ABSTRACT
Many events and details of the Germanic legends treated in this book have their roots in historical events. These events are no longer easy to reconstruct, since the historical sources from late antiquity are scarce and contradictory. 1 The main historical events we need to consider take place during the period of “barbarian” invasions of the Roman Empire from die fourdi to the sixth century. In this chapter we shall consider them in a roughly chronological sequence.
