Oh dear he has an ax to grind - he needs to either read his history or stop trying to make a name for himself by tapping into our preconceived idea of the barbaric nature of Germany - there was far more than the gathering of pagan tribes - this germania went on for several hundred years and the Popes were in on it from the beginning -
Freybabe this is an area of history that has been with me for years - not only is my library bulging with at least 2 dozen books that three fourths are about the various tribes on through the middle ages with a forth about Prussia and Bismark but it also connects to my research on what is called the Germanization of Early Medieval Christianity - also, there is a book by that title. I belong to the German club here in Austin that meets in the old school that was the first free school before public education in Austin. We are always sharing our latest reads and findings.
Long before Charlemagne, Julius Ceaser explains why he had not conquered and colonized Germania as he had Gaul. - he said, the land so thick with forests contained unicorns and other mysterious animals even though merchants traveled the length and breadth of the area there is a famous battle 'Teutoburg Forest' where Hermann defeated the Romans -
I do not know this professors exposure however, anyone studying from a French viewpoint is going to compare Germany negatively. French historians claim they were rooted in classical Greece and Rome - Augustus 63BC to 16AD established the Roman strategy towards Germania which was followed for Centuries that included the line of defense along the Rhine and the Danube - The Frankish king Mirobaudes was both the enemy and a servant of the Roman emperor - many of the solders were in service in the Roman army and adopted the paganism of the Romans, others converted to Christianity and others to the Jewish faith. the Goths especially became Christian and were the first to translate the Bible into Gothic. They subscribed to the heresy at the time that said, Jesus was a co-equal with God the father and was merely the best of human beings - that viewpoint, held by many groups later persecuted, was condemned at the Council of Nicea in 325.
It is after the Council of Nicea that the Roman Emperors loose their power. Christian Goths were persecuted by the pagan elite and Constantine, who opened the Council of Nicea welcomed them. Constantine is the beginning of the Pope's becoming the power house of Rome rather than the Roman Emperors.
The Germani by Tacitus was only published in 1497 that was based on an intense hatred of the 'French' and the 'Venial' Romans. Those hatreds run through out German history and came to a boil with the behavior of Napoleon's occupying forces which soured Germany against the impact of the French Revolution. Again in settling things in Vienna the Germans wanted to unify but Britain and Russia where afraid of Prussia that some 20 years later did create an economic association that unified the thirty-nine German states. That is when Germany tried to define itself and thought anyone who spoke German was part of Germany - the identity crisis continued till Bismarck unified using the slogan 'Blood and Iron'.
Back to the beginning that this Harvard Prof is not talking about - The various groups whose histories I have either read or are on my shelf to read are - the Goths - the Christian Goths whose leader by the way is Reiks and in German, Reich means empire - the Huns who became an ally - the Franks to the west along with the Alemanni - the Persians get into it attacking the Goths - Attila absorbs many of the Goths and expels the Visigoths - there are the Vandals, Sueves and Alans from Silesia - Attila attacks the Gauls - he marches into northern Italy holding court in Milan and Pope Leo the Great sends an envoy begging him not to attack Rome with the warning that after the Goths sacked Rome 40 years earlier their leader died - Attila died of a stroke on yet another wedding night so Rome is spared. The Huns are absorbed into the mix of essentially tribes each holding various views on God and the king of the Visigoths comes along to codify laws to unify all this mess but still he was no match for Clovis and this is where it gets interesting.
The Frankish King Cloves fells in battle the king of the Visigoths - Clovis, a Merovingian, trace their royal lineage to a mythical sea monster that gives them magical power so they alone can be the Merovingian King to control most of Gaul - the blood line is magical and can make crops grow by their walking in the fields and they could sing bird calls and tame wild beasts - Clovis had slaughtered all rival Frankish chiefs and was king of all the Franks. As a Christian he allies himself with Gallo-Rome and with intermarriage the Franks are no longer a Germanic Tribe but a European people. The Franks found monasteries and churches as capital investments - they appointed and dismiss priests - destroying the acceptance of the church among the people but preserving enough for the Carolingians. After his death the Merovingians become fat and lazy with his sons murdering each other -
The Vandals stay as a German tribe and are vying for power - The Irish monks, the Anglo Saxons, Saint Boniface, the Moslems, Frisians, Alemanni and the Bavarians all get in on this till finely, Pepin the Short, a Carolingian uses the Church as his trump card over all this magical blood. He gets Pope Zcharian with the Frankish Bishop to anoint him King. Pepin is the first King to rule by the grace of God.
From then on the Monarch and the Church were mutually dependent - The administration is centered in the Germanic district and the kings agents are elevated to judges looking after the affairs of church and crown. All the scribal and archival duties are handled by clerics because no laymen knew Latin or were even literate, including the kings. These judgeships become hereditary. Voila the Curia that runs the Church today. And since Pepin had to negotiate with Constantinople without equal authority he was given a greater title - soon after it breaks apart for reasons of ancient rights and privileges till Charlemagne revives the Roman empire and unites most of Europe.
And so the pride that Hitler leaned on was in the independent, unshakeable, brave who were considered morally upright, modest, chaste, honest, and hospitable early German tribes as opposed to the French and the Italian nature and morality. If you read some of the heroes that came out of WWI - German heroes that we recognize as such like Count Von Luckner called the Sea Devil who kept out of range from command during part of WWI and was an all round good guy. The Count had the morality and characteristics that Hitler hoped to re-ignite by calling for a Third Reich.
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