A Suebian Germanic people first reported by Roman-era historians in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD living on the Lower Elbe (near modern Hamburg) -- the early, pre-migration phase of the people later known as the Lombards.
No contemporary Roman accounts exist for the 3rd-4th century or most of the 5th century; the people reappear near the Danube (Middle Danube, modern Austria/Slovenia/Hungary) in the late 5th century, and eventually conquered most of the Italian peninsula 568-774 AD as the Kingdom of the Lombards -- a much later, geographically distinct phase outside this window's scope.
Covers the early, pre-migration Lombards among the Lower Elbe Suebian peoples.