Vangiones
| Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (R) |
Vangiones appear first in history as an ancient Germanic tribe of unknown provenance.
Variants
Jat clans
History
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. After some Celts evacuated the region in fear of the Suebi, the Vangiones, who had made a Roman peace, were allowed to settle among the Mediomatrici in northern Alsace. (Metz however is now in Lorraine). They gradually assumed control of the Celtic city of Burbetomagus, later Worms.
The emperor Augustus cultivated them as allies, intending to invade Germany through the region between the Rhine and the Danube. He had Drusus place two forts among the Vangiones, castrum Moguntiacum (13 BC, later Mainz) and one of unknown name (14 BC) at Worms.[1] From there troops of the Vangiones were inducted into the Roman army. When he changed his mind after the Battle of Teutoburg Forest, the Vangiones were used for garrison duty on the far-flung northern frontier of the province of Britannia, Hadrian's Wall.
The Vangiones of Germania Superior held their position as a bulwark of civilized might as long as Germania Superior existed. Under the Roman Republic they were not among the Belgae, an alliance of Celticised Germanic tribes in northeastern France. In the early empire this name was extended by the Romans to all the Celticised Germans in northern France (the forerunners of the Franks), among whom were now the Vangiones.
In the late empire what was left of Germania Superior was divided into "First Germany" and "Second Germany", the first comprising the Vangiones, Worms and Mainz. The identity disappeared nearly altogether when the region was overrun by the Alemanni and became Alisatia.[2] The Vangiones then merged into the Alemanni. Only names local to Worms remembered the presence of the Vangiones, such as the Bishop of the Vangiones. The fate of the Vangionic troops in Britain is uncertain. Some may have remained as a Scottish tribe (see under Moguns), but that hypothesis is more speculative than not.
Ammianus Marcellinus, 4th century soldier and historian (Res Gestae), after pointing out that the Rhine had previously been governed by two iurisdictiones,[3] describes the provincial division of his times. However, the regional names "upper" and "lower Germany" are still in general use. In the jurisdiction of Prima Germania ("First or Upper Germany") are Mogontiacus (Mainz), Vangiones (Worms), Nemetae (Speyer), Argentoratus (Strasbourg) and "alia municipia."[4] Metz and Trier however are in Prima Belgica.
For the year 356 Ammianus records the problems of the emperor Julian with Germanic tribes on the Rhine frontier.[5] In 355 the Franks had destroyed Cologne (Agrippina), making it a desert of ruins, and the Alamanni had occupied the countryside of Alsace, isolating but not occupying the cities there. A list is given (in the accusative case), presumably including the "alia municipia" of "Prima Germania": Argentoratum (Strasbourg), Brotomagum (Brumath), Tabernas (Saverne), Salisonem (Selz), Nemetas (Speyer), Vangionas (Worms) and Mogontiacum (Mainz).[6] In 356 Julian moved to the relief of the cities, driving out the Alamanni, and reoccupied Cologne, forcing the Franks to the peace table. He went into winter quarters at Sens and was besieged there by the Alamanni but they became discouraged and departed before the campaign season began.
Notitia Dignitatum
The 5th century Notitia Dignitatum records eleven prefectures[7]in the domain (sub dispositione...) of the "Duke of Mainz" (Dux Mogontiacensis). Ruling over one of them from the castellum Vangionis (locative case of either Vangionis or Vangio) is the Praefectus militum Secundae Flaviae, Vangiones; that is, the prefect of a district called Secunda Flavia among the Vangiones. This domain includes 11 prefectures in the Rhineland and northern Alsace.
See also
External links
References
- ↑ The city under the Romans was named Vangiones (see under Ammianus Marcellinus in this article), which follows one Roman convention of naming a city after the tribe residing there. Grässe refers to Augusta Vangionum as an alternative name of the city, which would be short for colonia Augusta Vangionum. Grässe was reporting on the Latin names of cities in early printed books. The name is not anciently attested, or whether Worms too was a military colony. Dozens of colonies are attested, however, so it is possible that the name is genuinely ancient but was not mentioned by surviving ancient literature.
- ↑ The meaning of "the other bank" has of course changed over the centuries. Originally the Alamanni placed settlers in the entire north/south stretch of the left bank. Today the southern portion has been broken out as Lorraine (a Frankish development) and Mainz is considered part of the Rhineland and not Alsace.
- ↑ Book 15.11.6
- ↑ 15.11.8. The identification is long-standing and was worked out by the scholarship of various editors of the Loeb edition, such as T. E. Page, W. H. D. Rouse and some other notables.
- ↑ Book 16.2-4.
- ↑ 16.2.12.
- ↑ The capitals of the prefectures are called out in the locative case in the illumination portrayed in the article as: Saletione, Tabernis, Vico Iulio, Nemetis, Alta Ripa, Vangionis, Moguntiaco, Bingio, Bodobrica, Confluentibus, Antonaco, all of which are transparently cities, some of which exist today. The entries, however, are obscure, such as the entry for the Vangiones: "Praefectus militum secundae Flaviae, Vangiones." The second Flavian is probably not one of the two legions of that name, as they were stationed elsewhere. It could have been a cohors, an ala, or simply a district, the name of the prefecture. Praefectus militum, "military prefect" could have been an army officer or a governor, or both. The debate continues.