Varduli

Last updated
The Iberian Peninsula in the 3rd Century BC, the Varduli are in the northern region, close to the Pyrenees, in a Celt-Aquitanian "mixed" area. Iberia 300BC-en.svg
The Iberian Peninsula in the 3rd Century BC, the Varduli are in the northern region, close to the Pyrenees, in a Celt-Aquitanian "mixed" area.

The Varduli were a pre-Roman tribe [1] settled in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, in what today is the western region of the Basque Country.

Contents

Their historical territory corresponds with current Basque area; however, it is debated whether the Varduli were actually Aquitanians, related to the Vascones, [2] or Celtized tribes, related to Cantabri or Celtiberians [3] and which later underwent Basquisation. [4] Anyhow, it's apparently assumable the proto-Basque rooted cultural-ethnic relation among the people of this region.

Etymology

Their ethnonym Varduli is connected with an area that is referred to in documents from the early Middle Ages as Bardulia, which is mentioned to the cradle of Old Castile, as a result of the decline of the Navarrese Kingdom.

Julio Caro Baroja, a Basque anthropologist and linguist appointed on his works that the term Varduli wasn't of Basque origin. [5]

History

The Varduli are mentioned for the first time during Roman times, by Strabo, who called them Bardyetai, and placed them in the Basque coast, between the Cantabri and Vascones; they are also mentioned by the geographer Ptolemy, who placed them roughly in present-day Gipuzkoa, and by Roman historians, notably Pliny the Elder in his Naturalis Historia , [6] where he reported that Amanum Portus (Roman name: Flaviobriga), present-day Castro Urdiales, was a Varduli settlement. The Roman geographer Pomponius Mela located them also in the coast, west of the Vascones and east of the Caristii. This lack of agreement about their exact position may have been caused by the continuous movement of the tribes of the northern Iberian Peninsula during events such as the Cantabrian Wars. The first census of the Varduli population took place under the orders of Augustus. [7]

According to Pliny the Elder, [8] [9] the main Vardulian settlement was Tullonium, [8] that was in the actual Zadorra river basin, on a main Roman road from Virovesca (capital of the Autrigones), to Pompaelo (Pamplona or Iruña) in Vasconian land. According to several Classical antiquity authors such as Ptolemy, Pliny the Elder and Pomponius Mela [9] other Vardulian cities were Alba and Gebala (today's Gebara), in the inland; while Tritium Tuboricum, a little west of the Deba river (Deva, Deua or Deba = Goddess), Menosca and Morogi or Morosgi, were on the Atlantic coast (on the south coast of the Bay of Biscay).

In 114 BC, Gaius Marius had a personal guard made by Varduli people, who were called Barduaioí slaves in Rome. By the year 44, and according to Pomponius Mela, the Varduli inhabited lands close to the Pyrenees and composed a united society. The defeat of the Cantabri against Augustus did not have any effect on the Varduli, as they had not joined the wars. The Varduli served in cohorts in the invasion of Britannia: Varduli are mentioned in an inscription on a Roman altar at Rochester, (Roman Bremenium) and at Milecastle 19 along Hadrian's Wall an altar inscription made by members of the First Cohort of Varduli, cavalrymen, is one of the few dedications to the Matres, or mother goddesses, found in Roman Britain. The First Cohort of Varduli are also mentioned in inscriptions at the Antonine Wall, Longovicium in Durham, Bremenium and Corstopitum in Northumberland and on the Dere Street in Cappuck in the Scottish Borders. [10]

As with the Caristii, it's not totally clear whether the Varduli were an Aquitanian tribe or a Celtized one, related to the Cantabri and Celtiberians. Some of their Toponyms were clearly of Indo-European origin (probably Proto-Celtic language), as Uxama (comes from Upsama, meaning "the highest"), Deobriga (comes from Deiuo-Briga, meaning "holy hill"), Tullonium (comes from Tullo, meaning "valley"), among others. Hydronyms, such as Deva (Deua or Deba for "Goddess") were also considered of Indo-European etymology. As with the Caristii, not a single toponym related to the Aquitanian-Basque languages has been found, further proving the theory of their Celtic origin and possible late Basquisation. [2] [3] [4] However, but for a few exceptions (Deba, Zegama , Arakama) present-day place-names show a clear prevalence of the Basque linguistic element (sometimes mixed with Latin-Romanced lexical roots).

The last reference to the Varduli appears on a chronicle from Hydatius, where he narrates the devastations that suffered the Heruli when they attacked in the year 400 the Cantabrian coast and again in 456 after attacking Bardulia.

Ad sedes propias redeuntes, Cantabriarum et Vardaliarum loca maritima crudelissime deproedatio sunt.

— Fontes Hispaniae Antiquae, IX, p. 74

Later in the next century, Saxons established on the Bordeaux estuary also were known to raid along the coast.

Some studies theorize that the Varduli had a late Basquisation process, as a result of the continuous progress of the Vascones on their territory. They are mentioned again in the Early Middle Ages and their place appeared the precursors of the modern Basque province of Gipuzkoa. Other authors [11] guessed, following Classical threads, the existence of somewhat ethnic, cultural or political affinity between the Vardulii, the Caristii and the Autrigones , tribes who, later roman sources, would grouped under the name Varduli; this would explain all the later events on this region, for example, why once the Caristii and Varduli were moved out of their original territories by the Vascones in the Early Middle Ages, the Caristii and Autrigones lost their names and were grouped together with the Varduli over the territory of the Autrigones who took refuge in their coastal areas behind the mountains from the Islamic military depredations from the Al-andalus new powers down the Ebro, which passed to be made after a century of resettlement into the Meseta plains as a frontier march or county of the Kingdom of Asturias in the middle years of the 8th century, the original one called Castile. The union, whichever the causes, between Varduli, Caristii and Autrigones on a unique territory would later create the blur County of Bardulia, mentioned as part of the craddle of proto-castile.

The coat of arms of the Basque province of Gipuzkoa reads "Fidelissima Bardulia, Nunquam Superata", [12] meaning "Most loyal Bardulia, never conquered".

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Biscay</span> Province of Spain

Biscay is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay, lying on the south shore of the eponymous bay. The capital and largest city is Bilbao.

The Lusitanians were a people living in the far west of the Iberian Peninsula, around roughly to Central Portugal and areas of modern-day Extremadura and Castilla y Leon of Spain. After its conquest by the Romans, the land was subsequently incorporated as a Roman province named after them (Lusitania).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vascones</span> Pre-Roman tribe, namesake ancestors of the Basques

The Vascones were a pre-Roman tribe who, on the arrival of the Romans in the 1st century, inhabited a territory that spanned between the upper course of the Ebro river and the southern basin of the western Pyrenees, a region that coincides with present-day Navarre, western Aragon and northeastern La Rioja, in the Iberian Peninsula. The Vascones are often considered ancestors of the present-day Basques to whom they left their name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cynetes</span> Pre-Roman people of the Iberian Peninsula

The Cynetes or Conii were one of the pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula, living in today's Algarve and Lower Alentejo regions of southern Portugal, and the southern part of Badajoz and the northwestern portions of Córdoba and Ciudad Real provinces in Spain before the 6th century BC. According to Justin's epitome, the mythical Gargoris and Habis were their founding kings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aquitani</span> Group of non Indo-European peoples who inhabited between the Pyrenees and the Garonne

The Aquitani were a tribe that lived in the region between the Pyrenees, the Atlantic ocean, and the Garonne, in present-day southwestern France in the 1st century BCE. The Romans dubbed this region Gallia Aquitania. Classical authors such as Julius Caesar and Strabo clearly distinguish the Aquitani from the other peoples of Gaul, and note their similarity to others in the Iberian Peninsula.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aquitanian language</span> Language of the ancient Aquitani people

The Aquitanian language was the language of the ancient Aquitani, spoken on both sides of the western Pyrenees in ancient Aquitaine and in the areas south of the Pyrenees in the valleys of the Basque Country before the Roman conquest. It probably survived in Aquitania north of the Pyrenees until the Early Middle Ages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cantabri</span>

The Cantabri or Ancient Cantabrians, were a pre-Roman people and large tribal federation that lived in the northern coastal region of ancient Iberia in the second half of the first millennium BC. These peoples and their territories were incorporated into the Roman Province of Hispania Tarraconensis in 19 BC, following the Cantabrian Wars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vaccaei</span> Pre-Roman Celtic people of Spain

The Vaccaei or Vaccei were a pre-Roman Celtic people of Spain, who inhabited the sedimentary plains of the central Duero valley, in the Meseta Central of northern Hispania. Their capital was Intercatia in Paredes de Nava.

The origin of the Basques and the Basque language is a controversial topic that has given rise to numerous hypotheses. Modern Basque, a descendant or close relative of Aquitanian and Proto-Basque, is the only pre-Indo-European language that is extant in western Europe. The Basques have therefore long been supposed to be a remnant of a pre-Indo-European population of Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caristii</span> Pre-Roman tribe of the Iberian Peninsula

The Caristii were a pre-Roman tribe settled in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, in what today are known as the historical territories of Biscay and Álava, in the Basque Country, northern Spain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Autrigones</span> Pre-Roman tribe in Iberia

The Autrigones were a pre-Roman tribe that settled in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, in what today is the western Basque Country and northern Burgos and the East of Cantabria, Spain. Their territory limited with the Cantabri territory at west, the Caristii at east, the Berones at the southeast and the Turmodigi at the south. It is discussed whether the Autrigones were Celts, theory supported by the existence of toponyms of Celtic origin, such as Uxama Barca and other with -briga endings and that eventually underwent a Basquisation along with other neighboring tribes such as the Caristii and Varduli.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Novempopulania</span> Administrative region of the Roman Empire

Novempopulania was one of the provinces created by Diocletian out of Gallia Aquitania, which was also called Aquitania Tertia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the Basques</span>

The Basques are an indigenous ethno-linguistic group mainly inhabiting Basque Country. Their history is therefore interconnected with Spanish and French history and also with the history of many other past and present countries, particularly in Europe and the Americas, where a large number of their descendants keep attached to their roots, clustering around Basque clubs which are centers for Basque people.

Late Basquisation is a minority hypothesis that dates the arrival of the first speakers of the Basque language in northeastern Iberia from Aquitaine to the 5th or 6th century AD – as opposed to the mainstream view of it being the last remaining descendant of one of the pre-Indo-European languages of Prehistoric Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Turmodigi</span>

The Turmodigi were a pre-Roman ancient people, later mixed with the Celts people of northern Spain who occupied the area within the Arlanzón and Arlanza river valleys in the 2nd Iron Age.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cratistii</span>

The Cratistii were an ancient pre-Roman, stock-raising people whose lands were situated along the upper Tagus valley, in the elevated plateau region of the western Cuenca and northeast Province of Teruel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bardulia</span> Ancient name for territories in northern Spain

According to some sources, Bardulia is the ancient name of the territories that composed the primitive Castile in the north of what later became the province of Burgos. The name comes from Varduli, the name of a tribe who, in pre-Roman and Roman times, populated the eastern part of the Cantabrian coast of the Iberian peninsula, primarily in present-day Guipúzcoa. Some assert that the Varduil also encompassed or assimilated the Caristii and Autrigones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Auscii</span> Aquitani tribe

The Auscii or Ausci were an Aquitani tribe dwelling around present-day Auch during the Iron Age.

The Suessetani were a pre-Roman people of the northeast Iberian Peninsula that dwelt mainly in the plains area of the Alba (Arba) river basin, in today's Cinco Villas, Aragon, Zaragoza Province and Bardenas Reales area, west of the Gallicus river, east of the low course of the Aragon river and north of the Iberus (Ebro) river, in the valley plains of this same river. Their location, in relation to other tribes, was south of the Iacetani, west of the Vescetani or Oscenses north of the Lusones and Pellendones, also north of the Sedetani, and southeast of the Vascones.

References

  1. ↑ John James Van Nostrand Jr, "The reorganization of Spain by Augustus" University of California Publications in History4, 1916:122ff
  2. 1 2 Localización de algunas ciudades várdulas citadas por Mela y Ptolomeo Ildefonso Gurruchaga [ permanent dead link ]
  3. 1 2 El puerto romano de Irun Mercedes Urteaga
  4. 1 2 "Ethnic map of the Iberian Peninsula after the Second Punic War". Archived from the original on 2016-04-05. Retrieved 2012-07-30.
  5. ↑ Caro Baroja, Julio. Los pueblos de España, 1976.
  6. ↑ "In Cluniensem conventum Varduli ducunt populos xiiii" (Pliny iii.26); "A Pyranaeo per oceanum Vasconum saltus, Olarso, Vardulorum oppida..." iv.110.
  7. ↑ CIL vi, 1463, noted by Van Nostrand 1916:123.
  8. 1 2 Book III, 26, 27, Book IV, 110
  9. 1 2 "Foto 41028101.gif - Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedia".
  10. ↑ "BREMENIVM Roman Fort & Marching Camps". Roman Britain Organisation. Archived from the original on 14 April 2012. Retrieved 11 March 2012.
  11. ↑ http://www.euskomedia.org/PDFAnlt/congresos/07217221.pdf [ dead link ]
  12. ↑ Juntas Generales de Gipuzkoa - Escudo y bandera

Bibliography

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.