Insights into the Sociology of the

Germanic War Band

By Denver Dale

 

The purpose of this paper is to explore that great heathen hero, the warrior, in the context of a greater heathen society. We will examine the warrior in their most traditional role, as a member of a fighting unit that is associated with a specific tribe or clan or union of tribes or clans. Leaving all the glint and gore of the battlefield aside, this paper will examine how the warrior functioned in society and what they did with themselves in peacetime. Rather than opting to study a single region, people or period, this paper seeks to take a grand overview of relations between the war band and society at large that lasted in some form from pre-history well into the feudal period.

The war band served a number of important social functions off the battlefield in the social and ritual realms. The war band served as an agent of socialization for young men who were disenfranchised by the tribal property system, served as a social net for adult men who lived outside the traditional tribal structure and allowed cultural groups to easily expand. The war band also played a central role in the religious life of early Europeans[1], serving as a representation of dead ancestors and acculturating the male youth into the tribal mysteries.

The war band evolved and grew or shrank depending on the needs of the people. The links with the all male hunting party of obscure pre-history are fairly obvious, though the band was to serve an increasingly ritualistic and finally specialized role in society. For the purpose of this writing, the term will be used to describe organized groups of men[2] whose purpose is to serve as a both as a fighting force and as a training ground for new warriors. This would include the earliest Germanic tribesmen who carried wooden weapons into battle[3] alongside the knightly order of the High Middle Ages, a long and diverse lineage of the martial realm. Over the course of history, society and the people at large have had equally diverse views of this military entity. In tribal society they appear to have been the item of great religious significance and social, while travelers and peasants alike would have feared a baron’s roving band of robber knights during the Feudal period. The scope of this paper will be the earliest manifestation of the war band among Germanic peoples that we can safely describe through into the Viking period.

In order to fully understand the phenomenon of the war band, we must first understand a bit about the context of the society and culture that fostered them. The primary economic activities were farming and pastoralism, with a social system centered on kinship that could link large areas together via family alliances. The early sources claim that the continental Germans preferred to live spread out, this no doubt referring to each settlement.[4]   Archaeology tells us that the people did indeed practice agriculture and farming, contrary to what Julius Caesar claims. Live stock was also very important, perhaps more so than agriculture in early prehistoric times. The abundance of livestock among the Germans makes for one obvious focus of conflict, cattle and cattle raids. The constant search for pasture and farmland, competition with other tribal groups probably quickly led to violence. The animals themselves would need room to roam and graze, requiring people to both guide and guard them. Given this decentralized, expansive settlement system combined with the steady nutrition it can provide, population issues soon arose. This creates another flash point, with regions and groups competing for resources both domestically and from abroad.

The social structure was also heavily male dominated. If the surviving writings are to be trusted[5], men held almost all political power and most property rights. Lineages were traced by fathers, and the war band appears almost exclusively male. The continuation of this structure requires the socialization of young men to be leaders and providers, no matter which social class they belong to. The women of the time derived status from belonging to the household of a man, preferably a warrior.

The social structure itself was stratified, with this tendency building towards and into the migration period between 300 to 700A.D. The exact nature of the political structures of the pre-contact Germanic tribes is outside this paper, but they were most likely centered on folk assemblies with a council or strong leader as a ceremonial high authority. There was a noble class, with freemen and women and slaves making up the majority of the population. In earliest times, the war band was likely made up of the entire male membership of a tribe, with a separation between the roles and status of boys and adult men. As time and social complexity increased, the war band took an on an increasingly elite role until finally assuming supreme political leadership in the form of Feudalism. At all times, the warriors are subject to strict social rules and traditions that shape their conduct and how they interact with the other groups. Tribal custom, if anything, is strict in that it is all encompassing. This is true among all traditional peoples, be they ancient or modern. It is subject to change and growth, but in something as serious as the realm of violence tribal rules are often strictest[6]. The Germanic war band presents something interesting in that it is both integrated with and separate from society. Right from the outset it is limited in membership, no women. The division between boys and men, to be discussed later, is another partition of membership. The religious significance applied to the war band in Germanic culture ties it in with the spirit of the people as a whole, even while its members are often sequestered. In their capacity as religious figures representing the wild forces of nature and the history of the tribe, they may have also been social enforcers. Their tendency to destroy property or steal livestock has echoes of social reprisals.

It must now be mentioned that there are really two war bands in Germanic society. There are the adult men, property owning and married, with weapons that are lead by a local chief. This is the *þeudiskaz, the formal fighting force of the tribe or clan. The word would translate as “the people” but really means “that law.” It is related to a number of Germanic words concerning law, leadership and loyalties. Then there were the younger men which had been ritualistically separated from their families and entered into a ritual seclusion that was tied to maturity rites. These boys lived outside the settlements and farms, hunting in the woods and likely stealing from settled folk if necessary. This was the *Herjaz, the ritual army of both the young and the dead. The time spent as a member of the *Herjaz was known as the state of marge.[7]  This word is related to the current German word das Heer, “Army.” This separation between inside and outside, living and dead, society and nature, and man and boy is fundamental in understanding the war band.

First and foremost, the war band was an outlet for male aggression. Off the battlefield, training for combat both as a youth and in adulthood no doubt fostered the same cohesion among group members as that felt by those in modern militaries. But for the tribal peoples of Europe, empires and raiders weren’t the only enemies. One of society’s greatest enemies is the unoccupied young man. He is strong, youthful, naive, and seeking approval and acceptance from his peers. In ancient Germanic tradition, young men own no property. This could add further friction between older and younger men, as property meant both wealth and women.

In order to avert social chaos every generation, why not separate this dangerous bunch and let them all be dangerous together? This is precisely what happened. At an appointed age, which no doubt varied with local custom, the boy would be separated from the family. This could take the form of a ritualistic kidnapping, the youth going to stay with another male relative, or the youth simply leaving the settlement into the woods. From here, exactly what happens gets a bit shaky. No one simply sends their kids out into the woods and tells them to come back in a few years, and expect them to return a better member of society. While the precise process and rituals that took place in the woods are obscured by the course of history, we know that this time of being outside society was loaded with ritual significance. It was often the custom to grow the hair long and disheveled both face and head. Youths were also reported to cover themselves in ashes, mud, and other body decorations. Masked rituals were common, adding another layer of otherness to the once familiar youths. This dirty, otherworldly appearance was both a given of life in the wild, and of religious importance. Kris Kershaw, in his monograph “The One Eyed God,” sums the youthful, wild war band with this, “To say they represent the dead is not enough, they are the dead.” They were those who live outside, but will one day return.

While customs varied in location and time, the time away from the settlement could span years. During this time the youths would be training for combat, learning the lore and secret culture of their people, hunting, and raiding. As mentioned earlier, cattle played a central role in tribal society. Wealth was counted in cattle, making getting rich quick a matter of taking from your neighbors or enemies. Both were probably equally common, with the youths of the *Herjaz likely conducting the majority of it. This would have been outstanding training for the stealthy nature of ambush combat favored by the Germans. While out beyond the walls of the settlements, the boys probably served as a screening and scouting force against other raiders or invaders.

We know that the youth were organized along age sets, with boys of a similar age going through the process together. What we do not know is how directed it was by the rest of society. Were the youths totally free to wander and seek their own fortune, with some oath or return when conditions were met? Were they directed and organized by the governing body, with a prescribed timeline? The answer in both cases is yes. It is difficult to know which was more common in pre-history, but as Germanic society evolved in the face of contact both from the West and East, the trend led to a stricter regimen for the training warrior. Either way, for the young man of the youth band it was a life of freedom from both kinship ties and the day to day customs, a time for adventure and discovery. In tribal times, it would have been his job to watch the front and harass the enemy with raiding, leaving the older men free to farm and work.

The absence of these young men was important back home as well. With them gone, there were fewer mouths to feed and fewer men around to fight one another within the volatile kinship structure. The sequestering of the young male population kept violence lower within society by reducing social competition among young males, while fostering cohesion among participating members. Once the young man returned, we can presume that a transformation has taken place. The youth is reborn a man, a full member of the tribe and civil society. This would have been entrance into the *þeudiskaz, the adult warrior realm. Now able to own property and marry, the young man’s social  and political ties will make him less apt to open violence and more interested in legal resolutions. He now bears weapons for his tribe and clan, under the rules outlined by the law.[8] So we see how the concept of belonging to the adult war band is one of belonging to the law, which binds the society together. This draws a great polarity between the Adult and youthful warrior. While the grown man embodies the law, the youth represents death and the outside world of the forest. While the adult is bound by civil law, the youth is bound by religious. The Germanic people, being animists as well as pagans, placed a great deal of importance on the forest and its creatures.

To the agricultural people of ancient Europe, the rains were the lifeblood of the land. Seasonal rites were tied into blessing the fields and asking for ample rain to water the crops, with the wild youths as a central element. The youths, being the flesh and blood future of the tribe, represented the ancestral dead of the tribe. The dead were believed to live on in the earth and, along with numerous other spirits of the land, could be persuaded in assuring a good harvest. This is the capacity that the youthful army fulfilled, a means of honoring the supernatural forces that made the crops grow. Their wild and cacophonous procession was the assurance of bounty.

The youths would move through the settlements, collecting offerings and payments for their spiritual services. Reprisals for non payment could be severe, even so far as the destruction of homes. Modern Halloween celebrations are a long distant echo of this tradition, as the passing of the youths had a terrifying and festive air about it. The Wild Hunt is the mythical remnant of the practice. The Wild Hunt consists of a troupe of supernatural beings processing through the sky, causing terror but bringing the seeds for life. The youths, likely masked and adorned in outlandish ritual garb would make their way through settlements wearing bells and making noise, a means of showing their non hostile intent.

The youth armies also were the performers of ritualized combat, such as sword and spear dances, Barritus war chanting, and other unknown customs. In earlier times, these ritualistic features were likely to have had greater depth and importance. Roman generals attest to enemy barbarians being scared off by the war dancing of tribal units, so one can imagine the impact it would have had on much earlier battlefields. It is also likely that ritualistic combat was much more common in earlier times than large scale battles. Combat between skirmishers and heavier armed elites still left most of the fighting force safer during tribal times, at least until growing social complexity made the warrior elite larger and stronger. With the increase in usage of metal weapons in the North, warfare became an increasingly dangerous and expensive undertaking. This was made possible by increased trade with the Southern powers[9], which served as a catalyst of social change in the barbarian North. As population, use of metal weapons and armor and social complexity all increased, so did the level of violence undertaken on the battlefield. This would drive the war band to become increasingly elite, eventually elevating itself to the highest level.

The war band also served to socialize young men among themselves. If we assume that there is some structure generally regulating the marge period, then we can infer that boys from each region probably went through it together. This would make social sense as they would get familiar with one another and form into a cohesive unit that would be together for most of their lives. The other extreme possibility is that the youths were sent far afield, maybe to mix with unknown youths from other tribes and peoples. This was the case with Rome, who enjoyed the service of thousands of Germanic tribesmen. Either way, the boys would have spent their time in marge bonding with one another. During later times, as the war band drew heavier from the upper classes, the experience would groom them for leadership of their people in the future.

The existence of local units for battle is well attested to. “The Hundred” seems to have been a common system, where each district was required to render 100 men at any time they were called to do so. The later levy system, fyrd in Old English, was an assembly of free men under arms in service to the king and mirrored this ancient custom, as they were organized by each shire. In addition to these popular units, there were the elite body guards of nobles as well as renowned individual warriors. These men were an interesting position, as they form a combat elite tied to the aristocracy and outside the normal social structure.

In earlier times, when a great warrior rose among his people his kinsmen would likely serve as his body guard with other warriors joining from the local area. The power and fame of these petty leaders could be short. Most warriors were content to follow the man to battle, but put down arms and return to the fields when things were over, got boring or looked bad. The warrior citizen is the essence of proto- and early Germanic society. As time went on, internal changes and external stresses forced the weaker warriors to stay in the fields while better equipped elites did most of the fighting and raiding, with popular forces assembling at times of greater crisis. This would have been the situation of the migration period and on, with warrior kings and noble knights serving as government over the common people.

With the turmoil caused by foreign invasion, from the horse raiders of the East and then the Romans from the West and South, the social fabric of Germanic society was often torn and reformed. In this the war band had a part as a social net for men. During violent times, there is always need for warriors. Criminals, outcasts, and those simply not content with life at home all had a shot at fame and glory on the battlefield that prized personal prowess and courage over group cohesion. We know that warriors traveled far and wide during historical times, often serving local nobles as mercenaries or retainers. This provided a means for men to move around the region or even the continent, mitigating some of the population issues at home. Since a warrior’s task is to fight and possibly die, peace at home doesn’t bring fame and fortune. It is no secret that Germanic troops wandered far and wide in the service of Rome, just as Vikings would serve the Byzantines after Rome’s decline. Even without the empires, there were plenty of local warlords to serve and win honor from, making it easy for young men to leave home and find employment.

Great men, measured both in wealth and battle prowess, had obligations to their followers. For the war leader, gifts of gold, weapons, and horses were common for maintaining loyalties. Feasts were also held, a common form of social reciprocation from elite to the rest of the group. The practice of having retainers offered the most lucrative and prestigious manner in which men without property could serve society. This serves as a way for men to win property rights as well as political influence outside the common, and strict, tribal kinship system. Men from all over could serve a particularly famous leader, lending an insight into the interconnected nature of barbarian Europe.

In earlier times too, the war band served as a means for men to serve society despite being without property. Holy warriors were a common feature in heathen times, warriors that essentially served the state. This included Berserks, animal warriors and men who had never left the state of marge. It was sometimes the case that an adult man would retain the youthful lifestyle of military service. In tribal society, these men were usually selected from an early age but many also made the choice freely. These holy warriors were the ones who would conduct many of the ritualistic aspects of the war band, as well as serve as leaders to younger members. The social need for a place for men without families or property to go is important, lest the cause trouble. The war band probably served as a haven for the more violent mentally infirm, socially inept or other outcasts. It is likely that the war band was one place for homosexuals, as evidenced by the Herruli tribe.[10] This meant that those not seeking a family or normal life had something to contribute.

Finally, the war band makes for an easy platform with which a tribe or clan can expand. Evidence of war bands forming from expelled men and their families are common, as are accounts of similar groups being consciously sent out to settle or conquer. In a time where property, livestock and women were status and wealth, taking them from others was a tempting option. Tribes with a large enough war party could overwhelm their foes and establish themselves as the new overlords. These groups could also set about doing long term, well planned raids. This is essentially the case with the Vikings, who would raid for a season and return home for the harvest and winter. Through this process, they settled over almost all of the shores around the North Sea and beyond.

This expansive tendency both offered men a chance to make something of themselves via war and raiding, and served as a vessel of cultural change once they returned home. The most obvious example would be service with Rome, which brought all manner of new technological, political and military forms. Service with Rome allowed the strong and brave barbarians to learn discipline and strategy, tools they would need when they took over the Roman world during the Dark Ages.

As we have seen, the social role of the war band is a large one. The war band allowed men to socialize with one another, while keeping violence away from women and children. The war band is indeed the major male political unit of earlier times. In the past it represented local age sets of boys that would live together for the rest of their lives, and as times changed the warrior aristocracy used the war band to control the people as well as protect them.

In the war band we find the most primitive foundation of feudalism, the system that would replace the imperial structure in Europe. By understanding the importance that the war band played in earlier times, it is easy to see this progression and why it was so swift. The strong men, surrounded by his retinue, quickly gave way to the king and his court. But even well into the Middle Ages, the ritual and mystic significance was not lost on the war band. Chivalric knights, with their elaborate code, were an echo of the sacred animal warriors of yore, both sworn to defend their leader and their people.

It is also obvious that what we have here called the war band is not an exclusively Germanic, Indo-European, or even Western idea. It is seen in the warrior culture of the Native American, the fierce spirit of the Samurai, the proud traditions of the Masai, and even in the brutal street gang. The concept addressed in this paper is but one line of historical and cultural manifestation for this longstanding social unit. Today, the world today largely lacks warrior culture. By better understanding that of our own in the past, we can come to terms with what it means to be a warrior today.

 

Sources and works of interest:

Kershaw, Priscilla K. One-eyed god Odin and the (Indo-)Germanic Männerbünde. Washington, D.C: Journal of Indo-European Studies, 2000. Print. 

Todd, Malcolm. Everyday Life of the Barbarians Goths, Franks, & Vandals. New York: Buccaneer Books, 1988. Print.

Todd, Malcolm. Early Germans (Peoples of Europe). Grand Rapids: Blackwell Limited, 2004. Print.

Newark, Tim. The Barbarians Warriors and Wars of the Dark Ages. London: Blandford Pr, 1988. Print.