Sippe

Sippe is German for "clan, kindred, extended family". It continues a Proto-Germanic term *sibbja, which referred to a band or confederation bound by a treaty or oath, not primarily restricted to blood relations.¹ The original character of sibb as a peace treaty is visible in Old English, e.g. in Beowulf (v. 1858):¹

hafast þû gefêred, þät þâm folcum sceal,

Geáta leódum ond Gâr-Denum

sib gemæne ond sacu restan.

The Sippe came to be a cognatic,² extended family unit, exactly analogous to the Scottish/Irish sept.³

Most of the information left about the nature and role of the Sippe is found in records left by the Lombards, Alamanni, and Bavarians.⁴ One of the functions of the Sippe was regulating use of forests. The average Sippe likely contained no more than 50 families.⁵ The Sippe seems to have been absorbed into the monogamous family later on; P.D. King asserts that this was already the case among the Visigoths during the time of the Visigothic Kingdom.⁶

Footnotes

^ ^a ^b Grimm: pax, foedus, affinitas, propinquitas
^ David Herlihy, Medieval Households (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1985), 47
^ Herlihy, 32, 44, 51
^ Herlihy, 45.
^ Herlihy, 47.
^ P.D. King, Law and Society in the Visigothic Kingdom, Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought, 3rd ser. 5 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1972), 233.

[Grimm-1] Grimm: pax, foedus, affinitas, propinquitas

[2] David Herlihy, Medieval Households (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1985), 47

[3] Herlihy, 32, 44, 51

[4] Herlihy, 45.

[5] Herlihy, 47.

[6] P.D. King, Law and Society in the Visigothic Kingdom, Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought, 3rd ser. 5 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1972), 233.

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Sippe Ultimate Study Guide

Sippe

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