Belgae - Origins of The Belgae

Origins of The Belgae

Julius Caesar describes Gaul at the time of his conquests (58 - 51 BC) as divided into three parts, inhabited by the Aquitani in the southwest, the Gauls of the biggest central part, who in their own language were called Celtae, and the Belgae in the north. Each of these three parts were different in terms of customs, laws and language. He noted that the Belgae, being farthest from the developed civilization of Rome and closest to Germania over the Rhine, were the bravest of the three groups, because "merchants least frequently resort to them, and import those things which tend to effeminate the mind".

Ancient sources such as Caesar are unclear about the things used to define ethnicity today. He describes the Belgae as both Celtic (or at least Gaulish) and Germanic (at least some of them, and at least by descent). It has been proposed that there could have been more than one language within the region, and also possibly differences between the language of the elite and the rest of the population. Many modern scholars believe that the Belgae were a firmly Celtic-speaking group. However, at least part of the Belgae may also have had significant genetic, cultural and historical connections to peoples east of the Rhine, including Germanic peoples, judging from archaeological, placename, and textual evidence. It has also been argued based on placename studies that the older language of the area, though apparently Indo-European, was not Celtic (see Nordwestblock) and that Celtic, though influential amongst the elite, might never have been the main language of the part of the Belgic area north of the Ardennes. Roman Gaul and Germany. Finally, some researchers, notably Maurits Gysseling, suggest that prior to Celtic and Germanic influences the Belgae may have comprised a distinct Indo-European branch, termed Belgian.

Caesar's sources informed him "that the greater part of the Belgae were sprung from the Germanic peoples, and that, having crossed the Rhine at an early period, they had settled there, on account of the fertility of the country". He also says that the Germanic people who lived to the west of the Rhine were allied to the Belgae.

However, Caesar's use of the word "Germani" needs special consideration. He uses it in two ways. He describes a major grouping of northeastern tribes within the Belgic alliance as the "Germani", distinguishing them from their neighbours. The most important in his battles were the Eburones. The other way he uses the term is to refer to any tribe considered to be of similar ancestry and traditions, with ancestry east of the Rhine. So the Germani amongst the Belgae were called Germani cisrhenani, in order to distinguish them from other Germani, such as those living on the east of the Rhine, in the presumed homeland of the Germani. The later historian Tacitus, says that the tribal group in this area were indeed the original Germani, and that in his time they had taken up the new name, Tungri. He claimed that the use of the word Germani to refer to other peoples, including those across the Rhine, all stemmed from these original tribes who settled amongst the Belgae, who had been the first of their race to cross the Rhine. Concerning the other Belgae, the extent and nature of their connection to the east of the Rhine is unclear. Tacitus also records that the Nervii and Treveri were also eager to claim Germanic rather than Gaulish origin.

On the other hand, most of the Belgic tribal and personal names recorded are identifiably Gaulish, including those of the Germani cisrhenani, and this is indeed also true of the tribes immediately over the Rhine at this time, such as the Tencteri and Usipetes. Surviving inscriptions also indicate that Gaulish was spoken in at least part of Belgic territory.

The Romans were not precise in their ethnography of northern barbarians: by "Germanic" Caesar may simply have meant "originating east of the Rhine" (the homeland of the Germani cisrhenani) with no distinction of language intended. The east of the Rhine was not necessarily inhabited by Germanic speakers at this time. It has been remarked that Germanic language speakers might have been no closer than the river Elbe in the time of Caesar. On the other hand, studies of placenames such as those of Maurits Gysseling, have been argued to show evidence of the very early presence of early Germanic languages throughout the Belgic area north of the Ardennes, where the Germani cisrhenani lived. The sound changes described by "Grimm's Law" appear to have affected names with older forms, apparently already in the 2nd century BC. On the other hand strong evidence for old Celtic placenames is found in the Ardennes and to the south of them. According to Strabo, the country of the Belgae extended along the coast where fifteen tribes were living from the Rhenus (Rhine) to the Liger (Loire), the «Paroceanites» (maritime Belgae).

Apart from the Germani, the report of Caesar seems to indicate that more of the Belgae (most of them in fact) had some Germanic ancestry and ethnicity. But this is not necessarily what defines a tribe as Belgic. Edith Wightman proposed that Caesar can be read as treating only the southwestern Belgic tribes, the Suessiones, Viromandui and Ambiani and perhaps some of their neighbours, as the true ethnic Belgae; as opposed to those in a political and military alliance with them. She reads Caesar as implying a "transition zone" mixed ethnicity and ancestry for the Menapii, Nervii, and Morini, all living in the northwest of the Belgic region, neighbours to the Germani cisrhenani in the northeast. (Caesar also mentions his allies the Remi being closest to the Celts amongst the Belgae.)

It seems that, whatever their Germanic ancestry, at least some of the Belgic tribes spoke a variety of the Celtic Gaulish language as their main language by Caesar's time, and all of them used such languages in at least some contexts.

The medieval Gesta Treverorum compiled by monks of Trier claims that the Belgae were descendants of Trebeta, an otherwise unattested legendary founder of Trier, the Roman Augusta Treverorum, "Augusta of the Treveri".