Burgundians

This article is about the Germanic tribe that lived during the Roman era. For the royal dynasty, see House of Burgundy. For the political group during the Hundred Years War, see Burgundian (party).

"The Burgundians" redirects here. For the history book, see The Burgundians (book).

Kingdom of the Burgundians in around 500

The Burgundians (Latin : Burgundiones or less commonly Burgundii) were one or more Germanic peoples of the Roman imperial era, associated with different regions of Europe over time. Most notably, in the fifth century a group of them established the Kingdom of the Burgundians within the Roman empire, in what is now western Switzerland and south-eastern France. This kingdom gave its name to the later region of Burgundy, and through that to medieval entities such as the Duchy of Burgundy. This kingdom's core group were followers of the Gibichung dynasty, who had previously led them as foederati in Roman territory on the Rhine border, probably nears Worms in present day Germany. They left the Rhine after the Romans and their Hun allies killed many of the Burgundians along with their king Gundahar in 436, accusing them of rebellion. The death of Gundahar at the hands of the Huns became a central theme in medieval Germanic heroic legend, including the Nibelungenlied (as “Günther”) and the Völsunga saga (as “Gunnar”). After the remnants resettled in Sapaudia near Lake Geneva in about 443, their territory expanded into what is now France, including Lyon. The entire kingdom was incorporated into the Frankish empire in 534.

Although they used Germanic language and customs when they arrived in Sapaudia, the non-Roman people led by the last Gibichungs had diverse origins, and there are indications in Greco-Roman accounts that their forerunners the Rhine Burgundians saw themselves as descendants of Roman soldiers who had once manned Roman border defences in what is now southern Germany, east of the Rhine. Roman sources describe Burgundians in this region starting in the third century, initially as invaders and raiders, living near the Main river. Both they and their neighbours the Alemanni were however previously unattested in this region, much of which had been under Roman control. Archaeological evidence suggests that both these peoples included newcomers from the east, and ruled over populations which were partly Romanised, and partly made up of Germanic tribes who had lived in the same area previously. In the fourth century the Burgundians became allies of the Romans in their conflicts against the Alemanni. After a long period of such alliance with Rome, the Gibichung-led Burgundians crossed the Rhine and settled within the empire in about 406, during a period of wider crisis, when large numbers of armed Alans and Vandals moved into the area from Pannonia.

Greco-Roman writers also reported that there were still earlier Burgundians, who lived between the first and third century far to the east of the Main, near the Vistula river in present day Poland. The Romans reported that in the early third century these Burgundians suffered devastating defeats against the eastern European Gepids and Goths, and this may have induced some of them to move west in this period, closer to the empire. Some of these Burgundians may have migrated to the Main in the third century, and helped found the Burgundians of that region in the third century.

There are also indications that the early medieval inhabitants of the Baltic island of Bornholm were also called Burgundi, although there is no indication that they were ever called Burgundiones. Some historians have proposed a connection between these islanders and the continental Burgundi known to the Romans, although the shared name could also have another explanation. A more speculative theory traces the origins of the Burgundi to what is now Norway, where similar place-names are relatively common. All these placenames and ethnonyms probably originated that the places or peoples were high or elevated in some way. These origin stories are influenced not only by name similarities, but also by a tradition among medieval scholars, according to which many Germanic peoples originally migrated south from Scandinavia.

Name

The ethnonym "Burgundians" is commonly used in English to translate the Latin ethnonym Burgundiones, or less commonly Burgundi, which refers to a people or peoples during the Roman era. ^[1] In English the term "Burgundians" can also refer to inhabitants of various much later medieval or modern polities and regions called Burgundy, which derive their names from the Roman era kingdom. In modern times the only area still referred to as Burgundy (French : Bourgogne) is in France, and it derives its name from the medieval Duchy of Burgundy and County of Burgundy, which are now both within the modern French region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. This region is in the north of the old kingdom's territory at its largest extent, and does not correspond to the original core of the early medieval kingdom, near Lake Geneva. In the context of the Late Middle Ages the term "Burgundian" can also refer to the institutions and culture of the Burgundian Netherlands, especially in present-day Belgium, where the Valois Dukes of Burgundy often held court.

Both the main Latin forms of the names appeared throughout the Roman era, and are believed to have the same Germanic etymology, with the main stem *burgund- meaning "high", from earlier Proto-Indoeuropean *bʰérǵʰ with the grammatical suffix *-onts making an adjective. It is probable that the Burgundians were named after a high place or area which was referred to with this name, although their name might have also been describing the Burgundians as high or elevated in some other sense. The long and short forms have different Germanic suffixes, -ja- or -jan-, which are typically used to form nouns for types of people. ^[1]

Some scholars have pointed out that the less common short forms of the name can be associated with the small number of references to the "eastern" Burgundians near the Vistula, in the texts of Claudius Ptolemy, Jordanes, and Latin panegyric "11" of 291. Notably, the panegyric even uses the short forms when seeming to refer to eastern events, and the long form for western events. Scholars who have seen this as a sign that these are two distinct peoples have historically included Otto Maenchen-Helfen and Johann Kaspar Zeuss. However, major exceptions to the pattern include Ammianus Marcellinus, who always used the short form to refer to the Rhine Burgundians (which he expressly describes as a name with a local origin), as well as Pliny the Elder and Ptolemy who both seem to use the long form in eastern contexts. ^[2]

A classical author Orosius, a contemporary of the Burgundian move across the Rhine, and their acceptance into the empire, also gave an etymology. It is not accepted by modern scholars, but it gives an indication of beliefs at the time. He wrote as follows: ^[3]

In earlier times, when the interior of Germany had been subjugated by Drusus and Tiberius, the adopted sons of Caesar, the Burgundians were stationed at different frontier posts. Later they united to form a great people. They took their name from their stations, for the dwelling places at frequent intervals along the frontier are commonly called burgi.

While this is etymologically incorrect, there may have still been Burgundians stationed in forts near the Rhine frontier in the lifetime of Orosius, and so this story probably projects that situation back in time to create a believable story, which appears to have been widely accepted. ^[4] Already in about 369, when emperor Valentinian was first seeking their alliance against the Alemanni, Ammianus Marcellinus claimed the Burgundians "know that they are descendants of the Romans from ancient times". Although political convenience and Roman propaganda may have been playing a role, this seems to indicate that the Burgundians in any case had no clear alternative origin stories. ^[5]

History

Vistula Burgundians

Germania according to Ptolemy, with Vistula as eastern boundary.

European Sarmatia according to Ptolemy, with Vistula as western boundary.

Burgundians, or at least one or more peoples with the same name, were first described by early Roman writers as living in present-day Poland. In the 1st century AD, Pliny the Elder said there were five types of Germanic peoples (germanorum genera quinque) and the first of these he listed were the Vandili. This group included Burgodiones, Varinnae, Charini, and the Gutones. ^[6] Pliny gives no exact location but the Gutones and Varini are known from other sources to have lived near the Baltic coast. The Gutones lived near the mouth of the Vistula and are believed to be important contributors to later Gothic culture in the Ukraine region. Modern scholars therefore typically see Pliny's Burgodiones as speakers of East Germanic languages similar to Gothic. Furthermore, because the 6th-century origin story of the Goths written by Jordanes claims that they moved from Scandinavia, which he saw as a womb or workshop of barbarian nations, this "Vandili"-category reported by Pliny is also sometimes seen as evidence that the Vistula Burgundians must also have Scandinavian origins. ^[7]

In the 2nd century the geography of Claudius Ptolemy seems to list the Burgundians twice, in two neighbouring regions, with two different name variants. On the west side of the Vistula, in " Germania ", he noted the Βουργοῦνδοι (Ancient Greek Burgundi) living between the Suevus (probably the Oder) and Vistula rivers. To their west lived the powerful Semnones. To their north the Aelvaeones (perhaps Helveconae) were between them and the coastal Rugiclei (perhaps Rugii). To their south the Lugians lived between them and the Western Carpathian mountains. Secondly, east of the Vistula in " Sarmatia ", the Burgundians also seem to have been present as the Frugundiones. ^[8] Based on this geographical description, scholars believe that the Vistula Burgundians were users of Przeworsk or "cremation-pit" material culture, which is identified by archaeologists in this region and period. ^[9]

Writing in the 6th century, Jordanes reported that during the 3rd century AD, during the reign of Ostrogotha, Burgundians living near the Vistula basin were almost annihilated (pene usque ad internicionem) by Fastida, king of the Gepids. ^[10] Jordanes believed the Gepids were living near the mouth of the Vistula prior to this, but seeking new lands to the south. (They would eventually settle in Dacia, which the Romans had abandoned.) The expansionism of Gepids and Goths in this period is a possible reason that archaeological evidence indicates that the Przeworsk culture shifted southwards starting in the second century. Within this archaeological complex, some scholars propose that while some Burgundians remained near the Vistula the main concentration of their settlements was shifting westwards over the Oder river, and that the Luboszyce culture is Burgundian. ^[9]

The proposal that a Burgundian polity eventually formed with its centre between the Elbe and Oder is therefore based upon this archaeological evidence, and no classical sources including Jordanes report any specific Burgundian presence in this area. Possible support for a Burgundian presence in this region is sometimes seen as coming from the report in the Origo Gentis Langobardorum , an account of Langobard origins, which says that the migrating Langobards stopped in a land called Vurgundaib – apparently a place named after the Burgundians, located somewhere on the Langobard trek from the Lower Elbe to the Middle Danube. ^[11]

Latin panegyric "number 11" (as it is known to modern scholarship), which was written in 291 AD, mentioned that during the reign of the emperor Maximian (reigned 286-305) the Burgundians were utterly destroyed by the Goths (Gothi Burgundos penitus excidunt, using the short form of the Burgundian ethnonym). The Goths were associated in this period with regions south and east of the Carpathians. Following on from this, the panegyric says that the Alemanni "again arm themselves for/as losers" (rursumque pro victis armantur Alamanni), implying that they fought in support of (or perhaps against) the Burgundians after this defeat. The Alamanni in this period were far to the west in what is now southern Germany, having taken control of the Agri Decumates around 260. Because of the distance between the Goths and Alemanni historians have sometimes argued that the text must be an error, perhaps originally referring to the Alans. ^[12] However, in a second passage soon afterwards, this panegyric mentions that in this period the Burgundians took farmland from the Alamanni (Burgundiones Alamannorum agros occupauere, using the longer -iones name), which the Alamanni were still trying to recover in 291. This panegyric therefore appears to associate the same Burgundians with both the eastern Goths, and the western Alamanni. ^[13]

As neighbours of the Alemanni

Territories conquered by Rome between Rhine and Danube.

In the late 3rd century AD, already before the panegyric of 291, there is a first report of Burgundians near the Rhine and Roman Gaul. Zosimus reported that the Burgundi and Vandals (Ancient Greek : Βουργούνδοις και Βανδίλοις) were defeated by the emperor Probus in 278, near a river, during a campaign based upon the Rhine. Some scholars interpret the text to be specifying that this was the Lech river, which enters the Danube from the south in what is now Bavaria, but this reading is uncertain. ^[14]

In his Latin panegyric "10" of 289, Claudius Mamertinus subsequently mentioned the Burgundiones et Alamanni as allies who attacked Gaul with a large force in 287 AD, and were defeated by Maximian, when the large size of their force led to famine. ^[15] The Alamanni at this time had recently taken control of the Agri Decumates on the eastern side of the Rhine. This panegyric taken together with panegyric "11" of 291 may represent a series of conflicts in which violence in the east pushed the Burgundians and Vandals westwards, and involved them with the Alamanni and Romans. The two peoples clearly worked as allies one at least one occasion but came into conflict when the Burgundians started taking over Alemanni farmlands. ^[13] It is possible that eastern Burgundians were also already beginning to settle permanently in the Main river area, already before the Gothic defeat. The lands they entered may have included territory that some Alemanni were no longer attending because of their own moves westward into the Agri Decumates. ^[12]

The Laterculus Veronensis, written in about 314, places the Burgunziones between the Alamanni and the Chatti, who were historically present north of the Main river, although this is one of the last mentions of them. This was a listing of barbarian peoples who had supposedly been under imperial control at some point. This adds to the impression that Burgundians had been living close to the Alemanni in the third century, and probably somewhere near the Main and its tributaries. ^[16]

In 359 contemporary historian Ammianus Marcellinus reported that emperor Julian the Apostate began a campaign at Mainz, where the Main enters the Rhine, and travelled through Alemanni lands until they reached border stones marking the edge of Burgundian territory. There are two interpretations of the text, which says either that the boundary was between "Alamanni and the Burgundians" (Alamannorum et Burgundiorum), or "Romans and the Burgundians" Romanorum et Burgundiorum. According to the interpretation of Hans H. Anton the second version is correct, and the Alemanni are living within the Agri Decumates, which had been Roman, and which still had a Roman population. This interpretation would mean in turn that the boundary between Burgundians and Alemanni was approximately where the old Romes border (limes) had been. Ammianus says the place was called "Capillacii or Palas", and scholars have proposed that this may be near Öhringen. ^[12] More generally there is archaeological evidence in this period which links the population east of the old limes with burial customs and materials previously found in later phases of the Przeworsk culture. ^[17]

Orosius reported that the Burgundians, "a new enemy with a new name, numbering, it is said, more than eighty thousand armed men", settled on the banks of the Rhine (ripae Rheni fluminis insederunt), during the reign of the Emperor Valentinian I, who reigned 364-375. He believed they were moving from old Roman frontier forts where their ancestors had been posted. ^[18] In 369/370, Valentinian enlisted the aid of the Burgundians in his own war against the Alamanni. In this context, Ammianus wrote an extended digression about the Burgundians, which gives insight into their language and customs: ^[19]

8 Valentinian, turning over many different plans in his mind, was gripped with anxious concern, considering many things and looking around for what stratagems he might use to break the pride of the Alamanni and their king Macrianus, who without end or limit kept disturbing the Roman state with their restless movements.

9 For this fierce nation, diminished from its earliest beginnings by many changes of fortune, so often grows strong again that it might be thought to have remained untouched for many centuries. The emperor, approving one proposal after another, finally settled on the plan of stirring up the Burgundians against them — warlike and abounding in the strength of a vast youth population, and therefore feared by all their neighbours.

10 He wrote frequently to their kings through certain discreet and trustworthy messengers, asking that they, at an appointed time, should fall upon the Alamanni. He promised that he himself, after crossing the Rhine with Roman troops, would meet the frightened enemy — taken by surprise as they tried to avoid the weight of arms.

11 The princes received the emperor’s letters gladly, for two reasons: first, because the Burgundians knew that from ancient times they were descended from the Romans; second, because they had often quarrelled with the Alamanni over salt works and boundaries. So they sent out their choicest companies, which, before the Roman soldiers had assembled in one body, advanced as far as the banks of the Rhine. There, while the emperor was occupied with building defensive works, they became a source of great alarm to our troops.

12 But after delaying for a short while — when neither did Valentinian, as he had promised, arrive on the appointed day, nor did they see any of the promises fulfilled — they sent envoys to the imperial court, requesting that assistance be given them for their return home, so that they would not be left to expose their unprotected backs to the enemy.

13 When they realized, through evasions and delays, that this would be refused, they departed in sadness and indignation. When the kings learned of this, they raged as if they had been mocked, killed all their captives, and returned to their native lands.

14 Among them, the general title for “king” is Hendinos; and according to ancient custom, he is removed from power if, under his rule, fortune wavers in war or the land refuses to produce abundant crops—just as the Egyptians are accustomed to attribute such misfortunes to their rulers. The highest priest among the Burgundians is called Sinistus; his office is perpetual, and, unlike that of the kings, he is subject to no such dangers.

The mention of a disputed salt spring gives an opportunity for localisation. Anton argues that this must have been in the Kocher valley near Schwäbisch Hall, and that this must have been near the border between the Alemanni and Burgundians. Although the written record is very limited scholars such as Anton, envision the Burgundians gradually changing their position during this period - initially east of the Alamanni, but later gain accessing to the Rhine between present-day Wiesbaden and Mannheim, pushing the Alemanni south of the Neckar river. ^[20]

In his summing up of the career of Valentinian Ammianus said that it would have been glorious if he had captured King Macrianus, but "he learned with grief and sorrow that the king had escaped from the Burgundians". ^[21]

Kingdom west of the Rhine

See also: Burgundian Revolt of Gunther

Roman Belgica and Germania

Gunther and the Burgundians prepare to leave for Etzel's court. Hundeshagenscher Kodex

In 409, Saint Jerome first listed the Burgundians as one of the large number of barbarian peoples who had recently entered Gaul: ^[22]

Countless savage nations (ferocissimae nationes) have overrun the whole of Gaul. Everything between the Alps and the Pyrenees, bounded by the Ocean and the Rhine — the Quadi, Vandals, Sarmatians, Alans, Gepids, Heruli, Saxons, Burgundians, Alamanni, and — Alas for the commonwealth! — Pannonian enemies — have laid waste.

While the entry of long-time neighbours into Gaul such Saxons, Alamanni and Burgundians was not unprecedented – the Burgundians having lived in the region for more than a century now – the massive movement of peoples from the Pannonian and Middle Danube region was a shocking event, partly triggered by Stilicho's movement of Roman forces from northern Europe to help in conflicts against Goths in the south. The Vandals and Alans in particular made a largescale armed crossing of the Rhine on the last day of 406 and after plundering Gaul many of them crossed further into Hispania where they fought for a rebel Roman general Gerontius, and established their own kingdoms in what is now Spain. Orosius claimed that the Burgundians crossed the Rhine driven on by the movement of the Alans and Vandals. From this point on we hearly mainly of the Burgundians on the west bank of the Rhine, in Gaul, where it is possible that the main part of their population now lived. ^[23]

In 407 a rebel emperor Constantine III was proclaimed and set about establishing control in Gaul. After he died in 411, Olympiodorus of Thebes reported that a new Gallic usurper Jovinus was proclaimed emperor with the support of an Alan leader Goar, and the "tribal leader" (phylarch) of the Burgundians named Gundahar. This happened at a place called Mundiacum in Lower Germany (Germania II), which is commonly believed to be Mainz, although that was normally written as Moguntiacum and considered to be part of Upper Germany (Germania I). ^[24]

In 413, after the death of Jovinus, Prosper of Aquitaine reported that the emperor Honorius, now back in control of Gaul, gave the Burgundians a part of it near the Rhine. This may have represented an official acceptance of an agreement the Burgundians already had with the usurper regime. The exact position of this Rhine kingdom is uncertain, but it is this period of Burgundian history which is fictionalised in the Niebelungenlied, which portrays king Gundahar ruling from Worms, south of Mainz, and so this is traditionally seen as the region where they settled. ^[25] Modern historians interpret Prosper's remark to mean that the Burgundians were confirmed as Roman foederati at this time. ^[4]

In 430, Socrates of Constantinople, who was a contemporary, reported that Burgundians who were peacefully living east of the Rhine, being almost all artisans, were being continually attacked by Huns under the leadership of king Uptar. After they converted to Roman Christianity, and Uptar died, 3000 of these Burgundians were able to kill 10,000 Huns. ^[26] Scholars believe that King Uptar was the same as Octar, the uncle of Attila. ^[27]

In 435, Prosper reported that Flavius Aetius the Roman general crushed Gundahar, "king of the Burgundians dwelling within Gaul, and granted peace to him when he sued for it". However, this "did not hold for long, since the Huns wiped him out together with his people root and branch”. The Gallic Chronicle of 452 and Hydatius report under 436 that it was Aetius himself who devastated the Burgundians and killed their king. Hydatius adds that the Burgundians had rebelled, and says that in 437, 20,000 Burgundians were slain. The trigger for these events was probably the Burgundian harassment of the province of Belgica, immediately to the west of Upper Germania, reported by Sidonius in his 7th poem in honour of the future emperor Avitus. According to Sidonius, the young Avitus showed his military prowess in this campaign, while fighting under Aëtius, who had learned the "Scythian" ways of fighting with the Huns. In reality, there may have been a longer-run tensions between Burgundians and the Hunnic allies of Aetius, as reflected in reports of the conflict reported in 430. ^[28]

In medieval legends such as the Nibelungenlied , on which Wagner based his Ring Cycle King Gundahar becomes Old High German Günther or Old Norse Gunnar. The king of the Huns who killed him in the story, Etzel or Atli, is based on Attila the Hun, but in the story Günther travels to the kingdom of Attila who is his brother-in-law. In reality, Attila became a joint king of the Huns with his brother Bleda in 435, the same year that the Burgundian conflict with their ally Aetius appears to have begun. Although his uncle Octar apparently died during a campaign near Gaul against Burgundians in 430, it is not known if Attila was directly involved in the real campaign against Gundahar. In the legends, the father of Gundahar was named Gibeche or Gjúki, and this may have been the real name of Gundahar's father, because the 6th-century Lex Burgundionum Gibica is the first name in a list of historical kings.

Burgundian settlement near Lake Geneva

Main article: Burgundians § Roman military settlement

Tremissis of King Gundobad struck in the name of emperor Anastasius

Tremissis of King Sigismund I in the name of emperor Justin I

Tremissis in the name of Justinian I, made by Gundomar II

The Second Burgundian Kingdom between 443 and 476

Burgundy as part of the Frankish Empire between 534 and 843

The only source to date the Burgundian settlement near Lake Geneva is the unreliable Gallic Chronicle of 452, which records that in 443 “Sapaudia was given to the remainders of the Burgundians to be divided with the indigenous inhabitants.” Its exact boundaries are uncertain, but it lay in the Roman province of Maxima Sequania and included Geneva, and Neuchâtel. ^[29]

Historian Ian N. Wood notes that this first settlement didn’t draw much attention from contemporaries and probably didn’t involve a large migration of Burgundians. ^[30] According to him the Burgundians settled in Sapaudia can be seen as a Roman military unit. ^[31] The first kings were most importantly military officials of the Roman empire. ^[32] Their non-Roman followers were not all Burgundian, and non-Burgundians joined over time. ^[33] In Wood’s opinion, a true Burgundian “kingdom” which was not based upon a Roman military office only emerged between 474 and 494. ^[34] After the accession of Julius Nepos in 474 King Gundobad could no longer claim to represent the western imperial court. ^[35]

The Lex Burgundionum law code, issued under Gundobad, nonetheless invokes earlier kings back to Gundahar, and beyond. One clause confirms the freedom of persons proved to have been freeborn under earlier “predecessors of royal memory” including not only his father and uncle (Gundioc and Chilperic) but also “Gibica, Gundomar, Gislahar, and Gundahar”. ^[36] Whether or not Gundioc was the son, or even descendant, of Gundahar, is not certain. ^[37] Gregory of Tours reported that Gundioc ("Gundevech") was a descendant of the Tervingian Goth Athanaric. ^[38]

The Battle of the Catalaunian Plains

Main article: Battle of the Catalaunian Plains

Another clause voids all unresolved Burgundian legal cases before the Battle of the Mauriac Plains (Catalaunian Plains) in 451. ^[39] This was a decisive turning point for the Burgundians, comparable to its impact on the Visigoths. ^[40]

During the battle Burgundians and other barbarian kingdoms from Gaul fought for Rome under Aetius, and put Attila the Hun and his allies to flight. However, the Visigothic king Theodoric I was killed during the battle, and Thorismund his son followed the advice of Aetius not to pursue. Near contemporary Sidonius Apollinaris reported that Burgundians also fought on the Hun side, and these may have been Burgundians living east of the Rhine outside Roman control. ^[41]

Imperial politics

Main article: Burgundians § Imperial politics

In about 450, around the time of the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains, Gundioc strengthened ties with the future western power-broker Ricimer by marrying his sister, helping to explain later Burgundian–imperial cooperation. At this time Ricimer would not have been a very important or powerful person. ^[42]

In 454, the Continuatio Prosperi Havniensis surprisingly reports that Burgundians "spread throughout Gaul" (intra Galliam diffusi) but were “driven back” (repelluntur) by the Gepids. This passage may be corrupted, and the context is now unclear. Some historians believe that the text is corrupted and originally said that the Burgundians repelled the Gepids. ^[43]

In 455, after the emperor Petronius Maximus was killed after less than three months in power, and Rome was sacked by the Vandals, the Visigothic king Theodoric II acclaimed the Gallo-Roman noble Avitus as emperor.

In 456 the Burgundian kings Gundioc and Chilperic then joined Theoderic on a successful Roman-backed campaign against the Kingdom of the Suebi in Hispania. ^[44]

In October 456 Avitus was overthrown as emperor by Majorian and Ricimer, who became the new emperor and magister militum. Soon after this in 456, Marius Aventicensis reported that the Burgundians "occupied part of Gaul and divided the lands with the Gallic senators". ^[45] This may have been based on military agreements already made by Avitus, implied by the Burgundian participation in the Suebian campaign. It is also possible that the Gallo-Roman nobility (the senators) didn't accept the new regime in Rome and wanted to take their defence into their own hands. ^[46] The military aspect of the new arrangement is apparently reflected in 457, when the Burgundian soldiers return from Hispania, and some may have now been garrisoned in Lyon. The Continuatio Prosperi Havniensis reported that after the death of the Suebian king, "Gundioc, king of the Burgundians, with his people and all his forces, entered Gaul to settle", with Gothic approval and friendship. ^[47]

Majorian asserted himself in Gaul in 458, occupying Lyon and apparently ejecting a Burgundian garrison. After his assassination in 461, Ricimer’s dominance allowed Burgundian influence to grow again, with Gundioc recognised as magister militum for Gaul and expanding along the Rhône valley. ^{[48] [49]}

Gundioc died in about 470, succeeded by his brother Chilperic I, who repelled a Visigothic advance in 471 and fought the Alemanni on the northern frontier. ^[50] In 472, Ricimer and Gundioc's son Gundobad killed Emperor Anthemius; Ricimer’s death shortly after left Gundobad in control at Rome, where he installed Glycerius as emperor. Glycerius was deposed in 474, and Gundobad returned to Burgundy, dividing the kingdom with his brothers Godigisel, Chilperic II, and Gundomar I. ^[51]

Independent kingdom

Main article: Burgundians § Independent kingdom

After the death of Chilperic I around 480, his nephew Gundobad became principal king, while sharing power in Burgundian fashion with his brothers Godegisel, Chilperic II, and Godomar I. ^[52]

Civil war broke out in 500 when Godegisel allied with his brother-in-law Clovis I of the Franks, leading to Gundobad’s defeat at Dijon. With Visigothic support, Gundobad regained control in 501, killing Godegisel and the Frankish garrison in Vienne. ^[53]

Gundobad restored ties with Clovis and joined the Frankish war against the Visigoths in 507, although they probably did not fight at the Battle of Vouillé itself. The Burgundians gained temporary conquests in Provence and raided as far as Toulouse and Barcelona, ^[54] Ostrogothic intervention from Italy soon pushed them back, and the Durance was fixed as their southern frontier. ^[55] The Burgundians emerged almost empty-handed, while the Franks and Ostrogoths made substantial gains. ^[56]

Gundobad died in 516, leaving the throne to his Catholic son Sigismund, whose reign was marked by close cooperation with Avitus of Vienne and the foundation of Agaune abbey in 515. ^[57]

In 523–524, after Sigismund executed his son Sigeric, a grandson of Theoderic the Great, the Burgundians faced a two-front war against the Ostrogoths and the sons of Clovis. Sigismund was captured and killed, but his brother Godomar II rallied and defeated the Franks at the Battle of Vézeronce. ^[58] A new alliance with the Ostrogoths could not however prevent a renewed Frankish assault in 532–534, which ended Burgundian independence. Their kingdom was absorbed into the Frankish realms, though a Burgundian identity survived under Merovingian rule. ^[59]

Bornholm as "Burgund island"

Location of the island of Bornholm as part of modern Denmark

Early medieval writers reported that the now Danish island of Bornholm in the Baltic sea was called "Burgund land" or "Burgund island" – holm being a word for an island. In a 9th century description of Europe attached to his translation of Orosius, Alfred the Great called it Burgenda land in Old English. He was quoting Wulfstan of Hedeby, who reported that this was an island with its own king. He also quoted Ohthere of Hålogaland who mentioned Burgendan (plural), south of the Swedes (Sweon), and east of the Ostseæ – the Ostseæ being described as the "arm" of sea running north of the Danes, and south of the Swedes. Much later, Saxo Grammaticus called Bornholm Burgenda insula in Latin (insula also meaning island). Icelandic sources from the 13th century onward refer to the island as Borgundarhólmr. ^[60]

The old name of the island is traditionally believed to imply that there was a people living on Bornholm with a name identical to one of the Latin forms used to refer to the Burgundians, even though the name, meaning "high island", probably referred to the geography of the island itself. ^[60] Whether or not there is a connection to the continental Burgundii known to Rome is unknown. Scholars believe that a name coincidence is likely, because the shorter "Burgundii"-version of the name is based upon a descriptive placename which can be found in many places in Europe. A parallel Celtic tribal name is for example also known, the Brigantes in the highlands of northern England. On the other hand, it has been argued that this geographical placename is especially common in Scandinavia. ^[1] In Norway, for example, there are small villages named Borgund in Lærdal Municipality, Stad Municipality, and another in Ålesund Municipality. An old proposal, now doubted by modern historians, is that the continental Burgundians known to the Romans had previously migrated from Bornholm. A related proposal associated with older historiography is that these Burgundi of Bornholm had themselves migrated from Norway.

A medieval story of Burgundian origins on the northern island of "Scanadavia" (not Bornholm) is found in the hagiography of Sigismund of Burgundy (died 524), which was probably written in the early Carolingian period. The main basis of the story is Orosius, whose etymology it repeats, saying that the emperor Tiberius (reigned 14-37 AD) compelled these people to guard a burgus (fortified post) beyond the river Rhine. As Orosius mentions, the "interior" of Germany Germania was subjugated in this period. The mention of Scandinavia as a place of barbarian origins followed the example of the sixth century Getica by Jordanes, which was also imitated by Paul the Deacon. ^[61] For his description of the island of "Scandza" (as he called it) Jordanes cited the classical writer Ptolemy. But he notably added the idea that it was a "womb" or "workshop" where many barbarian nations originated (officina gentium aut certe velut vagina nationum). ^[62]

Physical appearance

In a letter to a friend who was a senator, the 5th century Gallo-Roman noble, poet and landowner Sidonius Apollinaris, wrote a description of Burgundians who was staying with. He emphasized, and perhaps exaggerated, the cultural differences between them and himself. ^[63]

Quid me, etsi valeam, parare carmen	Why do you bid me, though I might be able, to prepare a song
Fescenninicolae iubes Diones	of Dionysus, lover of Fescennine verse,
inter crinigeras situm catervas	when I am placed among shaggy-haired hordes
et Germanica verba sustinentem,	and enduring Germanic words,
laudantem tetrico subinde vultu	praising, now and then with a grim face,
quod Burgundio cantat esculentus,	what a gluttonous Burgundian sings,
infundens acido comam butyro?	pouring rancid butter upon his hair?
vis dicam tibi, quid poema frangat?	Do you wish me to tell you what shatters my poetry?
ex hoc barbaricis abacta plectris	From this, driven off by barbarian strings,
spernit senipedem stilum Thalia,	Thalia scorns the six-foot style [i.e. hexameter],
ex quo septipedes videt patronos.	since she sees seven-foot patrons.
felices oculos tuos et aures	Happy are your eyes and ears,
felicemque libet vocare nasum,	and I am glad to call your nose happy,
cui non allia sordidumque cepe	for whom no garlic and filthy onion
ructant mane novo decem apparatus,	belch forth at early morning from ten dishes,
quem non ut vetulum patris parentem	whom not, as though an old father or a nurse’s husband,
nutricisque virum die nec orto	before day has risen
tot tantique petunt simul Gigantes,	so many and such great Giants all at once assail,
quot vix Alcinoi culina ferret.	as scarcely the kitchen of Alcinous could bear.

Language

Little is known of the language or languages of the Burgundians before they integrated into the Romanised populations they lived with, but it is known that the language of the Kingdom based near the Rhone was a Germanic language. Some proper names of Burgundians are recorded, and a small number of words, for example in legal texts. It is however difficult to use these words to distinguish what type of Germanic they spoke. It is also highly probable that Burgundian vocabulary and naming was influenced by their neighbours, such as the Alemanni and the Visigoths, particularly when it comes to personal names. ^[64]

The fifth century poet Sidonius Apollinaris referred in a letter to the language of the Burgundian kingdom and its laws, as "Germanic language" (Latin : sermo). ^[65] According to Wolfram, no one in this period would have applied the term Germanic to anything to do with the Gothic peoples. ^[66] In fact, during this period, the term Germani was normally "either limited to Franks and Alamanni or used for peoples of a distant past". ^[67] Herwig Wolfram has therefore argued that the Burgundians were probably called Germani by Sidonius because of their recent history in Germania. ^[68]

Earlier Burgundians in present day Poland probably also spoke some type of Germanic language. Pliny the Elder categorized the earliest Burgundians together with the Gutones and Vandals in the first century AD. ^[69] For this reason, scholars once assumed that Burgundians were speakers of an East Germanic language, like that later used by the Goths to create the Gothic Bible. However, this is now considered uncertain, and Herwig Wolfram has written that for "a long time linguists considered the Burgundians to be an East Germanic people, but today they are no longer so sure". ^[66]

Christianity

Orosius, probably writing about 416/417, wrote that "through the providence of God" the Burgundians in Gaul "all recently become Christians, embracing the Catholic faith and acknowledging obedience to our clergy, so that they live mild, gentle, and harmless lives, regarding the Gauls not as their subjects but in truth as their Christian brethren". Socrates of Constantinople reported that a population of Burgundians living east of the Rhine, and mainly living as artisans, converted to Catholic Christianity in 430, under the guidance of a bishop based in nearby Roman Gaul. ^[26]

Nevertheless, the Burgundian court in Geneva and Lyon had an Arian faction, which held sway over some of the kings including Gundobad. On the other hand, unlike the Gothic and Vandal kingdoms, and perhaps more like the Frankish court before the baptism of Clovis, the Burgundian court also had Catholics, including several of the female members of the family. ^[70] Clovis himself was said to have been converted by his Burgundian wife. A special exemption to the pattern was King Sigismund, who converted to Catholicism, and was known for his dedication to it.

Law

The Burgundians left three legal codes, among the earliest from any of the Germanic tribes.

The Liber Constitutionum sive Lex Gundobada ("The Book of Constitutions or Law of Gundobad"), also known as the Lex Burgundionum , or more simply the Lex Gundobada or the Liber, was issued in several parts between 483 and 516, principally by Gundobad, but also by his son, Sigismund. ^[71] It was a record of Burgundian customary law and is typical of the many Germanic law codes from this period. In particular, the Liber borrowed from the Lex Visigothorum ^[72] and influenced the later Lex Ripuaria . ^[73] The Liber is one of the primary sources for contemporary Burgundian life, as well as the history of its kings.

Like many of the Germanic tribes, the Burgundians' legal traditions allowed the application of separate laws for separate ethnicities. Thus, in addition to the Lex Gundobada, Gundobad also issued (or codified) a set of laws for Roman subjects of the Burgundian kingdom, the Lex Romana Burgundionum (The Roman Law of the Burgundians).

In addition to the above codes, Gundobad's son Sigismund later published the Prima Constitutio.

See also

• Dauphiné
• List of kings of Burgundy
• Nibelung (later legends of the Burgundian kings)

References

1. Neumann 1981.
2. See discussions and references in Schönfeld 1911 , pp. 55–58 and Maenchen-Helfen 1973 , p. 452.
3. Schipp 2012 , p. 64, Anton 1981 , p. 238, citing Orosius 7.32
4. Schipp 2012, p. 64.
5. Anton 1981 , p. 238, citing Ammianus Marcellinus, 28.5
6. Pliny, 4.28
7. Jordanes, Getica 25 Latin English
8. Neumann 1981
9. Anton 1981 , p. 236, Domański 1995, Leube 1995
10. Jordanes, Getica 97 English, Latin
11. Domański 1995.
12. Anton 1981, p. 237.
13. Nixon & Rodgers 1994, pp. 100–101, 541.
14. Anton 1981 , p. 236 citing Zosimus 1.68
15. Nixon & Rodgers 1994, pp. 61–62, 525.
16. Liccardo 2023, pp. 59–60.
17. Teichner 1995.
18. Orosius 7.32
19. Ammianus 28.5
20. Anton 1981, pp. 237–238.
21. Ammianus 30.7
22. Schipp 2012 , p. 61 citing Jerome letter 123 to Ageruchia; latin version
23. Anton 1981 , p. 238 citing Orosius 7.38
24. Anton 1981, p. 239.
25. Schipp 2012, Anton 1981 , p. 239 citing Prosper, Epitoma Chronicon, under the year 413
26. Socrates, 7.30
27. Maenchen-Helfen 1973, pp. 82–83.
28. Schipp 2012 , p. 65, Anton 1981 , p. 241
29. Wood 2021 , pp. 115–116, Wood 2003 , p. 246, Anton 1981 , p. 241
30. Wood 2021, p. 115.
31. Wood 2003, p. 262.
32. Wood 2021, pp. 120–122.
33. Wood 1990 , pp. 61–62, Wood 2003 , pp. 260–261, Wood 2021 , pp. 111–113, 133
34. Wood 2003, pp. 250–253.
35. Wood 2021, p. 127.
36. Lex Burgundionum III
37. Anton 1981 , p. 241, Wolfram 1995
38. Wood 2021 , p. 113 citing Gregory of Tours, II.28
39. Lex Burgundionum XVII
40. Wood 2003 , pp. 248–249, Wood 2021 , pp. 115–116
41. Wood 2021 , p. 115 citing Sidonius, Poems, VII
42. Wood 2021, p. 116.
43. Wood 2003 , p. 253, Mathisen 1979 , p. 605
44. Wood 2021 , p. 117 citing Jordanes, Getica, 231
45. Mathisen 1979 , pp. 605–606, Wood 2003 , p. 250, Wood 2021 , p. 118
46. Mathisen 1979, pp. 605–606.
47. Mathisen 1979 , pp. 605–606, Wood 2021 , pp. 117–118
48. Wolfram 1995.
49. Anton 1981.
50. Wolfram 1995, Anton 1981
51. Gregory of Tours, Hist. Franc. II.28
52. Wolfram 1995, para. 19.
53. Wood 2021 , pp. 134–135, Anton 1981 , pp. 243–244
54. Halsall 2007, p. 302.
55. Wolfram 1995 , para. 31, Anton 1981 , p. 244
56. Anton 1981, p. 244.
57. Anton 1981 , p. 244, Wolfram 1995 , paras 34-35
58. Anton 1981, pp. 244–245.
59. Wolfram 1995 , paras 38-39, Anton 1981 , p. 425-426
60. Beck 1978.
61. Wood 1990 , pp. 56–57 citing Passio Sancti Sigismundi Regis , 1
62. Jordanes, Getica, 25
63. Sidonius, Poems, 12
64. Beck 1981.
65. Sidonius Apollinaris, Epistulae, Letter 5: English, Latin
66. Wolfram 1997, p. 259.
67. Steinacher 2020, p. 52.
68. Wolfram 1997 , p. 5 "Goths, Vandals, and other East Germanic tribes were differentiated from the Germans and were referred to as Scythians, Goths, or some other special names. The sole exception are the Burgundians, who were considered German because they came to Gaul via Germania. In keeping with this classification, post-Tacitean Scandinavians were also no longer counted among the Germans...."
69. Pliny, 4.28
70. Wood 2003 , pp. 263–264, Wood 2021 , p. 128
71. Drew, p. 6–7
72. Drew, p. 6
73. Rivers, p. 9

Sources

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• Beck, Heinrich (1978), "Bornholm § 1. Namenkundliches", in Beck, Heinrich; Geuenich, Dieter; Steuer, Heiko (eds.), Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde, vol. 3 (2 ed.), De Gruyter, pp. 296–297, ISBN   978-3-11-006512-1
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Further reading

• Buchberger, Erica (2018). "Burgundians". In Nicholson, Oliver (ed.). The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity. Oxford University Press. ISBN   9780191744457. Archived from the original on January 31, 2020. Retrieved January 26, 2020.
• Darvill, Timothy, ed. (2009). "Burgundians". The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (3 ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN   9780191727139. Archived from the original on January 28, 2020. Retrieved January 26, 2020.
• Drinkwater, John Frederick (2012). "Burgundians". In Hornblower, Simon; Spawforth, Antony; Eidinow, Esther (eds.). The Oxford Classical Dictionary (4 ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN   9780191735257. Archived from the original on April 10, 2021. Retrieved January 25, 2020.
• Guichard, Rene, Essai sur l'histoire du peuple burgonde, de Bornholm (Burgundarholm) vers la Bourgogne et les Bourguignons, 1965, published by A. et J. Picard et Cie.
• Heather, Peter (June 11, 2007). The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History of Rome and the Barbarians. Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0195325416 . Retrieved May 31, 2015.
• Hitchner, R. Bruce (2005). "Burgundians". In Kazhdan, Alexander P. (ed.). The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium . Oxford University Press. ISBN   9780195187922. Archived from the original on January 26, 2020. Retrieved January 26, 2020.
• Murray, Alexander Callander. From Roman to Merovingian Gaul. Broadview Press, 2000.
• Musset, Lucien. The Germanic Invasions: The Making of Europe AD 400–600. University Park, Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1975. ISBN   978-0-271-01198-1.

External links

• Media related to Burgundians at Wikimedia Commons