Our ancestors: the Cimbri, Goths and Sarmatians. Three ethnogenetic legends in early modern Europe

Abstract

ABSTRACT The study presented here is an attempt at a comparative analysis of three early modern phenomena in the history of ideas and culture: three ethnogenetic theories about the origins of the Swedish (Gothic) and Polish (Sarmatian) nations and states, as well as that of the Danes, originating from the ancient Cimbri. First, they will be compared as historiographic concepts characteristic of early modern knowledge. The next part of the paper concerns modifications to these theories made in national historiographies and the broader visions of the history of the respective countries based on them. The last part of the study presents how these ideas function at the political level, both in relation to broader visions of political reality and political practice. The analysis suggests that while in the case of the 16th-century historical concepts of origo gentis, there are more similarities than differences, the subsequent stages of development show increasing differentiation: the ideas of Sarmatian ethnogenesis underwent greater changes than others. However, there are similarities in the way Gothic and Sarmatian ideas functioned in political life and politics during that period in Sweden and Poland, respectively. The weakest point is the influence of Cimbrian ethnogenesis on the politics of Denmark at that time.