Suevi

Suevi, collective name for a number of German tribes (including the Marcomanni and Lombards), mentioned in the 1st century bc by Julius Caesar as dwelling east of the Rhine. The Roman historian Cornelius Tacitus described (1st century ad) them as inhabiting all central Germany. One group of Suevi allied themselves with the Vandals and the Alans and swept down on the Iberian Peninsula in ad 407. By 411 they were established in northern Portugal and Galicia and by 452 in Castile. They adopted Christianity and ruled until 469, when they were subjugated by the Visigoths. The Suevi who remained in Germany are the ancestors of the medieval Swabians. The name is also spelled Suebi.