Julius Caesar in Germany.
Our direct knowledge of Germany begins with the appointment of Julius
Caesar as governor of Gaul in 59 B.C. Long before that time there is
evidence of German communication with southern civilization, as the
antiquities prove, and occasional travellers from the Mediterranean had
made their way into those regions (e.g. Pytheas, towards the end of the
4th century), but hardly any records of their journeys survive. The
first Teutonic peoples whom the Romans are said to have encountered are
the Cimbri and Teutoni, probably from Denmark, who invaded Illyria, Gaul
and Italy towards the end of the 2nd century B.C. When Caesar arrived in
Gaul the westernmost part of what is now Germany was in the possession
of Gaulish tribes. The Rhine practically formed the boundary between
Gauls and Germans, though one Gaulish tribe, the Menapii, is said to
have been living beyond the Rhine at its mouth, and shortly before the
arrival of Caesar an invading force of Germans had seized and settled
down in what is now Alsace, 72 B.C. At this time the Gauls were being
pressed by the Germans along the whole frontier, and several of Caesar's
campaigns were occupied with operations, either against the Germans, or
against Gaulish tribes set in motion by the Germans. Among these we may
mention the campaign of his first year of office, 58 B.C., against the
German king Ariovistus, who led the movement in Alsace, and that of 55
B.C. in which he expelled the Usipetes and Tencteri who had crossed the
lower Rhine. During the period of Caesar's government he succeeded in
annexing the whole of Gaul as far as the Rhine. (For the campaigns see
CAESAR, JULIUS.)
The campaign of other Roman leaders.
After peace had been established in Italy by Augustus, attempts were
made to extend the Roman frontier beyond the Rhine. The Roman prince
Nero Claudius Drusus (q.v.) in the year 12 B.C. annexed what is now the
kingdom of the Netherlands, and constructed a canal (Fossa Drusiana)
between the Rhine and the lake Flevo (Lacus Flevus), which partly
corresponded to the Zuyder Zee, though the topography of the district
has greatly altered. He also penetrated into regions beyond and crossed
the Weser, receiving the submission of the Bructeri, Chatti and
Cherusci. After Drusus' death in 9 B.C., while on his return from an
expedition which reached the Elbe, the German command was twice
undertaken by Tiberius, who in A.D. 5 received the submission of all the
tribes in this quarter, including the Chauci and the Langobardi. A Roman
garrison was left in the conquered districts between the Rhine and the
Elbe, but the reduction was not thoroughly completed. About the same
time the Roman fleet voyaged along the northern coast apparently as far
as the north of Jutland, and received the nominal submission of several
tribes in that region, including the Cimbri and the Charudes. In A.D. 9
Quintilius Varus, the successor of Tiberius, was surprised in the
_Saltus Teutobergensis_ between the Lippe and the Weser by a force
raised by Arminius, a chief of the Cherusci, and his army consisting of
three legions was annihilated. Germanicus Caesar, during his tenure of
the command of the Roman armies on the Rhine, made repeated attempts to
recover the Roman position in northern Germany and exact vengeance for
the death of Varus, but without real success, and after his recall the
Rhine formed for the greater part of its course the boundary of the
Empire. A standing army was kept up on the Rhine, divided into two
commands, upper and lower Germany, the headquarters of the former being
at Mainz, those of the latter at Vetera, near Xanten. A number of
important towns grew up, among which we may mention Trier (Augusta
Trevirorum), Cologne (Colonia Agrippinensis), Bonn (Bonna), Worms
(Borbetomagus), Spires (Noviomagus), Strassburg (Argentoratum) and
Augsburg (Augusta Vindelicorum).
At a later date, however, probably under the Flavian emperors, the
frontier of upper Germany was advanced somewhat beyond the Rhine, and a
fortification, the _Pfahlgraben_, constructed to protect it. It led from
Honningen on the Rhine, about half-way between Bonn and Coblenz, to
Mittenberg above Aschaffenburg on the Main, thence southwards to Lorch
in Wurttemberg, whence it turned east to the junction of the Altmuhl
with the Danube at Kelheim.
During the wars of Drusus, Tiberius and Germanicus the Romans had ample
opportunity of getting to know the tribal geography of Germany,
especially the western part, and though most of our authorities lived at
a somewhat later period, it is probable that they derived their
information very largely from records of that time. It will be
convenient, therefore, to give an account of the tribal geography of
Germany in the time of Augustus, as our knowledge of the subject is much
more complete for his reign than for several centuries later.
The German tribes.
Of the Gaulish tribes west of the Rhine, the most important was the
Treveri, inhabiting the basin of the Moselle, from whom the city of
Trier (Treves) derives its name. The Rauraci probably occupied the south
of Alsace. To the south of the Treveri lay the Mediomatrici, and to the
west of them lay the important tribe of the Sequani, who had called in
Ariovistus. The Treveri claimed to be of German origin, and the same
claim was made by a number of tribes in Belgium, the most powerful of
which were the Nervii. The meaning of this claim is not quite clear, as
there is some obscurity concerning the origin of the name Germani. It
appears to be a Gaulish term, and there is no evidence that it was ever
used by the Germans themselves. According to Tacitus it was first
applied to the Tungri, whereas Caesar records that four Belgic tribes,
namely, the Condrusi, Eburones, Caeraesi and Paemani, were collectively
known as Germani. There is no doubt that these tribes were all
linguistically Celtic, and it is now the prevailing opinion that they
were not of German origin ethnologically, but that the ground for their
claim was that they had come from over the Rhine (cf. Caesar, _De Bello
Gallico_ ii. 4). It would therefore seem that the name Germani
originally denoted certain Celtic tribes to the east of the Rhine, and
that it was then transferred to the Teutonic tribes which subsequently
occupied the same territory.
Their movements.
There is little doubt that during the last century before the Christian
era the Celtic peoples had been pushed considerably farther west by the
Teutonic peoples, a process which was still going on in Caesar's time,
when we hear of the overthrow of the Menapii, the last Gaulish tribe
beyond the Rhine. In the south the same process can be observed. The
Boii were expelled from their territories in Bohemia by the Marcomanni
in the time of Augustus, and the Helvetii are also recorded to have
occupied formerly lands east of the Rhine, in what is now Baden and
Wurttemberg. Caesar also mentions a Gaulish tribe named Volcae
Tectosages as living in Germany in his time. The Volcae Arecomici in the
south of France and the Tectosages of Galatia were in all probability
offshoots of this people. The name of the tribe was adopted in the
Teutonic languages as a generic term for all Celtic and Italian peoples
(O.H.G. _Walha_, A.S. _Wealas_), from which it is probably to be
inferred that they were the Celtic people with whom the Teutonic races
had the closest association in early times. It has been thought that
they inhabited the basin of the Weser, and a number of place-names in
this district are supposed to be of Celtic origin. Farther to the south
and west Ptolemy mentions a number of place-names which are certainly
Celtic, e.g. Mediolanion, Aregelia, Lougidounon, Lokoriton, Segodounon.
There is therefore great probability that a large part of western
Germany east of the Rhine had formerly been occupied by Celtic peoples.
In the east a Gaulish people named Cotini are mentioned, apparently in
the upper basin of the Oder, and Tacitus speaks of a tribe in the same
neighbourhood, the Osi, who he says spoke the Pannonian language. It is
probable, therefore, that in other directions also the Germans had
considerably advanced their frontier southwards at a comparatively
recent period.
Tribes in the west and north.
Coming now to the Germans proper, the basin of the Rhine between
Strassburg and Mainz was inhabited by the Tribocci, Nemetes and
Vangiones, farther down by the Mattiaci about Wiesbaden, and the Ubii in
the neighbourhood of Cologne; beyond them were the Sugambri, and in the
Rhine delta the Batavi and other smaller tribes. All these tribes
remained in subjection to the Romans. Beyond them were the Tencteri,
probably about the basin of the Lahn, and the Usipetes about the basin
of the Ruhr. The basin of the Lippe and the upper basin of the Ems were
inhabited by the Bructeri, and in the same neighbourhood were the
Ampsivarii, who derive their name from the latter river. East of them
lay the Chasuarii, presumably in the basin of the Hase. The upper basin
of the Weser was inhabited by the Chatti, whose capital was Mattium,
supposed to be Maden on the Eder. To the north-west of them were
situated the Marsi, apparently between the Diemel and the Lippe, while
the central part of the basin of the Weser was inhabited by the
Cherusci, who seem to have extended considerably eastward. The lower
part of the river-basin was inhabited by the Angrivarii. The coastlands
north of the mouth of the Rhine were occupied by the Canninefates,
beyond them by the Frisii as far as the mouth of the Ems, thence onward
to the mouth of the Elbe by the Chauci. As to the affinities of all
these various tribes we have little definite information, but it is
worth noting that the Batavi in Holland are said to have been a branch
of the Chatti, from whom they had separated owing to a _seditio
domestica_. The basin of the Elbe was inhabited by Suebic tribes, the
chief of which were the Marcomanni, who seem to have been settled on the
Saale during the latter part of the 1st century B.C., but moved into
Bohemia before the beginning of the Christian era, where they at once
became a formidable power under their king Maroboduus. The Quadi were
settled somewhat farther east about the source of the Elbe. The
Hermunduri in the basin of the Saale were in alliance with the Romans
and occupied northern Bavaria with their consent. The Semnones
apparently dwelt below the junction of the Saale and Elbe. The
Langobardi (see LOMBARDS) possessed the land between the territory of
the Semnones and the mouth of the river. Their name is supposed to be
preserved in Bardengau, south of Hamburg. From later evidence it is
likely that another division of the Suebi inhabited western Holstein.
The province of Schleswig (perhaps only the west coast) and the islands
adjacent were inhabited by the Saxons, while the east coast, at least in
later times, was occupied by the Angli. The coast of Mecklenburg was
probably inhabited by the Varini (the later Warni). The eastern part of
Germany was much less known to the Romans, information being
particularly deficient as to the populations of the coast districts,
though it seems probable that the Rugii inhabited the eastern part of
Pomerania, where a trace of them is preserved in the name Rugenwalde.
The lower part of the basin of the Oder was probably occupied by the
Burgundiones, and the upper part by a number of tribes collectively
known as Lugii, who seem to correspond to the Vandals of later times,
though the early Roman writers apparently used the word Vandilii in a
wider sense, embracing all the tribes of eastern Germany. Among the
Lugii we may probably include the Silingae, who afterwards appear among
the Vandals in Spain, and whose name is preserved in Slavonic form in
that of the province Silesia. The Goths (Gotones) apparently inhabited
the basin of the Vistula about the middle of its course, but the lower
part of the basin was inhabited by non-Teutonic peoples, among whom we
may mention the Galindi, probably Prussians, and the Aestii, either
Prussian or Esthonian, in the coastlands at the mouth of the river, who
are known especially in connexion with the amber trade. To the east of
the Vistula were the Slavonic tribes (Veneti), and amongst them, perhaps
rather to the north, a Finnish population (Fenni), which disappeared in
later times.
Domestic wars of the Germans.
In the time of Augustus by far the most powerful ruler in Germany was
Maroboduus, king of the Marcomanni. His supremacy extended over all the
Suebic tribes (except perhaps the Hermunduri), and most of the peoples
of eastern Germany, including apparently the Lugii and Goths. But in the
year A.D. 17 he became involved in an unsuccessful campaign against
Arminius, prince of the Cherusci, in which the Semnones and Langobardi
revolted against him, and two years later he was deprived of his throne
by a certain Catualda. The latter, however, was soon expelled by
Vibilius, king of the Hermunduri, and his power was transferred to
Vannius, who belonged to the Quadi. About the same time Arminius met his
death while trying to make himself king of the Cherusci. In the year 28
the Frisians revolted from the Romans, and though they submitted again
in the year 47, Claudius immediately afterwards recalled the Roman
troops to the left bank of the Rhine. In the year 50 Vannius, king of
the Suebi, was driven from the throne by Vibilius, king of the
Hermunduri, and his nephews Vangio and Sido obtained his kingdom. In the
year 58 the Chatti suffered a serious disaster in a campaign against the
Hermunduri. They seem, however, to have recovered very soon, and at the
end of the 1st century had apparently extended their power at the
expense of the Cherusci. During the latter part of the 1st century the
Chauci seem to have been enlarging their territories: as early as the
year 47 we find them raiding the Roman lands on the lower Rhine, and in
58 they expelled the Ampsivarii, who after several vain attempts to
acquire new possessions were annihilated by the neighbouring tribes.
During the last years of the 1st century the Angrivarii are found moving
westwards, probably under pressure from the Chauci, and the power of the
Bructeri was almost destroyed by their attack. In 69 the Roman territory
on the lower Rhine was disturbed by the serious revolt of Claudius
Civilis, a prince of the Batavi who had served in the Roman army. He was
joined by the Bructeri and other neighbouring tribes, but being defeated
by Petilius Cerealis (afterwards consular legate in Britain) at Vetera
and in other engagements gave up the struggle and arranged a
capitulation in A.D. 70. By the end of the 1st century the Chauci and
Chatti seem to have become by far the most powerful tribes in western
Germany, though the former are seldom mentioned after this time.
After the time of Tacitus our information regarding German affairs
becomes extremely meagre. The next important conflict with the Romans
was the Marcomannic War (166-180), in which all the Suebic tribes
together with the Vandals (apparently the ancient Lugii) and the
Sarmatian Iazyges seem to have taken part. Peace was made by the emperor
Commodus in A.D. 180 on payment of large sums of money.
The Alamanni, the Goths and the Franks.
About the beginning of the 3rd century we find a forward movement in
south-west Germany among a group of tribes known collectively as
Alamanni (q.v.) who came in conflict with the emperor Caracalla in the
year 213. About the same time the Goths also made their first appearance
in the south-east and soon became the most formidable antagonists of
Rome. In the year 251 they defeated and slew the emperor Decius, and in
the reign of Gallienus their fleets setting out from the north of the
Black Sea worked great havoc on the coast of the Aegean (see GOTHS). It
is not to be supposed, however, that they had quitted their own lands on
the Vistula by this time. In this connexion we hear also of the Heruli
(q.v.), who some twenty years later, about 289, make their appearance in
the western seas. In 286 we hear for the first time of maritime raids by
the Saxons in the same quarter. About the middle of the 3rd century the
name Franks (q.v.) makes its first appearance, apparently a new
collective term for the tribes of north-west Germany from the Chatti to
the mouth of the Rhine.
Arrival of the Huns.
In the 4th century the chief powers in western Germany were the Franks
and the Alamanni, both of whom were in constant conflict with the
Romans. The former were pressed in their rear by the Saxons, who at some
time before the middle of the 4th century appear to have invaded and
conquered a considerable part of north-west Germany. About the same time
great national movements seem to have been taking place farther east.
The Burgundians made their appearance in the west shortly before the end
of the 3rd century, settling in the basin of the Main, and it is
probable that some portions of the north Suebic peoples, perhaps the
ancient Semnones, had already moved westward. By the middle of the 4th
century the Goths had become the dominant power in eastern Germany, and
their King Hermanaric held a supremacy which seems to have stretched
from the Black Sea to Holstein. At his death, however, the supremacy of
eastern Germany passed to the Huns, an invading people from the east,
whose arrival seems to have produced a complete displacement of
population in this region. With regard to the course of events in
eastern Germany we have no knowledge, but during the 5th century several
of the peoples previously settled there appear to have made their way
into the lands south of the Carpathians and Riesengebirge, amongst whom
(besides the Goths) may be especially mentioned the Rugii and the
Gepides, the latter perhaps originally a branch of the Goths. According
to tradition the Vandals had been driven into Pannonia by the Goths in
the time of Constantine. We do not know how far northward the Hunnish
power reached in the time of Attila, but the invasion of this nation was
soon followed by a great westward movement of the Slavs.
The Burgundians and other tribes.
In the west the Alamanni and the descendants of the Marcomanni, now
called Baiouarii (Bavarians), had broken through the frontiers of the
Roman provinces of Vindelicia and Noricum at the beginning of the 5th
century, while the Vandals together with some of the Suebi and the
non-Teutonic Alani from the east crossed the Rhine and invaded Gaul in
406. About 435-440 the Burgundians were overthrown by Attila, and their
king Gunthacarius (Gundahar) killed. The remains of the nation shortly
afterwards settled in Gaul. About the same time the Franks overran and
occupied the modern Belgium, and in the course of the next half-century
their dominions were enormously extended towards the south (see FRANKS).
After the death of Attila in 453 the power of the Huns soon collapsed,
but the political divisions of Germany in the ensuing period are far
from clear.
The Franks and others in the 6th century.
In the 6th century the predominant peoples are the Franks, Frisians,
Saxons, Alamanni, Bavarians, Langobardi, Heruli and Warni. By the
beginning of this century the Saxons seem to have penetrated almost, if
not quite, to the Rhine in the Netherlands. Farther south, however, the
old land of the Chatti was included in the kingdom of Clovis. Northern
Bavaria was occupied by the Franks, whose king Clovis subdued the
Alamanni in 495. To the east of the Franks between the Harz, the Elbe
and the Saale lay the kingdom of the Thuringi, the origin of whom is not
clear. The Heruli also had a powerful kingdom, probably in the basin of
the Elbe, and to the east of them were the Langobardi. The Warni
apparently now dwelt in the regions about the mouth of the Elbe, while
the whole coast from the mouth of the Weser to the west Scheldt was in
the hands of the Frisians. By this time all the country east of the
lower Elbe seems to have been Slavonic. In the north, perhaps in the
province of Schleswig, we hear now for the first time of the Danes.
Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths, endeavoured to form a confederacy
with the Thuringi, Heruli and Warni against Clovis in order to protect
the Visigoths in the early years of the 6th century, but very shortly
afterwards the king of the Heruli was slain by the Langobardi and their
existence as an independent power came to an end. In 531 the Thuringian
kingdom was destroyed by the Frankish king Theodoric, son of Clovis,
with whom the Saxons were in alliance.
The Saxons and the Franks.
During the 6th and 7th centuries the Saxons were intermittently under
Frankish supremacy, but their conquest was not complete until the time
of Charlemagne. Shortly after the middle of the 6th century the Franks
were threatened with a new invasion by the Avars. In 567-568 the
Langobardi, who by this time had moved into the Danube basin, invaded
Italy and were followed by those of the Saxons who had settled in
Thuringia. Their lands were given by the Frankish king Sigeberht to the
north Suebi and other tribes who had come either from the Elbe basin or
possibly from the Netherlands. About the same time Sigeberht was
defeated by the Avars, and though the latter soon withdrew from the
Frankish frontiers, their course was followed by a movement of the
Slavs, who occupied the basin of the Elster and penetrated to that of
the Main.
By the end of the 6th century the whole basin of the Elbe except the
Saxon territory near the mouth had probably become Slavonic. To the east
of the Saale were the Sorbs (Sorabi), and beyond them the Daleminci and
Siusli. To the east of the Saxons were the Polabs (Polabi) in the basin
of the Elbe, and beyond them the Hevelli about the Havel. Farther north
in Mecklenburg were the Warnabi, and in eastern Holstein the Obotriti
and the Wagri. To the east of the Warnabi were the Liutici as far as the
Oder, and beyond that river the Pomerani. To the south of the Oder were
the Milcieni and the Lusici, and farther east the Poloni with their
centre in the basin of the Vistula. The lower part of the Vistula basin,
however, was in possession of Prussian tribes, the Prussi and Lithuani.
The Warni now disappear from history, and from this time the Teutonic
peoples of the north as far as the Danish boundary about the Eider are
called Saxons. The conquest of the Frisians by the Franks was begun by
Pippin (Pepin) of Heristal in 689 and practically completed by Charles
Martel, though they were not entirely brought into subjection until the
time of Charlemagne. The great overthrow of the Saxons took place about
772-773 and by the end of the century Charlemagne had extended his
conquests to the border of the Danes. By this time the whole of the
Teutonic part of Germany had been finally brought under his government.
AUTHORITIES.--Caesar, _De bello Gallico_, especially i. 31 ff., iv.
1-19, vi. 21 ff.; Velleius Paterculus, especially ii. 105 ff.; Strabo,
especially pp. 193 ff., 290 ff.; Pliny, _Natural History_, iv. SS 99
ff., 106; Tacitus, Annales, i. 38 ff., ii. 5 ff., 44 ff., 62 f., 88;
_Germania_, passim; _Histories_, iv.; Ptolemy ii. 9, SS 2 ff., 11,
iii. 5, SS 19 ff.; Dio Cassius, passim; Julius Capitolinus; Claudius
Mamertinus; Ammianus Marcellinus, passim; Zosimus; Jordanes, _De
origine Getarum_; Procopius, _De bello Gothico_; K. Zeuss, _Die
Deutschen und die Nachbarstamme_; O. Bremer in Paul's _Grundriss d.
germ. Philologie_ (2nd ed.), vol. iii. pp. 735 ff. (F. G. M. B.)