Ascaric

Last updated
Amphitheatre at Trier in which Ascaric and Merogais were executed along with numerous Frankish soldiers. Amphietheather von Trier gross.jpg
Amphitheatre at Trier in which Ascaric and Merogais were executed along with numerous Frankish soldiers.

Ascaric or Ascarich (Latin : Ascaricus [1] ) was an early Frankish war leader, who, along with his co-leader, Merogais, are the earliest known leaders explicitly called Frankish, although the name of the Franks is earlier.

Contents

The Germanic name is a compound of two elements, clearly identified as asca- "ash tree" and - riks "ruler".

Historical incident involving Ascaric and Merogais

Sources

The sources for the appearance of Ascaric and Merogais in history are few, but were written within a few years of their deaths in contemporary times. They are considered reliable. They are mentioned in a collection of recorded speeches from the period called the Panegyrici latini . These were numbered more or less at random. Only three of the twelve are concerned with the Frankish invasions of Gaul in the late 3rd and early 4th centuries: numbers IX, VI and VII. Only VI provides any significant detail. The authors of VI and VII, conventionally entitled "Panegyric of Constantine" and "Panegyric of Maximian and Constantine" respectively, remain unknown and are therefore typically called "anonymous." Number IX, the earliest, which precedes any of the events involving the two war leaders, is termed "Eumenius for the Restoration of the Schools" because in it the orator quotes a letter from Constantius Chlorus identifying him as Eumenius. In addition Eutropius makes some mention of the period.

The earliest of the three panegyrics, IX, delivered at Lyon or Autun by Eumenius to the governor of the province, which was probably Lugdunensis II between the Seine and the Loire, on the occasion of a visit, begs the governor to restore the Maenianae school of Autun, and contributes his own salary to the effort. [2] Only background information about the Franks is given. They assisted the pretender Carausius, the temporary ruler of Britain and parts of Gaul. When the imperial government stabilized after a dynastic struggle, Constantius Chlorus reconquered northwestern Gaul, ejected the Franks from there and proceeded to the liberation of Britain. The speech, made in 297 or 298, immediately after the reconquest, in the ruins of the city, presented a letter from Constantius expressing his desire to do something for the children of Gaul and appointing Eumenius, a member of the imperial staff, whose grandfather had been headmaster, to rebuild the school.

Panegyric VII is a speech delivered to Constantine I on the occasion of his taking the senior emperor's, Maximian's, daughter in marriage in 307. By then the Franks have been cleared out of Gaul a second time. The two chiefs have just been executed. The mood is festive. The speaker brags of the treatment meted out to the treacherous Franks. [3] The mood did not last, as once again the emperors became embroiled in conflict. By 310 Maximian is dead, his daughter repudiated, and Constantine is senior emperor. An uneasy peace has been restored in Gaul.

In Panegryric VI, on the anniversary of the foundation of Trier a middle-aged school-teacher from Autun and former member of the imperial court addresses the emperor, guest of the celebration, at the beginning of August. He could be Eumenius, but there is no proof that he is. The emperor has just successfully struck a blow against the Bructeri. The speaker reveals the details but a note of fear manages to pervade the speech. Let the Franks retaliate, he says. We know they can cross the Rhine anywhere at any time they choose. Our defense is such terror that they will fear even to approach the bank. There are forts and ships on every landing place. We don't fear them. [4]

Eutropius has only the summary statement that Constantine, having defeated the Franks and the Alamanni, had their kings torn to pieces by wild beasts in the arena. [5]

Accession of Constantine

According to Panegyric VI, the young Constantine I began his reign by suppressing Frankish raids across the Rhine in the country of the later Ripuarian Franks (who may well have been known by that name, but more likely only after they had settled in Lower Germany). Motivated by the desire to restore the peace by quelling "some contemptible band of barbarians who tested the very beginnings of your [his] reign with a sudden attack and unexpected brigandage," [6] he brought an army back from Britain, where his father, Constantius Chlorus, Augustus of the empire, had been conducting a punitive campaign against the Picts in 305. Chlorus died at York of natural causes in 306 after a successful campaign. On his deathbed he asked that the troops proclaim his son Augustus in his place. After a quick voice vote shouted throughout the camp they "threw the purple" (an imperial robe) over him as he wept. [7] He attempted to escape by horse but the empire pursued and brought him back. Accepting the command he proceeded "to punish with the ultimate penalty the kings of Francia themselves, who took the opportunity of your [his] father's absence to violate the peace." [8]

The command was subsequently confirmed by the senior emperor, Galerius, who insisted he take the role of Caesar, or junior emperor. [9] Rome had been sharing the burdensome and dangerous highest office between multiple emperors for some time, at that time two, junior and senior. Dynastic struggles were a frequent distraction, which the Franks could always be counted on to exploit to the fullest, from which they acquired the reputation of being mobile, "treacherous," a serious character flaw in the Roman ethic, and one always punished severely.

The Frankish expedition

In 306 Ascaric and Merogais led a Frankish raid across the Rhine into southern Gaul while Constantius Chlorus was campaigning against the Picts in Britannia. Apparently the Franks or the Bructeri (their tribe) had made a previous agreement with Rome, since Chlorus' successor, his son Constantine I, sought to punish them as traitors upon his return. The two chieftains were defeated, captured, and executed "for their past crimes", an act which "bound with fear the slippery loyalty of the whole race," according to one of the emperor's anonymous panegyrists. [10] The execution took place in one of the chief cities of Gaul, probably Trier, Constantine's capital in Gaul, and the two Franks and their followers were torn apart by animals in the amphitheatre before a large crowd. Their defeat was followed by a punitive expedition against the tribe from which they had conducted the raid, the Bructeri.

Retaliation against the Bructeri

Having made an example of the two war leaders, Constantine judged that it was not enough of an object lesson. In addition, "so that the enemy should not merely grieve over the punishment of their kings," [11] he determined to conduct a punitive raid on the Bructeri, presumably the tribe of the two leaders. The Romans viewed them as important kings of the Franks. They were probably not that, as the term Francia comprised all the tribes on the right bank of the Rhine. They had undoubtedly followed the Frankish custom of proposing an expedition, which the subsequent action of the Romans supports, and therefore their status could have been any of respect and import. As war chiefs, they were commanders of the expedition. Constantine was going to hold responsible all the villages that had supported the expedition.

The Bructeri were located in the vicinity of Wuppertal, opposite the site of the future Düsseldorf, not far downstream from the Frankish city of Cologne, later the capital city of the Ripuarian Franks. [12] They were relative newcomers to the area, having been allowed to settle there from further downstream by the Ubii. Constantine struck the Bructeri in 308 by surprise to prevent them from escaping through the woods and marshes. He killed or captured the target population with their herds and burned several villages. He then made a selection: [11]

"The adults who were captured, those whose untrustworthiness made them unfit for military service and whose ferocity for slavery, were given over to the amphitheater for punishment, and their great numbers wore out the raging beasts."

He did not depopulate the tribe or the region, as they remained to participate in subsequent historical events, nor did he subject them. The limits of the empire remained the Rhine river. Moreover, the Panegyric implies that, not only were Franks serving in the Roman military, but that Frankish prisoners of war might be given that option as well.

Notes

  1. Manuscript variants of Panegyric VI (VII) offer some variant spellings generally ignored as scribal errors.
  2. Nixon & Rodgers 1994 , pp. 145–149
  3. Nixon & Rodgers 1994 , p. 215
  4. Nixon & Rodgers 1994 , pp. 211–212.
  5. Abridgement of Roman History, 10.3.
  6. Panegyric VI.10.1.
  7. Panegyric VI.8.2.
  8. Panegyric VI.10.1-4.
  9. Nixon & Rodgers 1994 , p. 197.
  10. Long 1996 , p. 92, from Panegyric VII.4.2.
  11. 1 2 Panegyric VI.12.1-3.
  12. Nixon & Rodgers 1994 , p. 235.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Constantine the Great</span> Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337

Constantine I, also known as Constantine the Great, was a Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337 and the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. He played a pivotal role in elevating the status of Christianity in Rome, decriminalizing Christian practice and ceasing Christian persecution in a period referred to as the Constantinian shift. This initiated the cessation of the established ancient Roman religion. Constantine is also the originator of the religiopolitical ideology known as Constantinianism, which epitomizes the unity of church and state, as opposed to separation of church and state. He founded the city of Constantinople and made it the capital of the Empire, which remained so for over a millennium.

The 280's decade ran from January 1, 280, to December 31, 289.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Constantius Chlorus</span> Roman emperor from 305 to 306

Flavius Valerius Constantius, also called Constantius I, was a Roman emperor from 305 to 306. He was one of the four original members of the Tetrarchy established by Diocletian, first serving as caesar from 293 to 305 and then ruling as augustus until his death. Constantius was also father of Constantine the Great, the first Christian emperor of Rome. The nickname "Chlorus" was first popularized by Byzantine-era historians and not used during the emperor's lifetime.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maximian</span> Roman emperor from 286 to 305

Maximian, nicknamed Herculius, was Roman emperor from 286 to 305. He was Caesar from 285 to 286, then Augustus from 286 to 305. He shared the latter title with his co-emperor and superior, Diocletian, whose political brain complemented Maximian's military brawn. Maximian established his residence at Trier but spent most of his time on campaign. In late 285, he suppressed rebels in Gaul known as the Bagaudae. From 285 to 288, he fought against Germanic tribes along the Rhine frontier. Together with Diocletian, he launched a scorched earth campaign deep into Alamannic territory in 288, refortifying the frontier.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carausius</span> Emperor in Britain and northern Gaul from 286 to 293

Marcus Aurelius Mausaeus Carausius was a military commander of the Roman Empire in the 3rd century. He was a Menapian from Belgic Gaul, who usurped power in 286, during the Carausian Revolt, declaring himself emperor in Britain and northern Gaul. He did this only 13 years after the Gallic Empire of the Batavian Postumus was ended in 273. He held power for seven years, fashioning the name "Emperor of the North" for himself, before being assassinated by his finance minister Allectus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allectus</span> Augustus of Gaul and Britannia from 293 to 296

Allectus was a Roman-Britannic usurper-emperor in Britain and northern Gaul from 293 to 296.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salian Franks</span> 4th and 5th century Franks in todays Netherlands and Belgium

The Salian Franks, also called the Salians, were a northwestern subgroup of the early Franks who appear in the historical record in the fourth and fifth centuries. They lived west of the Lower Rhine in what was then the Roman Empire and today the Netherlands and Belgium.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chamavi</span> Germanic tribe

The Chamavi, Chamãves or Chamaboe (Χαμαβοί) were a Germanic tribe of Roman imperial times whose name survived into the Early Middle Ages. They first appear under that name in the 1st century AD Germania of Tacitus as a Germanic tribe that lived to the north of the Lower Rhine. Their name probably survives in the region today called Hamaland, which is in the Gelderland province of the Netherlands, between the IJssel and Ems rivers.

Eumenius, was one of the Ancient Roman panegyrists and author of a speech transmitted in the collection of the Panegyrici Latini.

Claudius Mamertinus was an official in the Roman Empire. In late 361 he took part in the Chalcedon tribunal to condemn the ministers of Constantius II, and in 362, he was made consul as a reward by the new Emperor Julian; on January 1 of that year he delivered a panegyric in Constantinople by way of thanks to the Emperor. The text of this is extant, preserved in the Panegyrici Latini. Claudius Mamertinus later went on to become praetorian prefect of Italy, Africa, and Illyria before being removed from public office in 368 for embezzlement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roman Gaul</span> Gaul as a province of the Roman Empire

Roman Gaul refers to Gaul under provincial rule in the Roman Empire from the 1st century BC to the 5th century AD.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carausian revolt</span> Revolt by Roman naval commander, Carausius (286-296)

The Carausian revolt (AD 286–296) was an episode in Roman history during which a Roman naval commander, Carausius, declared himself emperor over Britain and northern Gaul. His Gallic territories were retaken by the western Caesar Constantius Chlorus in 293, after which Carausius was assassinated by his subordinate Allectus. Britain was regained by Constantius and his subordinate Asclepiodotus in 296.

The Tubantes were a Germanic tribe, living in the eastern part of the Netherlands, north of the Rhine river. They are often equated to the Tuihanti, who are known from two inscriptions found near Hadrian's Wall. The modern name Twente derives from the word Tuihanti.

<i>Panegyrici Latini</i>

XII Panegyrici Latini or Twelve Latin Panegyrics is the conventional title of a collection of twelve ancient Roman and late antique prose panegyric orations written in Latin. The authors of most of the speeches in the collection are anonymous, but appear to have been Gallic in origin. Aside from the first panegyric, composed by Pliny the Younger in AD 100, the other speeches in the collection date to between AD 289 and 389 and were probably composed in Gaul. The original manuscript, discovered in 1433, has perished; only copies remain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Merogais</span> Fourth-century Frankish king

Merogais was an early Frankish king, who, along with his co-ruler Ascaric, is the earliest Frankish ruler known. He was an enemy of the Roman Empire. Merogais is mentioned in the Panegyrici latini and by Eutropius and Eumenius. The very existence of Merogais depends on the manuscript reading of Johann Kaspar Zeuss. The sentence which names the two kings begins with Asacari or Assaccari in all manuscripts, but it ends with the corrupt forms cinere gaisique, cumero geasique, cymero craisique, and cymero caisique. Zeuss reads those sentences as ending respectively cum Neregaisique, cum Merogeasique, cum Merocraisique, and cum Merocaisique, each meaning as "and with Merogais".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Civil wars of the Tetrarchy</span> 306–324 wars between Roman co-emperors

The civil wars of the Tetrarchy were a series of conflicts between the co-emperors of the Roman Empire, starting from 306 AD with the usurpation of Maxentius and the defeat of Severus to the defeat of Licinius at the hands of Constantine I in 324 AD.

Afranius Hannibalianus was the consul of 292 AD, a praetorian prefect, a senator and a military officer and commander.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">German and Sarmatian campaigns of Constantine</span>

The German and Sarmatian campaigns of Constantine were fought by the Roman Emperor Constantine I against the neighbouring Germanic peoples, including the Franks, Alemanni and Goths, as well as the Sarmatian Iazyges, along the whole Roman northern defensive system to protect the empire's borders, between 306 and 336.

Genobaud, also called Gennobaudes or Genebaud, dated to the 3rd century, was the first Frankish war-leader on record. Being defeated by the Romans, he crossed the Rhine with his Franks and begged public mercy from Maximian. Granted it, he was assigned lands in Lower Germany, probably Batavia, then vacant. He became a Roman client-king. Maximian was hoping to form a buffer state. He enlisted them in the army as frontier guards. Subsequently Franks from Batavia plundered Gaul south to Autun, which they sieged and sacked, whether under Genobaud is not known.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Brescia (312)</span> 312 AD battle in the Civil Wars of the Tetrarchy

The Battle of Brescia was a confrontation that took place during the summer of 312, between the Roman emperors Constantine the Great and Maxentius in the town of Brescia, in northern Italy. Maxentius declared war on Constantine on the grounds that he wanted to avenge the death of his father Maximian, who had committed suicide after being defeated by him. Constantine would respond with a massive invasion of Italy.

References