Adrian Goldsworthy does a bit of historical anthropology in his book The Roman Army at War. The German tribes were normally divided into different clans, or pagi, each led by a combination of a monarch, a group of nobles (perhaps in a council) and an assembly of all free men.

Military leaders were elected by the assembly, and were usually the nobles of the tribe, often of the royal family. Nobles maintained their power through a system of patronage. These relationships were made possible by a noble's wealth, reputation, as well as individual ability.

I believe all this applies to the German peoples even before the Roman period, and I could go on with the descriptions of the German nobility by Caesar and Tacitus, etc. But am I telling you stuff that you already know?