The Viromanduī or Veromanduī (

Gaulish Gaulish was an ancient Celtic language spoken in parts of Continental Europe before and during the period of the Roman Empire. In the narrow sense, Gaulish was the language of the Celts of Gaul (now France, Luxembourg, Belgium, most of Switze ...

: *''Uiromanduoi'') were a Belgic tribe dwelling in the modern

Vermandois Vermandois was a French county that appeared in the Merovingian period. Its name derives from that of an ancient tribe, the Viromandui. In the 10th century, it was organised around two castellan domains: St Quentin (Aisne) and Péronne (Somme ...

region (

Picardy Picardy (; Picard and french: Picardie, , ) is a historical territory and a former administrative region of France. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region of Hauts-de-France. It is located in the northern part of France. Hist ...

) during the

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly ...

and

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

periods. During the

Gallic Wars The Gallic Wars were waged between 58 and 50 BC by the Roman general Julius Caesar against the peoples of Gaul (present-day France, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland). Gallic, Germanic, and British tribes fought to defend their homel ...

(58–50 BC), they belonged to the Belgic coalition of 57 BC against

Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, an ...

Name

They are mentioned as ''Viromanduos'' and ''Viromanduis'' (var. ''vero''-) by

(mid-1st c. BC), ''Viromanduos'' by

Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding in ...

(late 1st c. BC), ''Veromandui'' (var. ''uir''-) by Pliny (1st c. AD), ''(Ou̓i)romándues'' () by

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importanc ...

(2nd c. AD), and as ''Veromandi'' by

Orosius Paulus Orosius (; born 375/385 – 420 AD), less often Paul Orosius in English, was a Roman priest, historian and theologian, and a student of Augustine of Hippo. It is possible that he was born in ''Bracara Augusta'' (now Braga, Portugal), t ...

(early 5th c. AD). The

ethnonym An ethnonym () is a name applied to a given ethnic group. Ethnonyms can be divided into two categories: exonyms (whose name of the ethnic group has been created by another group of people) and autonyms, or endonyms (whose name is created and us ...

''Viromanduī'' is a latinized form of

*''Uiromanduoi'' (sing. ''Uiromanduos''), which literally means 'horse-men' or 'male ponies'. It derives from the stem *''uiro-'' ('man') attached to ''mandos'' ('pony'). It should perhaps be interpreted as the '

Centaurs A centaur ( ; grc, κένταυρος, kéntauros; ), or occasionally hippocentaur, is a creature from Greek mythology with the upper body of a human and the lower body and legs of a horse. Centaurs are thought of in many Greek myths as bein ...

' or as the ' envirile in owning ponies'.

Pierre-Yves Lambert Pierre-Yves Lambert (born 30 May 1949) is a French linguist and scholar of Celtic studies. He is a researcher at the CNRS and a lecturer at the École Pratique des Hautes Études in Celtic linguistics and philology. Lambert is the director of the ...

has also proposed the meaning 'those who trample upon men', by comparing the second element with the Welsh ''mathru''. The city of

Vermand Vermand () is a commune in the Aisne department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. Vermand was probably the original capital of the Viromandui, after whom the region of Vermandois is named. It was later displaced by the Roman settlement of ...

, probably attested as ''Virmandensium

castrum In the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a po ...

'' in the 9th c. AD (''Virmandi'' in 1160), and the region of

, attested in 877 as ''Vermandensis pagus'' ('

pagus In ancient Rome, the Latin word (plural ) was an administrative term designating a rural subdivision of a tribal territory, which included individual farms, villages (), and strongholds () serving as refuges, as well as an early medieval geogra ...

of the Viromandui'), are named after the Belgic tribe. A ''

civitas In Ancient Rome, the Latin term (; plural ), according to Cicero in the time of the late Roman Republic, was the social body of the , or citizens, united by law (). It is the law that binds them together, giving them responsibilities () on th ...

'' ''Veromandorum'' is mentioned in the ''Notita Galliarum'' (ca. 400 AD), but we do not know if it refers to Vermand or to Saint-Quentin., s.v. ''Augusta Viromanduorum'' and ''Viromandis''.

Geography

Territory

The territory of the Viromandui corresponded for the most part to the limits of the Diocese of Vermandois, around the modern towns of

, Saint-Quentin, Noyon and

Moislains Moislains () is a commune in the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. Geography Moislains is situated on the D184 and D43 crossroads, some northwest of Saint-Quentin. Population Personalities Ferdinand Carré, engineer, ...

. It was located on the 'sill of

', in an area partly surrounded by dense forests on the upper courses of the

Somme __NOTOC__ Somme or The Somme may refer to: Places *Somme (department), a department of France *Somme, Queensland, Australia *Canal de la Somme, a canal in France *Somme (river), a river in France Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Somme'' (book), a ...

and

Oise Oise ( ; ; pcd, Oése) is a department in the north of France. It is named after the river Oise. Inhabitants of the department are called ''Oisiens'' () or ''Isariens'', after the Latin name for the river, Isara. It had a population of 829,41 ...

rivers. They dwelled between the Ambiani and Bellovaci in the west, the

Nervii The Nervii were one of the most powerful Belgic tribes of northern Gaul at the time of its conquest by Rome. Their territory corresponds to the central part of modern Belgium, including Brussels, and stretched southwards into French Hainault. ...

and

Atrebates The Atrebates (Gaulish: *''Atrebatis'', 'dwellers, land-owners, possessors of the soil') were a Belgic tribe of the Iron Age and the Roman period, originally dwelling in the Artois region. After the tribes of Gallia Belgica were defeated by ...

in the north, the

Remi The Remi (Gaulish: ''Rēmi'', 'the first, the princes') were a Belgic tribe dwelling in the Aisne, Vesle and Suippe river valleys during the Iron Age and the Roman period. Their territory roughly corresponded the modern Marne and Ardennes and ...

in the east, and the

Suessiones The Suessiones were a Belgic tribe, dwelling in the modern Aisne and Oise regions during the La Tène and Roman periods. During the Gallic Wars (58–50 BC), their oppidum Noviodunum ( Pommiers) was besieged and conquered by Caesar. Followin ...

in the south. The Oise river is traditionally regarded as the eastern border between the Viromandui and Remi.

Ernest Desjardins Antoine Émile Ernest Desjardins (30 September 1823 – 22 October 1886) was a French historian, geographer and archaeologist. He was a younger brother of historian Abel Desjardins (1814–1886). In 1856 he began teaching classes in Latin epigr ...

, followed by some authors, has proposed that the Viromanduan territory stretched further east as far as

Vervins Vervins (; nl, Wervin) is a commune in the Aisne department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. It is a subprefecture of the department. It lies between the small streams Vilpion and Chertemps, which drain towards the Serre. It is surroun ...

, although this remains controversial.

Settlements

Pre-Roman period

Their main

oppidum An ''oppidum'' (plural ''oppida'') is a large fortified Iron Age settlement or town. ''Oppida'' are primarily associated with the Celtic late La Tène culture, emerging during the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, spread across Europe, stretchi ...

(16–20

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100- metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre i ...

s) until the

Roman period The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...

, corresponding to the modern town of

, was situated on a promontory east of the Omignon river. Fortifications and continuous occupation emerged relatively late on the site, just before or during the

(58–50 BC), and it probably served only as a temporary refuge until the Roman invasion of

Belgica Gallia Belgica ("Belgic Gaul") was a province of the Roman Empire located in the north-eastern part of Roman Gaul, in what is today primarily northern France, Belgium, and Luxembourg, along with parts of the Netherlands and Germany. In 50 BC, a ...

. Some have also proposed that it was erected as a military camp by Belgic auxiliaries serving in the Roman army. The site remained densely occupied from the Augustan era until the beginning of the 5th century AD.

Roman period

Augusta Viromandorum (modern Saint-Quentin), founded closer to communication axis just 11 km away from the oppidum of Vermand during the reign of

Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pr ...

(27 BC–14 AD), soon replaced Vermand as the main settlement. During the Roman period, Augusta Viromandorum reached a size of 40–60ha, in the average of Gallo-Roman chief towns. During the 4th century, the settlement was apparently deserted or at least saw its population considerably reduced. Some scholars have argued that Augusta (Saint-Quentin) was replaced by Virmandis (Vermand) as the chief town of the civitas during this period, and that it eventually regained its position in the 9th century, although this has been doubted by other scholars. Noviomagus (

: 'new market'), corresponding to modern Noyon, is first mentioned in the

Antonine Itinerary The Antonine Itinerary ( la, Itinerarium Antonini Augusti, "The Itinerary of the Emperor Antoninus") is a famous ''itinerarium'', a register of the stations and distances along various roads. Seemingly based on official documents, possibly ...

(late 3rd c. AD) as a station on the route between Amiens and Reims. By the 6th century, the influence of the town could rival other settlements of the region, and it became a local religious centre of power after the bishop Medardus transferred his episcopal siege to Noyon in 531. Other secondary agglomerations were located at Gouy, Contraginum (

Condren Condren () is a commune in the Aisne department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. Population See also *Communes of the Aisne department The following is a list of the 799 communes in the French department of Aisne. The communes ...

), Châtillon-sur-Oise, and possibly at Marcy. Gouy was occupied from the 1st century AD until at least the 3rd century. Located in the vicinity of Saint-Quentin, it reached a size of 12ha at its height.

History

La Tène period

According to archaeologist Jean-Louis Brunaux, large-scale migrations occurred in the northern part of Gaul in the late 4th–early 3rd century BC, which may correspond to the coming of the

Belgae The Belgae () were a large confederation of tribes living in northern Gaul, between the English Channel, the west bank of the Rhine, and the northern bank of the river Seine, from at least the third century BC. They were discussed in depth by Ju ...

. By the end of the 3rd century BC, the Viromandui were probably already culturally integrated to the Belgae.

Gallic Wars

The Viromandui are perhaps most famous for being a part of a Belgic alliance against the expansion of

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, an ...

. Alongside the

and the

, they fought against

in the Battle of the Sabis, around 57 BC, named for the river that split the battlefield. We know about this battle because it is described extensively in Julius Caesar’s ''

De Bello Gallico ''Commentarii de Bello Gallico'' (; en, Commentaries on the Gallic War, italic=yes), also ''Bellum Gallicum'' ( en, Gallic War, italic=yes), is Julius Caesar's firsthand account of the Gallic Wars, written as a third-person narrative. In it Ca ...

''. C. Julius Caesar. ''

.'
English translation by W. A. McDevitte and W. S. Bohn (1869)
available on the

Perseus Project The Perseus Project is a digital library project of Tufts University, which assembles digital collections of humanities resources. Version 4.0 is also known as the "Perseus Hopper", and it is hosted by the Department of Classical Studies. The proj ...

. He tells how the

surprised the Romans by charging out of the woods while the legions were still constructing the Roman camp. In the initial part of the battle, the Romans lost their camp and took heavy losses, prompting their Gallic allies to desert them. However, they reformed their lines and were finally able to rout the Viromandui and

, wiping out the Nervii, who reportedly “fought to the last, fighting on top of the corpses of their brethren.” After this battle Caesar went on to destroy all the strongholds of all the Belgic tribes, breaking their power and making them part of the Roman Empire.John N. Houg
"Caesar's Camp on the Aisne".
''The Classical Journal,'' Vol. 36, No. 6. (Mar., 1941), pp. 337-345. CIL XIII 8342

The Viromandui and Nervi used cavalry in very small numbers, concentrating on infantry whenever possible. Defensively, they often defeated their enemies' cavalry by forming defensive "hedges", described by Caesar as impenetrable walls of sharpened branches and skillfully cut saplings wrapped in thorns. Using these tactics they resisted the Romans by striking from the safety of their dense forests and marshes.

Roman period

The Viromandui probably gained the status of civitas during the 1st century AD. Roman-era inscriptions mention two Viromanduan serving as

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judic ...

Religion

The

Gallo-Roman Gallo-Roman culture was a consequence of the Romanization of Gauls under the rule of the Roman Empire. It was characterized by the Gaulish adoption or adaptation of Roman culture, language, morals and way of life in a uniquely Gaulish context ...

religious site of the Champ des Noyers (Marteville, 1 km from Vermand) was probably erected on an older Gallic sanctuary, where some weapons of the La Tène period, including a voluntary-deformed sword, seem to have been involved in a tradition of religious offerings. Three temples (''fana'') were built during the Roman period at this site. From the beginning of the 1st century AD, a sanctuary was located in Mesnil-Saint-Nicaise which initially centred on a cremation platform used for the sacrifice of

caprinae The subfamily Caprinae, also sometimes referred to as the tribe Caprini, is part of the ruminant family Bovidae, and consists of mostly medium-sized bovids. A member of this subfamily is called a caprine, or, more informally, a goat-antelope (a ...

. A temple was erected on the site ca. 150 AD, then abandoned ca. 280–290 AD. A vase dedicated to

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...

Vatumarus and deposed with an offering was found at the site, along with the statuette of a mother-goddess, depictions of Risus, and effigies of the

Nymph A nymph ( grc, νύμφη, nýmphē, el, script=Latn, nímfi, label=Modern Greek; , ) in ancient Greek folklore is a minor female nature deity. Different from Greek goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature, are ...

s and

Sol Sol or SOL may refer to: Astronomy * The Sun Currency * SOL Project, a currency project in France * French sol, or sou * Argentine sol * Bolivian sol, the currency of Bolivia from 1827 to 1864 * Peruvian sol, introduced in 1991 * Peruvian sol ...

. The divine name ''Vatumaros'' ('High Seer') is composed of the Gaulish root '' vātis'' ('soothsayer, seer') attached to ''maros'' ('high'). An inscription from Augusta Viromandorum mentions Suiccius, a Viromanduan priest honouring the Imperial numen, and attests the presence of a public cult to the god Vulcan. In the town of

was found a

bas-relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

made of stone and depicting Mercury and Rosmerta.

Inscriptions

The ''Viromandui'' or their capital ''Augusta'' are also mentioned on following inscriptions: *''Viromanduo'' = ''

Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum The ''Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum'' (''CIL'') is a comprehensive collection of ancient Latin inscriptions. It forms an authoritative source for documenting the surviving epigraphy of classical antiquity. Public and personal inscriptions throw ...

'' XIII, 1465 (Clermont-Ferrand) *''civi Viromanduo'' = ''CIL'' XIII, 8409, 8341 et 8342 (Koln, I c.) *''Viromand(uo)'' = ''CIL'' XIII, 1688 (Lyon, autel des Gaules) *''Civit (ati) Vi(romanduorum)'' = ''CIL'' XIII, 3528 (Saint-Quentin, end of II or III c.) * = ''CIL'' VI, 32550 = 2822 et 32551 = 2821 (Rome, middle of III c.)

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

The Celtic Tribes of Britain
on www.Roman-Britain.org.

from the French Ministry of Culture and Communication.

from a website on Saint-Quentin. *https://www.livius.org/a/battlefields/sabis/selle.html#2
Archéologie en Picardie (2000)
from the French Ministry of Culture and Communication. {{Gallic peoples Historical Celtic peoples Gauls Tribes of pre-Roman Gaul Tribes involved in the Gallic Wars Belgae

Name

Geography

Territory

Settlements

Pre-Roman period

Roman period

History

La Tène period

Gallic Wars

Roman period

Religion

Inscriptions

References

Bibliography

Further reading

External links