Burgundians
The Burgundians (
The Burgundians are first mentioned together with the
This Gaulish domain became the
Another part of the Burgundians formed a contingent in
Before clear documentary evidence begins, the Burgundians may have originally emigrated from the Baltic island of Bornholm to the Vistula basin, in the middle of what is now Poland.[4]
Name
The ethnonym Burgundians is commonly used in English to refer to the Burgundi (Burgundionei, Burgundiones or Burgunds) who settled in eastern Gaul and the western Alps during the 5th century AD. The original Kingdom of the Burgundians barely intersected the modern Bourgogne and more closely matched the boundaries of Franche-Comté in northeastern France, the Rhône-Alpes in southeastern France, Romandy in west Switzerland, and Aosta Valley, in north west Italy.
In modern usage, however, "Burgundians" can sometimes refer to later inhabitants of the geographical
History
Uncertain early history
The origins of the Burgundians before they reached the area near the Roman-controlled Rhine is a subject of various old proposals, but these are doubted by some modern scholars such as Ian Wood and Walter Goffart. As remarked by Susan Reynolds:[5]
Wood suggests that those who were called Burgundians in their early sixth-century laws were not a single ethnic group, but covered any non-Roman follower of Gundobad and Sigismund. Some of the leaders of Goths and Burgundians may have descended from long-distant ancestors somewhere around the Baltic. Maybe, but everyone has a lot of ancestors, and some of theirs may well have come from elsewhere. There is, as Walter Goffart has repeatedly argued, little reason to believe that sixth-century or later references to what looks like names for Scandinavia, or for places in it, mean that traditions from those particular ancestors had been handed through thick and thin.
They have long been associated with Scandinavian origin based on place-name evidence and archaeological evidence (Stjerna) and many consider their tradition to be correct (e.g. Musset, p. 62). According to such proposals, the Burgundians are believed to have then emigrated to the Baltic island of
Early Roman sources, such as
In the late 3rd century AD, the Burgundians appeared on the east bank of the Rhine, apparently confronting Roman Gaul.
Ammianus Marcellinus, on the other hand, claimed that the Burgundians descended from the Romans. The Roman sources do not speak of any specific migration from Poland by the Burgundians (although other Vandalic peoples are more clearly mentioned as having moved west in this period), and so there have historically been some doubts about the link between the eastern and western Burgundians.[11]
In 369/370 AD, the Emperor Valentinian I enlisted the aid of the Burgundians in his war against the Alamanni.
Approximately four decades later, the Burgundians appear again. Following
Some Burgundians also migrated westwards and settled as
Kingdom
Rhineland
In 411, the Burgundian king
Despite their new status as foederati, Burgundian raids into Roman Upper
The destruction of Worms and the Burgundian kingdom by the Huns became the subject of heroic legends that were afterwards incorporated in the
Settlement in eastern Gaul
For reasons not cited in the sources, the Burgundians were granted foederati status a second time, and in 443 were resettled by
As allies of Rome in its last decades, the Burgundians fought alongside Aëtius and a confederation of Visigoths and others against
Aspirations to the empire
Also in 455, an ambiguous reference infidoque tibi Burdundio ductu[19] implicates an unnamed treacherous Burgundian leader in the murder of the emperor Petronius Maximus in the chaos preceding the sack of Rome by the Vandals. The Patrician Ricimer is also blamed; this event marks the first indication of the link between the Burgundians and Ricimer, who was probably Gundioc's brother-in-law and Gundobad's uncle.[20]
In 456, the Burgundians, apparently confident in their growing power, negotiated a territorial expansion and power sharing arrangement with the local Roman senators.[21]
In 457, Ricimer overthrew another emperor, Avitus, raising Majorian to the throne. This new emperor proved unhelpful to Ricimer and the Burgundians. The year after his ascension, Majorian stripped the Burgundians of the lands they had acquired two years earlier. After showing further signs of independence, he was murdered by Ricimer in 461.
Ten years later, in 472, Ricimer–who was by now the son-in-law of the Western Emperor Anthemius–was plotting with Gundobad to kill his father-in-law; Gundobad beheaded the emperor (apparently personally).[22] Ricimer then appointed Olybrius; both died, surprisingly of natural causes, within a few months. Gundobad seems then to have succeeded his uncle as Patrician and king-maker, and raised Glycerius to the throne.[23]
In 474, Burgundian influence over the empire seems to have ended. Glycerius was deposed in favor of Julius Nepos, and Gundobad returned to Burgundy, presumably at the death of his father Gundioc. At this time or shortly afterwards, the Burgundian kingdom was divided among Gundobad and his brothers, Godigisel, Chilperic II, and Gundomar I.[24]
Consolidation of the kingdom
According to Gregory of Tours, the years following Gundobad's return to Burgundy saw a bloody consolidation of power. Gregory states that Gundobad murdered his brother Chilperic, drowning his wife and exiling their daughters (one of whom was to become the wife of Clovis the Frank, and was reputedly responsible for his conversion).[25] This is contested by, e.g., Bury, who points out problems in much of Gregory's chronology for the events.
In c. 500, when Gundobad and Clovis were at war, Gundobad appears to have been betrayed by his brother Godegisel, who joined the Franks; together Godegisel's and Clovis' forces "crushed the army of Gundobad".[26] Gundobad was temporarily holed up in Avignon, but was able to re-muster his army and sacked Vienne, where Godegisel and many of his followers were put to death. From this point, Gundobad appears to have been the sole king of Burgundy.[27] This would imply that his brother Gundomar was already dead, though there are no specific mentions of the event in the sources.
Either Gundobad and Clovis reconciled their differences, or Gundobad was forced into some sort of vassalage by Clovis' earlier victory, as the Burgundian king appears to have assisted the Franks in 507 in their victory over Alaric II the Visigoth.
During the upheaval, sometime between 483 and 501, Gundobad began to set forth the Lex Gundobada (see below), issuing roughly the first half, which drew upon the Lex Visigothorum.[17] Following his consolidation of power, between 501 and his death in 516, Gundobad issued the second half of his law, which was more originally Burgundian.
Fall
The Burgundians were extending their power over eastern Gaul—that is western Switzerland and eastern France, as well as northern Italy. In 493, Clovis, king of the Franks, married the Burgundian princess Clotilda (daughter of Chilperic), who converted him to the Catholic faith.
At first allied with
Physical appearance
The 5th century
Why... do you [an obscure senator by the name of Catullinus] bid me compose a song dedicated to Venus... placed as I am among long-haired hordes, having to endure Germanic speech, praising often with a wry face the song of the gluttonous Burgundian who spreads rancid butter on his hair? ... You don't have a reek of garlic and foul onions discharged upon you at early morn from ten breakfasts, and you are not invaded before dawn... by a crowd of giants.[28]
Language
Burgundian | |
---|---|
Region | Germania |
Extinct | 6th century |
Indo-European
| |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | None (mis ) |
qlb | |
Glottolog | None |
The Burgundians and their language were described as Germanic by the poet Sidonius Apollinaris.[29] Herwig Wolfram has interpreted this as being because they had entered Gaul from Germania.[30]
More specifically their language is thought to have belonged to the East Germanic language group, based upon their presumed equivalence to the Burgundians named much earlier by Pliny in the east, and some names and placenames. However this is now considered uncertain.[31] Little is known of the language. Some proper names of Burgundians are recorded, and some words used in the area in modern times are thought to be derived from the ancient Burgundian language,[32] but it is often difficult to distinguish these from Germanic words of other origin, and in any case the modern form of the words is rarely suitable to infer much about the form in the old language.
The language appears to have become extinct during the late 6th century, likely due to the early conversion of the Burgundians to
Religion
Somewhere in the east the Burgundians had converted to the Arian Christianity from earlier Germanic paganism. Their Arianism proved a source of suspicion and distrust between the Burgundians and the Catholic Western Roman Empire.
Divisions were evidently healed or healing circa 500, however, as Gundobad, one of the last Burgundian kings, maintained a close personal friendship with Avitus, the bishop of Vienne. Moreover, Gundobad's son and successor, Sigismund, was himself a Catholic, and there is evidence that many of the Burgundian people had converted by this time as well, including several female members of the ruling family.[citation needed]
Law
The Burgundians left three
The Liber Constitutionum sive Lex Gundobada ("The Book of Constitutions or Law of Gundobad"), also known as the The Liber is one of the primary sources for contemporary Burgundian life, as well as the history of its kings.
Like many of the Germanic tribes, the Burgundians' legal traditions allowed the application of separate laws for separate ethnicities. Thus, in addition to the Lex Gundobada, Gundobad also issued (or codified) a set of laws for Roman subjects of the Burgundian kingdom, the Lex Romana Burgundionum (The Roman Law of the Burgundians).
In addition to the above codes, Gundobad's son Sigismund later published the Prima Constitutio.
See also
- Dauphiné
- Duchy of Burgundy
- Franche-Comté
- List of ancient Germanic peoples and tribes
- List of kings of Burgundy
- Nibelung (later legends of the Burgundian kings)
Notes
- ^ The territory, which has no modern counterpart, was perhaps bounded by the rivers Ain and Rhône, Lake Geneva, the Jura and the Aar, though historians differ, and there seems to be insufficient evidence.[14]
References
- ISBN 9780520083264
- ^ a b Sidonnius Appolinarius, Carmina, 7, 322
- ^ a b Luebe, Die Burgunder, in Krüger II, p. 373 n. 21, in Herbert Schutz, Tools, weapons and ornaments: Germanic material culture in Pre-Carolingian Central Europe, 400–750, BRILL, 2001, p.36
- Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Retrieved January 17, 2015.
- ^ Reynolds, "Our Forefathers" in Goffart (ed.) After Rome's Fall, p.35, citing Wood "Ethnicity and Ethnogenesis of the Burgundians" in Wolfram (ed.) Typen de Ethnogenese.
- ^ The Discovery of Muscovy by Richard Hakluyt. Archived from the original on 2020-07-27. Retrieved 2020-08-28.
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ignored (help) - ^ Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Archivedfrom the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved January 16, 2015.
- Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Retrieved January 16, 2015.
- Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Archivedfrom the original on November 20, 2013. Retrieved January 16, 2015.
- ^ Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Archivedfrom the original on August 28, 2013. Retrieved January 16, 2015.
- ^ Smith, William (1854), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, archived from the original on 2022-04-08, retrieved 2021-02-20
- ^ Prosper, a. 386
- ^ Prosper; Chronica Gallica 452; Hydatius; and Sidonius Apollinaris
- ^ Norman H. Baynes, reviewing A. Coville, Recherches sur l'Histoire de Lyon du Ve au IXe Siècle (450–800) in The English Historical Review 45 No. 179 (July 1930:470 474) p 471.
- ^ Chronica Gallica 452
- ^ Wood 1994, Gregory II, 9
- ^ a b Drew, p. 1
- ^ Jordanes, Getica, 231
- ^ Sidonius Apollinaris in Panegyr. Avit. 442.
- ^ John Malalas, 374
- ^ Marius of Avenches
- ^ Chronica Gallica 511; John of Antioch, fr. 209; Jordanes, Getica, 239
- ^ Marius of Avenches; John of Antioch, fr. 209
- ^ Gregory, II, 28
- ^ Gregory, II, 28. Gregory's chronology of the events surrounding Clovis and Gundobad has been questioned by Bury, Shanzer, and Wood, among others. Gregory was somewhat of a Frankish apologist, and commonly discredited the enemies of Clovis by attributing to them some fairly shocking acts. As with Godegisel, he also commonly refers to the treachery of Clovis' allies, when in fact Clovis seems to have bought them off (e.g., in the case of the Ripuarians).
- ^ Marius a. 500; Gregory, II, 32
- ^ e.g., Gregory, II, 33
- ^ Heather 2007, pp. 196–197
- ^ Sidonius Apollinaris, Epistulae, V, 5.1–3
- ^ Wolfram 1997, p. 5 "Goths, Vandals, and other East Germanic tribes were differentiated from the Germans and were referred to as Scythians, Goths, or some other special names. The sole exception are the Burgundians, who were considered German because they came to Gaul via Germania. In keeping with this classification, post-Tacitean Scandinavians were also no longer counted among the Germans...."
- ^ Wolfram 1997, p. 259 "For a long time linguists considered the Burgundians to be an East Germanic people, but today they are no longer so sure."
- ^ a b W.B. Lockwood, "A Panorama of Indo-European Languages"
- ^ Drew, p. 6–7
- ^ Drew, p. 6
- ^ Rivers, p. 9
Sources
- Buchberger, Erica (2018). "Burgundians". In Nicholson, Oliver (ed.). The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity. ISBN 9780191744457. Archivedfrom the original on January 31, 2020. Retrieved January 26, 2020.
- Bury, J. B. The Invasion of Europe by the Barbarians. London: Macmillan and Co., 1928.
- Dalton, O. M.The History of the Franks, by Gregory of Tours. Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1927.
- ISBN 9780191727139. Archivedfrom the original on January 28, 2020. Retrieved January 26, 2020.
- Drew, Katherine Fischer. The Burgundian Code. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1972.
- ISBN 9780191735257. Archivedfrom the original on April 10, 2021. Retrieved January 25, 2020.
- Gordon, C.D. The Age of Attila. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1961.
- Guichard, Rene, Essai sur l'histoire du peuple burgonde, de Bornholm (Burgundarholm) vers la Bourgogne et les Bourguignons, 1965, published by A. et J. Picard et Cie.
- Hartmann, Frederik / Riegger, Ciara. 2021. The Burgundian language and its phylogeny – A cladistical investigation. Nowele 75, p. 42-80.
- ISBN 978-0195325416. Retrieved May 31, 2015.
- ISBN 9780195187922. Archivedfrom the original on January 26, 2020. Retrieved January 26, 2020.
- Murray, Alexander Callander. From Roman to Merovingian Gaul. Broadview Press, 2000.
- Musset, Lucien. The Germanic Invasions: The Making of Europe AD 400–600. University Park, Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1975. ISBN 978-0-271-01198-1.
- Nerman, Birger. Det svenska rikets uppkomst. Generalstabens litagrafiska anstalt: Stockholm. 1925.
- Rivers, Theodore John. Laws of the Salian and Ripuarian Franks. New York: AMS Press, 1986.
- Rolfe, J.C., trans, Ammianus Marcellinus. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1950.
- Shanzer, Danuta. 'Dating the Baptism of Clovis.' In Early Medieval Europe, volume 7, pages 29–57. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Ltd, 1998.
- Shanzer, D. and I. Wood. Avitus of Vienne: Letters and Selected Prose. Translated with an Introduction and Notes. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2002.
- Werner, J. (1953). "Beiträge sur Archäologie des Attila-Reiches", Die Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaft. Abhandlungen. N.F. XXXVIII A Philosophische-philologische und historische Klasse. Münche
- ISBN 978-0520085114. Archivedfrom the original on 2023-04-23. Retrieved 2020-01-26.
- Wood, Ian N. "Ethnicity and the Ethnogenesis of the Burgundians". In Herwig Wolfram and Walter Pohl, editors, Typen der Ethnogenese unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Bayern, volume 1, pages 53–69. Vienna: Denkschriften der Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1990.
- Wood, Ian N. The Merovingian Kingdoms. Harlow, England: The Longman Group, 1994.
External links
- Media related to Burgundians at Wikimedia Commons