Editing Marcomanni (section)

{{Short description|Ancient Germanic tribe of modern Bohemia}}
[[Image:Roman Empire 125.png|thumb|right|400px|The Roman Empire under [[Hadrian]] (ruled 117–138), showing the location of the  Marcomanni in the region of the upper Danube (now northern Austria, part of [[Bavaria]], [[Germany]] and [[Czech Republic]])]]
The '''Marcomanni''' were a [[Germanic people]] who lived close to the border of the [[Roman Empire]], north of the River [[Danube]], and are mentioned in Roman records from approximately 60 BC until about 400 AD. They were one of the most important members of the powerful cluster of allied [[Suebian]] peoples in this region, which also included the [[Hermunduri]], [[Varisti]], and [[Quadi]] along the Danube, and the [[Semnones]] and [[Langobardi]] to their north. 

After a major defeat to the Romans in about 9 BC, the Marcomanni somehow received a new king named [[Maroboduus]], who had grown up in Rome. He subsequently led his people and several others into a region surrounded by forests and mountains in the present day [[Czech Republic]]. Before 9 BC the homeland of the Marcomanni is not known, but archaeological evidence suggests that they lived near the central [[Elbe river]] and [[Saale]], or possibly to the southwest of this region in [[Franconia]]. The Marcomanni were first reported by [[Julius Caesar]] among the Germanic peoples who were attempting to settle in [[Gaul]] in 58 BC under the leadership of [[Ariovistus]], but he did not explain where their homeland was. 

From his base in Bohemia, Maroboduus built up a Rome-aligned Suebian empire, but the Langobardi and Semnones left when Maroboduus failed to support the rebellion of [[Arminius]] against Rome. The subsequent war among the Germanic peoples was damaging to both sides. This damaged Maroboduus's reputation, and he was eventually toppled from power, and died in exile in [[Ravenna]]. This suited the empire because despite their neutrality towards Rome, Roman rulers saw the Marcomanni as a potential threat to them, within striking distance of Italy. Over the centuries the Romans sought to control their leaders, and disrupt their relationships with neighbouring peoples. Despite long periods of peace and prosperity there were also several periods of intense warfare between them, often triggered by the actions of peoples living further from the Roman frontier. 

In the second century AD, during the reign of [[Marcus Aurelius]] and his co-emperors, the Romans pursued a major series of bloody wars against the Marcomanni and their allies which are called the [[Marcomannic wars]]. At one point the Marcomanni and their allies invaded Italy itself. Eventually defeated, the Marcomanni were weakened, and many were moved into the Roman empire, but the tensions behind this war were never resolved, and their neighbours such as the Quadi continued to come into conflict with Rome. This ended only when Goths, Alans and Huns moved from the east into the Middle Danube region and took effective control of it in the late 4th century. The region subsequently came under the rule of [[Attila]], who died in 453. By this time many Marcomanni apparently already lived within [[Pannonia]] in the Roman empire, and at least some of these had converted to Christianity. There are indications that a significant number apparently came to live to the south between the [[Sava]] and [[Drava]] rivers in what is now [[Slovenia]] and [[Croatia]]. More generally, although the details are now unclear, many Marcomanni and other Suebian communities from the region of the Elbe and Danube are believed to have joined the Langobardi who moved southwards into the Middle Danube region, replacing the short-lived kingdoms which arose after Attila's death, and subsequently moved into Italy under pressure from the arrival of the [[Pannonian Avars|Avars]] from the east. Other Marcomanni are likely to have joined the [[Alemanni]], and [[Bavarians]] to their west, or even to have left the region entirely with the Suebi who founded the [[Kingdom of the Suebi]] in what is now [[Portugal]] and [[Spain]].