[gothic-l] Re: Vandals and Silesia

[faltin2001]

--- In gothic-l at yahoogroups.com, "Chris" <chrisailes01 at y...> wrote:
> Just found this group.  Been doing some family research and turns
out
> my last name (Marbutt derived from Merbot) originated in the area
of
> Silesia in the 3rd century AD during which time the Vandals are
> beloeved to occupied the area.  So dumb question, what do we know
> about the Vandals?
>
> Any help appreciated.  'Bout all I've come up with is the spoke
> something resembling Gothic and I probably share DNA with some poor
> guy in North Africa judging from how these people wandered. :-)
>
> Chris

Hi Chris,

the first thing to note is that the Vandals left the area of Silesia
some time during the 3rd century. They first moved south and
eastwards, but then turned westwards into modern southern Germany. In
the 4th century they reached the Rhine. And in 406 they crossed the
Rhine together with other tribes like the Suevi and the non-Germanic
Alani. The area of Silesia would in the following centuries from
about 500AD onwards be settled by Slavs. In the 11th/12th century the
German 'East colonisation' reaches Silesia and many Germans
(especially Saxons) settle in Silesia (Schlesien). Germans were the
majority population in many or most parts of Silesia until 1945. In
short, if your family is of German-Silesian decent, they will have
nothing whatsoever to do with the Vandals. Instead, they will likely
be of mixed Slavic/German-Saxon decent.


Cheers
Dirk


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