Marcomanni

The Roman Empire under Hadrian (ruled 117–138), showing the location of the Marcomanni in the region of the upper Danube (now northern Austria, part of Bavaria, Germany and Czech Republic)

The Marcomanni were a Germanic people who lived close to the border of the Roman empire, north of the River Danube. They were one of the most dominant members of the powerful Suebian cluster of related Germanic peoples which also included the Hermunduri, Quadi, Semnones and Langobardi who were very important to the Romans. They appear in Roman records from approximately 60 BC until about 400 AD. After a major defeat to the Romans in about 9 BC, the Marcomanni were given a new king by the Romans named Maroboduus, who had grown up in Rome. He subsequently led his people into a remoter region among forests and mountains in the present day Czech Republic. From his base there, Maroboduus built up a Rome-aligned Suebian empire, but the Langobardi and Semnones left this empire when Maroboduus took the Roman side during the rebellion of Arminius, which led to a war between the Germanic peoples. Despite their support for Rome, the Roman rulers nevertheless saw the Marcomanni as a potential threat to the empire, within striking distance of Italy. Over the centuries they sought to limit their power, and often came into open conflict with them. In the second century, during the reign of Marcus Aurelius and his co-emperors, the Romans pursued a major series of bloody wars against the Marcomanni and their allies which are called the Marcomannic wars. The tension was never resolved, and ended only when Attila and his allies moved into the Middle Danube region and took control in the 5th century. Many Marcomanni subsequently moved south into the Roman empire, where they continued to have royal family. The Langobardi who eventually moved into these areas, and then into Italy, allowed remaining Marcomanni to join them.

Before 9 BC, the homeland of the Marcomanni is not known, but archaeological evidence suggests that they lived near the central Elbe river or Saale. The Marcomanni were first reported by Julius Caesar among the Germanic peoples who were attempting to settle in Gaul in 58 BC under the leadership of Ariovistus, but he did not explain where their homeland was.

Name

It is believed that the name of the Marcomanni derives from the reconstructed Proto-Germanic word *markō meaning "border, boundary", which is the origin of the English word "march or mark, meaning "frontier, border", as for example in the Welsh marches. They were therefore "border men".

The fact that their name existed before the Romans had territory near the Danube or Rhine raises the question of which frontier or march they originally lived near, in order to explain their name. Based upon archaeological evidence, their name may echo an earlier demarcation between the Elbe Germani of the Jastorf culture and the La Tène culture peoples, such as the Celtic Boii, Volcae Tectosages and Helvetii in the south; or Weser-Rhine Germani to the west.

With Ariovistus in Gaul (58 BC)

The Marcomanni first appear in historical records among the confederates of Ariovistus fighting against Julius Caesar in Gaul after they had crossed the Rhine from what is now southern Germany. Caesar's report of his battles lists them once, in his account of his victory in 58 BC. Caesar wrote that he approached their camp and forced the Germani to draw up their forces. They "arranged them by tribe (generatim, by gens), at equal distances, the Harudes, Marcomanni, Tribocci, Vangiones, Nemetes, Sedusii, Suebi; and surrounded their whole army with their chariots and wagons, that no hope might be left in flight. On these they placed their women, who, with outstretched hand and in tears, entreated the soldiers, as they went forward to battle, not to deliver them into slavery to the Romans."

The exact position of the Marcomanni homelands at this time is not known, but it was east of the Rhine and it has been suggested that they lived near or even among the Suebi who Caesar also mentioned. This would place them in or near present day Hesse, Franconia, and Thuringia. Despite Caesar's silence on this point, the Marcomanni may have already been a branch of the Suebi, although this categorization is only found in much later authors such as Strabo and Tacitus. Alternatively, there may have been subsequent changes in the relationship between the Suebi and Marcomanni, or in the terminology that was used. Caesar described the Suebi he encountered as the largest and the most warlike Germanic people (gens), and they were divided into 100 districts (pagi) who supplied 1000 men each during war. The forces of these pagi were distinct within the Suevi forces, and it is sometimes suggested that the Marcomanni could have been one of these pagi. The Suebi were also able to call upon peoples (nationes) to supply infantry and cavalry reinforcements.

The Germania wars of Augustus

In the time of Augustus (reigned 63 BC – 14 AD), major invasions of Germania were launched, giving the Romans effective control of the part between the Rhine and Elbe rivers, until the rebellion of Arminius in 9 AD. During this period the Marcomanni suffered at least one major defeat and subsequently moved themselves into a more remote area surrounded by mountains and forests.

In the Res Gestae Divi Augusti which celebrates the reign of Augustus, it is boasted that among the many kings who took refuge with Augustus as suppliants, there was a king of the Marcomanni Suebi. The name of this king is no longer legible on the Monumentum Ancyranum, but it ended with "-rus".

The Roman historians Florus, and Orosius reported that Drusus the elder erected a mound of Marcomanni spoils during his campaigns of 12–9 BC, after he had defeated the Tencteri and Chatti, and before next turning to an alliance of the Cherusci, Suevi, and Sicambri. Florus:

Drusus was sent into the province and conquered the Usipetes first, and then overran the territory of the Tencturi and Catthi. He erected, by way of a trophy, a high mound adorned with the spoils and decorations of the Marcomanni. Next he attacked simultaneously those powerful tribes, the Cherusci, Suebi and Sicambri, who had begun hostilities after crucifying twenty of our centurions

Orosius:

Drusus, in Germany, first subdued the Usipetes, then the Tencteri and Chatti. He almost exterminated the Marcomanni. Later, he conquered the strongest nations, those whose natural strength and customary experience gave them considerable power, such as the Cherusci, Suebi, and Sugambri, all in a single war (bellum), but also with great difficulty.

Another Roman source, Cassius Dio, describes the sequence of events somewhat differently:

Drusus, [...] invaded the country of the Chatti and advanced as far as that of the Suebi, conquering with difficulty the territory traversed and defeating the forces that attacked him only after considerable bloodshed. From there he proceeded to the country of the Cherusci, and crossing the Weser, advanced as far as the Elbe, pillaging everything on his way. [...] Drusus undertook to cross this river, but failing in the attempt, set up trophies and withdrew.

There are doubts, therefore, about the exact sequence of events, and also about the locations of the battles. Scholars are not in agreement about whether the victory over the Marcomanni happened in 9 BC, which was the year of the victory over the Cherusci, Suebi and Sugambri, and then the death of Drusus. The location of the Marcomanni battle is often assumed to be in Franconia but an alternative hypothesis is that it was closer to the Cherusci, in the area of northeastern Hesse and western Thuringia. There are also scholars who propose that the Suebi defeated in the 9 BC campaign were the Marcomanni.

Move to Bohemia

According to the accounts of Tacitus (Germ. 42), Paterculus (2.108), Pliny the Elder, and Strabo (vii. p. 290) they eventually moved into the large area that had been occupied by the Boii, specifically in a region already called Baiohaemum, where their allies and fellow Suevi lived, the Quadi. It was described as being within the Hercynian Forest and was possibly in the region of modern Bohemia, but that is not certain. By 6 BC, their king, Maroboduus, had established a powerful kingdom there that Augustus perceived as a threat to the Roman Empire. Before he could act, however, the revolt in Illyria intervened.

The empire of Maroboduus

Eventually, Maroboduus was deposed and exiled by Catualda (AD 19). Catualda was, in turn, deposed by Vibilius of the Hermunduri that year and succeeded by the Quadian Vannius. Around 50 AD, Vannius was himself also deposed by Vibilius, in co-ordination with his nephews Vangio and Sido.

In the late first century, Tacitus mentions (Germania I.42) the Marcomanni as being under kings appointed by Rome.

Marcomannic Wars

Main article: Marcomannic Wars

The light pink area north of the Danube was temporarily occupied by the Romans in 178–179 AD and was meant to become the new Roman province of Marcomannia

Barbarian invasions against the Roman Empire during the Crisis of the Third Century

In the second century AD, the Marcomanni entered into a confederation with other peoples, including the Quadi, Vandals, and Sarmatians, against the Roman Empire. It was probably driven by movements of larger tribes, like the Goths. According to the historian Eutropius, the forces of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius battled against the Marcomannic confederation for three years at the fortress of Carnuntum, in Pannonia. Eutropius compared the war and Aurelius's success against the Marcomanni and their allies to the Punic Wars. The comparison was apt in that the war marked a turning point, had significant Roman defeats, and caused the death of two Praetorian Guard commanders. The war began in 166, when the Marcomanni overwhelmed the defences between Vindobona and Carnuntum, penetrated along the border between the provinces of Pannonia and Noricum, laid waste to Flavia Solva, and could be stopped only shortly before Aquileia, on the Adriatic Sea. The war lasted until Aurelius's death in 180. It would prove to be only a limited success for Rome since the Danube River remained the frontier of the empire until the fall of the Western Roman Empire.

Later history

Suebic migrations across Europe

Kingdom of the Suebi in Hispania (green) in 476 AD

The Christianisation of the Marcomanni, at least into a Roman orthodox form of Christianity, seems to have occurred under their queen Fritigil in the late 4th century. She corresponded with Ambrose of Milan to bring about the conversion. That was the last clear evidence of the Marcomanni having a polity, which was possibly now on the Roman side of the Danube. Soon afterward, the Pannonian and Danubian area went into a long period of turmoil.

Possible connections to later peoples

After crossing the Rhine in 406 and the Pyrenees in 409, a group of Suevi that had migrated with Vandals and Alans established itself in the Roman province of Gallaecia (modern Galicia and northern Portugal), where it was considered foederati and founded the Suebi kingdom of Gallaecia. The Suevi were probably a mix of Suevian groups from the area north of Danube and Pannonian basin such as the Marcomanni, Quadi and Buri.

There, Hermeric swore fealty to the emperor in 410. Bracara Augusta, the modern city of Braga in Portugal, had been the capital of Roman Gallaecia and now became the capital of the Suebic Kingdom.

The Danubian area, meanwhile, became the core of Attila the Hunnic Empire, and within it seem to have been many Suebians. One group of them managed to reform into an independent group after the Battle of Nedao in 454, like many other groups that emerged from Attila's confederation. Those Suevi eventually came into conflict with the Ostrogoths, who had lost at Nadao.

Jordanes, the historian of the Goths, reported (Getica 280) that after the Battle of Bolia, the Ostrogoths attacked the Suevi (ruled by a man named Hunimund, who also seemingly led an attack on Passau) by crossing the Danube when it was frozen and going into a high Alpine area held by the confederates of the Suevi at the time, the Alamanni. (He said that several streams start in the area and enter the Danube.) The region held by those Suevi was described as having Bavarians to the east, Franks to the west, Burgundians to the south, and Thuringians to the north. The text seems to indicate that the Suevi had moved into the Alamannic area but that Suevi were seen as distinct from both Alamanni and Bavarians. That was also the first mention of Bavarians, who are also often proposed to have had Marcomanni in their ancestry.

According to historians such as Herwig Wolfram:

The Marcomanni and the Quadi gave up their special names after crossing the Danube, in fact both the emigrants and the groups remaining in Pannonia became Suebi again. The Pannonian Suebi became subjects of the Huns. After the battle at the Nadao they set up their kingdom, and when it fell, they came, successively under Herulian and Longobard rule, south of the Danube under Gothic rule, and eventually again under Longobard rule.

Other

There is a runic alphabet called the Marcomannic runes, but they are not believed to be related to the Marcomanni.

Kings

• Maroboduus, c. 9 BC – 18 AD
• Catualda, 18 – 20
• Vannius, 20 – c. 50
• Vangio and Sido, c. 50 – ?
• Ballomar, c. 166? – 172 or 178?
• Attalus (Marcomanni), c. 260/2
• Fredegildus, 4th century
• Fritigil (Queen), 4th century

See also

• History of Portugal
• History of Spain
• Irminones
• List of ancient Germanic peoples
• Migrations period
• Timeline of Germanic kingdoms

Sources

• Castritius, Helmut (2005), "Sweben § 8-13", in Beck, Heinrich; Geuenich, Dieter; Steuer, Heiko (eds.), Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde, vol. 30 (2 ed.), De Gruyter, ISBN 978-3-11-018385-6
• Kehne, Peter (2001a), "Markomannen § 1. Historisches", in Beck, Heinrich; Geuenich, Dieter; Steuer, Heiko (eds.), Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde, vol. 19 (2 ed.), De Gruyter, ISBN 978-3-11-017163-1
• Kehne, Peter (2001b), "Markomannenkrieg § 1. Historisches", in Beck, Heinrich; Geuenich, Dieter; Steuer, Heiko (eds.), Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde, vol. 19 (2 ed.), De Gruyter, ISBN 978-3-11-017163-1
• Möller, Peter (1986), "Drusus", in Beck, Heinrich; Geuenich, Dieter; Steuer, Heiko (eds.), Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde, vol. 6 (2 ed.), De Gruyter, ISBN 978-3-11-010468-4
• Scharf, Ralf (2005), "Sweben § 2-7", in Beck, Heinrich; Geuenich, Dieter; Steuer, Heiko (eds.), Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde, vol. 30 (2 ed.), De Gruyter, ISBN 978-3-11-018385-6
• Tejral, Jaroslav (2001a), "Markomannen § 2. Archäologisches", in Beck, Heinrich; Geuenich, Dieter; Steuer, Heiko (eds.), Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde, vol. 19 (2 ed.), De Gruyter, ISBN 978-3-11-017163-1
• Tejral, Jaroslav (2001b), "Markomannenkrieg § 2. Archäologisches", in Beck, Heinrich; Geuenich, Dieter; Steuer, Heiko (eds.), Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde, vol. 19 (2 ed.), De Gruyter, ISBN 978-3-11-017163-1
• Wolfram, Herwig (1997), The Roman Empire and Its Germanic Peoples (translation of 1990 German ed.), University of California Press

Classical sources

• Caesar De Bello Gallico, at The Latin Library
• Tacitus Germania, at The Latin Library
• Tacitus Annales, at The Latin Library

External links

• "Marcomanni" . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911.