A brief history of the previous Germanias,
Part 1: 1st-16th Centuries

By Stanley L. Alston, Jr.

During the last two millenniums, starting from when the German tribes were first in contact with what is now known to history as the Roman Empire, there have been fourteen women who have taken the codename of Germania.

The first woman to call herself Germania is said to have first appeared just several months before the famous Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in 9 CE. According to legend, the original Germania was the eldest daughter of the head of the Chatti tribe, a Germanic tribe that lived in the upper Weser River area, in what are now the modern German States of Hesse and Lower Saxony. Believed to have been in either her late teens or early twenties at the time of the battle, this Germania has been described as a beautiful grey-furred mare with shoulder-length blonde hair, tall of stature and well built, who wore clothing that was made mainly of either dark fur or black leather. An excellent horsewoman, well trained in the art of warfare, having by then participated in several raids that had been conducted by her tribe against their neighbors, Germania was by then a highly regarded subordinate of Arminius, the man who would lead the German tribes during the fight against the three Roman Legions that had been trying to consolidate Roman control on the eastern side of the Rhine River since 6 CE. Although she did not have super powers like most of those who have followed in her footsteps, this Germania was thought to have been highly skilled in the use of the sword, knife, dagger, spear, lance and the bow and arrow, as well as being fast of feet and a good leader in battle, in spite of both her youth and her being a female. During the actual battle, she was among those who led the Chatti tribemen who would participate in the ambush against the legionnaires during their long march that was orchestrated by Arminius, before being involved in the final attacks that would lead to the final destruction of the Roman Legions that had been caught in Arminius’ trap. Germania then participated in the raids that were performed after the battle by the German tribes, under Arminius’ leadership, that would clear most of the area to the east of the Rhine of Roman troops. The blonde warmare next participated in several battles against the Roman military in 14 and 15 CE, when the Romans, after having first gotten over the shock from the destruction of the three legions, began a slow campaign to try and regain the just lost territories, which included the destruction of several villages of the Marsi tribe in 14 CE and then another attack upon the Marsi, as well as attacks upon several Chatti villages in 15 CE, which saw the tribes suffering heavy losses in both the original attacks, and in their retaliation to the original attack against the Marsi, which resulted in a defeat for the tribes, an attack which she participated in, before handling the rear guard as the tribes retreated before the better trained Romans. She would also participate in the Battle of the Weser in 16 CE, after the Roman legions, lead by Germanicus Julius Caesar, a nephew of the then Roman Emperor, Tiberius, had forced themselves across the Weser River, before meeting the tribes under the command of Arminius in battle. The battle would become another defeat for the tribes, with them losing a large number of men before finally leaving the battlefield. Several days after the defeat, according to legend, Germania and a small party out on patrol would be caught out in the open by several legionnaires. After a short fight, the mare, wounded in the fight, would be captured by the legionnaires, while her comrades were killed. Germania was then on the spot gang-raped by her captors, before being killed by one of the soldiers. Her corpse was then taken back with them to their camp and brought before Germanicus. After looking over her dead form, Germanicus ordered that her corpse be cleaned, as he planned to have it sent to Rome as a war trophy. But, later that night, the German tribes conducted a surprise raid upon the Romans’ camp. During the raid, Germania’s corpse was discovered and taken from the camp when the Roman defenders ejected the raiding party. The corpse was then taken back with them to the Teutoburg Forest and placed within a cave inside the forest. Germania was then, according to the legend, given a tribal ritual burial inside the cave. After the burial was done, all but one of those who had been involved in the burial would commit suicide, mainly to keep secret the location of where Germania’s body was buried so that the Romans would not be able to find it, to send it to Rome as a trophy. Unfortunately, the individual who knew where the body was buried would later be killed in battle as the German tribes fought the Romans once more, this time at the Angivarian Wall, to the west of the present-day German city of Hanover, losing the battle as they once again took heavy losses, leaving the location of Germania’s final burial place lost to history. But, presently, within the Teutoburg Forest, under the combine auspices of the German government, the Germania Museum, RWTH Aachen University and the Universities of Bonn and Cologne, an archeological team is performing a search for the body, within the general vicinity of where the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest is believed to have occurred.

The next woman to take up the name Germania would appear in the Third Century CE, when the German tribes started to slowly enter the western part of the Roman Empire. Living in Austrasia, which now forms parts of Eastern France, Western Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands, this woman, like the original Germania, was a rather tall and well-built grey-furred mare, with long blonde hair which ended in a ponytail that reached to the middle of her back. Also a member of the Chatti tribe, this beautiful looking blonde mare was the daughter of one of the tribe’s major war leaders. Clothed mostly in dark furs, this Germania, like her predecessor, was skilled in the art of war, highly skilled in the use of the sword, shield, knife, dagger, spear, and lance, as well as being an excellent horsewoman and a fast runner. The second Germania would become the first Germania to have superpowers, as she would reveal that she had super strength. This mare would also show herself to be well skilled, like the rest of the Chatti, in the use of trenching tools. The young warrioress would participate in some of the raids that her tribe and some of their neighbors would conduct against Rome’s border with the German tribes along the Rhine River, in fact defeating and killing a few Roman Legionnaires in combat. During two of these raids, this Germania would come face to face with that period’s Roma. The fights that followed between both her and the Roman vixen would end up as draws, with the pair being battered and bloodied from their fights, eventually ending up with the two femmes showing a grudging respect for the other’s abilities. By the time she had reached middle age, as her tribe was now a part of the confederation that would become the Franks, the warmare would be one of the confederation’s major war leaders and be married to one of the sons of the leader of the Salii tribe. Germania gave birth to several children, only two of whom would reach adulthood, both male. By the time she had reached old age, she would become a well-respected war leader, even helping to train the tribe’s young warriors. She would even, along with several other leaders of the Frank tribe, visit the imperial city of Rome, when the Empire wanted the tribe’s help in defending other parts of its empire from attacks by other tribes. The now older mare was much impressed by what she saw in Rome, before she would suddenly find herself involved in a case with an equally older Roma, with the two trying to catch a man who had tried to assassinate the Emperor of the time, which she had helped to foil. The two femmes would eventually find him, and later on catch the man who had put him up to it, a member of the Roman Senate. When she went back home, she helped convince the other tribal leaders to help the Romans defend parts of their large Empire by allowing some of their warriors to join the Roman Army as foederati, as both infantry and cavalry, via a treaty with the Empire. The second Germania would die of old age sometime around 270 and was buried at the Chatti’s principal village of Mattium, near the modern German town of Fritzlar, according to the tribe’s burial rites.

The third Germania first appeared during the early 780s, as the King of the Franks, Charlemagne, was raising an army to help put down a recently started revolt by the Saxons. While her unexpected appearance at camp created something of an uproar among both the soldiers and their leaders, both military and religious, Charlemagne quickly recognized her as being the youngest daughter of one of his leaders who had served him in the region along the frontier which had originally separated Francia from the now rebelling Saxon tribes, before his various campaigns in the 770s had led to Saxony being added to the expanding Frankish Kingdom. The young warrioress was, like her two predecessors, a tall, statuesque blonde, light grey-furred mare, with her blonde hair being shoulder-length, while being clothed in dark grey steel armor with yellow trim, which left her upper bosom and her left shoulder exposed, while the right one was protected by several metal plates; a light brown woolen skirt which covered the area around her crotch; a light brown woolen cape which covered her back; black flat boots which were protected by metallic legguards; two arm bands, with another metal plate protruding from the right arm band; and a pair of leg bands covering the bottom part of her boots. She wore on her hands a pair of gloves, the same color as her armor. The blonde mare also wore an emerald encrusted tiara around her brow, while around her waist she sported a belt, which held her sword. Upon the back of her white steed was placed, among her various effects, a big round shield. The young blonde mare soon got off her steed, before approaching Charlemagne. She then got onto her knees, telling him that she was there to offer him her services, at the behest of her old father. The middle-aged king looked at the young femme, and ignoring the advice of both his military and religious advisors, accepted her into his service, in fact making the young maiden a member of his elite scara bodyguard, much to the blonde mare’s surprise and honor, before promising the king that she would not make him regret his decision. The new Germania would soon be as good as her word as she would help to protect Charlemagne while he led the army inside Saxony to squash the rebellion. She would especially prove her worth during one particular battle against the rebelling Saxons, when she and several of the scara warriors defending the king stopped an attack which included, to their surprise, several bare-chested females. In fact, Germania would capture one of them after defeating her in hand-to-hand combat. During the next several campaigns that it would take to stop the revolt, Germania would show how skilled she was with the various weapons that the Frankish army would use in battle, especially the sword, the lance and the javelin, as well as showing herself to be an excellent rider. At the start of the last campaign inside Saxony, Germania and the rest of the scara warriors were all surprised by the appearance of a big, redheaded mouflon ewe who was dressed in an armor outfit that was very similar to hers, although hers was the color of blood, while she held in one of her hooves a large stick with a metal spike at the end of it, while in the other, the big brown-furred female sheep was holding onto a kind of semi-circular shield. Before the confused group, the king appeared and then proceeded to clear things up by telling them all that the big ewe that stood before them was from the Swiss Alps and that she went by the name of Helvetia and that she was to be a new member of the guard. The king then told the assembled group that she would be partnered with Germania, who was to teach her the ropes. Although doing so very reluctantly, the blonde mare did as ordered to by the king, and took the newcomer under her wing, soon teaching the younger femme everything she knew. The two soon developed a friendship which would last for the rest of their lives, with Helvetia becoming Germania’s second in command when Charlemagne, in the late 790s, made the two femmes two of his four swordmaidens, along with Francia and Italia. The foursome’s main function was to act as the king’s, later emperor, personal bodyguard, as well as his main troubleshooters within the kingdom, later empire. Germania was the foursome’s leader and main strategist, with Helvetia being her second in command. She would hold the position until she retired during the reign of Charlemagne’s son, Louis the Pious. Germania, along with the other four swordswomen, would be among those who would witness Charlemagne being crowned Emperor by the Pope in Rome on Christmas Day, 800 CE. The blonde mare would marry in her late twenties, having four children, only two of whom would reach adulthood, one male and one female, with her son becoming a count under the previously mentioned Louis the Pious, while the daughter would become a daughter of the church. Germania would die in the early 830s, and would be the first Germania to be buried in the Cathedral in Aachen that would be built by the Emperor Charlemagne towards the end of his life.

The next woman to use the name Germania would appear in the mid-9th century, a few years before the death of Louis (II) the German in 876 CE. This new Germania would come from the area along the eastern side of the Rhine, near the modern day German city of Cologne. The youngest daughter of the count of the region, who was the son of the third Germania, the new Germania was a tall and pretty looking, light grey-furred, female mare, with shoulder-length, blonde hair, like her grandmother, who, liked the second Germania, had super strength, as well as some low-level super speed. This muscular mare would be trained as a warrioress, skilled in the use of the sword, knife, dagger, lance and javelin, as well as being a very good horsewoman and swimmer. The new Germania would be trained in the use of a shield for both offensive and defensive purposes. She would also be trained as a leader in battle. She would wear an outfit similar to that worn by her grandmother, except that she would not wear a cape around her neck, and instead of a skirt, the young mare would wore a pair of leggings to cover the area around her crotch and legs, with the bottom part of the outfit going into her boots. The fourth Germania would serve the ruler of East Francia, which later became the Kingdom of Germany, after the division of the Empire of Charlemagne between the sons of Louis the Pious through the Treaty of Verdun of 843, after the ending of the three years long Carolingian Civil War. After she had first become Germania, the young mare would spend the early years of her life helping defend the kingdom from the incursions of Vikings raiders from the north, before serving in first the Wilhelminer War, and then against the Slavs in the east, before fighting in the Battle of Leuven in 891 CE, where the Vikings were stopped in their latest excursion within the Low Countries. After spending the next few years in the northern part of the country, helping to keep an eye against the Vikings, Germania went to the east after having learned about the first raid that had been conducted in the territory controlled by the King of East Francia by the Magyars the year (900) after the death of King Arnulf of Carinthia. During the next few years, as the Magyars constantly raided the kingdom, she did what she could to help stop the raids, in fact facing a few in battle when the raiders were heading home, including one battle with the original Princess Hun, when she and several comrades had caught up with the young mousette and her charges as she was protecting a few slightly wounded stragglers that were heading back to Magyar territory. The middle-aged mare, after the younger rodent and her comrades had refused to surrender, found herself in a long sword fight with the much smaller mouse, soon finding herself being unable to disarm her smaller opponent, being surprised to find her to be as skilled in using the sword as she was. But, when she was able to find an opening, she was able to use her speed to disarm Princess Hun. But, before the older mare was able to take her prisoner, she was attacked by several of the mousette’s comrades, who allowed her to escape, after she was able to first retrieve her sword. The now frustrated mare then proceeded to defeat the mice who had jumped her, killing at least two of them, while watching Princess Hun get away, along with those of the trapped raiders whom her comrades were not able to kill or capture. She also acted as a kind of military advisor to the young king, Louis the Child, although frustrated that some of her advice was rejected, because she was a female. This was especially after she had been among those who had survived the defeat of the Bavarian army by the Magyars during the Battle of Pressburg (907), being among those who would escape the battlefield, as she was involved in the rearguard that covered the escape of the survivors. Germania next help to defend the kingdom from new raids by the Magyars before she finally retired from the field. After her retirement, she became an advisor to Otto I, the Duke of Saxony, then to his son, Henry, when he became the Saxon duke, in 912 CE, before she, as a member of the Reichstag in Fritzlar in 919, help to elect him King of the Germans. This Germania would marry in her early thirties, but would have no children, as her husband would be killed during the earlier mentioned Battle of Leuven, and she would not remarry. The old mare would die in the mid-920s, after having first witnessed the signing of a ten year truce between Henry the Fowler and the Magyars, after the former had led the Germans to several victories over the Magyars, ending, for a time, the Magyars’ raids into the kingdom. She would be buried in Fritzlar with full honors.

The fifth Germania would first appear late in the first decade of the 13th Century, after the death of Emperor Philip of Swabia, who had been ruling the Holy Roman Empire during the minority of his nephew, Frederick, who would later become Emperor Frederick II, although he was in dispute with Emperor Otto IV, who had been elected emperor by the northern German princes. This particular Germania came from Bavaria, near the city of Augsburg, which at the time was a Free Imperial City. The only daughter of a knight who had faithfully served Frederick I Barbarossa, when he was first the King of the Germans, and then Holy Roman Emperor, she was trained to be a knight, taught how to use a sword, mace, war axe, lance, dagger, knife and shield, as well as being an excellent horsewoman. The pretty young mare, who had light grey fur and shoulder length blonde hair, also had super strength and speed, as well as being a very good swimmer. This Germania would be outfitted in armor that would cover her body from head to toe, although her armor would be made from lighter material, which would allow her to move easier, although she would wear the helm of her armor only when she was on the battlefield. When she first appeared, the new Germania was a knight serving Emperor Otto IV, after he had gain control of the crown after the murder of his opponent, Emperor Philip of Swabia. She would quickly be among those Germans who would think that Otto IV was spending too much time fighting with the Pope of the time, Innocent III, over Church matters as they touch on the Imperial power and involving himself too much in the politics of Italy, when there was a much closer threat presented by King Vlademar II of Denmark, who was slowly taking control of the areas in Germany that was between the North and Baltic Seas coasts while Otto was being distracted by events in Italy. She and the other leaders were put off when Otto IV broke his promises to Pope Innocent III, especially when Otto IV attempted to conquer Sicily in 1211, which would both lead to Innocent excommunicating Otto IV, and to the German princes electing Frederick, then King of Sicily, as Emperor. Germania would be among those who would support the newly elected Emperor, especially after the defeat of both Otto IV and the English king, King John, by King Philip II of France at the Battle of Bouvines in 1214, which would lead to Otto IV’s removal from the Imperial throne. She would then faithfully serve Frederick II, participating in the short War of Succession of Champagne later that same decade, before she joined the army that the Emperor Frederick II would form in the late 1220s for a new (Sixth) Crusade into the Holy Land, soon landing in Syria with the rest of Frederick IV’s forces in 1228. Although the new forces would not fight the Egyptian sultan’s forces in Syria because of a revolt in the part of that country that was under the sultan’s control, Frederick II would soon be able to negotiate an agreement that gave the Crusaders Nazareth, Sidon, Jaffa, Bethlehem and Jerusalem because of a show of force. The mare would then spend the next several months inside the holy city before heading back home to Germany. In the mid-1230s, as she was living in her home city of Augsburg, several months after her marriage to a male knight, a man who said that he represented the newly crowned King of Hungary approached her and told him that the new Hungarian king wanted her to train his female cousin, whom the man was escorting, in the art of warfare. Germania was reluctant, at first, until she was informed that the king’s cousin was the new Princess Hun, which piqued her curiosity. She then asked to be shown her possible new squire, who was then shown to her. The big mare took a look at the younger, smaller female rodent, seeing someone who was very eager to learn how to be a knight. She then looked at PH’s companion and told him that she would be willing to take her on as her squire, and train her to become a knight. Taking her under her wings, Germania would spend the next several years teaching that period’s Princess Hun on how to be a knight, and how to act like a lady, although her young charge did not respond as enthusiastically to those particular lessons. Germania especially taught her squire how to use a sword in both offensive and defense, while either riding a horse or on the ground, as well as the knife and the spear, while she would hire someone to teach her how to use the bow and arrow. After she had finished training the young mousette, Germania and her husband would personally take her back to the Hungarian court. Germania would next participate as a knight in the army of Wenceslaus I of Bohemia during the Mongolians attack on the Polish kingdom during their invasion of Eastern Europe, participating in the fighting at Klodzko, in which the Bohemian cavalry fended off the Mongolian detachment that had been sent after King Wenceslaus’ forces after the defeat of the European army at the Battle of Legnica. After the Mongolians and their Tartar allies have finally left both Hungary and Croatia, the grey mare would go into retirement, returning to Augsburg. Germania would have three kids, all males, with two reaching adulthood. She would die in Augsburg in the mid-1260s, where she would be buried.

The next woman to use the name Germania would first appear late in the 1530s in the Electorate of Saxony, towards the beginning of what is now known as the Protestant Reformation. The first Protestant, or Lutheran, Germania, the sixth Germania originally came from the area near the city of Wittenberg, the city where Martin Luther had, in 1517, nailed his 95 theses against the selling of indulgences at the door of All Saints’ Church, that at the time was the capital of the Electorate. The youngest daughter of a knight who was in the service of the Saxon Elector, Germania was trained in the art of war by her father. She would be especially well trained in the use of the sword, the knife, the dagger, the lance and shield, as well as later learning how to use and fire an arquebus, as well as being both an excellent sword- and horsewoman, as well as a good swimmer. The young, blonde, light to mid grey-furred mare, also showed that she had super strength and agility, as well as being a good hand-to-hand combatant. The sixth Germania would most times wear a black, long sleeve blouse with a U-shaped neckline that would reveal part of her upper cleavage, a light red bodice, tight fitting black hose, and black shoes, along with a light brown belt with a silver belt buckle, and a dark grey scabbard which she would use to carry her long sword. When on the battlefield, she would on occasions wear specially made chest armor to protect her bosom. Originally a Catholic, like most of the electorate, she would first serve under Georg, Duke of Saxony, before converting to Lutheranism, along with the rest of those who lived in the electorate, after the new Saxon Duke, Henry IV, had made it the religion of the duchy. She would become a supporter of Henry’s successor, his son Maurice, after Henry’s death, serving in the forces that Maurice would send to fight in Emperor Charles V’s army, along with the duke, fighting against the Turkish forces of Suleiman the Magnificent in 1542, where she would fight alongside the fifth Princess Hun, and then the army of French king Francis I in 1544, personally fighting that period’s Francia, defeating her in combat. The young mare would return to Saxony, as things were heating up between Charles V and most of the Protestants princes, especially Maurice’s cousin, Elector John Frederick I of Saxony, who was a more enthusiastic supporter of the reform faith. During this time, her employer, Maurice, had refused to joined the Schmalkaldic League, a defensive alliance of the Protestant German princes within the Empire that was mainly created to protect their interests against Charles V. When the war between Charles V and his allies, and the league, finally started in 1546, she fought in Maurice’s army, which at the time was fighting on the side of Charles V, eventually participating in the Battle of Mühlberg, which saw the defeat of the badly led forces of the Schmalkaldic League, and the capture of their leaders, Elector John Frederick I of Saxony (Maurice’s cousin) and Philip I of Hesse. She would watch the captured John Frederick hand over the electorate to his cousin, Maurice, thus preventing himself from being executed. She would eventually be among those German Protestants who would be made angry upon learning that Charles V had plans to force the Protestants back into the Catholic Church, despite the agreed to Augsburg Interim of May 1548, which would allowed Protestantism to be seen as an alternative creed within the empire. After the interim was rejected by both Protestants and Catholics rulers of the Empire (since it was coming from the Emperor), as well as the following Leipzig Interim of December 1548, she would learn that Maurice was planning to attack the Emperor’s forces, to force them out of Saxony, especially after the Pope had told his bishops to abide by the concessions made in the Augsburg Interim in August 1549. This would finally occur in January 1552, after Maurice had signed a treaty with the French king, who had promised to give both military and economic aid to him and the other Protestant princes when they went against Charles V. Germania served in the forces that would force Charles V’s forces out of the Saxon electorate, before forcing them out of the southern German states, which later would lead Maurice to ending his alliance with the French king, and negotiating a treaty with Charles V’s younger brother, King Ferdinand I, the Peace of Passau, in August 1552, that would guarantee the Lutheran position in Germany and later lead to the one king, one religion principle of the Peace of Augsburg of 1555. Germania, after the signing of the Passau peace treaty, would next serve in the Imperial Army that was being sent to Hungary to help fight the Turks who were at the time besieging the castle in the city of Eger, but stopped because the Plague had broken out inside Hungary. The following year, she would participate in the Second Margrave War, soon being involved in the Battle of Sivershausen, a victory for her patron, Elector Maurice, over Albert Alcibiades, a fellow Protestant who had refused to accept the compromise that the Peace of Passau had brought about, although later learning that Maurice was killed during the battle. She would then serve the new Elector, Maurice’s younger brother, Augustus, who would eventually help to bring about the above mentioned Peace of Augsburg, while Albert is finally defeated. After the Peace of Augsburg, Germania would spend the rest of her life acting mainly as an advisor to the Saxon Elector, except for a short time when she would serve in the Imperial Army during the last invasion towards southern Austria and Vienna attempted by the Turkish ruler, Suleiman, in the mid-1560s. She would retire in the early 1580s. Germania would marry in the mid-1540s, eventually having four kids, three males and one female, all of whom would grow into adulthood, and eventually marry, and whose bloodlines are still around. The Sixth Germania would die and be buried in the city of Wittenberg in 1600.

Germania, Roma, Helvetia, Francia, Italia, Princess Hun © 2011 Stanley L. Alston, Jr.