Sicambri

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The Germanic tribe of the Sicambri (var. Sicambers, Sicambri, Sicambres, Sigambrer, Sugumbrer, Sugambri) appear in history around 55 BC, during the time of conquests of Gaul by Julius Caesar and his expansion of the Roman Empire. Caesar wrote in his famous Commentarii de Bello Gallico that at the confluence of the Rhine and Meuse River a battle took place in the land of the Menapii with Tencteri and Usipetes. When these two peoples were routed by him their cavalary escaped and found asylum north of the river with the Sicambri. Ceasar then built a bridge across the river to punish the Sicambri. Claudius Ptolemy located the Sicambri, together with the Bructeri Minores, at the most northern part of the Rhine and south of the Frisians who inhabit the coast north of the river. Strabo located the Sicambri next to the Menapii, “who dwell on both sides of the river Rhine near its mouth, in marshes and woods. It is opposite to these Menapii that the Sicambri are situated". So the Sicambri must have lived at the lower Rhine in what is now called the Netherlands, probably in Utrecht (province). When Caesar defeated the Eburones he invited all of the peoples that were interested to destroy and terminate their remains. The Sicambri responded to Caesars call. They arrested large amounts of cattle, made many slaves and a lot of booty. Caesar commented that "these men are born for war and raids", "No swamp or marsh will stop them". After the raid on Eburones they moved on against the Romans. They destroyed some of Caesars units, in revenge of his campaign against them and when the remains of the legion withdrew into the city Atuatuca the Sicambri went back across the Rhine.

In 16 BC their leader Melo, brother of Baetorix, organised a raid and defeated a Roman army under the command of Marcus Lollius, which sparked a reaction from the Roman Empire and helped start the series of Germanic Wars. Later the Sicambri under Deudorix, son of Baetorix, joined the rebellion of Arminius with whom they terminated the 3 Roman legions of Publius Quinctilius Varus.

In 11 BC, a part of this tribe was forced by Nero Claudius Drusus to move to the south side of the lower Rhine, where they evidently formed a component of the Franks. The main part of the Sicambri "migrated deep into the country anticipating the Romans" according to Strabo

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[edit] Historiography

The 6th century historian Gregory of Tours (II, 31) states that the Merovingian Frankish leader Clovis I, on the occasion of his baptism into the Catholic faith, was referred to as Sicamber by Saint Remigius, the officiating bishop of Rheims -- recalling a link between the Sicambers and the Salian Franks who were Clovis' people.

An anonymous work of 727 called Liber Historiae Francorum states that following the fall of Troy, 12,000 Trojans led by chiefs Priam and Antenor sailed across the Black Sea to the Tanais (Don) river, settled in "Pannonia" near the Sea of Azov and founded a city and nation called "Sicambria". In just 6 generations from the fall of Troy they arrive in the late 4th century AD, which obviously is impossible. An obvious difficulty with this account is that Pannonia is actually nowhere near the Don nor the Sea of Azov, but other mediaeval accounts have them settling at the mouth of the Ister (Danube) rather than the Don. This account goes on to describe their later migration to the Rhine.

Other mediaeval sources including the Chronicle of Fredegar (7th c.), allege that the Merovingian kings claimed their descent from the Sicambri who, they believed, were originally a Scythian or Cimmerian tribe once inhabiting the mouth of the river Danube, that had changed their name to "Franks" in 11 BC under the leadership of a certain chieftain called "Franko". According to these accounts, the Merovingians traced their Sicambrian origins from Marcomir I (supposedly died 412 BC), and ultimately to the kings of Troy, although this list of rulers is not accepted as historical. According to some records, a chieftain Marcomer preceded the Merovingian dynasty around 400 AD.