H-NET BOOK REVIEW
Published by H-German@h-net.msu.edu (November, 2005)

Malcolm Todd. _The Early Germans_. 2nd ed. Malden: Blackwell, 2004. xvi
+ 266 pp. Illustrations, bibliography, index. $32.95 (paper), ISBN
1-4051-1714-1.

Reviewed for H-German by Christopher LeCluyse,
Southwestern University.

Tracing a Germanic Knotwork

In this edition of _The Early Germans_, Malcolm Todd revises and expands his
original 1992 publication. As the author explains, advances in the study of
ancient Germanic peoples and increased access to archaeological finds in the
former Eastern Bloc warrant the relatively quick turnaround between the two
editions. Todd first offers a comprehensive overview of ancient Germanic
social organization, artifacts, burial practices, trade, and religion. The
second part of the book then treats the various Germanic subgroups in
greater detail. Combining documentary and archaeological findings, Todd
compares evidence on (or rather, in) the ground with accounts derived mainly
from Roman sources. Throughout this informative work he cautions against
making hasty or overly broad generalizations regarding the early Germans and
models a careful balance of history and archaeology.

Early in the book Todd cautions against ascribing some kind of overarching
ethnic identity to the people we now group together as Germanic. As he
explains, the Germanic peoples "had no collective consciousness of
themselves as a separate people, nation, or group of tribes" and would more
likely identify themselves as coming from a particular subgroup,
"'Langobard', 'Vandal', 'Frisian' or 'Goth', not 'Germanus'" (pp. 8, 9). In
Todd's presentation, even these subgroups do not represent hard and fast
ethnic or tribal affiliations. Choosing his labels carefully, Todd calls the
Franks a "confederacy" of different peoples, the Saxons a "grouping," and
the Goths "a very heterogeneous gathering" (pp. 56, 139). By making these
prudent distinctions, Todd treats ethnicity and culture functionally and
opposes the tendency of German nationalists to credit these early peoples
with a prescient and inclusive sense of common identity.

As an archaeologist, Todd is similarly cautious about too closely
associating cultures manifest in the archaeological record with particular
ethnic groups. Particularly when discussing possible Germanic settlement in
what is now eastern Europe, he foregrounds the hybrid nature of groups such
as the Bastarnae and the Zarubintsy culture, which he argues represent
polyethnic complexes that included Slavs, Sarmatians, and other peoples (pp.
23-24).

Even for groups with a more certain Germanic make-up, Todd fully presents
the extent of Celtic and Roman cultural influence. The author demonstrates
the extensive distribution of Roman trade goods to the farthest reaches of
northern and eastern Europe and the significant adoption of Roman political,
military, and social practices, especially among Germanic peoples living in
and near the Roman frontier. As Todd explains, the advance of Rome presented
a significant challenge to the Germanic tribal system and provided new means
of social advancement for Germanic leaders. From the late third century,
Germanic warriors helped Rome realize its imperial ambitions by joining its
increasingly barbarian army, and Rome helped such men realize their
Personal ambitions by promoting them to the highest levels of leadership. By
focusing on Roman influences, Todd makes the best use of the historical
record, which is after all written largely from a Roman perspective.

In keeping with his principled assertion that the archaeological record does
not speak for itself, Todd usually starts each discussion of a particular
aspect of Germanic culture or of a particular Germanic group with a review
of the historical record. He then surveys archaeological evidence to
demonstrate to what extent it corroborates documentary evidence. Problems
arise only when this pattern is reversed. For example, Todd begins his
fourth chapter, "The Living and the Dead," with a description of _Terpen_,
burial mounds found in Friesland and northern Germany. Because he does not
identify what ethnic group these mounds represent, it is not clear that the
mounds were built by Germanic people until three pages into the chapter.
This disorienting move does a disservice to the novices most likely to
benefit from the book. The reader unfamiliar with Germanic archaeology,
instructed by Todd's cautious example to equate a particular find with a
specific ethnic group only in the presence of compelling evidence, is likely
to feel a bit burned as a result.

The book's illustrations are by and large appropriate and effective. Most
useful are illustrations of artifacts and schematics of particular finds;
further illustrations of this nature--such as of the anthropomorphic figures
found at Braak, Possendorf, and Oberdorla--would help present Germanic
culture in more concrete terms. What illustrations there are could also be
presented more with the reader in mind, both through the use of
cross-references and the consistent inclusion of map keys (absent from
figure 5).

The only other drawback to this otherwise excellent book results perhaps
from what Todd calls the "mongrel text" of his manuscript for the expanded
edition. In several places it is clear that new material has been added
without consulting the existing text. In some chapters the same information
is repeated twice with the same degree of detail, as if the first mention
had not occurred. Such is the case with the introduction of Tacitus's
_Germania_ and Pliny the Elder's now lost _German Wars_ (pp. 4-6), Ulfila's
Gothic translation of the Bible (pp. 11 and 13), and the human remains found
at Tollund and Dätgen (pp. 110-113). More careful editing would have
eliminated these distracting double-takes.

As a whole, however, _The Early Germans_ sheds light on the origins both of
better-known Germanic peoples such as the Franks and Saxons and more obscure
groups like the Gepids. Placed in the cultural, historical, and
archaeological context established in the first half of the book, Todd's
profiles of particular Germanic peoples present an introduction to "Germanic
Europe" that is as detailed as it is comprehensive.