Prätigau (the area around Schriers)
Thurgau
A gau near the border was called "gaumark" or "mark" (which means "border province"), the leader (earl) of a mark had the duty to protect its borders against invaders and was often granted more rights than an average earl so that he could arrange defences and build fortifications, the names of some areas still refer to its former status as mark; the Austrian province of Steyermark for instance, Austria itself was originally called "Ostmark" and Denmark once was a Franconian border province ("Dane-mark" or "Border province of the Danes").
After most tribes had been subjected by the Franconians the gauen were renamed into "grafschaften" (German) or "graafschappen" (Dutch), which can both be compared to the English county.
Kings:
Most tribes were ruled by a king, the Proto-Germanic word for king was Kuningaz ("One of the kin"), though other words were Waldandaz ("Ruling One"), Țeudanaz ("Leader of the people").
After the Christianization the king of an empire could be crowned to "Kaisar", which was a loanword from Latin "Cesari", which means "emperor" and has been derived from the name of Julius Caesar.
This king did not posess absolute power; he still had to respect the will of his people and a king who performed his own will against the wishes of the people was at risk of being deposed; the king was often advised by a council of wise men; the Anglo-Saxon kings for instance were advised by the "Witenagemot" (Meeting of the Wise) and they also had to respect the wishes of the țing, some tribes even had a constitutional cooperation between the king and the țing (folk assembly).
The king (and most other nobles and high ranking persons) considered themselves to be servants of the gods, so they believed that they still had to take responsibility for their actions because they would be judged after them in the afterlife.
Originally there was no etiquette at the king's court; so no exaggerated social rules, special ways of eating or clothing prescriptions, these were later introduced during the Middle Ages.
Most kings were chosen by the people; they were often members of important families, nobles, brave warriors, or someone else who had done important things for their people, another rule was that they had to be of noble birth, though that may be a later addition.
The king also played an important role in warfare and his influence increased during times of crisis, something which can nowadays also be seen in the United States where even the people who disagree with the president support him when things are getting rough.
It can be said that the Germanic governments were often an ingenious and semi-contradictory mix of democracy and dictatorship in which the king had a lot of power but was still subjected to the will of the people, during wars or other problems the king played the role of a stable leader who united his people against a common threat but he could never take over all the power because that would not be accepted by the other nobles and his people, so some decisions were made by the king, some were made by the people via the țing (folk assembly), and in some decisions both sides added their input; this strange two-way system allowed much personal freedom and a democratic way of living while at the same time the ability to react to threats in an uncomplicated and decisive way.
Germanic society sometimes had meritocratical tendencies; those who had distincted themselves from the "common" people by doing great deeds often received the most respect and the highest rank within the community, it is even believed that the original Germanic nobility only consisted of persons who had gained their title by doing great deeds instead of inheriting it from their parents.
Most tribes did not posess an organized professional army; armies were raised when there was a need for them and its warriors were mostly young men who temporarily joined it.
This sounds like a very weak system but since Germanic society was very militaristic in nature most men were skilled in both their regular jobs as well as in the art of war, furthermore; in almost every tribe there were men who liked fighting so much that they became professional warriors, this warriors often worked for the king.
The king had his own personal warriors who often functioned as his bodyguards, this system was used by both the Celtic and Germanic peoples; the warriors swore an oath to the king in which they promised that they would stay loyal to him and that they would protect him with their lives if needed, in return the king swore his warriors that he would support them and their families and that he would provide them with food, drink, horse, weapons and equipment in exchange for their service, later they were also given land.
This custom can be compared to the later Medieval knights who were almost certainly descendants of this system.
The warriors of a king were called "hirđ" in Old Norse (Proto-Germanic: herțaz (hearth) or herțra (inner circle, the initiated)), which means something like "those belonging to the hearth" (i.e. the trusted inner circle), the Roman writer Tacitus called them "comitatus", which means "commited" in Latin, in Anglo-Saxon the bodyguards of the king were named "huskarls", the word huskarl means something like "house-guy", so the guys who protected the home (hearth) of the king.
During a war the king personally lead his army and joined them in battle, it was dishonourful for him to be surpassed by his warriors in bravery and it sometimes happened that a king was deposed because he had not shown enough courage during a battle, therefor most Germanic kings were also excellent warriors and most of them did not die of natural causes; the king had to give the good example to his warriors and they had to equal him in bravery, the king's knights (the hirđ) never left the battle without him and if he died in battle so would they in their efford to protect him, surviving the king in battle was a great dishonour for the hirđ.
The people who were loyal to the king were called his followers, some theories say that the modern English word "folk" has been derived from this and in many Germanic languages there is indeed a connection between the word "followers" and "folk" like for instance in English: followers - folk, Dutch: gevolg - volk, and German: gefolg - volk, the word "folk" is derived from Proto-Germanic "fulka" (folk, multitude), which is a very old word that was already used in pre-Indo-European times, later the Indo-European word "teuta" (people) was introduced to northern Europe where it was Germanized into "țeudo" (people, tribe).
The king's followers presented him with gifts to show their appreciation of him, this gifts often consisted of cattle, a part of the harvest, practical items for his household, etc. the value of the gifts depended upon what someone could afford, most of this gifts were given voluntarily as a token of honour, but sometimes also in the form of tax.
During the Middle Ages this custom changed into an obligated tribute, but originally it served the purpose of showing one's gratitude to the king, this kind of gifts were also presented to warlords, earls, tribal chiefs, and other important people.
In later times the influence of the kings increased which eventually lead to a new type of king; the Medieval despot, this type had nothing to do with the old Germanic system and was mainly based on the position of the former Roman emperors.
Warlords:
The Germans called their warlords "Warconductor" (Proto-Germanic: Harjanaz) or "Army Leader" (Proto-Germanic: Harjatugon), a warlord could sometimes have the same power as a king and they were also often elected as king, but the difference is that not all of them were of noble birth; they were chosen by the people because of their bravery and did not directly work for the king, in times of war they performed his orders but they were more loyal towards their people than the king.
A warlord was obeyed by his warriors because of his braveness, and not because his rank was higher than theirs; in battle he had to act as an example to his men and it was a disgrace for him to be surpassed by them in bravery, the warriors on their turn had to equal the bravery of their warlord.
The warriors had to make sure that the warlord was not killed and the warlord had to make sure that victory was gained, or, to quote Tacitus; "The chiefs fight for victory, the followers for their chief".
The Țing:
The țing (Old Norse), "țengaz" in Proto-Germanic, "ding" in western Germanic, and local western Germanic variations like "dinc", or "dink", was an assembly of people in which crimes, conflicts between people, and other juridical matters were solved; if somebody had broken the law it was often the țing that decided how that person had to be punished.
The țing also decided about other matters; whether or not war had to be declared on enemies, how to solve personal problems, determining who was speaking the truth and who wasn't, etc.
It combined the functions of a city council, a court, a voting system, a distric council, etc.
The țing was often held on a fixed date; it is believed that this was shortly after the new moon or shortly before the full moon, though it was also held on holy days like Yule or Midsummer (J.Schuyf, "Heidens Nederland") or when a certain situation occured in which an assembly of the țing was needed.
The whole village then assembled under the leadership of the old and wise people (often gođi's) and matters were discussed.
The persons who were involved in the case told their side of the story and the most influential persons spoke and offered their advice or opinion, after that the rest of the people could shout their disapproval or clash their spears if they agreed, using your weapon to show your approval was considered to be very complimentary to the person you agreed with because of its strong symbolism.
Originally every free man and woman had voting rights in the țing, they could express their approval of a plan by clashing spears, stamping on the ground, cheering, banging their weapons on the ground or on their shields, or raising their hands, in more delicate matters every person was individually asked his or her opinion.
Big (coalition) tribes often planned a yearly meeting which resembled that of a țing, for instance the Saxon tribes met eachother every year on the "Landdag" (land-day), a day which was held every year to discuss the state of the nation.
The țing was one of the first democratic systems in the world, many people think that democracy is an invention of the Greeks but the Greek system can hardly be considered democratic because only a minority (the men of noble origin) had voting rights while the Germanic system also included voting rights for the common people, women, and in some communities even older children.
That does not mean that the Germanic governmental system was purely democratic though; slaves (thralls) had no voting rights and kings, warlords, nobles, and other powerful figures could abuse their power and esteem to influence the decision-making to their advantage, but the decision of the țing weighed heavily and most leaders accepted the decisions made by the țing because it reflected the will of the majority of the people.
Besides the higher țing which ruled an entire land most villages also had a local țing which was held on fixed dates and there were also țings that dealt with an entire province (gau).
In later times (especially after the Christianization) democracy and the amount of personal freedom became more limited; in 870AD many Vikings fled the opressive regimes of the Norwegian kings and settled in Iceland where they founded a country upon freedom, which they had lacked for so many years.
Just like in the old Germanic system the new country was ruled by țings, which in their turn were ruled by a central government; the Alțing (all-thing) the Alțing soon became a parliament and all the Icelanders could vote about decisions that were to be made, nowadays the parliament of Iceland is still called the Alțing.
Other traces of the Germanic țing can be found in the names of the Norwegian parliament; "Storting" (Great țing) and the Danish parliament; "Folketing" (Folk țing), the Dutch word "kort geding" (injunction lawsuit) is derived from the western Germanic word "ding".
During the Middle Ages the țing became less democratic and voting rights were often limited to the (male) head of the family or they were not given at all, eventually the țing system slowly began to disappear because the opinion of the people was irrelevant to most Medieval despots, the first Germanic kings who broke with the old government system were the Franconians; after the establishment of their empire and the Christianization of most of Europe they began to behave like the Roman emperors they had always admired, and against whom their ancestors had fought so long and desperately to keep their freedom.
The kings "followers" were no longer asked for their opinion and personal rights were limited to a minimum because the king did not wish to be bothered with the problems of lowly peasants, this practice was continued for many centuries to come until the Age of Enlightenment in which many people became fed up with their despot rulers and demanded more personal freedom, a courageous act that provided most of Europe with the freedom it can now enjoy, a sign that the spirit of our ancestors is still alive within us.
