Their religious practices, though differing slightly geographically, all shared similarities with what modern scholars have labeled "German Paganism." The most powerful of these tribes were the Franks, who would create Francia incorporating much of modern-day France, Germany, Belgium, and The Netherlands.ĭespite Roman propaganda that portrayed the Germanic peoples as "barbarians" and "primitive," many Germanic peoples lived in a complex and sophisticated society. Their history can be traced back to the Nordic Bronze Age (1750 – 500 BCE) however, it was during the period of Roman expansion into Central Europe, from the 1st century CE, that these Germanic peoples entered the broader Roman consciousness thanks to border skirmishes, wars, and battles.įollowing the collapse of Roman power in Western Europe, these peoples (including the Goths, Saxons, Alemanni, and Franks) swept into the former Roman provinces to create newly independent kingdoms. The Germanic peoples are traditionally defined as Germanic-speaking peoples that once occupied Central and Northern Europe from antiquity to the early medieval period. Its origin, however, lies with the Germanic peoples. Scholars and academics are yet to conclusively discover the exact meaning of this symbol, and its definition is often wide open for debate. It has been discovered on a wide variety of archaeological artifacts from this period, but the term itself is a modern Norwegian compound meaning "knots of slain warriors." There is no mention of this term – to describe the symbol – in any contemporary sources dating from the early medieval period. The symbol itself has been discovered on a wide variety of archaeological artifacts from Germanic peoples, though mostly in Northern Europe, especially Germany and Scandinavia. The symbol that has been labeled the "Valknut symbol" – three interlocking triangles – with both unicursal or tricursal depictions popular – is a fascinating combination of the blending of history with the contemporary. Valknut - modern term for an ancient symbol ![]() The symbol, however, has a complex history that stretches from being inscribed on runestones in early medieval Scandinavia to its current misuse by white supremacists. Consisting of three interlocking triangles, its use has spread throughout the countries where Germanic peoples once lived, from the jersey of the German national team to tattoos to being adopted as a logo of a Swedish forest company.
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