Suebi

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The Suebi or Suevi (from Proto-Germanic *swēbaz based on the root *swē- meaning "one's own",[1] cf. Suiones) were a Germanic people who were first mentioned by Julius Caesar in connection with Ariovistus' campaign, c. 58 BC.[2] They remained a threat against the Romans on the Rhine until Drusus secured the frontier c. 9 BC.[2]

The historian Tacitus considered the Suebi to comprise the Quadi, the Semnones and the Marcomanni.[2] Moreover, he included all North Germanic and East Germanic tribes that were not subdued by the Romans, but this was due to a misunderstanding.[3] Tacitus noted them for their fashion of the Suebian knot.

The core tribe of the Suebi were the Semnones, but other tribes emanated from the Suebi, such as the Quadi and the Marcomanni and probably also the Hermunduri.[3] The Suebi tribal group also included the Alamanni and the Langobards,[4] but whether the latter group were part of the Suebi is doubtful.[3]

In the 1st century AD, the Suebi were concentrated at the Elbe river, but the Huns would make some of them cross the Rhine and reach the Iberian Peninsula[4].

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[edit] Early history

2000 years ago the Baltic Sea was known to the Romans as the Mare Suebicum.

The Suebi eventually migrated south and west to reside for a while in the Rhineland area of modern Germany, where their name survives in the historic region known as Swabia. The Suebi under Ariovistus were invited into Gallia by the Sequani but soon came to dominate them and were finally defeated by Julius Caesar in 58 BC.

[edit] Migration period

[edit] Swabia

Closely related to the Alamanni and often working in concert with them, the Suebi for the most part stayed on the right bank of the Rhine until December 31, 406, when much of the tribe joined the Vandals and Alans in breaching the Roman frontier at Mainz, thus launching an invasion of the province of Gaul.

Part of the Suebi, the northern Suebi were mentioned in 569 under Frankish king Sigebert I in areas of today's Saxony-Anhalt. In connection to the Suebi, Saxons and Lombards, returning from the Italian Peninsula in 573, are also mentioned.

[edit] Suebic kingdom in Gallaecia

While the Vandals and Alans clashed with the Roman-allied Franks for supremacy in Gaul, the Suebi under their king Hermeric worked their way to the south, eventually crossing the Pyrenees and entering the Iberian Peninsula which was out of Imperial rule since the rebellion of Gerontius and Maximus in 409.

Passing through the Basque country, they settled in the Roman province of Gallaecia, in north-western Hispania (modern Galicia and northern Portugal), swore fealty to the Emperor Honorius and were accepted as foederati and permitted to settle, under their own autonomous governance. Contemporaneously with the self-governing province of Britannia, the kingdom of the Suebi in Gallaecia became the first of the sub-Roman kingdoms to be formed in the disintegrating territory of the Western Roman Empire. Suebic Gallaecia was the first kingdom separated from the Roman Empire to mint coins.

Iberian Peninsula (530 AD-570 AD)
Iberian Peninsula (530 AD-570 AD)

The Suebic kingdom in Gallaecia and northern Lusitania (modern northern Portugal and Galicia) was established at 410 and lasted until 584 after a century of slow decline. Smaller than the Ostrogothic kingdom of Italy or the Visigothic kingdom in Hispania, it never reached major political relevance. Only after the kingdom of the Suebi was conquered by the Visigoths in 585, Braulio of Zaragoza (590 - 651) depicted the region as the extremity of the west in an illiterate country where naught is heard but the sound of gales. As the Suebi quickly adopted the local Hispano-Roman language, few traces were left of their Germanic tongue. Some influence on the Galician language and Portuguese language remained, like "lawerka" for Portuguese and Galician "laverca" (synonym of "cotovia" - lark).

German invaders settled mainly in the areas of Braga (Bracara Augusta), Porto (Portus Cale), Lugo (Lucus Augusta) and Astorga (Asturica Augusta). Bracara Augusta, the modern city of Braga and former capital of Roman Gallaecia, became the capital of the Suebi.

Another Germanic group that accompanied the Suebi and settled in Gallaecia were the Buri. They settled in the region between the rivers Cávado and Homem, in the area know as Terras de Bouro (Lands of the Buri)[5].

In 438 Hermeric ratified the peace with the Hispano-Roman local population and, weary of fighting, abdicated in favour of his son Rechila.

The irruption of Visigoths in the Iberian Peninsula from 416 sent from Aquitania by the Emperor of the West to fight the Vandals and the Alans resulted into an ephemeral expansion of the Suebi Kingdom: at its heyday Suebic Gallaecia extended as far as Mérida or Seville.

In 448 Rechila died, leaving the crown to his son Rechiarius who had converted to Roman Catholicism circa 447. Catholicism became official to the pagan Suebi and mostly Priscillianist population base, just to convert to Arianism few years later, under the rule of Remismund and to revert back to Catholicism again by the middle of the next century.

In 456 Rechiarius died after being defeated by the Visigothic king Theodoric II, and the Sueve glory began to fade. The Sueve kingdom got cornered to the hostile northwest and political division arose across the river Minius (Minho or Miño) with two different kings ruling in both sides of the river. Despite the Visigoths' pressure, the Suebi maintained their nominal independence on the northwest until 584, when the Visigothic king Leovigild, dethroned Andeca, last king of the Suebi, in 585.

[edit] Suebi kings of Gallaecia

History of Galicia
Prehistoric Galicia
Old Age
Celtic Gallaecia
Gallaecia
Suebi Kingdom
Middle Age
County of Galicia
Kingdom of León
Modern Age
Contemporary Galicia
20th Century Galicia
Present
Timeline of Galician History
Portal Galicia Portal

The Visigoths conquered the Suevi in 585.

[edit] Norse mythology

The name of the Suebi also appears in Norse mythology and in early Scandinavian sources. The earliest attestation is the Proto-Norse name Swabaharjaz ("Suebian warrior") on the Rö runestone and in the place name Svogerslev.[1] Sváfa, whose name means "Suebian",[6] was a Valkyrie who appears in the eddic poem Helgakviða Hjörvarðssonar. The kingdom Sváfaland also appears in this poem and it is also mentioned in the Þiðrekssaga.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b Peterson, Lena: Lexikon över urnordiska personnamn, at Institutet för språk och folkminnen, Sweden.
  2. ^ a b c The article Sveber in Nationalencyklopedin.
  3. ^ a b c The article Sveber in Nordisk familjebok.
  4. ^ a b The article Suebi in Encyclopædia Britannica online, retrieved January 26, 2007.
  5. ^ Domingos Maria da Silva, Os Búrios, Terras de Bouro, Câmara Municipal de Terras de Bouro, 2006. (in Portuguese)
  6. ^ Peterson, Lena. (2002). Nordiskt runnamnslexikon, at Institutet för språk och folkminnen, Sweden.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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