Viromandui
Encyclopedia
The Viromandui or Veromandui were a tribe of the Belgae
, occupying a small region in northern Gaul
. We know about them primarily from Julius Caesar
's De Bello Gallico, a book chronicling Caesar's early conquests against the Gauls.
, Somme
and Oise
in Picardy
, France
. These areas are known to have belonged to the Viromandui due to direct historical evidence: the limits of civitas Viromanduorum are kept by the diocese of Noyon
.
However historical records of their military movements and military strength suggests that they were a much larger tribe than could be supported in this area and it is predicted by some scholars that, “…Although their lands included at least the diocese of Noyon, they almost certainly extended into Laon and parts of northern Oise”.
Their main stronghold at the conquest period, is modern day Vermand. It was a small oppidum
(only 14 hectares). There is no demonstration that this stronghold was a town at this time (as elsewhere in Northern Gaul).
. Alongside the Nervii
and the Atrebates
they fought against Julius Caesar
in The Battle of Sabis around 57 BC, named for the river that split the battlefield. We know about this battle because it is described extensively in Julius Caesar’s "De Bello Gallico". It tells of how the Belgae
surprised the Romans by charging out of the woods while the legions were still constructing the Roman camp. In the initial part of the battle, the Romans lost their camp and took heavy losses, prompting their Gallic allies to desert them. However they reformed their lines and were finally able to rout the Viromandui and Atrebates
, killing the Nervii
who reportedly “fought to the last, fighting on top the corpses of their brethren” After this battle Julius Caesar
went on to destroy all the strongholds of all the belgic tribes, breaking their power and making them part of the Roman Empire.
were the furthest from Rome and the closest to Germania, Julius Caesar
considered them “the bravest among the Gauls.” The culture of the Viromandui was undoubtedly centered on warfare as seen from the excavations at Gournay, Ribemont, and Vermand.
They led a relatively simple and austere existence. For example, they forbade merchants that sold wine and other luxuries from doing business in their lands. They viewed these and Roman culture in general as a weakening and corrupting influence on their society. They resisted to the very end although many of the other tribes of the Belgae
surrendered to Rome
.
Since war and bravery were so important to them, so too were their trophies. Diodorus Siculus
gives one account of this is as follows:
This passage readily shows how their culture held bravery and martial prowess as higher values than the attainment of wealth. It is also interesting to see that Diodorus admits that its noble for them to have this attitude even though he finds the act of taking heads as trophies to be barbaric.
Their religion was druidic in nature, and intertwined often with their martial way of life. Archaeologist Jean-Louis Bruneaux describes this facet of their culture. In particular he describes their methods of intimidating enemies with their gory rituals.
Here Brunaux describes the excavation of Gournay-sur-Aronde, one of the Viromandui's villages:
Although it is sometimes considered an unfounded accusation by the Romans, human sacrifice was a significant part of their religious activity. However animal sacrifice was much more common.
TheViromandui or their capital Augusta are also mentioned on following inscriptions:
of Vermand. This town is not very well known. It extended over 40 hectares (possibly up to 60) and looks like a small city (for Gaul).
It is possible that Vermand, which survived as a small town with a great sanctuary and large pottery fabrics, was the civitas capital in the late Roman period. Augusta seems largely abandoned at the end of the 3rd century. Besides, Vermand still well occupied, with large cemeteries explored in late 19th century (more than 700 graves excavated). In the second half of 4th century, these cemeteries contained severals graves of German auxiliaries and their women (with objects typical of the Elbe area), with a chief one, known at the tombeau militaire (the very nice and rare objects found in this rich grave are now in the Metropolitan Museum of New-York). The name of Vermand comes from Veromandis (meaning "at the Veromandui") and indicates this status of civitas capital.
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...
, occupying a small region in northern 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...
. We know about them primarily from Julius Caesar
Julius 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 De Bello Gallico, a book chronicling Caesar's early conquests against the Gauls.
Territory
The boundaries of their domain, before Roman conquest, remain partly uncertain, but it is known that the Viromandui lived around modern-day AisneAisne
Aisne is a department in the northern part of France named after the Aisne River.- History :Aisne is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was created from parts of the former provinces of Île-de-France, Picardie, and Champagne.Most of the old...
, Somme
Somme
Somme is a department of France, located in the north of the country and named after the Somme river. It is part of the Picardy region of France....
and Oise
Oise
Oise is a department in the north of France. It is named after the river Oise.-History:Oise is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...
in Picardy
Picardy
This article is about the historical French province. For other uses, see Picardy .Picardy is a historical province of France, in the north of France...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. These areas are known to have belonged to the Viromandui due to direct historical evidence: the limits of civitas Viromanduorum are kept by the diocese of Noyon
Noyon
Noyon is a commune in the Oise department in northern France.It lies on the Oise Canal, 100 km north of Paris.-History:...
.
However historical records of their military movements and military strength suggests that they were a much larger tribe than could be supported in this area and it is predicted by some scholars that, “…Although their lands included at least the diocese of Noyon, they almost certainly extended into Laon and parts of northern Oise”.
Their main stronghold at the conquest period, is modern day Vermand. It was a small oppidum
Oppidum
Oppidum is a Latin word meaning the main settlement in any administrative area of ancient Rome. The word is derived from the earlier Latin ob-pedum, "enclosed space," possibly from the Proto-Indo-European *pedóm-, "occupied space" or "footprint."Julius Caesar described the larger Celtic Iron Age...
(only 14 hectares). There is no demonstration that this stronghold was a town at this time (as elsewhere in Northern Gaul).
Battle of the Sabis
The Viromandui are perhaps most famous for being a part of a Belgic alliance against the expansion of 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....
. Alongside the 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...
and the 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...
they fought against Julius Caesar
Julius 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....
in The Battle of Sabis around 57 BC, named for the river that split the battlefield. We know about this battle because it is described extensively in Julius Caesar’s "De Bello Gallico". It tells of how 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...
surprised the Romans by charging out of the woods while the legions were still constructing the Roman camp. In the initial part of the battle, the Romans lost their camp and took heavy losses, prompting their Gallic allies to desert them. However they reformed their lines and were finally able to rout the Viromandui and 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...
, killing the 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...
who reportedly “fought to the last, fighting on top the corpses of their brethren” After this battle Julius Caesar
Julius 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....
went on to destroy all the strongholds of all the belgic tribes, breaking their power and making them part of the Roman Empire.
Tactics
The Viromandui and Nervi used cavalry in very small numbers, concentrating on infantry whenever possible. Defensively, they often defeated their enemies cavalry by forming defensive "hedges" described by Caesar as an impenetrable wall of sharpened branches and skillfully cut saplings wrapped in thorns. Using these tactics they resisted the Romans by striking from the safety of their dense forests and marshes.Culture
Because the BelgaeBelgae
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...
were the furthest from Rome and the closest to Germania, Julius Caesar
Julius 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....
considered them “the bravest among the Gauls.” The culture of the Viromandui was undoubtedly centered on warfare as seen from the excavations at Gournay, Ribemont, and Vermand.
They led a relatively simple and austere existence. For example, they forbade merchants that sold wine and other luxuries from doing business in their lands. They viewed these and Roman culture in general as a weakening and corrupting influence on their society. They resisted to the very end although many of the other tribes 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...
surrendered to Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
.
Since war and bravery were so important to them, so too were their trophies. Diodorus Siculus
Diodorus Siculus
Diodorus Siculus was a Greek historian who flourished between 60 and 30 BC. According to Diodorus' own work, he was born at Agyrium in Sicily . With one exception, antiquity affords no further information about Diodorus' life and doings beyond what is to be found in his own work, Bibliotheca...
gives one account of this is as follows:
“…When their enemies full [the Gauls] cut off their heads and fasten them about the necks of their horses; and turning over to their attendants the arms of their opponents, all covered with blood, they carry [the heads] off as booty, singing a paean over them and striking up a song of victory, and these first-fruits of battle they fasten by nails upon their houses, just as men do, in certain kinds of hunting, with the heads of wild beasts they have mastered. The heads of their most distinguished enemies they embalm in cedar-oil and carefully preserve in a chest, and these they exhibit to strangers, gravely maintaining that in exchange for this head some one of their ancestors, or their father, or the man himself, refused the offer of a great sum of money. And some men among them, we are told, boast that they have not accepted an equal weight of gold for the head they show, displaying a barbarous sort of greatness of soul; for not to sell that which constitutes a witness and proof of one's valor is a noble thing.…”
This passage readily shows how their culture held bravery and martial prowess as higher values than the attainment of wealth. It is also interesting to see that Diodorus admits that its noble for them to have this attitude even though he finds the act of taking heads as trophies to be barbaric.
Their religion was druidic in nature, and intertwined often with their martial way of life. Archaeologist Jean-Louis Bruneaux describes this facet of their culture. In particular he describes their methods of intimidating enemies with their gory rituals.
“…That the Gauls sacrificially burned their enemies would surely have daunted anyone planning to wage war against them. Upon approaching a ritual site, a potential attacker might have seen smoke from burning bones rising from the sacred precinct. Or he might have seen the captured armor of conquered enemies fastened to tall poles or a tangled assemblage of headless corpses lying along the outer wall.”
Here Brunaux describes the excavation of Gournay-sur-Aronde, one of the Viromandui's villages:
“…Two thousand iron weapons and pieces of armor found by archaeologists in a ditch adjacent to the sanctuary at Gournay-sur-Aronde were once displayed as intimidating war trophies. Examination showed that the swords and scabbards, war girdles, shields, and lances were originally arranged as some 500 individual suits of armor, either standing on the platform of the gateway or hung from poles around the sacred inner precinct.”
Although it is sometimes considered an unfounded accusation by the Romans, human sacrifice was a significant part of their religious activity. However animal sacrifice was much more common.
“Evidence of human sacrifice was even more striking at Ribemont-sur-Ancre … a particularly spectacular deposit of bones comprising some 80 skeletons was found outside the sacred area along the sanctuary's outer wall. All headless, the skeletons had been piled up and tangled together along with weapons, the bodies contorted into unnatural positions.”
Sources
The Viromandui are mentioned in 7 texts:- Viromanduos, in Periochia 104 from LivyLivyTitus Livius — known as Livy in English — was a Roman historian who wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people. Ab Urbe Condita Libri, "Chapters from the Foundation of the City," covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome well before the traditional foundation in 753 BC...
, Ab Urbe condita ; - Veromandui in Pliny the ElderPliny the ElderGaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...
, Natural History, IV, 106 ; - Ουιρομανδυες or Ρομανδυες in PtolemyPtolemyClaudius 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...
, II, 9, 6 ; - Augusta Veromanduorum in Antonine ItineraryAntonine ItineraryThe Antonine Itinerary is a register of the stations and distances along the various roads of the Roman empire, containing directions how to get from one Roman settlement to another...
, 379, 4; - Aug. Viromunduorum on Tabula PeutingerianaTabula PeutingerianaThe Tabula Peutingeriana is an itinerarium showing the cursus publicus, the road network in the Roman Empire. The original map of which this is a unique copy was last revised in the fourth or early fifth century. It covers Europe, parts of Asia and North Africa...
; - Veromandi in Orosius, VI, 7, 1 ;
- civitas Veromand[u]orum in Notitia Galliarum VI, 5.
TheViromandui or their capital Augusta are also mentioned on following inscriptions:
- Viromanduo = Corpus Inscriptionum LatinarumCorpus Inscriptionum LatinarumThe Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum is a comprehensive collection of ancient Latin inscriptions. It forms an authoritative source for documenting the surviving epigraphy of classical antiquity. Public and personal inscriptions throw light on all aspects of Roman life and history...
XIII, 1465 (Clermont-Ferrand) - civi Viromanduo = CIL XIII, 8409, 8341 et 8342 (Koln, I c.)
- Viromand(uo) = CIL XIII, 1688 (Lyon, autel des Gaules)
- Civit (ati) Vi(romanduorum) = CIL XIII, 3528 (Saint-Quentin, end of II or III c.)
- Avg(vstae) Viromandvorv(orum) = CIL VI, 32550 = 2822 et 32551 = 2821 (Rome, middle of III c.)
History
Their new capital, founded by the Romans, was the town of Augusta Viromanduorum, modern-day St. Quentin, 11 km from the oppidumOppidum
Oppidum is a Latin word meaning the main settlement in any administrative area of ancient Rome. The word is derived from the earlier Latin ob-pedum, "enclosed space," possibly from the Proto-Indo-European *pedóm-, "occupied space" or "footprint."Julius Caesar described the larger Celtic Iron Age...
of Vermand. This town is not very well known. It extended over 40 hectares (possibly up to 60) and looks like a small city (for Gaul).
It is possible that Vermand, which survived as a small town with a great sanctuary and large pottery fabrics, was the civitas capital in the late Roman period. Augusta seems largely abandoned at the end of the 3rd century. Besides, Vermand still well occupied, with large cemeteries explored in late 19th century (more than 700 graves excavated). In the second half of 4th century, these cemeteries contained severals graves of German auxiliaries and their women (with objects typical of the Elbe area), with a chief one, known at the tombeau militaire (the very nice and rare objects found in this rich grave are now in the Metropolitan Museum of New-York). The name of Vermand comes from Veromandis (meaning "at the Veromandui") and indicates this status of civitas capital.
External links
- The Celtic Tribes of Britain on www.Roman-Britain.org.
- Gallic Settlements: oppida from the French Ministry of Culture and Communication.
- Antiquité : Les origines de la ville from a website on Saint-Quentin.
- http://www.livius.org/a/battlefields/sabis/selle.html#2
- Archéologie en Picardie (2000) from the French Ministry of Culture and Communication.