Everything about Allemanni totally explained
The
Alamanni,
Allemanni, or
Alemanni were originally an alliance of
west Germanic tribes located around the upper
Main, a river that's one of the largest tributaries of the Rhine, on land that's today part of Germany. One of the earliest references to them is the
cognomen Alamannicus assumed by
Caracalla, who ruled the
Roman Empire from 211-217 and claimed thereby to be their defeater. The nature of this alliance and their previous
tribal affiliations remain uncertain. The alliance was aggressive in nature, attacking the Roman province of
Germania Superior whenever it could. Generally it broadly followed the example of the
Franks, the first Germanic tribal alliance, which had stopped the Romans from penetrating north of the lower
Rhine and subsequently invaded the Roman province of
Germania Inferior.
From the first century, the Rhine had become the border between Roman
Gaul and tribal Germania. Germanic peoples, Celts, and tribes of mixed Celto-Germanic ethnicity were settled in the lands along both banks. The Romans divided these territories into two districts,
Germania Inferior and
Germania Superior situated along the lower and upper
Rhine respectively.
Upper Germania included the region between the upper Rhine and the upper
Danube, (the
Black Forest region that was larger than today: see
Hercynian Forest). The Romans called this the
Agri Decumates, (for example "Decumates territories"), a name of unknown origin. Some scholars have translated the expression as "the ten cantons", but whose cantons of what entity isn't known.
The exterior Roman fortified border around the area of Germania Superior was called the
Limes Germanicus. The assembled warbands of the Alamanni frequently crossed the
limes, attacking Germania Superior and moving into the Agri Decumates. As a confederation, from the fifth century, they settled the
Alsace and expanded into the
Swiss Plateau, as well as parts of what are now
Bavaria and
Austria, reaching the valleys of the
Alps by the eighth century.
According to
Historia Augusta the confederates in the third century were still simply called
Germani.
Proculus, an imperial usurper in 280, derived some of his popularity in Gaul by his
guerrilla successes against the Alamanni.. The Alamanni, thereafter became the nation of
Alamannia, that was sometimes independent, but more often was ruled by the
Franks. The name of Germany and the German language, in French,
Allemagne, allemand, in Portuguese
Alemanha, alemão, and in Spanish
Alemania, alemán, are derived from the name of this early Germanic nation. Persian and Arabic also designate Germans
Almaani, and Germany as
Almaania.
The region of the Alamanni was always somewhat sprawling and comprised a number of different districts, reflecting its mixed origins. In the
Early Middle Ages its territories were divided between the
Diocese of Strassburg, which dates from about 614, the territory of
Augsburg from 736, the
Mainz archdiocese from 745, and of
Basel, from 805. Its distinctive laws were codified under
Charlemagne as the Duchy of Alamannia in Swabia. Today the descendants of the Alamanni are divided between parts of four nations: France (Alsace), Germany (Swabia and parts of Bavaria), Switzerland and Austria, and the
German spoken in those regions has distinctive regional dialects.
Language
The German spoken today over the range of the former Alemanni is termed
Alemannic German, and is recognised among the subgroups of the
High German languages. Alemannic runic inscriptions such as those on the
Pforzen buckle are among the earliest testimonies of
Old High German. The
High German consonant shift is thought to have originated around the fifth century either in Alemannia or among the
Langobards; before that the dialect spoken by Alemannic tribes was little different from that of other West Germanic peoples.
Origin
Name
According to
Asinius Quadratus (quoted in the mid-sixth century Byzantine historian
Agathias) their name means "all men". It indicates that they were a conglomeration drawn from various tribes. This was the derivation of
Alamanni used by
Edward Gibbon, in his
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire and by the anonymous contributor of notes assembled from the papers of
Nicolas Fréret, published in 1753, who noted that it was the name used by outsiders for those who called themselves
Suevi. This etymology has remained the standard derivation
Another source derives the
Ala- from
*al-
, "beyond", often in the sense of "other", from which are also derived Greek
allos "other, alien" and Old High German
Elisâzzo " (Elsaz or
Alsace): "the land on the other side of the
Rhine".
The least likely derivation of the Alamanni is Alan-Manni, the reason being that Alamanni, as far as can be determined from initial contacts, wasn't a self-imposed name. The
Alans, moreover, were never in the region, didn't originally speak Germanic and had no influence over any Germanic folk west of the
Vistula, nor did they acquire any influence under
Attila, who bypassed the region, nor from the
Ostrogoths of
Pannonia after Attila.
Walafrid Strabo, a monk of
Abbey of St. Gall writing in the ninth century remarked, in discussing the people of Switzerland and surrounding regions that only foreigners called them Alamanni, but that they gave themselves the name of
Suevi. If true of the ninth century, this observation may not necessarily equally apply to the fourth. In short we don't know who applied the name and exactly when. It was, however, well established among a variety of historians and geographers.
First explicit mention
The Alamanni were first mentioned by
Cassius Dio describing the campaign of
Caracalla in 213. At that time they apparently dwelt in the basin of the
Main, to the south of the
Chatti.
Cassius Dio (
78.13.4) portrays the Alamanni as victims of this treacherous emperor. They had asked for his help, says Dio, but instead he colonized their country, changed their place names and executed their warriors under a pretext of coming to their aid. When he became ill, the Alamanni claimed to have put a hex on him (78.15.2). Caracalla, it was claimed, tried to counter this influence by invoking his ancestral spirits.
In retribution Caracalla then led the
Legio II Traiana Fortis against the Alamanni, who lost and were pacified for a time. The legion was as a result honored with the name
Germanica. The
Historia Augusta,
Life of Antoninus Caracalla, relates (
10.5) that Caracalla then assumed the name
Alamannicus, at which Helvius Pertinax jested that he should really be called
Geticus Maximus, because in the year before he'd murdered his stepbrother,
Geta. Not on good terms with Caracalla, Geta had been invited to a family reconciliation, at which time he was ambushed by centurions in Caracalla's army and slain in his mother Julia's arms. Julia is said thereafter to have seduced and married Caracalla. True or not, Caracalla, pursued by devils of his own, left Rome never to return.
Caracalla left for the frontier, where for the rest of his short reign he was known for his unpredictable and arbitrary operations launched by surprise after a pretext of peace negotiations. If he'd any reasons of state for such actions they remained unknown to his contemporaries. Whether or not the Alamanni had been previously innocent, they were certainly further influenced by Caracalla to become thereafter notoriously implacable enemies of Rome.
This mutually antagonistic relationship is perhaps the reason why the Roman writers persisted in calling the Alamanni
barbari, "savages". The archaeology, however, shows that they were largely Romanized, lived in Roman-style houses and used Roman artifacts, the Alemannic women having adopted the Roman fashion of the
tunic even earlier than the men.
Most of them probably were in fact resident in or close to the borders of Germania Superior. Although Dio is the earliest writer to mention them,
Ammianus Marcellinus used the name to refer to Germans on the
Limes Germanicus in the time of
Trajan's governorship of the province shortly after it was formed, circa 98/99. At that time the entire frontier was being fortified for the first time. Trees from the earliest fortifications found in
Germania Inferior are dated by
dendrochronology to 99/100. Shortly afterwards Trajan was chosen by
Nerva to be his successor, adopted with public fanfare in absentia by the old man shortly before his death. By 100 Trajan was back in Rome as Emperor instead of merely being a Consul.
Ammianus relates (
xvii.1.11) that much later the Emperor
Julian undertook a punitive expedition against the Alamanni, who by then were in Alsace, and crossed the Main (Latin
Menus), entering the forest, where the trails were blocked by felled trees. As winter was upon them, they reoccupied a
» "
munimentum quod in Alamannorum solo conditum Traianus suo nomine voluit appellari"
"A fortification which was founded on the soil of the Alamanni that Trajan wished to be called with his own name"
In this context the use of Alamanni is possibly an anachronism but it reveals that Ammianus believed they were the same people, which is consistent with the location of the Alamanni of Caracalla's campaigns.
Alemanni and Hermunduri
The early detailed source, the
Germania of
Tacitus, has sometimes been interpreted in such a way as to provide yet other historical problems. In
Chapter 42 we read of the
Hermunduri, a tribe certainly located in the region that later became
Thuringia. Tacitus stated that they traded with
Rhaetia, which in Ptolemy is located across the Danube from
Germania Superior. A logical conclusion to draw is that the Hermunduri extended over later
Swabia and therefore the Alamanni originally derived from the Hermunduri.
However, no Hermunduri appear in Ptolemy, though after the time of Ptolemy the Hermunduri joined with the
Marcomanni in the wars of 166-180 against the empire. A careful reading of Tacitus provides one solution. He says that the source of the
Elbe is among the Hermunduri, somewhat to the east of the upper
Main. He places them also between the
Naristi (Varisti), whose location at the very edge of the ancient
Black Forest is well known, and the
Marcomanni and
Quadi. Moreover, the Hermunduri were broken in the
Marcomannic Wars and made a separate peace with Rome. The Alamanni thus were probably not primarily the Hermunduri, although some elements of them may have been present in the mix of peoples at that time that became Alamannian.
Ptolemy's Geography
Before the mention of
Alamanni in the time of Caracalla, one would search in vain for Alamanni in the moderately detailed geography of southern Germany in Claudius
Ptolemy, written in Greek in the mid-second century; it's likely that at that time, the people who later used that name were known by other designations.
Nevertheless some conclusions can be drawn from Ptolemy. Germania Superior is easily identified. Following up the Rhine one comes to a town, Mattiacum, which must be at the border of the Roman Germany (vicinity of
Wiesbaden). Upstream from it and between the Rhine and
Abnoba (in the
Black Forest) are the
Ingriones,
Intuergi,
Vangiones,
Caritni and
Vispi, some of whom were there since the days of the early empire or before. On the other side of the northern Black Forest were the
Chatti about where
Hesse is today, on the lower Main.
Historic
Swabia was eventually replaced by today's
Baden-Württemberg, but it had been the most significant territory of mediaeval
Alamannia, comprising all Germania Superior and territory east to
Bavaria. It didn't include the upper Main, but that's where Caracalla campaigned. Moreover, the territory of Germania Superior wasn't originally included among the Alemanni's possessions.
However, if we look for the peoples in the region from the upper Main in the north, south to the Danube and east to the
Czech Republic where the
Quadi and
Marcomanni were located, Ptolemy doesn't give any tribes. There are the
Tubanti just south of the
Chatti and at the other end of what was then the Black Forest, the
Varisti, whose location is known. One possible reason for this distribution is that the population preferred not to live in the forest except in troubled times. The region between the forest and the
Danube on the other hand included about a dozen settlements, or "cantons".
Ptolemy's view of Germans in the region indicates that the tribal structure had lost its grip in the Black Forest region and was replaced by a canton structure. The tribes stayed in the Roman province, perhaps because the Romans offered stability. Also, Caracalla perhaps felt more comfortable about campaigning in the upper Main because he wasn't declaring war on any specific historic tribe, such as the Chatti or
Cherusci, against whom Rome had suffered grievous losses. By Caracalla's time the name
Alamanni was being used by cantons themselves banding together for purposes of supporting a citizen army (the "war bands").
Concentration of Germanic peoples under Ariovistus
The term Suebi has a double meaning in the sources. On the one hand Tacitus'
Germania tells us (
Chapters 38, 39) that they occupy more than half of Germany, use a distinctive hair style, and are spiritually centered on the
Semnones. On the other hand the Suebi of the upper Danube are described as though they were a tribe.
The solution to the puzzle as well as explaining the historical circumstances leading to the choice of the Agri Decumates as a defensive point and the concentration of Germans there are probably to be found in the German attack on the Gallic fortified town of
Vesontio in 58 BC. The upper Rhine and Danube appear to form a funnel pointing straight at Vesontio.
Julius Caesar in
Gallic Wars tells us (
1.51) that
Ariovistus had gathered an army from a wide region of Germany, but especially the
Harudes,
Marcomanni,
Triboci,
Vangiones,
Nemetes and
Sedusii. The Suebi were being invited to join. They lived in 100 cantons (
4.1) from which 1000 young men per year were chosen for military service, a citizen-army by our standards and by comparison with the Roman professional army.
Ariovistus had become involved in an invasion of
Gaul, which the German wished to settle. Intending to take the strategic town of Vesontio, he concentrated his forces on the Rhine near Lake Constance, and when the Suebi arrived, he crossed. The Gauls had called to Rome for military aid. Caesar occupied the town first and defeated the Germans before its walls, slaughtering most of the German army as it tried to flee across the river (1.36ff). He didn't pursue the retreating remnants, leaving what was left of the German army and their dependents intact on the other side of the Rhine.
The Gauls were ambivalent in their policies toward the Romans. In 53 BC the
Treveri broke their alliance and attempted to break free of Rome. Caesar foresaw that they'd now attempt to ally themselves with the Germans. He crossed the Rhine to forestall that event, a successful strategy. Remembering their expensive defeat at the Battle of Vesontio, the Germans withdrew to the Black Forest, concentrating there a mixed population dominated by Suebi. As they'd left their tribal homes behind, they probably took over all the former Celtic cantons along the Danube.
Conflicts with the Roman Empire
The Alamanni were continually engaged in conflicts with the
Roman Empire. They launched a major invasion of
Gaul and northern
Italy in 268, when the Romans were forced to denude much of their German frontier of troops in response to a massive invasion of the
Goths from the east. Their raids throughout the three parts of Gaul were traumatic:
Gregory of Tours (died ca 594) mentions their destructive force at the time of
Valerian and Gallienus (253–260), when the Alemanni assembled under their "king", whom he calls
Chrocus, who "by the advice, it's said, of his wicked mother, and overran the whole of the Gauls, and destroyed from their foundations all the temples which had been built in ancient times. And coming to
Clermont he set on fire, overthrew and destroyed that shrine which they call
Vasso Galatae in the Gallic tongue," martyring many Christians (
Historia Francorum Book I.32–34). Thus 6th century Gallo-Romans of Gregory's class, surrounded by the ruins of
Roman temples and public buildings, attributed the destruction they saw to the plundering raids of the Alemanni.
In the early summer of 268, the
Emperor Gallienus halted their advance into Italy, but then had to deal with the Goths. When the Gothic campaign ended in Roman victory at the
Battle of Naissus in September, Gallienus' successor
Claudius II Gothicus turned north to deal with the Alamanni, who were swarming over all Italy north of the
Po River.
After efforts to secure a peaceful withdrawal failed, Claudius forced the Alamanni to battle at the
Battle of Lake Benacus in November. The Alamanni were routed, forced back into Germany, and didn't threaten Roman territory for many years afterwards.
Their most famous battle against Rome took place in Argentoratum (
Strasbourg), in 357, where they were defeated by
Julian, later Emperor of Rome, and their king Chondomar ("
Chonodomarius") was taken prisoner to Rome.
On
January 2 366 the Alamanni yet again crossed the frozen
Rhine in large numbers, to invade the Gallic provinces, this time being defeated by Valentinian (see
Battle of Solicinium).
In the great mixed invasion of 406, the Alamanni appear to have crossed the
Rhine river a final time, conquering and then settling what is today
Alsace and a large part of the
Swiss Plateau.
Fredegar's Chronicle gives the account. At
Alba Augusta (
Alba-la-Romaine) the devastation was so complete, that the Christian bishop retired to
Viviers, but in Gregory's account at Mende in
Lozère, also deep in the heart of Gaul, bishop Privatus was forced to sacrifice to idols in the very cave where he was later venerated. It is thought this detail may be a generic literary ploy to epitomize the horrors of barbarian violence.
List of battles between Romans and Alamanni
Alamanni and Franks
The kingdom (or duchy) of
Alamannia between Strasbourg and Augsburg lasted until 496, when the Alamanni were conquered by
Clovis I at the
Battle of Tolbiac. The war of Clovis with the Alamanni forms the setting for the conversion of Clovis, briefly treated by
Gregory of Tours (
Book II.31) Subsequently the Alamanni formed part of the
Frankish dominions and were governed by a Frankish duke.
In 746,
Carloman ended an uprising by summarily executing all Alemannic nobility at the
blood court at Cannstatt, and for the following century, Alamannia was ruled by Frankish dukes. Following the
treaty of Verdun of 843, Alamannia became a province of the eastern kingdom of
Louis the German, the precursor of the
Holy Roman Empire. The duchy persisted until 1268.
List of Alamannic rulers
Independent kings
Chrocus 306
Mederich (father of Agenarich, brother to Chnodomar)
Chnodomar 350, 357
Vestralp 357, 359
Ur 357, 359
Agenarich (Serapio) 357
Suomar 357, 358
Hortar 357, 359
Gundomad 354 (co-regent of Vadomar)
Ursicin 357, 359
Makrian 368–371
Rando 368
Hariobaud 4th c.
Vadomar vor 354–360
Vithicab 360–368
Priarius ?–378
Gibuld (Gebavult) c. 470
Butilin 539–554
Leuthari I before 552–554
Haming 539–554
Lantachar until 548 (Avenches diocese)
Magnachar 565 (Avenches diocese)
Vaefar 573 (Avenches diocese)
Theodefrid
Leutfred 570–587
Uncilin 587–607
Gunzo 613
Chrodobert 630
Leuthari II 642
Gotfrid until 709
Willehari 709–712 (in Ortenau)
Lantfrid 709–730
Theudebald 709–744
Christianization
The Christianization of the Alamanni took place during Merovingian times (6th to 8th centuries). Sources are sparse, but in the mid-6th century, the Byzantine historian Agathias of Myrina records, in the context of the wars of the Goths and Franks against Byzantium, that the Alamanni fighting among the troops of Frankish king Theudebald were like the Franks in all respects except religion, since they » "worship trees, rivers, hills and gorges as gods, and decapitate horses and cows, and innumerable other animals, as if it were a holy rite,"
He also spoke of the particular ruthlessness of the Alamani in destroying Christian sanctuaries and plundering churches while the genuine Franks were respectful towards those sanctuaries. Agathias expresses his hope that the Alamanni would assume better manners through prolongued contact with the Franks, which is by all appearances what eventually happened.
Apostles of the Alamanni were Saint Columbanus and his disciple Saint Gall. Jonas of Bobbio records that Columbanus was active in Bregenz, where he disrupted a beer sacrifice to Wodan. Despite these activities, for some time, the Alamanni seem to have continued their pagan cult activities, with only superficial or syncretistic Christian elements. In particular, there's no change in burial practice, and tumulus warrior graves continued to be erected throughout Merovingian times. Syncretism of traditional Germanic animal-style with Christian symbolism is also present in artwork, but Christian symbolism becomes more and more prevalent during the 7th century. Unlike the later Christianization of the Saxon and of the Slavs, the Alamanni seem to have adopted Christianity gradually, and voluntarily, spread in emulation of the Merovingian elite.
From ca. the 520s to the 620s, there was a surge of Alamannic Elder Futhark inscriptions. About 80 specimens have survived, roughly half of them on fibulae, others on belt buckles (see Pforzen buckle, Bülach fibula) and other jewelry and weapon parts. Use of runes subsides with the advance of Christianity.
The establishment of the bishopric of Konstanz can't be dated exactly and was possibly undertaken by Columbanus himself (before 612). In any case, it existed by 635, when Gunzo appointed John of Grab bishop. Constance was a missionary bishopric in newly converted lands, and didn't look back on late Roman church history (unlike the Raetian bishopric of Chur, established 451) and Basel, which was an episcopal seat from 740, and which continued the line of Bishops of Augusta Raurica, see Bishop of Basel. The establishment of the church as an institution recognized by worldly rulers is also visible in legal history. In the early 7th century Pactus Alamannorum hardly ever mentions the special privileges of the church, while Lantfrid's Lex Alamannorum of 720 has an entire chapter reserved for ecclesial matters alone.
Alemannic dialects
Alemannia lost its distinct jurisdictional identity when Charles Martel absorbed it into the Frankish empire, early in the 8th century. Today, Alemannic is a linguistic term, referring to Alemannic German, encompassing the dialects of the southern two thirds of Baden-Württemberg (German State), in western Bavaria (German State), in Vorarlberg (Austrian State), Swiss German in Switzerland and the Alsatian language of the Alsace (France).
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