani 2,8, ed. B. Krusch, MGH SSrG 37 (Hannover
1905) p. 244: ad Boias, qui nunc Baioarii vocantur, tendit. See also Kraus, “Die Herkunft
der Bayern”, pp. 31–2; H. Wolfram, 378–907: Grenzen und Räume. Geschichte Öster-
reichs vor seiner Entstehung, Österreichische Geschichte 3 (Wien 1995) p. 72.
4
H. Wolfram, Salzburg, Bayern, Österreich. Die Conversio Bagoariorum et Carantanorum
und die Quellen ihrer Zeit, Mitteilungen des Instituts für Österreichische Geschichtsfor-
schung, Ergänzungsband 31 (Wien-München 1995) pp. 23–4; See on this kind of
name creation also W.P. Schmid, “Vidivarii”, Sprach- und Kulturkontakte im Polnischen,
Specimina Philologicae Slawicae, Supplementband 23 (München 1987) pp. 349–58;
W. Hartung, Süddeutschland in der frühen Merowingerzeit. Studien zu Gesellschaft, Herrschaft,
Stammesbildung bei Alamannen und Bajuwaren, Vierteljahreshefte zur Sozial- und
Wirtschaftsgeschichte, Beiheft 73 (Wiesbaden 1983) p. 175. Hartung can, however,
not be followed in his interpretation of the name.
5
E. Schwarz, “Herkunft und Einwanderungszeit der Baiern”, Südost-Forschungen
12 (1953) pp. 21–47, esp. p. 22.
   431

might be.6 The Anonymous Ravenna Geographer, writing in the first

half of the ninth century, knew of a hilly region near the Elbe called
Baia[s],7 which bordered on the Danube and Pannonia.8 The Geo-
grapher, perhaps copying a Gothic example,9 may have described this
region as inhabited by Marcomanni, but on the whole this area can-
not, altogether, be considered as, or equated to, Bohemia.10 According
to Heinz Löwe and others, this region could also have been located
on the eastern edge of Bohemia and Moravia, north of modern Bra-
tislava in Slovakia.11
It is also often stated that the Bavarians, because of their Bohemian
origins, must have descended from the Marcomanni, who had been
settled in that region since the early Roman imperial period.12 These,

6
E. Schwarz, “Ermunduren—Thüringer, Böhmen—Baiern”, Et multum et multa.
Beiträge zur Literatur, Geschichte und Kultur der Jagd. Festgabe für Kurt Lindner zum 27.
November 1971, ed. S. Schwenk, G. Tilander and C.A. Willemsen (Berlin-New York
1971) pp. 341–9, esp. pp. 345–6.
7
G. Neumann, “Baias”, Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde 1 (2nd edn.,
1973) p. 600; J. Schnetz, “‘Baias’ und der Baiernname”, Zeitschrift für bayerische Landes-
geschichte 16 (1951) pp. 1–19.
8
Ravennas Anonymus, Cosmographia. Eine Erdbeschreibung um das Jahr 700 18,1–2,
transl. J. Schnetz, Nomina Germanica 10 (Uppsala 1951) p. 61 [henceforth: Ravennas
Anonymus, Cosmographia (transl.)]; Ravennas Anonymus, Cosmographia, ed. M. Pinder
and G. Parthey [Ravennatis Anonymi Cosmographia et Guidonis Geographica] (Berlin 1860;
repr. Aalen 1962) p. 213: [. . .] est patria quae dicitur Albis Ungani, montuosa per longum,
quasi ad Orientem multum extenditur, cuius aliqua pars Baias dicitur. About the time of the
Geographer’s compilation see M. Springer, “Riparii—Ribuarier—Rheinfranken nebst
einigen Bemerkungen zum Geographen von Ravenna”, Die Franken und die Alemannen
bis zur “Schlacht bei Zülpich” (496/97), ed. D. Geuenich, Ergänzungsbände zum Real-
lexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde 19 (Berlin-New York 1998) pp. 201–69,
here p. 234.
9
Ravennas Anonymus, Cosmographia (transl.) 4,13, p. 58 refers to scholars of
Gothic provenance. Ravennas Anonymus, Cosmographia 4,13, p. 201: Aitanaridus et
Eldewaldus et Marcomirus Gothorum philosophi. Critically about the Gothic example of
the Geographer Springer, “Riparii”, pp. 236–45.
10
For the interpretation of Baia as Baiahaim = Bohemia, see Schnetz, “‘Baias’”,
pp. 2–6.
11
H. Löwe, “Die Herkunft der Bajuwaren”, Zeitschrift für bayerische Landesgeschichte
15 (1949) pp. 5–67, here pp. 8–19, esp. p. 19; H. Zeiß, “Von den Anfängen des
Baiernstammes”, Bayerische Vorgeschichtsblätter 13 (1936) pp. 24–40, esp. pp. 26 and 28.
12
Schmidt, “Zum Ursprung der Baiern”, pp. 16–8, presupposes a Marcomannic
settlement in Rhaetia after 451; Löwe, “Die Herkunft der Bajuwaren”, pp. 22–32;
Wenskus, Stammesbildung, p. 563. Arguments against a Marcomannic background
have been presented by E. Klebel, “Baierische Siedlungsgeschichte”, Zeitschrift für
bayerische Landesgeschichte, pp. 75–82, esp. pp. 78–9; Schwarz, “Herkunft und Einwan-
derungszeit”, pp. 23–5; E. Schwarz, “Die bairische Landnahme um Regensburg im
Spiegel der Völker- und Ortsnamen”, Beiträge zur Namenforschung 1 (1949/50) pp.
51–71, esp. p. 52.
432  

however, increasingly lost importance through to the end of the

Migration Period.13 The last certain reference to the Marcomanni
can be found in the Notitia Dignitatum for the period around 396,
which refers to the region around Vienna.14 At this time, Queen
Fritgil turned to Saint Ambrose asking for a broadening of the scope
of Christian teaching that was already available.15
Joachim Werner considered what he saw as the migration of
Germanic groups from Bohemia in the 540s A.D., as linked to the
Frankish defeat of the Thuringian realm and to the Lombard immi-
gration into Pannonia after the death of Theoderic the Great in
526.16 Jörg Jarnut, too, has assumed a migration of a rather large
Lombard group from Bohemia into the lands between the Danube
and the Alps caused by a re-orientation of Lombard politics under
King Wacho (511–539).17 It is also possible that Suebian groups

13
Schwarz, “Herkunft und Einwanderungszeit”, pp. 22–3; 39–40; id., “Das Ende
der Völkerwanderungszeit in Böhmen und die Herkunftsfrage der Baiern”, Bohemia
8 (1967) pp. 23–58, esp. pp. 38–9; H.W. Böhme, “Zur Bedeutung des spätrömi-
schen Militärdienstes”, Die Bajuwaren. Von Severin bis Tassilo 488–788, ed. H. Dannheimer
and H. Dopsch (Rosenheim-Salzburg 1988) pp. 23–37, esp. p. 30, also emphasizes
the archaeological evidence for Marcomannic participation in the settlement of the
Danube region in the fifth century.
14
Notitia Dignitatum accedunt Notitia Urbis Constantinopolitanae et Latercula Prouinciarum
34, ed. O. Seeck (Berlin 1876; repr. Frankfurt a. M. 1962) p. 24: tribunus generis
Marcomannorum. See further also H. Castritius, “Die Grenzverteidigung in Rätien
und Noricum im 5. Jh. n. Chr. Ein Beitrag zum Ende der Antike”, Die Bayern und
ihre Nachbarn 1, ed. H. Wolfram and A. Schwarcz, Denkschriften der Österreichi-
schen Akademie der Wissenschaften, philosophisch-historische Klasse 179. Veröffent-
lichungen der Kommission für Frühmittelalterforschung 8 (Wien 1989) pp. 17–28,
esp. pp. 20–1; F. Lotter, “Die germanischen Stammesverbände im Umkreis des
Ostalpen-Mitteldonau-Raumes nach der literarischen Überlieferung zum Zeitalter
Severins”, ibid., pp. 29–59, esp. p. 46.
15
Paulinus, Vita Sancti Ambrosii 36, ed. M. Pellegrino (Rom 1961) p. 102. See
also Lotter, “Die germanischen Stammesverbände”, pp. 45–6; Wolfram, 378–907:
Grenzen und Räume, p. 45.
16
J. Werner, “Die Herkunft der Bajuwaren und der ‘östlich-merowingische
Reihengräberkreis’”, Aus Bayerns Frühzeit. F. Wagner zum 75. Geburtstag, ed. J. Werner,
Schriftenreihe zur bayerischen Landesgeschichte 62 (München 1962) pp. 229–50
[repr. Zur Geschichte der Bayern, ed. K. Bosl, Wege der Forschung 60 (Darmstadt
1965) pp. 12–43], esp. pp. 24–43. Also, H. Wolfram, “Ethnogenesen im früh-
mittelalterlichen Donau- und Ostalpenraum (6. bis 10. Jahrhundert)”, Frühmittel-
alterliche Ethnogenese im Alpenraum, ed. H. Beumann and W. Schröder, Nationes 5
(Sigmaringen 1985) pp. 97–151, esp. pp. 105–8, comes to the conclusion, that
already in the beginning of the sixth century, Lombard groups from Bohemia may
have contributed significantly to the formation of the Bavarian tribe. Similar ideas
in Klebel, “Langobarden, Bajuwaren, Slawen”, pp. 68–9.
17
J. Jarnut, Agilolfingerstudien. Untersuchungen zur Geschichte einer adligen Familie im 6.
   433

from the land of Baia, as defined previously, found their way into
Bavaria18 as early as the fifth or early sixth century; at least, some
of them attacked Passau shortly after 476 under the leadership of
Hunimund.19
Meanwhile, however, it has become clear that Germanic groups
from Bohemia and Moravia were already stationed as Roman foe-
derati and auxiliary troops in military camps on the Danube, even
before Odoaker ordered the evacuation of Noricum and Rhaetia.20

und 7. Jahrhundert, Monographien zur Geschichte des Mittelalters 32 (Stuttgart 1986)

p. 50; Wolfram, “Ethnogenesen im frühmittelalterlichen Donau- und Ostalpenraum”,
pp. 106–7; id., Salzburg, Bayern, Österreich, p. 23. For other Lombard groups, see also
A. Schmid, “Bayern und Italien vom 7. bis zum 10. Jahrhundert”, Die transalpinen Ver-
bindungen der Bayern, Alemannen und Franken bis zum 10. Jahrhundert, ed. H. Beumann and
W. Schröder, Nationes 6 (Sigmaringen 1987) pp. 51–91, esp. pp. 55–60. G. Haupt-
feld, “Die Gentes im Vorfeld von Ostgoten und Franken im sechsten Jahrhundert”,
Die Bayern und ihre Nachbarn 1, ed. H. Wolfram and A. Schwarcz, Denkschriften
der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, philosophisch-historische Klasse
179. Veröffentlichungen der Kommission für Frühmittelalterforschung 8 (Wien 1989)
pp. 121–34, esp. pp. 124–5, presumes Germanic retinues from Bohemia, that may
have participated in the formation of the Lombard and Bavarian tribe during the
time of Theoderic the Great.
18
A Quadian provenance of the Bavarians is advocated by Schwarz, “Herkunft
und Einwanderungszeit”, pp. 25–7. On the Danube Suebians, see Klebel, “Lango-
barden, Bajuwaren, Slawen”, pp. 33–4; Wenskus, Stammesbildung, pp. 561–2; F. Lotter,
“Zur Rolle der Donausueben in der Völkerwanderungszeit”, Mitteilungen des Instituts
für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung 76 (1968) pp. 275–98; on the Suebians from the
province of Savia, see Lotter, “Die germanischen Stammesverbände”, pp. 46–7.
19
Wolfram, 378–907: Grenzen und Räume, pp. 38–9.
20
Böhme, “Zur Bedeutung des spätrömischen Militärdienstes”, pp. 29–30. Such
an early date is at least supported by the early graves from Azlburg I and II, as
well as Straubing-Bajuwarenstraße, which have been dated respectively as early as
the fourth century and to the middle of the fifth century or shortly afterwards; see
H. Geisler, “Neue archäologische Quellen zur frühesten Geschichte der Baiern: spät-
antike und frühmittelalterliche Gräberfelder aus Straubing”, Typen der Ethnogenese
unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Bayern 2, ed. H. Friesinger and F. Daim, Denkschriften
der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, philosophisch-historische Klasse
204. Veröffentlichungen der Kommission für Frühmittelalterforschung 13 (Wien
1990) pp. 89–100, esp. p. 91; Th. Fischer, Das bajuwarische Reihengräberfeld von Staubing.
Studien zur Frühgeschichte im bayerischen Donauraum, Kataloge der Prähistorischen Staats-
sammlung 26 (Kallmünz 1993) pp. 124–5; M. Martin, “Die Gräberfelder von
Straubing-Bajuwarenstraße und Straßkirchen—zwei erstrangige Quellen zur Geschichte
der frühen Baiern im Straubinger Land”, Frühe Baiern im Straubinger Land (Straubing
c. 1995) pp. 17–39, esp. pp. 20–1; Th. Fischer, Die Römer in Deutschland (Stuttgart
1999) pp. 174–5. On the situation in Rhaetia in the fifth century, see also K. Dietz,
U. Osterhaus, S. Rieckhoff-Pauli and K. Spindler, Regensburg zur Römerzeit (Regensburg
1979) pp. 155–66. On the end of the border army, see also Castritius, “Die Grenzver-
teidigung in Rätien”, p. 26.
434  

Grave-goods of the so-called Friedenhain-PÏre“tovice-group,21 from

Barbing-Irlmauth22 as well as from Straubing and outlying areas,23
suggest the arrival of smaller groups and individuals from southern
Bohemia in the area around Regensburg and Straubing24 as early
as the beginning of the fifth century. The Cham-Further and the Stall-
wanger Senke, to the north of these central forts of the Late Antique
Rhaetian Danube limes, were the natural connections between south-
western Bohemia and the area just north of the Alps.25 These Germanic
groups often continued to settle around these fortresses, even after
the dismantling of the border-armies and the end of Roman supre-

21
B. Svoboda, “Zum Verhältnis frühgeschichtlicher Funde des 4. und 5. Jahrhun-
derts aus Bayern und Böhmen”, Bayerische Vorgeschichtsblätter 28 (1963) pp. 97–116, esp.
p. 114; Fischer, Das bajuwarische Reihengräberfeld von Staubing, pp. 108–11; id., “Zur
Archäologie des fünften Jahrhunderts in Ostbayern”, Typen der Ethnogenese unter beson-
derer Berücksichtigung der Bayern 2, ed. H. Friesinger and F. Daim, Denkschriften der
Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, philosophisch-historische Klasse 204.
Veröffentlichungen der Kommission für Frühmittelalterforschung 13 (Wien 1990)
pp. 101–22, esp. pp. 103–11. The Friedenhain-PÏre“tovice group in its totality clearly
belongs to the fifth century, see ibid., p. 109; related finds have meanwhile come
to light in many castella of the Danube limes, and Fischer, ibid., p. 111, supposes
that “the Germanic foederati from Bohemia constituted the majority of the Roman
troops on this part of the border during the fifth century”. Similarly id., Das baju-
warische Reihengräberfeld von Staubing, pp. 96–8; 101; 108–11; id. and H. Geisler, “Her-
kunft und Stammesbildung der Baiern aus archäologischer Sicht”, Die Bajuwaren.
Von Severin bis Tassilo 488–788, ed. H. Dannheimer and H. Dopsch (Rosenheim-
Salzburg 1988) pp. 61–8, here pp. 66–7; id., Das Umland des römischen Regensburg,
Münchener Beiträge zur Vor- und Frühgeschichte 42 (München 1990) pp. 33–4;
Schwarz, “Das Ende der Völkerwanderungszeit”, p. 52, failed when he wanted to
link the group Friedenhain-PÏre“tovice to the Naristi.
22
R. Eckes and H. Zeiß, “Bairische Reihengräber des 6. Jahrhunderts bei Irlmauth,
BA. Regensburg”, Bayerische Vorgeschichtsblätter 15 (1938) pp. 44–56, esp. pp. 51–4;
U. Koch, Die Grabfunde der Merowingerzeit aus dem Donautal um Regensburg, Germanische
Denkmäler der Völkerwanderungszeit A,10 (Berlin 1968) pp. 122–4; 134.
23
Koch, Die Grabfunde der Merowingerzeit, pp. 122–3; Geisler, “Neue archäologi-
sche Quellen”, pp. 89–100; Fischer, Das bajuwarische Reihengräberfeld von Staubing, pp.
122–7; Fischer and Geisler, “Herkunft und Stammesbildung der Baiern”, pp. 63–6.
24
Heinz Löwe, “Die Herkunft der Bajuwaren”, p. 31, expected these archaeo-
logically visible immigrants to be Marcomanni, who in his view crossed the Danube
in the early sixth century. See also Kraus, “Die Herkunft der Bayern”, p. 30;
Reindel, “Die Bajuwaren”, pp. 462–4; Th. Fischer, “Römer und Germanen an der
Donau”, Die Bajuwaren. Von Severin bis Tassilo 488–788, ed. H. Dannheimer and H.
Dopsch (Rosenheim-Salzburg 1988) pp. 39–45, esp. pp. 41–3; id., Das bajuwarische
Reihengräberfeld von Staubing, pp. 108–11.
25
Fischer, “Zur Archäologie des fünften Jahrhunderts”, pp. 110–1; id., “Der
Übergang von der Spätantike zum frühen Mittelalter in Ostbayern”, Regensburg—
Kelheim—Straubing 1, ed. S. Rieckhoff-Pauli and W. Torbrügge, Führer zu archäo-
logischen Denkmälern 5 (Stuttgart 1984) pp. 236–43, esp. pp. 238–41; id., Das
bajuwarische Reihengräberfeld von Staubing, p. 110.
   435

macy.26 Around the year 536, Suebians, who may have arrived from
the Pannonian Danube-region, were able to attack Venice from what
would later become Bavarian land.27
It is highly probable that all these people, who over a long period
of time had migrated into the area between the Danube and the
Alps, would have been described as men from Baia or *Baiahaim,
*Baiawarioz.28 They further integrated with East-29 and West-Germanic,30

26
Fischer, Das bajuwarische Reihengräberfeld von Staubing, pp. 99–100.
27
Cassiodorus, Variae 12,7,1, ed. T. Mommsen, MGH AA 12 (Berlin 1894)
p. 366: Sueborum incursione vastatis. See also Löwe, “Die Herkunft der Bajuwaren”,
p. 42. E. Schwarz, “Herkunft und Einwanderungszeit”, pp. 33–5; 44 also thinks in
terms of Danube-Suebian groups, that had, to his mind, arrived in the early sixth
century from Bojer-Einöde (which was then allegedly called by this name, though
there are no written sources to support this view), and entered Rhaetia and Noricum.
This may have been of great importance for the formation of the Bavarian peo-
ple. See also Schwarz, “Das Ende der Völkerwanderungszeit”, pp. 39–43.
28
Schnetz, “‘Baias’”, p. 9; Schwarz, “Ermunduren”, p. 346; id., “Das Ende der
Völkerwanderungszeit”, pp. 37–8; Wenskus, Stammesbildung, pp. 564–6; Beck, Hamann
and Roth, “Bajuwaren”, pp. 601–6 and esp. pp. 601–2; Fischer, “Zur Archäologie
des fünften Jahrhunderts”, p. 118; Wolfram, “Ethnogenesen im frühmittelalterlichen
Donau- und Ostalpenraum”, pp. 107–8. For a criticism of the attempt to deduce
the Bavarian name from the Salzburg Romanitas see H. Rosenfeld, “Die Völkernamen
Baiern und Böhmen, die althochdeutsche Lautverschiebung und W. Mayerthalers
These ‘Baiern = Salzburger Rätoromanen’. Völkernamen, Völkerwanderung, Stam-
mesgenese und die Namen Baiern, Bayern, Bajuwaren”, Althochdeutsch, vol. 2: Wörter
und Namen. Forschungsgeschichte, ed. R. Bergmann, H. Tiefenbach and L. Voetz, Ger-
manische Bibliothek NF, Reihe 3, Untersuchungen (Heidelberg 1987) pp. 1305–32,
esp. pp. 1321–6; P. Wiesinger, “Antik-romanische Kontinuitäten im Donauraum
von Ober- und Niederösterreich am Beispiel der Gewässer-, Berg- und Siedlungs-
namen”, Typen der Ethnogenese unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Bayern 1, ed. W. Pohl
and H. Wolfram, Denkschriften der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften,
philosophisch-historische Klasse 201. Veröffentlichungen der Kommission für
Frühmittelalterforschung 12 (Wien 1990) pp. 261–328, esp. pp. 262–4.
29
Martin, “Die Gräberfelder von Straubing-Bajuwarenstraße und Straßkirchen”,
p. 26 emphasises the fact that burials of Ostrogoth women are organised in groups
within the cemetery of Altenerding. Moreover, E. Schwarz “Herkunft und Einwander-
ungszeit”, pp. 38–9, also refers to groups of nomadic horsemen, who may have
been involved in the formation of a people. His racial argumentation, which he
still expressed on this subject in 1953 shows the continuity in research with which
he was closely connected.
30
On Sciri participation in the tribal formation, see Schwarz, “Die bairische
Landnahme um Regensburg”, pp. 69–71; id., “Herkunft und Einwanderungszeit”,
pp. 36–41, who ibid., p. 31, labels the Sciri West-Germanic from a linguistic point
of view. Later, however, in his “Das Ende der Völkerwanderungszeit”, p. 45, he
stresses the long-term East-Germanic connections of the Sciri. M. Martin, “Die
Gräberfelder von Straubing-Bajuwarenstraße und Straßkirchen”, p. 30, points to the
presence of the grave of a West-Germanic woman within the cemetery of Straß-
kirchen.
436  

and particularly Alemannic31 groups, but primarily with the provin-

cial Roman population32 and with the remaining Breonic popula-
tion33 to become the Bavarians,34 whom Jordanes mentions for the
first time in the year 551.35 They were, presumably not mentioned
in Jordanes’ main source, Cassiodorus’ History of the Goths, since the
latter in his Variae only seems to have been informed about the
inhabitants of the provinces of Rhaetia and Noricum, but never used
the name of the Bavarians.36 Their settlement taking place as a group

31
Koch, Die Grabfunde der Merowingerzeit, pp. 121; 134. M. Martin, “Die Gräberfelder
von Straubing-Bajuwarenstraße und Straßkirchen”, pp. 22–4 shows the increase in
Alemannic immigration in the region around Straubing after the new Alemannic
defeats against Clovis. Also J. Jahn, Ducatus Baiuvariorum. Das bairische Herzogtum der
Agilolfinger, Monographien zur Geschichte des Mittelalters 35 (Stuttgart 1991) pp.
5–6 stresses the significance of Alemannic participation in the process of Bavarian
ethnogenesis. See further D. Geuenich and H. Keller, “Alamannen, Alamannien,
Alamannisch im frühen Mittelalter. Möglichkeiten und Schwierigkeiten des Historikers
beim Versuch der Eingrenzung”, Die Bayern und ihre Nachbarn 1, ed. H. Wolfram
and A. Schwarcz, Denkschriften der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften,
philosophisch-historische Klasse 179. Veröffentlichungen der Kommission für Frühmit-
telalterforschung 8 (Wien 1989) pp. 135–57, esp. pp. 146–7.
32
K. Bosl, Bayerische Geschichte (7th edn., München 1990), pp. 38; 65 gives a great
deal of significance to the “Celto-Romans” as “original substratum”, also in the
development of the name of the Bavarians. See also Schmid, “Bayern und Italien”,
pp. 54–5; H. Dopsch, “Zum Anteil der Romanen und ihrer Kultur an der Stammes-
bildung der Bajuwaren”, Die Bajuwaren. Von Severin bis Tassilo 488–788, ed. id. and
H. Dannheimer (Rosenheim-Salzburg 1988) pp. 47–54.
33
Wolfram, “Ethnogenesen im frühmittelalterlichen Donau- und Ostalpenraum”,
pp. 118–24; id., Salzburg, Bayern, Österreich, pp. 32–6; K.A. Eckhardt, Merowingerblut
II. Agilolfinger und Etichonen, Deutschrechtliches Archiv 11 (Witzenhausen 1965) pp.
103–5 points out the significance of Herulic provenance of the Breonic King Sinduald.
34
K. Reindel, “Herkunft und Stammesbildung der Bajuwaren nach den schriftli-
chen Quellen”, Die Bajuwaren. Von Severin bis Tassilo 488–788, ed. H. Dannheimer and
H. Dopsch (Rosenheim-Salzburg 1988) pp. 56–60; Wolfram, “Ethnogenesen im
frühmittelalterlichen Donau- und Ostalpenraum”, p. 108; P. Wiesinger, “Gotische
Lehnwörter im Bairischen. Ein Beitrag zur sprachlichen Frühgeschichte des Bairischen”,
Frühmittelalterliche Ethnogenese im Alpenraum, ed. H. Beumann and W. Schröder, Nationes
5 (Sigmaringen 1985) pp. 153–200, esp. pp. 185–6; Bosl, Bayerische Geschichte, pp.
34–7; Kraus, “Die Herkunft der Bayern”, p. 41; Wiesinger, “Antik-romanische
Kontinuitäten”, p. 301; E. Zöllner, “Das Geschlecht der Agilolfinger”, Die Anfänge
des Klosters Kremsmünster, ed. S. Haider, Mitteilungen des Oberösterreichischen Landes-
archivs, Ergänzungsband 2 (Linz 1978) pp. 83–110, esp. pp. 97–8; Jahn, Ducatus
Baiuvariorum, p. 6.
35
Jordanes, Getica 55,280, ed T. Mommsen, MGH AA 5,1 (Berlin 1882) p. 130:
nam regio illa Suavorum ab oriente Baibaros habet, ab occidente Francos, a meridie Burgundzones,
a septentrione Thuringos. See Kraus, “Die Herkunft der Bayern”, p. 42.
36
See also E. Schwarz, “Baiern und Naristen in Burgund”, Südostdeutsche Forschungen
2 (1937) pp. 379–82, esp. p. 382; id., “Die bairische Landnahme um Regensburg”,
p. 52; id., “Herkunft und Einwanderungszeit”, p. 28; Reindel, “Die Bajuwaren”,
   437

closed to outside influence, as assumed by many supporters of the

migration-thesis,37 is therefore out of the question.38
In the following, the question that must be asked relates to the
motivating force behind this process of ethnogenesis in Roman ter-
ritory. Usually, the Ostrogoth realm under Theoderic the Great is
attributed with playing this role.39 Yet as early as in the year 537

pp. 452–3; Jarnut, Agilolfingerstudien, pp. 45–6. The supposition of a copy from the
lost Gothic history of Cassiodorus is, however, impossible to prove with any cer-
tainty, as shown by Schmidt, “Zum Ursprung der Baiern”, p. 13; Lotter, “Die ger-
manischen Stammesverbände”, pp. 54–5; H. Wolfram, “Die Christianisierung der
Baiern”, Baiernzeit in Oberösterreich. Das Land zwischen Inn und Enns vom Ausgang der
Antike bis zum Ende des 8. Jahrhunderts, Kataloge des Oberösterreichischen Landesmuseums
97 (Linz 1977) pp. 177–88, esp. p. 178, and Rosenfeld, “Die Völkernamen Baiern
und Böhmen”, pp. 1307–8, which are based on the introduction to the Getica by
T. Mommsen, p. XXXIII. Reference to the Bavarians in the so-called “table of
nations” does not seem to predate the middle of the sixth century, though W. Gof-
fart, “The supposedly ‘Frankish’ table of nations: an edition and study”, Frühmittelalter-
liche Studien 17 (1983) pp. 98–130, esp. pp. 115–28, proposes a compilation of this
passage in the time around 520.
37
Zeiß, “Von den Anfängen des Baiernstammes”, pp. 27; 29; 39. Also, E. Schwarz,
“Das Ende der Völkerwanderungszeit”, pp. 47–8; 54, maintains, as does Kraus,
“Die Herkunft der Bayern”, pp. 33–41, their immigration as a tribe, but does not
wish to exclude a merging with other tribal remains (ibid., p. 50). Zeiß, “Von den
Anfängen des Baiernstammes”, pp. 23–6 supposes the formation of the tribal name
already in the homeland. Also, H. Mitscha-Märheim, “Die Herkunft der Baiern”,
Mitteilungen der Anthropologischen Gesellschaft in Wien 80 (1950) pp. 213–44, esp. pp.
233–4, and E. Schwarz, “Herkunft und Einwanderungszeit”, p. 32, do not exclude
the possibility of immigration and tribal formation shortly after the year 488. Mitscha-
Märheim envisages the immigration of various groups, including Sciri, from Pannonia,
led by Odoacer’s brother Hunwulf.
38
Böhme, “Zur Bedeutung des spätrömischen Militärdienstes”, p. 34; Fischer and
Geisler, “Herkunft und Stammesbildung der Baiern”, p. 63; Wenskus, Stammesbildung,
pp. 561–2; F. Prinz, “Fragen der Kontinuität zwischen Antike und Mittelalter am
Beispiel Bayerns”, Zeitschrift für bayerische Landesgeschichte 37 (1974) pp. 699–727, esp.
pp. 707–8.
39
Wolfram, 378–907: Grenzen und Räume, p. 64, thinks that the Ostrogothic realm
of Theoderic the Great constituted the context for the Bavarian tribal formation:
“hence, Theoderic succeeded [. . .] in allowing the new people of the Bavarians to
be created between Iller and Enns”. See also id., Salzburg, Bayern, Österreich, p. 22;
Lotter, “Die germanischen Stammesverbände”, pp. 56–7; H.D. Kahl, “Die Baiern
und ihre Nachbarn bis zum Tode des Herzogs Theodo (717/18)”, Die Bayern und
ihre Nachbarn 1, ed. H. Wolfram and A. Schwarcz, Denkschriften der Österreichi-
schen Akademie der Wissenschaften, philosophisch-historische Klasse 179. Veröffent-
lichungen der Kommission für Frühmittelalterforschung 8 (Wien 1989) pp. 159–225,
esp. p. 164; 217; 223, as well as Wolfram, “Ethnogenesen im frühmittelalterlichen
Donau- und Ostalpenraum”, pp. 105–8; id., “Baiern und das Frankenreich”, Die
Bajuwaren. Von Severin bis Tassilo 488–788, ed. H. Dannheimer and H. Dopsch
(Rosenheim-Salzburg 1988) p. 130; Wolfram, “Christianisierung”, pp. 178–80; Th.
Fischer, Die Römer in Deutschland (Stuttgart 1999) pp. 174–5; Dietz, Osterhaus,
Rieckhoff-Pauli and Spindler, Regensburg zur Römerzeit, pp. 155–67; Reindel, “Die