What types stuctures were built by the germanic people(s) during the migration period / early middle ages

[degenhard]

if you can find any pictures, or have any, please post, as i have been looking for this for awile and cant really find much on it.

[René Artois]

Research Grubenhauser

[Roma_Victrix]

Well, Germans who belonged to Christianized Europe (that is, the original territories that would be ruled by Charlemagne and the Carolingians of the 9th century before expansion) followed more or less the conventions of the rest of the continent in terms of pre-Romanesque architecture. Several churches, monasteries, gates, and fortifications survive, which look very late antique Roman and early Byzantine. However, I would venture to say most structures from this period have not survived and were destroyed in war or built over with new structures during the High Middle Ages and Renaissance.

The palatine chapel at Aachen is perhaps the best known example of German architecture from the Early Middle Ages, built under Charlemagne and where his remains were also laid. It is very well preserved. There are other examples, just Google them.

[Col. Tartleton]

Germans seem to have been very skilled woodworkers but that stuff doesn't survive very well unless it's in a bog.

During the Roman height, much of Germany seems to have Romanized to varying degrees. The Romans penetrated as far as Konigsberg apparently although they were well beyond their sphere of influence. I suspect they were simply expeditionary forces.

Germany was rustic, but one would imagine the Roman civilization would appeal to the various cities and towns which did exist even in the depths of darkest Germania. Not like in Southern Europe, but that was from slave generated wealth accumulation, access to the Mediterranean sea, and the higher population of milder climes. The interior of the continent was not going to birth anything significant.

The Greek and Roman elite seem to have been full of by and large. So that's always a problem when understanding the past. The people who could write are unreliable and the people who couldn't are dead.

[Cyclops]

So we have some examples of Norse buildings, thats one branch of the loosely defined Germic people(s). They do a lot of stuff with logs and boards, perfect for burning down and recycling. IIRC there's a few earthworks and stonebuilt fortifications, but as Roma and the good Colonel say they aren't thick on the ground, and many structures built under their rule are simply continuations of the Roman/broader Mediteranean tradition, eg the famous chapel at Aachen.

This is of a piece with other peoples moving into Imperial territories like the followers of Mohammed and the Parthians. These guys weren't tribes of architects looking to impose sweeping new conventions, they were generally small elites uprooted or even routed from their homes, with culturally mixed followers dominating areas with their own ancient architectural traditions suited to local resources and needs, usually utilising superior tech and wealth.

[Col. Tartleton]

It seems most people adopted Roman building techniques with few changes. There are a few Gothic structures which have survived, notably the Mausoleum of Theodoric which is fairly unique to his people. They adopted some building techniques but the design is authentically Gothic and Arian. The Vandals built some fine edifices in Africa, but mostly in the Roman tradition whom they probably adopted more completely than any of the other Germans, which is ironic linguistically but the Vandals were probably more civilized than the Romans based on their conduct. The barbarian legend is pretty much that, a legend. The Romans seem to have transferred power gradually to German immigrants whose fragmented power bases formed the basis of late antiquity and the early medieval era. I think it's safe to say the collapse of the Empire was less bloody than its erection.

[René Artois]

I assumed he was asking after Early Anglo-Saxon buildings (5th-7th century)...

[athanaric]

I think it's best if you start with German language literature, assuming you understand the language of course. There should be quite a bit but I'm not up to date ATM.

Research Grubenhauser

This may seem like petty nitpicking, but the Umlaute are actually important as they can change the meaning of a word. A word ending on -hauser is generally a family name, while the plural for Haus is Häuser (or Haeuser if you don't have access to a German keyboard).

[Diocle]

The Long Houses were the typical structures of the migrations' period, many Langobard sites present these structures, frequently anything more than two or three long houses probably for a single 'Fara' that was something between a caln and a family group, then also in Italy they built long houses becouse at first they didn't like the Roman cities.

Also the Ostrogoths in Italy preferred to live outside the main urban centres, occupying old roman forts or Mansiones (the stations for the change of horses along the Roman roads) or rural villae or watch towers.

The Germanic archeology is very interesting for the Migrations' Period (but are we sure we can still use the definition of 'Migrations'?), what I don't know is what happened during the III century, when the Germanic tribes passed from the small tribal structure to the large confederations, but it's hard to find detailed informations about the germanic tribes in the III century, I'm starting to think that the III century is one of the biggest black holes in the European Storiography.