[gothic-l] Goths and Bavaria

[dirk at SMRA.CO.UK]

Hi Cory and Francisc,

your discussion is really interesting. I think one of the arguments
against a Gothic mission to Bavaria is based on the fact that the
Arian church was never really focused on missionary work in general.
However, one thing is obvious Theoderic was keen to secure the borders
of his realm once the conquest of Italy was complete. In some cases he
sought marriage alliances while he resorted to war against the Gepids
in order to secure the important north-eastern gate-way into Italy.
The Bajuvari were at the northern border of the Ostrogothic kingdom at
a strategically important position. Controlling Bavaria could
potentially help to thwart Frankish attempts to expand east and
south-eastwards. The Thuringian kingdom was also allied with the
Ostrogoths to a similar end. However, in Bavaria I suppose that the
Ostrogoths might have seen a chance for more direct intervention. It
has been argued that some of the administrative divisions of Bavaria
were put into place by the Goths.

I agree with Corey, that the ways of political and linguistic
influence of the Goths on Bavaria is probably more complicated than
missions and refugees, but I am slightly more sceptical about a real
'influx' of actual Goths into Bavaria. I would propose a more indirect
scenario. It is an established fact that the Bavarian dukedom was
closely related with the Langobardic kingdom in Italy. We know that
some Langobardic kings spend much of their lifetime in Bavaria and the
last Langobardic kings are often called the Bavarian dynasty. After
the fall of the Ostrogothic kingdom, the Goths did not vanish from
Italy, but basically blended into the local and new Langobardic
population. As  such Gothic will likely have made some impression on
Langobardic, and this influence could have been carried through
Langobards/Goths to Bavaria.

I believe one area where a linguistic and other influence should be
visible is personal names. Bavaria has to this day a number of
peculiar personal names that could portray an East Germanic (not
necessarily Gothic) influence. Thus, we have otherwise unknown male
names like Tassilo, Odilo/Uatila and Athala, but also Otakar which is
directly derived from Odoaker. Interestingly, a lead-name of the
Bavarian Agilofing ducal house was Fara. This name may have been
brought to Bavaria, by the Herul prince of that name who became also
duke of Bavaria. In addition, Fara was also a lead-name of some
Langobardic ducal houses.

In contrast to Corey I believe that Bavarian is essentially a West
Germanic language and that the 'men from Baia', where initially
Langobards and later after the 530s Thuringians. These were
supplemented by East Germanic splinter groups such as Skiri (who have
given their name to Scheyern/Skirensis in Bavaria), Rugians near
Passau and Heruls in Austro-Bavaria (where we may even have placenames
based on the Herul name), as well as some Goths and 'Italian
Langobards'.

I wonder if the so- called 5 'Genealogiae', i.e. the five leading
early Bajuvarian families in the 6th and 7th  centuries: the Huosi,
Fagana, Hahhilinga, Draozza and Anniona plus the Agilofing dukes are
not the ruling clans of 5 or 6 different tribal groups. Is anybody
aware of an interpretation of these names?

cheers,
Dirk



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