Thuringi

The Thuringi, or Thuringians were a Germanic people who lived in their own kingdom in what is now Central Germany. They are first mentioned in written records starting in the fifth century, during a period when the Huns were the most influential force in Central Europe and the Western Roman Empire lost control of this region. The kingdom's early history and boundaries are uncertain. However, the medieval kingdom, and the modern German federal state which is still called Thuringia, lies between the Harz in the north, and the Thuringian forest in the south. On the other hand there are indications in near-contemproary records that early forms of this kingdom stretched further south, to northern Bavaria, and further east, to the Rhine somewhere in the stretch between Mainz and Xanten. This medieval Thuringian kingdom came into conflict with the Merovingian Franks, and it later became a stem duchy within the Frankish realm.