Reconstruction of the grave of the Kemathen warrior, who is believed to have been a Bavarian
The Baiuvarii, Baiovari or early Bavarians were a Germanic people who first appeared in the 6th century. They originally lived in what had been the Roman province Raetia, south of the Danube, in what is now southern Bavaria. From there, their territory expanded. Their culture, language and political institutions are the predecessors of those of the medieval Duchy of Bavaria. Their polity developed under the influence of the Frankish empire, and eventually became a stem duchy.
The Baiuvarii are first mentioned in contemporary records starting in the 6th century, soon after the end of the Western Roman Empire, which affected Raetia and many of the surrounding countries.
Map of the extent of the Bavarian, also known as Austro-Bavarian, dialects of the German language
Early evidence of the language of the Baiuvarii is limited to personal names and a few Runic inscriptions. However, by the 8th century AD, the Austro-Bavarian language was already well-established.[1][2]
The language of the Baiuvarii was West Germanic, like its descendants medieval Old High German, and the modern Bavarian language. It was so similar to the contemporary languages of the neighbouring Alamanni, Thuringi, and Langobards, that it is difficult to tell them apart.[3][4][5] This southern group of languages or dialects which are precursors to Old High German are sometimes distinguished from closely related northern dialects, such as those spoken by the Franks, as "Elbe Germanic". However, the model used to define this term is now considered obsolete, in favour of the idea that all or most of continental West Germanic languages were in one dialect continuum after the Migration period.[3][6][7]
A map of the Roman provinces of Raetia and Noricum (red borders) showing the Lech, Danube and Inn rivers
The name of the Baiuvarii had many written variants, but many differences can be explained in terms of the spelling conventions of the time. The use of the letters "b", "v", "u", "uu" and "o" was common when representing the same w-like sound in words from Germanic languages. Similarly, versions with a letter "g" such as Bogari, Baguvarii, are using that letter to represent a palatal glide, or y-like sound. Versions with an initial p such as Pagoarii, Paioarii, Peigiro reflect the normal Upper German version of the High German consonant shift, which still distinguishes southern dialects of German today, and so this was a real variant pronunciation.[3]
Modern scholars reconstruct the original Germanic pronunciation before the first written forms as *Baiwari, and singular *Bai(a)warjōz.[9] According to Rübekiel, the standard modern terms such as German Baj-u-waren and English Bai-u-varii are based on a misunderstanding of early medieval spellings such as Baiuuari, where "uu" really represented a single w-like consonant, and not an "uw" syllable.[3]
Different etymologies can be proposed, but modern scholars normally understand the name as a compound of two elements: *Baia-/Baijo- which is believed to be a Germanic evolution from the pre-imperial Celtic tribal name Boii; and -warjōz which is a common Germanic suffix used to create the names of peoples, by associating them with nouns such as regional names.
The earliest attestations are the following, from the 6th century, when the term seems to have been new. The early 6th century biography of Severinus of Noricum by Eugippius does not mention them at all although it describes the region around Passau and Künzing in present day eastern Bavaria, and Roman Raetia, as coming under attack from Alemanni and Thuringians in the late 5th century, while Roman Noricum, now in Austria, under the control of the Rugii in the north, and Ostrogoths in the south.[10]
In 469/70 Jordanes, writing 551, mentioned the Baiuvarii (manuscript spellings Baibaros, Baiobaros, Baioarios), supposedly already living east of the Alemanni.[11]
Various versions of the Frankish Table of Nations, starting from about 520, use spellings Baioarius, Baweros, Baioeros, Bawarios, Baioarios, Boguarii, Bogari and describe the Baiuvarii as a people with kinship to the Burgundians, Thuringians and Lombards (but not the Alemanni).[10]
Venantius Fortunatus mentioned a region called Baivaria near the Lech river, and a person who was a Baiovarius, near the Breuni who were still based near the river Inn. The Lech flows north from the Austrian alps to the German Danube.[3] The Inn was the boundary between Raetia and Noricum, and today forms part of the border between Germany and Austria. This seems to indicate that the first Baiuvarii were in a relatively small area.
Possible sources of the name
The Baiuvarii probably didn't exist under that name before the 5th century. However, the Boii, who seem to be the basis of the first element of the Baiuvarii name, almost disappeared from the written record around the time when the Roman empire began, centuries earlier. The form of the name is Germanic, both because of the conversion of the o-sound to an a-sound, and also the -varii suffix. This has led scholars to propose different ways in which the Baiuvarii name can be indirectly derived from the much older name of the Boii tribe. By explaining this, scholars also hope to get indications about how the Baiuvarii came into existence.
A common and old proposal is that the Baiuvarii name somehow evolved from the classical version of the geographical term "Bohemia" which was used by Latin and Greek writers in the first century AD. Strabo called it Buiaimon, Velleius Paterculus called it Boiohaemum, and Tacitus called it Boiemum.[12] Modern scholars see this as a Germanic word, coined by the Suebi who settled there under Maroboduus, long after the Boii departed. The second component is Germanic *haim-, the source of modern English "home" and modern German "Heim".[3][13] One of the last classical reports of this name is the 2nd century mention of a people called the Bainochaemae. Claudius Ptolemy described them in his Geography as living near the Elbe, east of the Melibokus mountains, and north of the Asciburgius mountains.[14] However, the "haim" part of the placename, which would have made the evidence for this etymology clear, does not appear in the name of Bavarians, leaving only the name of the Boii.[13] According to this proposal, the Baivari migrated south from the original Bohemia, which is generally believed to be roughly where the modern Bohemia is, now in the Czech Republic. Alternatively, if Bohemia was in Moravia then the migration was from the east, along the Danube.
There are proposals that the name does not come from Bohemia at all, but directly from the Boii name itself, which was preserved in various areas to the east of Raetia (which would become the core of Bavaria). Examples which have been proposed include the following:
Boiodurum, which was the older Roman name of Passau.[13]
The Ravenna Cosmography mentions a country called Baias, which was part of a mountainous region called Ungani, stretching from the southern Elbe far to the east, and bordering upon Roman Pannonia.[15]
Ptolemy in the second century reported a "large nation" called the Baiani (Ancient Greek: Βαιανοί) or Baimi (Βαίμοι) between the Luna Forest and the Danube.[13][16] This population mentioned by Ptolomy is believed to have been the "Vannius Kingdom", which was established on Quadi territory by transporting Marcomanni from Bohemia after a civil war in the first century AD.
Within Roman Pannonia itself there was also a civitas of the Boii, on the Danube near present day Vienna, in the north west of the Roman province of Pannonia.[17] By about 400 AD, when the Notitia Dignitatum was made, the area's military defence included Marcomanni troops many of whom had by this time been moved south of the Danube, into the empire.
Another name associated by scholars with the Boii name in late antiquity is the country called Bainaib, possibly from *Bain-haim, recorded in the Origo Gentis Langobardorum as one of the places the Langobards stopped on their trek from the lower Elbe to the Middle Danube.[13][3] It came between places called Antaib and Burgundaib.
The name of the Baiuvarii is probably also preserved in the list of great rulers of peoples in the Old English poem about Widsith, the traveller It lists "Becca" as ruler of the Baningas, along with better-known rulers such as Attila who ruled the Huns, and Ermanric who ruled the Goths.[13][3]
There are also several proposals about the ethnic background of the population who brought the Baiuvarii name with them to Raetia, and made it the name of the mixed community. However, most of the proposals involve the Suebian Germanic peoples to the east of Raetia such as the Marcomanni and Quadi, who disappeared from contemporary records during the time of Hun rule in the area.[16]
A third proposal is that the name of the Boii still survived in Raetia itself, making no migration necessary. In other words, people who still identified themselves as dwellers upon old lands of the pre-imperial Celtic Boii were still living in the Norican–Raetian region, and were the name-giving element in the mixed population that remained there after Rome abandoned Raetia.[16] According to Karl Bosl in 1971, Bavarian migration to present-day Bavaria is a legend, and Walter Goffart more recently agreed that there is no reason to assume any single large immigration in order to explain the 5th century origins of the Baiuvarii.[10]
Modern commentary
The Baiuvarii emerged about 500 after Odoacer (died 493) destroyed the Rugian kingdom just to the east of Bavaria in 487. He and his successor as king of Italy, Theoderic the Great (died 526), both had their roots in the Middle Danubian area and led large numbers of people from there to Italy.[18][10] The Rugian kings ruled the countryside on the Danube west of Vienna, in what had been the Roman province of Noricum, and the Boii civitas of the Roman province of Pannonia .
The Rugian territory was soon taken over in this same period by Langobards, who had moved from the Lower Elbe, and filled the power vacuum in the Middle Elbe. However, after they migrated with many warriors to Italy in 568, the region east of the Bavarians was dominated by the Pannonian Avars, and Slavic languages became an important language of that region.
It has been proposed that the Baiuvarii came into being as a distinct territory, distinct from the similar Alemanni and Langobards, under the influence of greater powers interested in the area. First Theodoric the Great in Italy, and later the Frankish kings Theuderic I and his son Theudebert I (died 548), seem to have controlled from a distance from a distance.[16]
Theudebert claimed in a letter to the Byzantine emperor Justinian that he controlled the area from the North Sea to Pannonia, which would include Bavaria. After his death, his uncle Chlothar I appointed Garibald I as dux of Bavaria.[10] Garibald established the Agilolfing dynasty with his power base at Augsburg or Regensburg.[18]
Archaeology
In the 20th century the early Baiuvarii were associated with Friedenhain-Přešťovice[de] ceramics, but this is no longer accepted by scholars.[18]
The funerary traditions of the Baiuvarii are similar to those of the Alemanni, but quite different from those of the Thuringi.[19]
The Baiuvarii are distinguished by the presence of individuals with artificially deformed craniums in their cemeteries. These individuals were predominantly female; there is no undisputed evidence of males with artificially deformed skulls in Bavaria.[20] Genetic and archeological evidence shows that these women were migrants from eastern cultures, who married Bavarii males, suggesting the importance of exogamy within the Bavarii culture.[21] The migrant women were fully integrated in to Bavarii culture.[22]
In 2018, genomic research showed that these foreign women had southeastern European and East Asian ancestry. The presence of these women among the Bavarii people indicates that men from the Bavarii culture practiced exogamy, preferentially marrying women from eastern populations.[23][a][24]
There were significant gender differences in skin, hair and eye pigmentation in the sample. While 80% of the Bavarii males had blond hair and blue eyes, the women had much higher rates of brown eyes and darker hair colors. The local women with East Asian and Southern European-related ancestry, generally had brown eyes, and 60% were dark haired.[b][c]
No significant admixture with Roman populations from territories further south of the area was detected.[d] Among modern populations, the surveyed male individuals did not have modified skulls and were found to be most closely related to modern-day Germans.[e]
Origin myth
A medieval origin story exists for the Baiuvarii, the Annolied written in the 11th century, says that the Bavarian tribe came long ago from Armenia, "where Noah came out of the ark". The leaders of the Bavarian army are said to have been Duke Boimunt and his brother Ingram. The story was also reflected in the Song of Roland, which mentions a Bavarian duke Naimes. Also the epic Karl written by "Der Stricker" says that Naymes, the Bavarian duke, was born in "Ormenîe".[13]
These origin-legends stem from learned medieval conceptions.[13]
Law code
A collection of Bavarian tribal laws was compiled in the 8th century. This document is known as Lex Baiuvariorum. Elements of it possibly date back to the 6th century.[18] It is very similar to Lex Thuringorum, which was the legal code of the Thuringi, with whom the Baiuvarii had close relations.[19]
Christianity
By the 8th century, many Baiuvarii had converted to Christianity.[25]
↑ Veeramah et al: "A much more diverse ancestry was observed among the females with elongated skulls, as demonstrated by a significantly greater group-based FIS (SI Appendix, Fig. S35). All these females had varying amounts of genetic ancestry found today predominantly in southern European countries [as seen by the varying amounts of ancestry inferred by model-based clustering that is representative of a sample from modern Tuscany, Italy (TSI), Fig. 3], and while the majority of samples were found to be closest to modern southeastern Europeans (Bulgaria and Romania, Fig. 4C), at least one individual, AED_1108, appeared to possess ~20% East Asian ancestry (Fig. 3)[23]
↑ Veeramah et al: "Based on the HIrisPlex system (13), the majority (~80%) of individuals with normal or intermediate skulls (and thus northern/central European ancestry) showed high probabilities for blue eyes and blonde hair (SI Appendix, Fig. S7 A and B); in contrast, the majority of women with deformed skulls had a high likelihood for brown eyes (80% of individuals), and both brown and blonde hair (~60% and 40% of individuals, respectively) were represented in the sample."[23]
↑ Veeramah et al: "While the immigrant females would have been clearly distinguishable physically among the local population based on the combination of their enlarged crania as well as their different eye, hair, and perhaps even skin pigmentation patterns, it is noteworthy that their assemblies of grave goods appear to reflect both local customs and more distant material cultures (10)."[23]
↑ Veeramah et al: " It is perhaps surprising that no local individual was found to share recent common genetic ancestry with a Roman soldier living in the same area ~200 y earlier. The analysis of his genome identifies him to be of southwest European origin. Thus, our results, though only based on one sample, argue against significant admixture between any Roman populations from more southern parts of the former Roman Empire and our individuals buried in Bavaria around 500 AD."[23]
↑ Veeramah et al: "A population assignment analysis (PAA) at the level of individual modern nation states suggested greatest genetic similarity of these normal-skulled individuals with modern Germans, consistent with their sampling location (Fig. 4 A and B and SI Appendix, Table S35)."[23]
↑ Hakenbeck, Susanne. (2011). Roman or barbarian? Shifting identities in early medieval cemeteries in Bavaria. Postclassical Archaeologies. 1. p. 49. "Both the manner of their burial and the positions of their graves indicate that the different life-histories suggested by their modified skulls and possibly foreign childhood was subsumed into the local group identity by the time of their death. Regardless of whether these women may have had a foreign identity during their lifetime, in death they were treated as local women with no evidence of their possible migration other than that which was inscribed on their bodies during childhood."
↑ Frieman, Catherine J.; Hofmann, Daniela (8 August 2019). "Present pasts in the archaeology of genetics, identity, and migration in Europe: a critical essay". World Archaeology. 51 (4): 530–531. doi:10.1080/00438243.2019.1627907. hdl:1956/22151. ISSN0043-8243. S2CID204480648. "Medieval blue-eyed and blond ‘Bavarians’, meanwhile, seem to have fancied brown-eyed women from south-east Europe (Veeramah et al. 2018)"
Beck, Heinrich (1973), "Bajuwaren I. Philologisches", in Beck, Heinrich; Geuenich, Dieter; Steuer, Heiko (eds.), Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde, vol.1 (2ed.), De Gruyter, pp.601–606, ISBN978-3-11-004489-8
Reimitz, Helmut (2022), "When the Bavarians Became Bavarian. The Politicization of Ethnicity and Crystallization of Ethnic Identities in the Shadow of Carolingian Rule (8th to 9th Century)", Emerging Powers in Eurasian Comparison, 200–1100, pp.137–178, doi:10.1163/9789004519916_006
Rübekeil, Ludwig (2018), "Bajuwaren I. Philologisches (Stand: 2018)", in Brather, Sebastian; Heizmann, Wilhelm; Patzold, Steffen (eds.), Germanische Altertumskunde Online, De Gruyter
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