''Germania Inferior'' ("Lower Germania") was a

Roman province The Roman provinces (, pl. ) were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was ruled by a Roman appointed as Roman g ...

from AD 85 until the province was renamed ''Germania Secunda'' in the 4th century AD, on the west bank of the

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

bordering the North Sea. The capital of the province was Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium (modern-day

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

Geography

According to

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...

(2.9), Germania Inferior included the Rhine from its mouth up to the mouth of the ''Obringa'', a river identified with either the Aar or the Moselle. The territory included modern-day

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

, the southern

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, part of

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

, and part of North Rhine-Westphalia in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, west of the Rhine. The principal settlements of the province were Castra Vetera and Colonia Ulpia Traiana (both near Xanten), Coriovallum ( Heerlen), Albaniana ( Alphen aan den Rijn), Lugdunum Batavorum ( Katwijk), Forum Hadriani ( Voorburg), Ulpia Noviomagus Batavorum ( Nijmegen), Traiectum (Utrecht), Atuatuca Tungrorum ( Tongeren), Bona ( Bonn), and Colonia Agrippinensis (

), the capital of Germania Inferior.

History

The first confrontations between a

Roman army The Roman army () served ancient Rome and the Roman people, enduring through the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC), the Roman Republic (509–27 BC), and the Roman Empire (27 BC–AD 1453), including the Western Roman Empire (collapsed Fall of the W ...

and the peoples of Germania Inferior occurred during Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars. Caesar invaded the region in 57 BC and in the next three years annihilated several tribes, including the Eburones and the Menapii, whom Caesar called "Germanic" but who probably were Celtic or at least mixed Celtic-Germanic. Germanic influence (mainly through the Tungri) increased during Roman times, leading to the assimilation of all Celtic peoples in the area. In fact, Germania Inferior had Roman settlements since around 50 BC and was at first part of Gallia Belgica. It was only under Domitian (r. AD 81''–''96) that new territories were acquired, between the high valleys of the Rhine and the Danube, following the campaigns conducted by his generals in AD 83''–''85, which led to the creation of two new imperial provinces, lower and upper Germany. Although this region had been occupied since the reign of Augustus, it wasn't formally established as a

until around AD 85, with its capital at Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium (modern-day

). It later became an imperial province. It lay north of Germania Superior; these two together made up Lesser Germania. The adjective ''Inferior'' refers to its downstream position. The army of Germania Inferior, typically shown on inscriptions as EX.GER.INF. (''Exercitus Germaniae Inferioris''), included several legions at various times: of these, Legions I ''Minervia'' and XXX ''Ulpia Victrix'' were the most permanent. The Roman Navy's '' Classis Germanica'' (Germanic fleet), charged with patrolling the

and the North Sea coast, were based at Castra Vetera and later at Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensis. As attested in the early 5th century document '' Notitia Dignitatum'', the province was renamed Germania Secunda (Germania II) in the 4th century. It was administered by a '' consularis'' and formed part of the Diocese of Gaul. Up to the end of Roman control, it was an intensely garrisoned province that was inhabited by Romans and Ripuarian Franks in the 5th century. Its capital remained at Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium, which also became the seat of a Christian bishopric, which was in charge of an ecclesiastical province that survived the

fall of the Western Roman Empire The fall of the Western Roman Empire, also called the fall of the Roman Empire or the fall of Rome, was the loss of central political control in the Western Roman Empire, a process in which the Empire failed to enforce its rule, and its vast ...

. After the final abandonment of the province it became the core of the Frankish Kingdom.

References

Bibliography

External links

Livius.org: Germania inferior
* https://web.archive.org/web/20021027093553/http://www.library.ucla.edu/yrl/reference/maps/blaeu/germania-inferior-nt.htm#qvarta_branbantiae Blaeu Atlas Germania Inferior

An open letter sent to the bishop of the province of Germania Secunda, among others.

{{Authority control Germany in the Roman era Former states in the Low Countries States and territories established in the 80s States and territories disestablished in the 5th century 80s establishments in the Roman Empire 475 disestablishments 470s disestablishments in the Roman Empire

Geography

History

See also

References

Bibliography

External links