Baiuvarii

The Baiuvarii, Baiovari or early Bavarians were a Germanic people who are first mentioned in contemporary records starting in the 6th century, soon after the end of the Western Roman Empire. They originally lived in what had been the Roman province Raetia, south of the Danube, in what is now southern Bavaria. The Baiuvarii were first noted to be ruling an area near the Lech river and little is known of them during this period. They became rulers of a large stem duchy within the Frankish empire, the medieval Duchy of Bavaria, which expanded and eventually stretched to include present day Austria. The Baivarii are believed to have spoken a West Germanic dialect related to other southern German dialects which evolved to become medieval Old High German. The modern Bavarian language is in turn descended from Old High German and closely related to Standard German. Modern dialects of Bavarian are still spoken by Bavarians, Austrians and South Tyroleans.