Morini
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Morini were a Belgic tribe in the time of the Roman Empire. We know little about their language but one of their cities, Boulogne-sur-Mer was called Bononia by Zosimus and Bonen in the Middle Ages. Their civitas during the Roman Empire was Terouanne (Terwaan).
Zosimus mentioned the Low Germanic character of the city (Bononia germanorum). They also were often mentioned by several Roman authors together with the Menapii, whose Germanic roots are known.
The Morini inhabited the low-lying plains and coastal wetlands awashed by tidal forces of the North Sea in the historic Flanders region (the province of West Flanders) of western Belgium and the present-day departments of Nord and Pas-de-Calais of northernmost France. The word "Flanders" is a contraction of "flooded lands" and refers the north of the Morini territory.
The Morini lived in grass hut villages on the edges of the polders, on reclaimed land drained away for expandable farming, and on small islands surrounded by ponds. Because of their home range consists of this type of terrain, the tribe's given name Morini is derived from the local proto-Flemish word for polder = moer. In French a part of the region is called Les Moëres. The word is closely related to mare (Latin=sea), "mere" (lake), and "marsh".
They lived on subsistent agriculture and traded with other tribes, like the ancient Britons of nearby Great Britain and the Batavi of present-day Holland. According to local legend, the name of a city in this region -Saint-Omer- is derived from tribal kings bearing the name "Omer," meaning "of the Morini." In reality, it was a German name (Od-mar = famous for his heritage), and the city takes its name from Saint Audomare (Omer).
The Morini were conquered by the Romans between the years 33-23 B.C. and their tribal lands became part of the Roman province of Belgae.
They were converted to Christianity by Saints Victoricus and Fuscian, but the region was re-evangelized by Saint Omer in the seventh century.
