This Shield Fibula Brooch is a historical piece inspired by the Dark Ages Anglo Saxon, Germanic, and Viking tribes. Crafted from bronze with a silver main stone colour, this brooch embodies the iconic Viking style. RRC, the brand behind this creation, pays homage to the rich history and tribal affiliations of the time. Made in Germany, this undated brooch is a meaningful and stylish accessory for those with a reverence for ancient cultures and traditions.

Brooch 62 mm x 33 mm 32 g bronze

Since ancient times, the Celts (ancient Greek Κελτοί Keltoí or Γαλάται Galátai, Latin Celtae or Galli) have been the name given to ethnic groups of the Iron Age in Europe. Archaeological finds testify to a distinctive culture and highly developed social structure of these tribes.

The Germanic tribes are a group of former tribes in Central Europe and southern Scandinavia, whose identity is traditionally determined by language in research. Characteristics of the Germanic languages ​​include certain sound changes compared to the reconstructed Indo-European original language, which are summarized as Germanic or first sound shift. The settlement area inhabited by the Germanic tribes was accordingly called Germania magna by the Romans.

Germania magna in the early 2nd century, map by Alexander George Findlay from the 19th century

From the turn of the century onwards, contact with the Romans shaped the Germanic world, just as the development of the Roman Empire increasingly connected with the Germanic world. In late antiquity, during the "migration period", several Germanic tribes (gentes) moved far and wide, sometimes forming larger associations (see ethnogenesis), and finally invaded the Roman Empire. Their main goal was to share in the prosperity of the empire, whose structures and culture they did not want to destroy. Some of these groups founded empires based on the ancient Roman model on the soil of the Western Empire, which collapsed around the year 476. Elements of the Germanic religion and religious customs were transferred to the adopted Christianity, among other things through accommodation. In recent research, the collective term Germanic peoples is viewed increasingly critically, since the groups so designated never saw themselves as a unit, but rather it is a purely foreign term that blurs differences.[1]

This article describes the general history of the Germanic peoples, beginning before the turn of the century, up to late antiquity and the beginning of the early Middle Ages. Research also sees the history of Scandinavia up to the Middle Ages in a Germanic context. The history of individual tribes, Germanic mythology and Germanic tribal law are the subject of further articles.

Vikings are the members of sea-traveling, sometimes warlike groups of people from mostly Nordic[1] peoples of the North and Baltic Seas during the Viking Age (790–1070 AD) in the early Middle Ages in Central Europe. They travelled as far as the Mediterranean, North Africa, the Middle East and North America and had a profound influence on the early medieval history of Scandinavia, the British Isles, France, Estonia and Kievan Rus.[2]

In contemporary perception, the Vikings represented only a small part of the Scandinavian population. Two groups can be distinguished: some engaged in shore robbery temporarily and at an early stage of life. They were young men who broke away from their homeland and sought fame, wealth and adventure far away. Later, like their ancestors, they settled down and ran the economy that was common in their area. The sagas (Old Norse literature) and the runestones tell of them. For others, shore robbery became the meaning of life. They can be found in the Frankish, Anglo-Saxon and – for Viking tribes in the area of ​​today's Ukraine – East Slavic and Arabic[3] annals and chronicles. They soon stopped returning to their homeland and could no longer be integrated into their native society.