Suebian

Many other Middle Danubians joined the Huns, and became part of the empire of Attila. After his death in 453 several kingdoms formed, and divided up the region. Among these, a short-lived Suebian kingdom was defeated by the Ostrogoths, and some of them travelled west to join the Alemanni, contributing to the ongoing ethnogenesis of the medieval Swabians. After the Ostrogoths left the region to conquer Italy in 493, the Suebian Langobards (Lombards), filled the power vacuum in the Middle Danubian area and became dominant from around 500. They had moved southwards from the Elbe region, and they were willing to integrate other populations who agreed to follow their laws. In the still-Romanized areas between the Alemanni and Langobards, a new Germanic people called the Baiuvarii took control, who were the forerunners of the later Bavarians. Modern scholars categorize their language and material culture as Suebian, although they were not called Suebian in contemporary records. In 568 the Langobards entered Italy and established the Kingdom of the Lombards there. The Middle Danube was taken over by the Pannonian Avars, while Bavaria and Swabia became stem duchies of the Frankish empire.