Ancient Peoples: Belgic Peoples
- Angles
- Britons
- Celts – Brythonic vs. Goidelic
- Cornish
- Gael
- Gauls
- Jutes
- Manx
- Normans
- Norse
- Saxons
Angles
The term comes from the Old English word "Angle" and refers to a Germanic people of the northern lowlands that settled in eastern England in the 5th century AD. The name "England" is taken from the Old English word "Engaland" which means "land of the Angles." The word "English" is likewise taken from the word "Englisc" meaning "of the Angles." In Lower Latin, England was referred to as Anglia.
Britons
This Middle English term is derived from the Old French word "Breton," which in turn is derived from the Latin words "Brito," or "Britto." The Britons were an early Celtic people living in south Britain at the time of the Roman invasion into the British Isles. "Breton" also refers to a region in the northwestern section of France and was also called Bretagne.
Celts
This term is derived from many different sources. The Breton word "Celte" is derived from the Latin term "Celta" (plural form is "Celtae") and the Greek word "Keltoi." The word "Celt" refers to several groups who lived in central and western Europe and can be broken down into two categories: Brythonic Celts and Goidelic Celts.
The Brythonic Celts were made up of Bretons, Cornish and Welsh (or Cymru) who lived in Brittany, Cornwall and Wales. The Goidelic Celts were made up of the Irish and Scots (or Gaels) and Manx who lived in Ireland (Eiru), Highland Scotland (Alba or Caledonia) and the Isle of Man. Those who lived in Lowland Scotland were typically a mixture of Gaels, Britons, Saxons and other ethnic groups.
Cornish
This term typically refers to a language, closely related to Breton and Welsh, which was spoken until about 1800. The area is located in south western Britain.
Gael
This word is a contraction derived from the Gaelic word "Gaidheal," which is similar to the Irish word "Gaedheal," the Old Irish word "Goidel," and the Welsh word "Gwyddel." The Gaels were Celts who lived in Ireland (Eiru), Highland Scotland (Alba or Caledonia) and the Isle of Man.
Gauls
Very often this term is used interchangeably with the term Celt. It is a French term derived from the Frankish word "Walha," which means "foreigners." This also is similar to the Celtic word "Wahlos" and the Latin term "Volcae."
Gaul is an ancient region in western Europe consisting of what is now mainly France and Belgium. After the 5th century BC, this area also was called Transalpine Gaul. Another area in western Italy was occupied by the Gauls in the 4th century BC and was called Cisalpine Gaul.
Gaul was also an ancient division of the Roman Empire, which included both Transalpine and Cisalpine Gaul (1st through 5th century AD).
Jutes
This Middle English word (plural "Jutae") is derived from the Old English term "Iotas" which is derived from the Old Norse term "Iotar." The Jutes were composed of several Germanic tribes who lived in Jutland, invaded southeastern England in the 5th century AD and settled in what is now Kent.
The Jutland peninsula is located in northern Europe and forms the mainland of Denmark and the northern part of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein.
Manx
This term is a result of the transposition of sounds derived from the obsolete word "Maniske." "Maniske" is derived from the Old Norse word "Manskr" which is derived from the Welsh (Cymru) term "Manau" or the Old Irish word "Manu." The Goidelic Celt language spoken on the Isle of Man is now nearly extinct.
Normans
This term comes from the Old French word "Normant," or Middle Latin word "Normannus." Both words derive from the Frankish term "Nortman," itself derived from the word "nort," akin to the Old English words for "north" and "man."
The term Norman can be used to describe any of the Scandinavians who occupied Normandy – an area on the west coast of France – in the 10th century AD, and their descendants who conquered England under William of Normandy in 1066.
Norse
This word is probably derived from the Dutch term "Noorsch," a Norwegian variant of "Nordsch," itself derived from "noord" meaning "northish." This term also refers to medieval Scandinavians and Vikings.
Saxons
The word "Saxon" comes from the Old English word "Seaxan," which is derived from the Old High German word "sahs," meaning "sword or knife." It is also derived from the Latin words "saxum," meaning "rock or stone" and "secare," meaning "to cut." The knife-bearing Saxons were an ancient Germanic tribe of people from northern Germany who invaded and conquered parts of England in the 5th and 6th centuries AD.
Saxony, or its Lower Latin term Saxonia, was a medieval duchy in northeastern Germany, at the base of the Jutland peninsula in what is now called Lower Saxony.
Germanic peoples
Teutons -- Goths, Ostrogoths, Visigoths
Teutons, ancient Germanic tribe, dwelling originally on the Cimbric Peninsula (now Jutland). About 120 BC, the Teutons joined the Cimbri in their migration southward; the two peoples separated in 105 BC. The Teutons lived in Gaul from that year until 102 BC when they were annihilated by the Roman general Gaius Marius at Aquae Sextiae (modern Aix-en-Provence, France). The word Teutonic survives as a synonym for Germanic.
Goths
Goths, ancient Teutonic people, who in the 3rd to the 6th century AD were an important power in the Roman world. The Goths were the first Germanic peoples to become Christians. According to the 6th-century Gothic historian Jordanes, the Goths came from Sweden across the Baltic Sea to the basin of the Wisla (Vistula) River. By the 3rd century AD they had migrated as far south as the lower Danube, around the Black Sea. During that century Gothic armies and fleets ravaged Thrace, Dacia, and cities in Asia Minor and along the Aegean coast. They captured and plundered Athens in 267 to 268, and threatened Italy. For about a century, wars between the Roman emperors and Gothic rulers devastated the Balkan territory and the northeastern Mediterranean region. Other tribes joined the Goths, and under the great king Ermanaric in the 4th century, a kingdom was established that extended from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea.
About 370 the Goths divided into two separate groups. The Ostrogoths (Low Latin Ostrogothae, "the eastern Goths") inhabited a large kingdom east of the Dniester River on the shores of the Black Sea (part of modern Ukraine and Belarus). The Visigoths (Low Latin Visigothi, "the good Goths" or "the noble Goths") were the western Goths, with a domain extending from the Dniester to the Danube rivers.
Visigoths
In 376 the Visigoths, threatened by the Huns, sought the protection of the Roman emperor Valens, and they were given permission to settle into the empire's province of Moesia, which was south of the Danube. When Gothic soldiers were maltreated by Roman officers, the Goths revolted, and the resulting war climaxed in a decisive battle in 378 near Adrianople (now Edirne, Turkey), in which Valens was killed. The victorious Goths then threatened Constantinople (present-day Istanbul). Theodosius I, who succeeded Valens as emperor in the East, made peace with the Goths and incorporated their army into the Roman forces. From that time on, the Visigoths were an important influence in the Roman Empire. Many who had settled in Moesia became farmers and were known as Moeso-Goths. Ulfilas, bishop of the Goths, translated the Bible into Gothic and was largely responsible for the conversion of the Goths to a form of Christianity called Arianism.
On the death of Theodosius in 395, the Visigoths renounced their allegiance to Rome and chose Alaric I as their ruler. Alaric invaded Greece and then Italy, and in 410 he captured and pillaged the city of Rome. In that same year he was succeeded by Ataulf, who led the Visigoths across the Pyrenees mountain range into Spain.
From 415 to 418, under the next ruler, Wallia, the Visigoths extended their realm over a great part of Spain and southern Gaul, with Toulouse as their capital. Wallia was succeeded by the reputed son of Alaric, Theodoric I, who died fighting as an ally of Rome against the Huns at the Battle of Châlons. The most notable of the Spanish Visigothic kings was Euric, who reigned from about 420 to 484. He was a son of Theodoric I. Under Euric, who declared his rule to be independent of any federation with Rome, the kingdom of Toulouse included almost all of Spain and most of Gaul west of the Rhône River and south of the Loire River. Euric introduced many aspects of Roman civilization and drew up a code of law combining Roman and German elements. The kingdom was, however, continually beset by both internal and external difficulties. The kingship was nominally elective, and the powerful Visigothic nobles stood against attempts to found a hereditary royal house. Externally, the Byzantine Empire and the Franks menaced the Visigothic lands. In order to instill greater loyalty in his rebellious Roman and Christian subjects, Alaric II in 506 introduced the collection of laws known as the Breviary of Alaric. A year later, Clovis I, king of the Franks, defeated the Visigoths at the Battle of Vouillé, in which Alaric II was killed. Most of Provence was separated from the Gothic lands, and the Visigothic kingdom was confined almost entirely to Spain. Despite the attempts of a long line of Gothic kings to hold the kingdom together, the power of the Visigoths steadily declined. The last king, Roderick, was defeated and probably killed by the Muslims in the Battle of Río Barbate in 711. By 713 Spain was partially conquered by the Moors, and the Visigothic power survived in the independent Christian kingdom of Asturias.
Ostrogoths
When the Huns swept into Europe about 370, many of the Ostrogoths were conquered and compelled to aid their conquerors. They joined the king of the Huns, Attila, in his expedition against Gaul in 451 and many Ostrogoths were killed by the Visigoths at the Battle of Châlons. When the Huns were finally forced back, the Ostrogoths again became independent. With the permission of Rome, they settled in Pannonia, an area now including western Hungary, northern Croatia, Slovenia, and eastern Austria. They were joined by other Ostrogoths who had taken refuge within the Roman Empire at the coming of the Asians. In 474 Theodoric, the greatest of the Ostrogothic kings, was elected to the throne. After various periods of warfare and alliance with Zeno, the Byzantine emperor, Theodoric invaded Italy in 488 (with the consent and advice of the emperor), slew Odoacer, the first barbarian ruler of Italy, and became ruler himself. He held the power although not the title of the Western Roman emperors. A Roman consul was given nominal authority, and the two peoples lived together amicably, with Roman culture greatly influencing the Teutons.
The unity of Romans and Goths could be preserved only by a ruler of the stature of Theodoric. After his death in 526, disruption in Italy became so violent that in 535 the Byzantine emperor Justinian I sent his general Belisarius to conquer the peninsula. The Byzantines broke the Gothic power in 555, and the throne of Italy was filled by the exarchs (Byzantine governors) of Ravenna.
The Ostrogoths themselves gradually became absorbed into other tribes, such as the Alani, Vandals, Franks, and Burgundians, who had established themselves in the dominions of the old Roman Empire.
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