Ampsivarii
Encyclopedia
Their homeland was originally around the middle of the river Ems, which flows into the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
, at the Dutch-German border. Most likely they lived between the Bructeri
Bructeri
The Bructeri were a Germanic tribe located in northwestern Germany , between the Lippe and Ems rivers south of the Teutoburg Forest, in present-day North Rhine-Westphalia around 100 BC through 350 AD....
minores (located at the delta of the Yssel) and the Bructerii maiores that were living south of them at the end of the Ems. The name for them is supposed to be a Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
rendering of the Germanic "Ems-werer", meaning "men of the Ems". Reconstruction of the location of other tribes in the area places the Ampsivarii at the lower Ems. In fact at least two modern cities are names after the Ems there: Emden
Emden
Emden is a city and seaport in the northwest of Germany, on the river Ems. It is the main city of the region of East Frisia; in 2006, the city had a total population of 51,692.-History:...
(German) and Emmen (Dutch).
Tacitus
The first history tells us of this Germanic identity is very nearly its end. TacitusTacitus
Publius Cornelius Tacitus was a senator and a historian of the Roman Empire. The surviving portions of his two major works—the Annals and the Histories—examine the reigns of the Roman Emperors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero and those who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors...
in Annales
Annales
Annals or annales are a concise form of historical writing which record events chronologically, year by year.-List of Annales:*Annales , an epic poem by Quintus Ennius covering Roman history from the fall of Troy down to the censorship of Cato the Elder* Annals Ab excessu divi Augusti "Following...
Chapter 13.54,56, relates the sad fate of the men of the Ems, at which they arrived because they refused to accept a greater identity than that of a tribesman; i.e., to become part of a nation. The problem began with their refusal to support Arminius
Arminius
Arminius , also known as Armin or Hermann was a chieftain of the Germanic Cherusci who defeated a Roman army in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest...
in his surprise attack on three Roman legions at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest
Battle of the Teutoburg Forest
The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest took place in 9 CE, when an alliance of Germanic tribes led by Arminius of the Cherusci ambushed and decisively destroyed three Roman legions, along with their auxiliaries, led by Publius Quinctilius Varus.Despite numerous successful campaigns and raids by the...
in the year 9. The tribes that did support him later became the greater alliance of the Franks
Franks
The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...
and Saxons
Saxons
The Saxons were a confederation of Germanic tribes originating on the North German plain. The Saxons earliest known area of settlement is Northern Albingia, an area approximately that of modern Holstein...
.
Subsequently the Chauci
Chauci
The Chauci were an ancient Germanic tribe living in the low-lying region between the Rivers Ems and Elbe, on both sides of the Weser and ranging as far inland as the upper Weser. Along the coast they lived on artificial hills called terpen, built high enough to remain dry during the highest tide...
attacked them (the year 58) and drove them from their lands on the Ems. They became refugees, hosted by various tribes in the west of Germany. Meanwhile, the Roman army had cleared out the lower Rhine, which they were using as a no-man’s land between Germany and Belgium. The principate had resolved to stop imperial expansion at the Rhine.
The Frisii
Frisii
The Frisii were an ancient Germanic tribe living in the low-lying region between the Zuiderzee and the River Ems. In the Germanic pre-Migration Period the Frisii and the related Chauci, Saxons, and Angles inhabited the Continental European coast from the Zuyder Zee to south Jutland...
, however, misinterpreted Roman inaction. Believing a rumor that the Roman army had been ordered not to move against them, they occupied some lands along the Rhine, and were told in no uncertain terms to get out. When they refused a troop of Roman cavalry swept them out.
The Ampsivarii now made a bid for the land, petitioning the Roman commander in the region. Their chief, Boiocalus, having personally refused Arminius (spending some time in prison for it and then serving Rome in some capacity) had received the status of friend of Rome. The petition went sour, but Tacitus does not clarify the reason. The Romans were insisting on the meliorum imperia, the "authority of betters", which seems to imply that the Ampsivarii were being invited to throw in their lot with the Romans.
Privately Boiocalus, as a memento of his 50-year friendship, was promised land though he felt obliged to reject on the grounds that it would make him a traitor. It is possible that his Celt
Celt
The Celts were a diverse group of tribal societies in Iron Age and Roman-era Europe who spoke Celtic languages.The earliest archaeological culture commonly accepted as Celtic, or rather Proto-Celtic, was the central European Hallstatt culture , named for the rich grave finds in Hallstatt, Austria....
ic name reflects a Celtic origin of his family, in which case the question of betrayal might have been an issue, or it might simply have been that he was known to have been loyal to Rome. As it turned out the Roman offer was to be the last the Ampsivarii would receive.
They now formed a defensive alliance with the Tencteri and Bructeri
Bructeri
The Bructeri were a Germanic tribe located in northwestern Germany , between the Lippe and Ems rivers south of the Teutoburg Forest, in present-day North Rhine-Westphalia around 100 BC through 350 AD....
, two more tribes of the future Franks, but this hasty relationship was too little and too late. The Romans entered the lands of the Tencteri and threatened to annihilate them. Both allies withdrew from the alliance, the Romans withdrew from their country, and the Ampsivarii stood alone. Having chosen to join neither side at the critical moment, they now had all sides against them.
They went on up the Rhine, hosted by some tribes, resisted by others, until the fighting men were all dead. The survivors were distributed as praeda, booty, meaning slaves, to various tribes and so the identity did not go on to appear in Ptolemy
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the...
.
Sulpicius Alexander
The name appearing in the title belonged to a historian of Germanic tribes, Sulpicius AlexanderSulpicius Alexander
Sulpicius Alexander was a Roman historian of Germanic tribes. His work is lost, but his Historia in at least four books is quoted by Gregory of Tours. It was perhaps a continuation of the Res gestae by Ammianus Marcellinus and dealt with events at least until the death of Valentinian II...
, whose works are all lost except for quotes in Gregory of Tours
Gregory of Tours
Saint Gregory of Tours was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours, which made him a leading prelate of Gaul. He was born Georgius Florentius, later adding the name Gregorius in honour of his maternal great-grandfather...
. In one quote the Ampsivarii appear again some few hundred years after their loss in Tacitus. In the quote, a Roman general of Frankish family, Arbogastes (died 394), attacked the Franks across the Rhine and works some devastation. A force of Chatti
Chatti
The Chatti were an ancient Germanic tribe whose homeland was near the upper Weser. They settled in central and northern Hesse and southern Lower Saxony, along the upper reaches of the Weser River and in the valleys and mountains of the Eder, Fulda and Weser River regions, a district approximately...
and Ampsivarii under Marcomer
Marcomer
Marcomer was a Frankish leader in the late 4th century who invaded the Roman Empire in the year 388, when the usurper and leader of the whole of Roman Gaul, Magnus Maximus was surrounded in Aquileia by Theodosius I....
was seen on a distant hill, but the two did not engage. The circumstances imply that some Ampsivarii had found refuge among the Chatti and still held a tribal identity.
Notitia Dignitatum
Not long after the death of Arbogastes the emperor, HonoriusHonorius (emperor)
Honorius , was Western Roman Emperor from 395 to 423. He was the younger son of emperor Theodosius I and his first wife Aelia Flaccilla, and brother of the eastern emperor Arcadius....
, had little time to spend on the Franks, as Italy was being overrun by Goths
Goths
The Goths were an East Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin whose two branches, the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths, played an important role in the fall of the Roman Empire and the emergence of Medieval Europe....
. Honorius was the emperor who replied to the British request for help against Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...
invaders that they should defend themselves as best they could. The Notitia Dignitatum
Notitia Dignitatum
The Notitia Dignitatum is a unique document of the Roman imperial chanceries. One of the very few surviving documents of Roman government, it details the administrative organisation of the eastern and western empires, listing several thousand offices from the imperial court down to the provincial...
, which lists Roman units and their heraldry, indicates that the Franks were taken as auxiliaries into the Roman army. A unit of Ampsivarii appears there.
See also
- List of Germanic peoples
- Barbarian invasions