Ostrogothic settlement

[macmaster at RISEUP.NET]

Logical place for emigrant Ostrogoths would be Visigothic Gaul (Languedoc
was Gothic for quite a while after this).

Quite a few appear to have taken service with the Empire and would
presumably have been dispersed to the East or North Africa.

Most, I would guess, simply stayed put in northern Italy; some as soldiers
of the Empire, others as farmers, etc.  If any Gothic speaking communities
lasted into the Byzantine period, I think we can assume that they 'became'
Lombards after 568 (especially as the main Gothic settlement areas other
than Ravenna were those most Lombardized, this seems the most likely place
for the most Ostrogoths)

We also have to remember that the population of Italy fell considerably
during the reign of Justinian, from war, famine, and plague.  The
Ostrogoths weren't immune to those factors so, likely, they had as sharp a
drop (if not sharper) as everyone else.


Ian Ragsdale wrote:
> I can only imagine how the Ostrogothic warriors felt - without a
> homeland, defeated, hated and feared across southern Europe - I can't
> envision any particular place they would want to go.  However, I would
> guess that they would be more inclined to venture north than back
> east, which would make sense if some were absorbed into the Franks.
> I'm not sure - would their shattered honor play a role in where they
> chose to settle?
>
> IMR
>
>
> On Thu, Jul 31, 2008 at 10:01 PM, OSCAR HERRERA <duke.co at sbcglobal.net>
> wrote:
>> think they settled in southern austria and northern italy......dont
>> think
>> they settled in and around milan, but the other northern areas sound
>> right.....
>>
>> macmaster at riseup.net wrote: Wasn't there some World War II-era thesis
>> that
>> claimed that the Croatians
>>
>> weren't Slavs but descendants of the Ostrogoths?
>>
>> This sounds liek it might come from some similar pseudo-history.
>>
>> TM
>> gutdwala wrote:
>>> According to Wikipedia, "with that final defeat,the remaining
>>> Ostrogoths went back north and (re)settled in south Austria." I had
>>> never heard this before, so I checked every book I could find at my
>>> Uni's library. They all claimed the same thing's I've always heard,
>>> that some joined the Franks, some kept their lands in northern Italy,
>>> some went back to Scandinavia, and some were recruited into
>>> Justinian's armies and sent to fight in the east. But no one ever
>>> seems to cite sources or evidence for these claims, and no book
>>> mentions all of these possibilities. So how much can we really say
>>> about where the Ostrogoths eventually settled? What evidence do we
>>> have and what do the sources say? Even Jordanes doesn't mention it.
>>> Where are authors getting this information?
>>>
>>>
>>
>> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>>
>>
>


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