Germani cisrhenani
Encyclopedia
Germani Cisrhenani is a Latin
term which refers to that part of the tribal people known as Germani who lived to the west of the Rhine river. Cisrhenane, the English form of the word, means "this side of the Rhine". The opposite is transrhenane or "that side of the Rhine".
The Rhine was considered an important natural border between Gaul
on the west, which became part of the Roman empire
, and the majority of the Germani, who lived on the east. The Germani on the other side of the Rhine were also considered to be living in their original homeland. So this land was referred to not only as "Germania Transrhenana", but also, for example by Ptolemy
and Strabo
, as Germania magna, "Greater Germany". It is also referred to with names referring it being outside of Roman control: Germania libera, "Free Germany"; or Germania barbara indicating that it was wild and uncivilized
. In contrast the cisrhenane Germani were sometimes referred to as living in Germania cisrhenana. It is not necessarily true that the Romans were correct in describing all the different peoples that they called Germani, as belonging to one ethnic group.
The word Germani is the source of the modern English word "German" but because the meaning has changed in its various meanings over the centuries, this specific Latin term is still often used in English language texts. In modern analyses of cultural groups, languages are often used as a means of classification, and the modern language family associated with the Germani, at least the Germani transrhenani, is today called Germanic
. But there is no consensus about whether the ancient Germani all spoke the same language, particularly in the earliest phases of contact between these people and the Romans and Greeks. In fact, the earliest reported Germani cisrhenani seem to have had tribal names based on Celtic languages
, and they were clearly considered Gauls
, or at least Belgae
, in at least some contexts.
's account of the Gallic War, the "Commentarii de Bello Gallico
". (The word was probably used before him in Rome. For example there are classical citations of a lost work by Poseidonius which apparently mentioned them.) He already made use of the distinction between Germani who were "cis" and "trans" rhenane, and he may have been the first to do this. This is also frequently compared to comments made by Tacitus
in his De Origine et situ Germanorum, also referred to as Germania, which was written some generations later, when the cisrhenane area was firmly within the Roman empire.
In the build up to the Battle of the Sabis
in 57 BCE, Caesar reports that he got information from Remi
tribesman, which defined a large part of the Belgae
of northern France and Gaul as having "transrhenane" Germanic ancestry, but not all.
At other times Caesar more clearly divides Belgic Gaul into the Belgae
, and another smaller group which was called the Germani. For example he reports that his local informants said that "all the rest of the Belgae were in arms; and that the Germans, who dwell on this side of the Rhine [omnes Belgas in armis esse, Germanosque qui cis Rhenum], had joined themselves to them."
The reference to the Cimbric migrations means this movement (or movements) of people from east of the Rhine must have happened at least as early as the 2nd century BCE, and possibly earlier. But it has remained unclear to this day exactly which Belgic Gauls were considered Germani ancestry, and also which, if any, might have spoken a Germanic language in the modern sense. One group however were especially referred to this way. In the list of Belgic nations given as being in arms are Bellovaci
, Suessiones
, Nervii
, Atrebates
, Ambiani
, Morini
, Menapii
, Caleti, Velocasses, and Veromandui, who together make up a major part of all the Belgic nations. Then lastly when it comes to the tribes in the extreme northeast of Gaul, against the Rhine, the Condrusi
, the Eburones
, the Caeraesi, and the Paemani
, "are called by the common name of Germans" [Germani]. They had one joint contribution to the alliance, and apparently the number of men they committed was less certain to the Remi than the contribution of the other Belgae. Later, Caesar adds the Segni
to the list of tribes among the Belgae who actually went by the name of the Germani. There is also another group living close to these tribes in the northeast called the Aduatuci
, who descended from the above-mentioned Cimbri, but these are not referred to as Germani, even though their ancestry is clearly to the east of the Rhine also and "Germanic" in that sense.
After the battle of the Sabis, which the Romans won, some of the Belgic tribes renewed fighting against the Romans in 54 BCE. Caesar gives a clear contrast between two types of remaining rebel groups: "the Nervii, Aduatuci, and Menapii" and with them "the addition of all the Germans on this side of the Rhine", and within this last group he is referring to the group containing the Eburones, whose king Ambiorix
had become a major rebel leader.
When these Eburones were defeated, the Segni and Condrusi "of the nation and number of the Germans [Germani], and who are between the Eburones and the Treviri, sent embassadors to Caesar to entreat that he would not regard them in the number of his enemies, nor consider that the cause of all the Germans on this side the Rhine [omnium Germanorum, qui essent citra Rhenum] was one and the same; that they had formed no plans of war, and had sent no auxiliaries to Ambiorix".
Some generations later, in the time of Tacitus, long after Caesar claimed to have annihilated the name of at least the Eburones, the area where the Eburones had lived was inhabited by the Tungri
, but Tacitus claimed that this was not their original name:-
Many historians read Caesar and Tacitus in combination to conclude that Caesar was knowingly using the term Germani in both a strict sense, for a tribal group who had crossed the Rhine very early and who were actually locally named this way, and in an extended sense, for tribal groups of similar ancestry, most clearly those on the east of the Rhine. Some believe he may have been the first to do so.
Apart from the Germani in this strict sense then, it is unclear to what extent if any that Caesar believed the other Belgae to have similar transrhenane ancestry. But in any case it is clear that he, like Tacitus, apparently makes a distinction between two types of Germani, as shown by the above quotations where the Nervii, Aduatuci, and Menapii are both contrasted with the cisrhenane Germani such as the Eburones and the Condrusi. So in the northern Belgic region of Gaul, at least some of the other Belgic nations, apart from the group containing the Eburones and Condrusi, might or might not have been considered Germani in a broad sense. Tacitus on the other hand certainly knew of such claims, but expressed doubt about them, writing of two of the tribes most geographically and politically close to the Germani, that the "Treveri and Nervii are even eager in their claims of a German origin, thinking that the glory of this descent distinguishes them from the uniform level of Gallic effeminacy".
The accounts of Caesar and Tacitus match to some extent, but both are doubted by some modern historians, because both men are considered to have been writing about this subject with Roman politics in mind.
One of the reasons (or excuses) for Caesar's interventions in Gaul in the first place was an apparent increase in movements of tranrhenane peoples, attempting to enter Gaul, apparently due to major movements of people such as the Suevi deep in Germania. Some of the Germani who Caesar mentions did stay in Gaul under its new Roman overlords. Apart from the Ubii
, Sicambri
and Tencteri and Usipetes
in Germania inferior, some others had attempted to cross to the west of the Rhine further south, but in that region of the Rhine, such crossing were apparently a new thing in his time.
Already during the Gallic Wars of Caesar, tribes of Germanic people were raiding over the Rhine, and many were eventually settled there. As Tacitus wrote, "The Rhine bank itself is occupied by tribes unquestionably German,—the Vangiones
, the Triboci
, and the Nemetes
. Nor do even the Ubii
, though they have earned the distinction of being a Roman colony, and prefer to be called Agrippinenses, from the name of their founder, blush to own their origin." The tribes he mentions are all tribes mentioned by Caesar also, as having made attempts to cross the Rhine when he was in the area.
The Ubii, were in the north, the region of the Eburones, and became the people of the region of Cologne
and Bonn
during Roman imperial times. The other three tribes had been invaders on the upper Rhine, closer to modern Switzerland.
The Roman empire
proceeded to form two new cisrhenane provinces named "Germania" on the Gaulish, western, side of the Rhine.
So the two Roman provinces named Germania, both mainly on the west of the Rhine, gave an official form to the concept of germani cisrhenani.
(Germania inferior and northern France), the Alemanni (Germania superior), the Burgundians
(southeast France), the Visigoths (southwest France and Catalonia
), and so on including even Germanic overlords as far away from the Rhine as Galicia
, Andalucia, and Tunisia
.
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...
term which refers to that part of the tribal people known as Germani who lived to the west of the Rhine river. Cisrhenane, the English form of the word, means "this side of the Rhine". The opposite is transrhenane or "that side of the Rhine".
The Rhine was considered an important natural border between Gaul
Gaul
Gaul was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium, most of Switzerland, the western part of Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the left bank of the Rhine. The Gauls were the speakers of...
on the west, which became part of the Roman empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
, and the majority of the Germani, who lived on the east. The Germani on the other side of the Rhine were also considered to be living in their original homeland. So this land was referred to not only as "Germania Transrhenana", but also, for example by 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...
and Strabo
Strabo
Strabo, also written Strabon was a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher.-Life:Strabo was born to an affluent family from Amaseia in Pontus , a city which he said was situated the approximate equivalent of 75 km from the Black Sea...
, as Germania magna, "Greater Germany". It is also referred to with names referring it being outside of Roman control: Germania libera, "Free Germany"; or Germania barbara indicating that it was wild and uncivilized
Civilization
Civilization is a sometimes controversial term that has been used in several related ways. Primarily, the term has been used to refer to the material and instrumental side of human cultures that are complex in terms of technology, science, and division of labor. Such civilizations are generally...
. In contrast the cisrhenane Germani were sometimes referred to as living in Germania cisrhenana. It is not necessarily true that the Romans were correct in describing all the different peoples that they called Germani, as belonging to one ethnic group.
The word Germani is the source of the modern English word "German" but because the meaning has changed in its various meanings over the centuries, this specific Latin term is still often used in English language texts. In modern analyses of cultural groups, languages are often used as a means of classification, and the modern language family associated with the Germani, at least the Germani transrhenani, is today called Germanic
Germanic languages
The Germanic languages constitute a sub-branch of the Indo-European language family. The common ancestor of all of the languages in this branch is called Proto-Germanic , which was spoken in approximately the mid-1st millennium BC in Iron Age northern Europe...
. But there is no consensus about whether the ancient Germani all spoke the same language, particularly in the earliest phases of contact between these people and the Romans and Greeks. In fact, the earliest reported Germani cisrhenani seem to have had tribal names based on Celtic languages
Celtic languages
The Celtic languages are descended from Proto-Celtic, or "Common Celtic"; a branch of the greater Indo-European language family...
, and they were clearly considered Gauls
Gauls
The Gauls were a Celtic people living in Gaul, the region roughly corresponding to what is now France, Belgium, Switzerland and Northern Italy, from the Iron Age through the Roman period. They mostly spoke the Continental Celtic language called Gaulish....
, or at least Belgae
Belgae
The Belgae were a group of tribes living in northern Gaul, on the west bank of the Rhine, in the 3rd century BC, and later also in Britain, and possibly even Ireland...
, in at least some contexts.
Pre-Roman
The earliest definite surviving records referring to Germani of any kind is Julius CaesarJulius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
's account of the Gallic War, the "Commentarii de Bello Gallico
Commentarii de Bello Gallico
Commentarii de Bello Gallico is Julius Caesar's firsthand account of the Gallic Wars, written as a third-person narrative. In it Caesar describes the battles and intrigues that took place in the nine years he spent fighting local armies in Gaul that opposed Roman domination.The "Gaul" that Caesar...
". (The word was probably used before him in Rome. For example there are classical citations of a lost work by Poseidonius which apparently mentioned them.) He already made use of the distinction between Germani who were "cis" and "trans" rhenane, and he may have been the first to do this. This is also frequently compared to comments made by Tacitus
Tacitus
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 his De Origine et situ Germanorum, also referred to as Germania, which was written some generations later, when the cisrhenane area was firmly within the Roman empire.
In the build up to the Battle of the Sabis
Battle of the Sabis
The Battle of the Sabis, also known as the Battle of the Sambre or the Battle against the Nervians , was fought in 57 BC in the area known today as Wallonia, between the legions of the Roman Republic and an association of Belgic tribes, principally the Nervii...
in 57 BCE, Caesar reports that he got information from Remi
Remi
The Remi were a Belgic tribe of north-eastern Gaul in the 1st century BC. They occupied the northern Champagne plain, on the southern fringes of the Forest of Ardennes, between the rivers Mosa and Matrona , and along the river valleys of the Aisne and its tributaries the Aire and the Vesle.Their...
tribesman, which defined a large part of the Belgae
Belgae
The Belgae were a group of tribes living in northern Gaul, on the west bank of the Rhine, in the 3rd century BC, and later also in Britain, and possibly even Ireland...
of northern France and Gaul as having "transrhenane" Germanic ancestry, but not all.
At other times Caesar more clearly divides Belgic Gaul into the Belgae
Belgae
The Belgae were a group of tribes living in northern Gaul, on the west bank of the Rhine, in the 3rd century BC, and later also in Britain, and possibly even Ireland...
, and another smaller group which was called the Germani. For example he reports that his local informants said that "all the rest of the Belgae were in arms; and that the Germans, who dwell on this side of the Rhine [omnes Belgas in armis esse, Germanosque qui cis Rhenum], had joined themselves to them."
The reference to the Cimbric migrations means this movement (or movements) of people from east of the Rhine must have happened at least as early as the 2nd century BCE, and possibly earlier. But it has remained unclear to this day exactly which Belgic Gauls were considered Germani ancestry, and also which, if any, might have spoken a Germanic language in the modern sense. One group however were especially referred to this way. In the list of Belgic nations given as being in arms are Bellovaci
Bellovaci
The Bellovaci were among the most powerful and numerous of the Belgic tribes of north-eastern Gaul conquered by Julius Caesar in 57 BC. The name survives today in the French city of Beauvais, called by the Romans Caesaromagus.- Geography :...
, Suessiones
Suessiones
The Suessiones were a Belgic tribe of Western Belgium in the 1st century BC, inhabiting the region between the Oise and the Marne, based around the present-day city of Soissons...
, Nervii
Nervii
The Nervii were an ancient Germanic tribe, and one of the most powerful Belgic tribes; living in the northeastern hinterlands of Gaul, they were known to trek long distances to engage in various wars and functions...
, Atrebates
Atrebates
The Atrebates were a Belgic tribe of Gaul and Britain before the Roman conquests.- Name of the tribe :Cognate with Old Irish aittrebaid meaning 'inhabitant', Atrebates comes from proto-Celtic *ad-treb-a-t-es, 'inhabitants'. The Celtic root is treb- 'building', 'home' The Atrebates (singular...
, Ambiani
Ambiani
The Ambiani were a Belgic people of Celtic language, who were said to be able to muster 10,000 armed men, in 57 BC, the year of Julius Caesar's Belgic campaign. They submitted to Caesar. Their country lay in the valley of the Samara ; and their chief town Samarobriva, afterwards called Ambiani and...
, Morini
Morini
The Morini were a Belgic tribe in the time of the Roman Empire. We know little about their language but one of their cities, Boulogne-sur-Mer was called Bononia by Zosimus and Bonen in the Middle Ages. Zosimus mentioned the Low Germanic character of the city...
, Menapii
Menapii
The Menapii were a Belgic tribe of northern Gaul in pre-Roman and Roman times. Their territory according to Strabo, Caesar and Ptolemy stretched from the mouth of the Rhine in the north, and southwards along the west of the Schelde. Their civitas under the Roman empire was Cassel , near Thérouanne...
, Caleti, Velocasses, and Veromandui, who together make up a major part of all the Belgic nations. Then lastly when it comes to the tribes in the extreme northeast of Gaul, against the Rhine, the Condrusi
Condrusi
The Condrusi were a Germanic tribe of ancient Belgium, which takes its name from the political and ethnic group known to the Romans as the Belgae. The Condrusi were probably located in the region now known as Condroz, named after them, between Liège and Namur...
, the Eburones
Eburones
The Eburones , were a Belgic people who lived in the northeast of Gaul, near the river Meuse and the modern provinces of Belgian and Dutch Limburg, in the period immediately before it was conquered by Rome. They played a major role in Julius Caesar's account of his "Gallic Wars", as the most...
, the Caeraesi, and the Paemani
Paemani
The Paemani were a tribe of Gallia Belgica, mentioned by Julius Caesar in his commentary of his Gallic Wars. They were one of a group of tribes listed by his local Remi informants as the Germani, along with the Eburones, Condrusi, Caeraesi , and Segni...
, "are called by the common name of Germans" [Germani]. They had one joint contribution to the alliance, and apparently the number of men they committed was less certain to the Remi than the contribution of the other Belgae. Later, Caesar adds the Segni
Segni (tribe)
The Segni were a tribe living in Belgic Gaul when Julius Caesar's Roman forces entered the area in 57 BCE. They are know from his account of the Gallic War. They were one of a group of tribes listed by his local informants as the Germani of Belgian Gaul, along with the Eburones, Condrusi, Paemani ,...
to the list of tribes among the Belgae who actually went by the name of the Germani. There is also another group living close to these tribes in the northeast called the Aduatuci
Aduatuci
The Aduatuci or Atuatuci were, according to Caesar, a Germanic tribe formed in east Belgium descended from the Cimbri and Teutones, who are tribes thought to have originated in the area of Denmark. They were allowed to settle in the region by local tribes...
, who descended from the above-mentioned Cimbri, but these are not referred to as Germani, even though their ancestry is clearly to the east of the Rhine also and "Germanic" in that sense.
After the battle of the Sabis, which the Romans won, some of the Belgic tribes renewed fighting against the Romans in 54 BCE. Caesar gives a clear contrast between two types of remaining rebel groups: "the Nervii, Aduatuci, and Menapii" and with them "the addition of all the Germans on this side of the Rhine", and within this last group he is referring to the group containing the Eburones, whose king Ambiorix
Ambiorix
Ambiorix was, together with Catuvolcus, prince of the Eburones, leader of a Belgic tribe of north-eastern Gaul , where modern Belgium is located...
had become a major rebel leader.
When these Eburones were defeated, the Segni and Condrusi "of the nation and number of the Germans [Germani], and who are between the Eburones and the Treviri, sent embassadors to Caesar to entreat that he would not regard them in the number of his enemies, nor consider that the cause of all the Germans on this side the Rhine [omnium Germanorum, qui essent citra Rhenum] was one and the same; that they had formed no plans of war, and had sent no auxiliaries to Ambiorix".
Some generations later, in the time of Tacitus, long after Caesar claimed to have annihilated the name of at least the Eburones, the area where the Eburones had lived was inhabited by the Tungri
Tungri
The Tungri were a tribe, or group of tribes, who lived in the Belgic part Gaul, during the times of the Roman empire. They were described by Tacitus as being the same people who were first called "Germani" , meaning that all other tribes who were later referred to this way, including those in...
, but Tacitus claimed that this was not their original name:-
Many historians read Caesar and Tacitus in combination to conclude that Caesar was knowingly using the term Germani in both a strict sense, for a tribal group who had crossed the Rhine very early and who were actually locally named this way, and in an extended sense, for tribal groups of similar ancestry, most clearly those on the east of the Rhine. Some believe he may have been the first to do so.
Apart from the Germani in this strict sense then, it is unclear to what extent if any that Caesar believed the other Belgae to have similar transrhenane ancestry. But in any case it is clear that he, like Tacitus, apparently makes a distinction between two types of Germani, as shown by the above quotations where the Nervii, Aduatuci, and Menapii are both contrasted with the cisrhenane Germani such as the Eburones and the Condrusi. So in the northern Belgic region of Gaul, at least some of the other Belgic nations, apart from the group containing the Eburones and Condrusi, might or might not have been considered Germani in a broad sense. Tacitus on the other hand certainly knew of such claims, but expressed doubt about them, writing of two of the tribes most geographically and politically close to the Germani, that the "Treveri and Nervii are even eager in their claims of a German origin, thinking that the glory of this descent distinguishes them from the uniform level of Gallic effeminacy".
The accounts of Caesar and Tacitus match to some extent, but both are doubted by some modern historians, because both men are considered to have been writing about this subject with Roman politics in mind.
One of the reasons (or excuses) for Caesar's interventions in Gaul in the first place was an apparent increase in movements of tranrhenane peoples, attempting to enter Gaul, apparently due to major movements of people such as the Suevi deep in Germania. Some of the Germani who Caesar mentions did stay in Gaul under its new Roman overlords. Apart from the Ubii
Ubii
thumb|right|350px|The Ubii around AD 30The Ubii were a Germanic tribe first encountered dwelling on the right bank of the Rhine in the time of Julius Caesar, who formed an alliance with them in 55 BC in order to launch attacks across the river...
, Sicambri
Sicambri
The Sicambri were a Germanic people living on the right bank of the Rhine river, near where it passes out of Germany and enters what is now called the Netherlands at the turn of the first millennium....
and Tencteri and Usipetes
Tencteri and Usipetes
The Tencteri and Usipetes were an ancient Germanic tribe, or tribes, located on the eastern bank of the lower Rhine in the 1st century BC. They are known primarily from Julius Caesar's account of his campaigns against them in his Commentarii de Bello Gallico.Tacitus mentions the Tencteri and...
in Germania inferior, some others had attempted to cross to the west of the Rhine further south, but in that region of the Rhine, such crossing were apparently a new thing in his time.
Roman empire
Vangiones
The Vangiones appear first in history as an ancient Germanic tribe of unknown provenience. They threw in their lot with Ariovistus in his bid of 58 BC to invade Gaul through the Doubs river valley and lost to Julius Caesar in a battle probably near Belfort...
, the Triboci
Triboci
In classical antiquity, the Triboci or Tribocci were a Germanic people of eastern Gaul, inhabiting much of what is now Alsace.-Name:Besides the forms Triboci and Tribocci, Schneider has the form “Triboces” in the accusative plural. Pliny has Tribochi, and Strabo . In the passage of Caesar, it is...
, and the Nemetes
Nemetes
The Nemetes , by modern authors sometimes improperly called Nemeti, were an ancient Germanic tribe living by the Rhine between the Palatinate and Lake Constance where Ariovistus had led them, the Suebi and other allied Germanic peoples in the second quarter of the 1st century BC...
. Nor do even the Ubii
Ubii
thumb|right|350px|The Ubii around AD 30The Ubii were a Germanic tribe first encountered dwelling on the right bank of the Rhine in the time of Julius Caesar, who formed an alliance with them in 55 BC in order to launch attacks across the river...
, though they have earned the distinction of being a Roman colony, and prefer to be called Agrippinenses, from the name of their founder, blush to own their origin." The tribes he mentions are all tribes mentioned by Caesar also, as having made attempts to cross the Rhine when he was in the area.
The Ubii, were in the north, the region of the Eburones, and became the people of the region of Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
and Bonn
Bonn
Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....
during Roman imperial times. The other three tribes had been invaders on the upper Rhine, closer to modern Switzerland.
The Roman empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
proceeded to form two new cisrhenane provinces named "Germania" on the Gaulish, western, side of the Rhine.
- Germania SuperiorGermania SuperiorGermania Superior , so called for the reason that it lay upstream of Germania Inferior, was a province of the Roman Empire. It comprised an area of western Switzerland, the French Jura and Alsace regions, and southwestern Germany...
was the more southern of the two provinces of cisrhenane Germania. It had its capital at MainzMainzMainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire...
and included the area of modern AlsaceAlsaceAlsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...
, and the corner of Switzerland, Germany and France. - Germania InferiorGermania InferiorGermania Inferior was a Roman province located on the left bank of the Rhine, in today's Luxembourg, southern Netherlands, parts of Belgium, and North Rhine-Westphalia left of the Rhine....
("lower Germany") ran along the lower Rhine and had its capital on the German frontier in CologneCologneCologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
. It included modern BonnBonnBonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....
, NeussNeussNeuss is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located on the west bank of the Rhine opposite Düsseldorf. Neuss is the largest city within the Rhein-Kreis Neuss district and owes its prosperity to its location at the crossing of historic and modern trade routes. It is primarily known...
, XantenXantenXanten is a historic town in the North Rhine-Westphalia state of Germany, located in the district of Wesel.Xanten is known for the Archaeological Park or archaeological open air museum , its medieval picturesque city centre with Xanten Cathedral and many museums, its large man-made lake for...
, Nijmegen, and the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. Along the Rhine in Germania Inferior were not only the Ubii, but also other tribes who had crossed the Rhine into the empire - the CugerniCugerniThe Cugerni was a tribal grouping with a particular territory within the Roman province of Germania Inferior, which later became Germania Secunda. More precisely they lived near modern Xanten, and the old Castra Vetera, on the Rhine...
, thought to be a part of the Sugambri, and the BataviansBataviansThe Batavi were an ancient Germanic tribe, originally part of the Chatti, reported by Tacitus to have lived around the Rhine delta, in the area that is currently the Netherlands, "an uninhabited district on the extremity of the coast of Gaul, and also of a neighbouring island, surrounded by the...
, thought to descend from the ChattiChattiThe 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...
. The origin of others such as the MarsaciiMarsaciiThe Marsaci or Marsacii were a Germanic tribe in Roman imperial times, who lived within the area of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, under Roman domination....
, FrisiavonesFrisiavonesThe Frisiavones were a Germanic tribe sometimes considered as a subdivision of the Frisii, who in turn are traditionally considered to be ancestors of modern Frisians. Pliny the Elder, however, appeared to distinguish them from the Frisii. They also appear in inscriptions found in Roman Britain...
, Baetasii, and Sunuci is less certain, but they are all thought to be Germanic. At some point, the Civitas TungrorumCivitas TungrorumThe Civitas Tungrorum was a large Roman administrative district. In the early days of the Roman empire it was in the province of Gallia Belgica, but it later joined the neighbouring lower Rhine river border districts, within the province of Germania Inferior...
, the district of the Tungri, who lived where the supposed original Germani had lived, became part of Germania Inferior.
So the two Roman provinces named Germania, both mainly on the west of the Rhine, gave an official form to the concept of germani cisrhenani.
The end of the era
As the empire grew older, new tribes arrived into Germania cisrhenana, and these regions started to become more independent. By the time of the collapse of the empire's central power in Gaul, there is little doubt about the fact that all or most of these peoples were unified in their use of Germanic languages or dialects. The cisrhenane Germani eventually ceased to be restricted to a band of occupation near the border, and all Roman provinces west of the Rhine were eventually conquered by Germanic tribes, speaking Germanic languages: the FranksFranks
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...
(Germania inferior and northern France), the Alemanni (Germania superior), the Burgundians
Burgundians
The Burgundians were an East Germanic tribe which may have emigrated from mainland Scandinavia to the island of Bornholm, whose old form in Old Norse still was Burgundarholmr , and from there to mainland Europe...
(southeast France), the Visigoths (southwest France and Catalonia
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
), and so on including even Germanic overlords as far away from the Rhine as Galicia
Galicia
-Geographic regions:* Galicia , an autonomous community in northwestern Spain** Gallaecia, a province of the Roman Empire** Kingdom of Galicia, a medieval kingdom**Nueva Galicia :*** Nueva Galicia, a region of New Spain, now in Mexico...
, Andalucia, and Tunisia
Tunisia
Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...
.
External links
- Caesar's Commentaries on the Gallic War on the Perseus ProjectPerseus ProjectThe Perseus Project is a digital library project of Tufts University that assembles digital collections of humanities resources. It is hosted by the Department of Classics. It has suffered at times from computer hardware problems, and its resources are occasionally unavailable...
- Tacitus' Germania on the Perseus Project