This study deals with the origins of kingship among the germanic speaking barbarians. Its starting point is a long overdue methodical review of the old view that the kingship of the Migration Period is to be regarded as a kingship based on military power and distinguished from an older, sacral based popular kngship. On the basis of recent research and archaeological evidence a new perspective of the development of power forms within the barbarian societies is expounded.
Germanische Altertumskunde Online (Germanic Antiquity Studies Online) - just like the Reallexikon that has merged with it - is accompanied by supplementary volumes. This series comprises both monographs and edited volumes on specific topics from the fields of archaeology, history, and literary studies. It thus expands the database with the inclusion of aspects that require comprehensive analysis. More than 100 volumes have now appeared, from Germanenproblemen in heutiger Sicht (The Problems of Germanic Peoples from a Contemporary Perspective) to Germanische Altertumskunde im Wandel (Germanic Antiquity Studies in Flux).
Stefanie Dick, Universität Paderborn.
"Die Studie von Stefanie Dick imponiert durch ihre stringente, zielorientierte Argumentation und durch die breite Heranziehung der geschichtswissenschaftlichen - althistorischen wie mediävistischen - sowie der archäologischen und philologischen Forschungsliteratur, die ebenso umsichtig wie überzeugend in eine Synthese eingebunden wird."
Stefan Esders in: http://www.sehepunkte.de/2010/02/16207.html
