Introduction

Summary

Primus homo venit ad Europam de genere Jafeth Alanus cum tribus filiis suis, quorum nomina sunt Hessitio, Armenon, Negue. Hessitio autem habuit filios quattuor: hi sunt Francus, Romanus, Britto, Albanus. Armenon autem habuit quinque filios: Gothus, Valagothus, Gebidus, Burgondus, Langobardus. Neugo autem habuit tres filios: Wandalus, Saxo, Boguarus. Ab Hisitione autem ortae sunt quattuor gentes: Franci, Latini, Albani et Britti. Ab Armenone autem quinque: Gothi, Walagothi, Gebidi, Burgondi, Langobardi. A Neguio vero quattuor: Boguarii, Vandali, Saxones et Taringi. Istae autem gentes subdivisae sunt per totam Europam.

The first man who came to Europe was Alanus from the tribe of Japheth, with his three sons, whose names are Hessitio, Armeno, Negue. And Hessitio had four sons: they are Francus, Romanus, Britto, Albanus. Armeno, moreover, had five sons: Gothus, Valagothus, Gebidus, Burgandus, Langobardus. Neugo, on the other hand, had three sons: Vandalus, Saxo, Bouarus. Now from Hissitio there were sprung four peoples: the Franks, the Latins, the Albans and the Britons. From Armeno there were sprung five: the Goths, the Valagoths, the Gepids, the Burgundians, the Lombards. From Negue there were four: the Boguarii, the Vandals, the Saxons, and the Thuringians. These peoples were divided across the whole of Europe.

Medieval writers conceived of the world as divided into peoples descending from particular progenitors. The Bible traced the re-population of the earth after the Flood to gentes springing from the sons of Noah (Genesis 10), a framework adopted and adapted by early medieval writers such as Isidore of Seville. Influential also in the development of the structuring of history around peoples was the Chronicle of Jerome, a late-fourth-century Latin translation and continuation of the Chronicle of Eusebius, surviving manuscripts of which dedicated different columns to the history of different peoples, including the Assyrians, Hebrews, and Latins. This prompted efforts by early medieval writers to place the history of their own peoples in a universal context. These written sources are a window through which we can see the construction of ethnic identities in the middle ages. Material culture undoubtedly played a part in this process, although it is difficult – and sometimes problematic – to map the surviving evidence on to medieval identities.