--- of Thüringia

http://www.historyfiles.co.uk/KingListsEurope/GermanyThuringia.htm

Thuringia

The region of Thuringia was centred on an upland area of what is now Central Germany. It included the Harz Mountains and the River Saale. In prehistory the area had been occupied by a sequence of peoples who included Celto-Ligurians, the Urnfield Culture proto-Celts, the Hallstatt Culture Celts of the first wave, and the La Tène Celts of the second wave. During the first two centuries AD it was dominated by the Hermanduri. They fragmented in the early third century and were absorbed by the newly-formed Alemanni confederation. Then the Thuringians arrived in territory on the northern edge of the confederation which itself had migrated southwards during the Great Migration period of the late Roman empire.

Thuringii / Kingdom of Thuringia AD 400 - 531

The Thuringians are thought to have been mainly of Anglian stock from what is now lower Denmark. Their kingdom was formed during the collapse of the Roman empire, when Angles migrated southwards from Angeln and settled in Central Germany between the Main and the Harz. This seems to have happened at the start of a period of Anglian and Jutish migration from the Cimbric Peninsula, when increasing pressure was being applied on them for living space by incoming Danes. The Thuringians may also have included large numbers of Hermunduri (who were broken during the Marcomannic Wars and later absorbed into both the Alemanni and Thuringians).

The 'Thuringian regna' or kingdom seems to have been recognised as existing around 400, but the independence of these Continental Angles was short-lived. Following conquest by the Huns, they became excellent horsemen and seemingly kept Hunnic women as slaves or wives after the collapse of the Hunnic empire. Archaeological evidence has revealed female skulls in Thuringii graves which were artificially elongated, a peculiar practice among the Huns. Following a brief flowering of Thuringian independence came the Franks, and much of the original Thuringian territory was subsequently lost to incursions by the Avars and Slavs in the sixth century. Some Thuringians had already left the territory to form part of the Bavarii confederation at the start of the sixth century.