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{{Short description|Early Germanic people native to Thuringia (now part of Germany)}}
{{distinguish}}
[[File:MUFT - Mühlhausen Fibel.jpg|thumb|[[Fibula (brooch)|Fibula]] found in [[Mühlhausen]], 4th/5th century AD]]
[[File:MUFT - Kamm 1.jpg|thumb|Ancient Germanic bone [[comb]], Thuringia]]
The '''Thuringii''', or '''Thuringians''' were a [[Germanic peoples|Germanic people]] who lived in their own kingdom in what is now central [[Germany]]. They are first mentioned in written records starting in the fifth century, during a period when the [[Huns]] were the most influential force in central Europe and the [[Western Roman Empire]] lost control of this region. The kingdom was not mentioned during the time of Attila himself, or during the conflicts between the small kingdoms which formed immediately after his death, so it's early history and boundaries are uncertain. However, the medieval kingdom, and the modern [[Bundesland (Germany)|German federal state]] which is still called [[Thuringia]], lies between the [[Harz]] in the north, and the [[Thuringian forest]] in the south.

The medieval Thuringian kingdom came into conflict with the [[Merovingian]] [[Franks]], and it later became a [[stem duchy]] within the Frankish realm.

==Name origins==
The Thuringians do not appear in classical Roman texts under that name. This has led to several proposals connecting them to peoples know from earlier periods.
*In older scholarship it has traditionally been presumed that they were the remnants of the [[Hermanduri]]. [[Johann Kaspar Zeuss]] for example proposed that the last part of the name (''Duri'') was the tribal name. Two objections to this tradition have been explained by Matthias Springer.{{sfn|Springer|2005|pp=523-524}}{{sfn|Springer|2009}} Firstly linguistically, the pronunciation of the "th" sound in the Latin name for Thuringians is believed to have been like an English "th", but this sound could not have evolved from d-sounds in Germanic. Secondly geographically, the Hermunduri and Thuringi are not known to have lived in the same region. [[Tacitus]], in his ''[[Germania (book)|Germania]]'', describes the Hermunduri in about 100 AD living in a region stretching from an area where the [[Elbe]] starts, all the way to the [[Danube]] where it formed the northern boundary of the [[Roman province]] of [[Rhaetia]]. This is far to the south of Thuringia.
*Another early people sometimes proposed as forerunners of the Thuringians are the [[Teuriochaemae]], who were described by [[Claudius Ptolemy]] as living just north of what he called the "[[Sudetes]]" mountains in the second century. According to this proposal, "''Chaemae''" may represent a version of the Germanic word for "home". 
*Since the late 20th century a new proposal (or old proposal with new support) has been that the Thuringi were actually descended somehow from the [[Tervingians]], who were a Gothic people who entered central Europe from the east during the period of Hunnic dominance.
*Another old proposal which has renewed support is that they may be the same as the [[Turcilingi|Torcilingi]] (or Thorcilingi) who were a people (or tribe or dynasty) mentioned only by [[Jordanes]], and authors who drew upon his works, when describing [[Odoacer]]. Jordanes referred to Odoacer once as "king of the Torcilingi", once as the "king of the Thorcilingi and Rogi" ({{lang|la|regis Thorcilingorum Rogorumque}}), and once as being "of the stock of Rogus of the Thorcilingi" ({{lang|la|genere Rogus Thorcilingorum}}).<ref>See {{harvnb|Reynolds|Lopex|1946}} and {{harvnb|Maenchen-Helfen|1947}} citing Jordanes, ''Getica'', XLVI.242 [https://archive.org/details/gothichistoryofj00jorduoft/page/118/mode/2up?q=torcilingi English], [https://archive.org/details/gri_33125006532622/page/n197/mode/2up?q=xlvi Latin]; and LVII.291 [https://archive.org/details/gothichistoryofj00jorduoft/page/134/mode/2up?q=torcilingi English], [https://archive.org/details/gri_33125006532622/page/n209/mode/2up?q=lvii Latin]; and ''Romana'', [https://archive.org/details/gri_33125006532622/page/n121/mode/2up?q=rogus 344].</ref>

==First appearances==
[[File:Cornelius-Tacitus-Hugo-de-Groot-Antiquitates-Germanicæ MGG 0263.tif|thumb|Image from "Battle of [[Hermunduri]] and [[Chatti]]", 1717]]
The name of the Thuringians appears to have first been mentioned in the veterinary treatise (''Mulomedicina'') of [[Vegetius]], written about 383-450 AD. The text specifically mentions Thuringian horses, which it pairs together with the Burgundian horses: “the Thuringian and the Burgundian horses … can be recognized by their patient endurance of poor treatment” ({{lang|la|Toringos dehinc et Burgundiones iniuriae tolerantes}}). Historians such as Matthias Springer have noted that other early medieval evidence also exists which implies a connection between the Thuringians and Burgundians.<ref>{{harvnb|Springer|2005|p=521}} citing ''Mulomedicina'' [https://archive.org/details/pvegetirenatidi00lommgoog/page/n336/mode/2up?q=toringos II.6.3].</ref>

The second mention of the Thuringians is as allies of [[Attila the Hun]] who joined his invasion of [[Gaul]] in 451. [[Sidonius Apollinaris]] listed them among the invaders writing only a few years later, in Gaul itself.{{sfn|Springer|2005|p=521}} From this it can be inferred that the Thuringians were present in the [[Battle of the Catalaunian Plains]].{{sfn|Springer|2005|p=254}}

The first near contemporary source to describe the location of the Thuringians is the early 6th century writer [[Eugippius]], who was writing about the 460s and 470s. He reported that the Thuringians carried out raids over the Danube, into Roman imperial territory near [[Passau]] and [[Linz]], implying that they lived close to the Danube at this time. Eugippius had lived in this region until the death of Saint [[Severinus of Noricum]] in 482.{{sfn|Springer|2005|p=254}}

The formation of the Thuringian kingdom may have had also been influenced by two longer-known tribes more associated with the eastern bank of the lower Elbe river, northeast of Thuringia, because the [[Carolingian]] law code written for them was called the "law of the [[Angles (tribe)|Angles]] and [[Varini]] that is the Thuringians". Much earlier, in his ''Germania'' for example, Tacitus had grouped the Anglii and Varini among the more distant Suebic tribes, living beyond the Elbe, and near a sea where they worshipped a goddess called [[Nerthus]]. These two tribes are among Germanic groups known to have been found north of the Danube in this period. 

During the reign of [[Childeric I]], [[Gregory of Tours]] and [[Fredegar]] record that the Frankish King married the runaway wife of the King of the Thuringians, but the story may be distorted. (For example, the area of [[Tongeren]], now in Belgium, may have been intended.{{sfn|Halsall|2007|p=392}}

More clearly, correspondence is recorded with a kingdom of Thuringians by Procopius and [[Cassiodorus]] during the reigns of [[Theoderic the Great]] (454–526) and [[Clovis I]] (approx. 466–511), after the downfall of Attila and Odoacer.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Work info: History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Christian Classics Ethereal Library |url=https://ccel.org/ccel/gibbon/decline/decline.vi.ii.html |access-date=2025-11-12 |website=ccel.org}}</ref>

==Political history==
{{See also|Rulers of Thuringia}}
[[File:Europe and the Near East at 476 AD.png|thumbnail|350px|Europe at the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 AD.]]
The Thuringii established an empire in the late fifth century. It reached its territorial peak in the first half of the sixth before it was conquered by the [[Franks]] in 531&ndash;532. Examination of Thuringian grave sites reveal cranial features which suggest the strong presence of [[Huns|Hunnic]] women or slaves, perhaps indicating that many Thuringians took Hunnic wives or Hunnic slaves following the collapse of the [[Huns#Unified Empire under Attila|Hunnic Empire]].{{sfn|Schutz|2000|p=411}} There is also evidence from jewellery found in graves that the Thuringians sought marriages with [[Ostrogothic]] and [[Lombards|Lombard]] women.{{citation needed|date=January 2016}} Under the leadership of [[Alboin]], a large group of Thuringii joined the Lombards on their migration into Italy.<ref name=HGL>{{cite book|title=History of the Lombards: Translated by William Dudley Foulke |first=Edward |last=Peters |year=2003 |place=University of Pennsylvania Press}}</ref> The Lombard king [[Agilulf]] (590&ndash;616) was of Thuringian descent.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Zanella |first1=Antonio |title=Storia dei longobardi. Testo latino a fronte |date=1991 |publisher=Rizzoli |location=Milan |isbn=8817168246 |page=326}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Gasparri |first1=Stefano |title=I duchi longobardi |date=1978 |publisher=Ist. Storico per il Medio Evo |page=17}}</ref>

After their conquest, the Thuringii were placed under Frankish dukes, but they rebelled and had regained their independence by the late seventh century under [[Radulf, King of Thuringia|Radulf]].{{sfn|Reuter|2014|p=55}} Towards the end of this century, parts of Thuringia came under [[Duke of Saxony|Saxon]] rule.

By the time of [[Charles Martel]] and [[Saint Boniface]], they were again subject to the Franks and ruled by Frankish dukes, with their seat at [[Würzburg]] in the south. Under Martel, the Thuringian dukes' authority was extended over a part of [[Austrasia]] and the [[Bavaria]]n plateau. The valleys of the [[Lahn]], [[Main (river)|Main]], and [[Neckar]] rivers were included. The [[Naab]] formed the south-eastern border of Thuringia at the time. The [[Werra]] and [[Fulda]] valleys were within it also and it reached as far as the [[Old Saxony|Saxon]] plain in the north. Its central location in [[Germania]], beyond the [[Rhine]], was the reason it became the ''[[point d'appui]]'' of Boniface's mission work.

The Thuringii had a separate identity as late as 785&ndash;786, when one of their leading men, [[Hardrad]], led an abortive insurrection against [[Charlemagne]]. The [[Carolingians]] codified the Thuringian legal customs (but perhaps did not use them extensively) as the ''[[Lex Thuringorum]]'' and continued to exact a tribute of pigs, presumably a [[Merovingian]] imposition, from the province. In the tenth century, under the [[Ottonians]], the centre of Thuringian power lay in the north-east, near [[Erfurt]]. As late as the end of the tenth century, the porcine tribute was still being accepted by the [[King of Germany]].

==Ecclesiastical history==
Christianity had reached the Thuringii in the fifth century, but their exposure to it was limited. Their real [[Christianisation]] took place, alongside the ecclesiastical organisation of their territory, during the early and mid eighth century under Boniface, who felled their "sacred oak" at [[Geismar]] in 724, abolishing the vestiges of their paganism.

In the 1020s, [[Aribo, Archbishop of Mainz]], began the minting of coins at [[Erfurt]], the oldest market town in Thuringia with a history going back to the Merovingian period. The economy, especially trade (such as with the Slavs), greatly increased after that.

==Social history==
The Thuringian nobility, which had an admixture of Frankish, Thuringian, and Saxon blood, was not as [[landed nobility|landed]] as that of [[Francia]]. There was also a larger population of free peasant farmers than in Francia, though there was still a large number of [[serf]]s. The obligations of serfs there were also generally less oppressive. There were also fewer clergymen before [[Boniface]] came. There was a small number of artisans and merchants, mostly trading with the Slavs to the east. The town of Erfurt was the easternmost trading post in Frankish territory at the time.

==Historiography==
The history of the Thuringii is best known from the writings concerning their conquerors, the Franks. [[Gregory of Tours]], a [[Gallo-Roman]], includes the nearest account in time of the fall of the Thuringian Empire. [[Widukind of Corvey]], writing in [[Duchy of Saxony|tenth-century Saxony]], inundates his similar account with various legends.

The Thuringii make brief appearances in contemporary Italian sources when their activities affect the land south of the [[Alps]]. [[Procopius]], the [[Eastern Roman]] author, mentions them and speaks of their fall. The seventh-century ''[[Origo Gentis Langobardorum]]'' mentions a king of the Thuringii, [[Fisud]], as a contemporary of [[Theudebert I]].
==Notes==
{{reflist}}
==Sources==

*{{Cite book |last=Halsall |first=Guy |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/barbarian-migrations-and-the-roman-west-376568/13B8F5197E2544AF77CB0DFC954F0D79 |title=Barbarian Migrations and the Roman West, 376–568 |date=2007 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-43491-1 |series=Cambridge Medieval Textbooks |location=Cambridge}}
*{{cite journal |author-link=Otto Maenchen-Helfen |first=Otto |last=Maenchen-Helfen |title=Communications |pages=836–841 |year=1947 |journal=The American Historical Review |volume=52 |issue=4 |jstor=1842348}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Reynolds |first=Robert L. |last2=Lopez |first2=Robert S. |year=1946 |title=Odoacer: German or Hun? |journal=[[The American Historical Review]] |volume=52 |issue=1 |pages=36–53 |doi=10.1086/ahr/52.1.36 |jstor=1845067}}
*{{Cite book |last=Reuter |first=Timothy |url=https://books.google.it/books/about/Germany_in_the_Early_Middle_Ages_c_800_1.html?id=GfvJAwAAQBAJ&redir_esc=y |title=Germany in the Early Middle Ages c. 800-1056 |date=2014-06-06 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-87239-9 |language=en}}
*{{Cite book |last=Schutz |first=Herbert |url=https://books.google.it/books/about/The_Germanic_Realms_in_Pre_Carolingian_C.html?id=sG8iAQAAIAAJ&redir_esc=y |title=The Germanic Realms in Pre-Carolingian Central Europe, 400-750 |date=2000 |publisher=P. Lang |isbn=978-0-8204-4965-4 |language=en}}
*{{citation|first=Matthias|last=Springer|title=Thüringer § 1. Namenkundlich|encyclopedia=Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde| volume=30 |edition=2 |editor1-first=Heinrich |editor1-last=Beck|editor2-first= Dieter |editor2-last=Geuenich|editor3-first= Heiko |editor3-last=Steuer|publisher=De Gruyter |year= 2005|isbn=978-3-11-018385-6|pages=521-525}}
*{{citation|chapter=Zwischen (H)Ermunduren und Thüringern besteht kein Zusammenhang|first=Matthias |last=Springer| title=Die Frühzeit der Thüringer. Archäologie, Sprache, Geschichte| encyclopedia=Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde - Ergänzungsbände| volume=63| editor1-first=Helmut |editor1-last= Castritius|editor2-first= Dieter |editor2-last=Geuenich |editor3-first= Matthias |editor3-last=Werner| publisher=De Gruyter | year=2009| isbn=978-3-11-021454-3}}
*{{citation|first=Jürgen |last=Udolph |title=Thüringer § 2. Historisch. Frühzeit |encyclopedia=Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde| volume=30 |edition=2 |editor1-first=Heinrich |editor1-last=Beck|editor2-first= Dieter |editor2-last=Geuenich|editor3-first= Heiko |editor3-last=Steuer|publisher=De Gruyter |year= 2005|isbn=978-3-11-018385-6|pages=519-521}}

==Further reading==
*[[Timothy Reuter|Reuter, Timothy]]. ''Germany in the Early Middle Ages 800&ndash;1056''. New York: Longman, 1991.
*[[James Westfall Thompson|Thompson, James Westfall]]. ''Feudal Germany''. 2 vol. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1928. 

{{Early Germanic Kingdoms}}
{{Germanic peoples}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Thuringii| ]]
[[Category:History of Thuringia]]
[[Category:Harz]]
[[Category:Early Germanic peoples]]
[[Category:German tribes]]
[[Category:Barbarian kingdoms]]