The Amali – also called Amals , Amalings or Amalungs – were a leading dynasty of the Goths , a Germanic people who confronted the Roman Empire during the decline of the Western Roman Empire . They eventually became the royal house of the Ostrogoths and founded the Ostrogothic Kingdom .
13-505: Amalric or Amalaric (also Americ, Almerich, Emeric, Emerick and other variations) is a personal name derived from the tribal name Amal (referring to the Gothic Amali ) and ric ( Gothic reiks ) meaning "ruler, prince". Equivalents in different languages include: Amali The Amal clan was claimed to have descended from the divine. Jordanes writes: Now the first of these heroes, as they themselves relate in their legends,
26-538: Is more likely that this was a fictitious claim designed to bolster Athalaric 's legitimacy. Jordanes states "Hermanaric, the son of Achiulf, begat Hunimund, and Hunimund begat Thorismud. Now Thorismud begat Beremud, Beremud begat Veteric, and Veteric likewise begat Eutharic." The last attested member of the Amali house was Theodegisclus, son of Theodahad . In the Nibelungenlied and some other medieval German epic poems,
39-569: Is the Scandinavian god of war. Hulmul or Humli-Hulmul, is considered the divine father of the Danish people . Ermanaric (also referred to as Ermanaricus or Hermanaric), is identified as a Greuthungian king who ruled territories in modern Ukraine . Ermanaric signals the tenth generation, and the first generation to be backed by historical record. The origins of the Amal Dynasty is unclear. Until
52-709: The Billungs , Dukes of Saxony, also known as the Amelungs or von Ömlingen, and the Solovjovs, Barons of the Russian Empire from 1727 (in German sources, known as the von Solowhoff or Solowhoff von Greutungen). The Solovjovs specifically claimed Ermanaric as their ancestor. Via Amerigo Vespucci (the Italian version of " Amalaric ," or " Amal ruler "), the Amali were the ultimate namesakes of
65-513: The Americas. Billungs The House of Billung was a dynasty of Saxon noblemen in the 9th through 12th centuries. The first known member of the house was Count Wichmann , mentioned as a Billung in 811. Oda , the wife of Count Liudolf , oldest known member of the Liudolfing House, was also a Billung as was Matilda of Ringelheim . In the 10th century, the property of the family
78-499: The Balthi are recalled as families of "kings and heroes." However, Wolfram has argued that the tradition of the Amal was popular even before the time of Cassiodorus. This is shown in the naming of the royals, like Theodoric's daughters, Ostrogotho and Amalasuintha , and his sister, Amalafrida , who were all given Amal names. At least two prominent noble families claimed descent from Amali:
91-506: The Welf and Ascania dynasties when Duke Magnus died in 1106 without sons; the family's property was divided between his two daughters. His daughter Wulfhilde married Henry IX, Duke of Bavaria , a member of the House of Welf ; his daughter Eilika married Otto, Count of Ballenstedt , a member of the House of Ascania . As a consequence, for the following decades control of Saxony was contested between
104-578: The disruption caused by the Huns, as well as the similarity of groups previously treated as discrete ethnic groups. A separate branch of the family were members of the Visigoths . Sigeric , a brief usurper to the Visigothic throne in 415, may have been a member of the Amali. The Visigothic Eutharic married Theoderic's daughter Amalasuntha , and is said to have been an Amal by Cassiodorus and Jordanes; however, it
117-714: The family's legacy was remembered in oral tradition far into the Middle Ages, long after any stories about Amal himself had ceased to circulate. Jordanes, possibly drawing upon Cassiodorus ' Origo Gothica , describes the Goths moving to the Black Sea, where they split into two factions, the Amali, who would later become the Ostrogoths, and the Balthi , who become the Visigoths. Both the Amali and
130-516: The followers of Dietrich von Bern are referred to as 'Amelungen'. In other cases, Amelung is reinterpreted as the name of one of Dietrich's ancestors. The Kaiserchronik also refers to Dietrich/Theoderic's family as the 'Amelungen', and in a letter of bishop Meinhard von Bamberg, as well as the Annals of Quedlinburg , 'Amulungum'/'Amelung' ("the Amelung") is used to refer to Dietrich himself. This shows that
143-630: The mid-20th century there was a tendency to see the Tervingi and Greuthungi mentioned by Ammianus Marcellinus as having evolved into the Visigoths and Ostrogoths, respectively. The Greuthungi had become vassals of the Huns , and were considered to have regained their independence under the Amali Theodemir , father of Theoderic the Great . However, this idea has since been discredited by historians, who have emphasised
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#1733086222730156-441: Was Gapt, who begat Hulmul. And Hulmul begat Augis; and Augis begat him who was called Amal, from whom the name of the Amali comes. Athal begat Achiulf and Oduulf. Now Achiulf begat Ansila and Ediulf, Vultuulf and Ermanaric . This provides the following stemma for the earliest rulers of the Goths, before outlining in more detail the two divisions that arose from the son, Achiulf of Athal, the last in this early lineage: Gapt or Gaut
169-601: Was centered in the Bardengau around Lüneburg and they controlled the march named after them . In the middle of the 10th century, when the Saxon dukes of the House of Liudolfing had also become German kings, King Otto the Great entrusted more and more of his ducal authority to Hermann Billung . For five generations, the House of Billung ruled the Duchy of Saxony . The house submerged into
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