Monthly Archives: March 2017

Something Gothic This Way Comes – Part I

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The Goths – the conquerors of many tribes (including some/all (?) of the Veneti) a name that inspired greatfear throughout the Roman Empire before dissolving into nothing but a mist of that fear.  What were their names?

We know of two pairings: Ostrogoths and Visigoths (initially we see Visi).  We also see Greutingi and Tervingi.  (It is never Visigoths and Greutingi or Ostrogoths and Tervingi).  Thus, it has fairly been assumed that Ostrogoths were the Greutingi and the Visigoths were the Tervingi.

But what do the sources actually report?

We will start with the Visigoths.

Genethliacus of Maximian Augustus

The Teruingi are first mentioned in the Genethliacus of Maximian Augustus (part of the Panegyrici Latini XI, 17) from 21 July, 291:

“The unruly Moorish tribe rages against its own flesh, the Goths utterly destroy the Burgundians, and again the Alamanni wear arms for the conquered, and the Tervingi too, another group of Goths,* with the help of a band of Taifali join battle with the Vandals and Gepids.  Ormies [Hormizd] with the Saci and Rusii and Geli** as allies assaults the Persians themselves and the king himself [Bahram II], and respects neither his king’s majesty nor his brother’s claims on his loyalty.  The Burgundians have taken over the land of the Alamanni, but obtained at great cost to themselves.  The Alamanni have lost the land but seek to regain it.  O great power of your deity!  Not only those and other races, terrible in strength of arms, yield to their confidence, armed for the ruin of barbarism, but even those Blemmyes, I hear, used only to light arrows, seek arms which they do not have against the Ethipians, and john murderous battle with as it were naked hatred.”*

** Furit in viscera sua gens efferent Maurorum, Gothi Burgundos penitus excitant rursumque pro uictis armature Alamanni itemque Teruingi pars alia Gothorum adjunct manu Taifalorum, aduersum Vandalos Gipedesque concurrunt.

** The Rusii and Geli are quite fascinating.  The Geli may well be the Gelones of Herodotus.  Their name comes up again in late antiquity as part of the bands raiding Gaul (of course, their inclusion on the list of barbarians may have been a result of the various writers wanting to describe everything and the kitchen sink as being thrown at Rome.

Notitia dignitatum

The Notitia dignitatum – a Roman administrative document dated to the late 4th or early 5th century (circa 388 – circa 405) – at sections 4 & 5 (or 5 & 6 depending on version) mentions Visi and Teruingi.  Here are the references from the Paris manuscript (14th century):

visiz

teruingiz

(Note also the Vindices).

And the associated shields from the 1436 manuscript (MS. Canon. Misc. 378 Bodleian) for the Visi:

visi

and the Tervingi:tervingiz

These crests are similar… but they are not the same (and, just to be clear they are mentioned separately).

And this from the 1651 Labbe edition (although the spelling here seems like Vrsi or even Ursi, as you can tell from the above, it’s actually Visi):
The sameness of the names is alleged based on the similarities of these sections.  Both are in the “Eastern” portion of the Notitia.  The first one in part V reads:

Auxilia palatina XVIII. Bataui seniores.  Braccati iuniores.  Salii. Constantiani. Matoiaci seniores. Sagittarii seniores Gallicani. | Sagittarii iuniores Gallicani. Tertii sagittarii Valentis. Defensores. Retobarii. | Anglevarii. Hiberi. Visi. Felices Honoriani iuniores. | Victores. Primi Theodosiani. Tertii Theodosiani. Felices Theodosiani Isauri…

The second one in part VI reads:

Auxilia palatina XVII. Regii.  Cornuti.  Tubantes.  Constantiniani.  Mattiaci iuniores.  Sagittarii seniores Orientales.  Sagittarii iuniores Orientales.  Sagittarii dominici.  Vindices.  Bucinobantes.  Falchovarii.  Thraces.  Tervingi.  Felices Theodosiani.  Felices Arcadiani iuniores.  Secundi Theodosiani.  Quarti Theodosiani…

For more on the Notitia see an interesting page here.

Wherefrom the Visigoths?

Thus, we have the following mentions:

  • Tervingi – 291, 388-405
  • Vesi – 388-405

What about other sources?

And what about the Ostrogoths?  Here there are seemingly more sources.

All that to come.

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March 4, 2017

From Falster to Latvia

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Incidentally, if you are curious how Slavs could have ended up at Ventspylis there are at least three answers.  One is the obvious one – they came from the East.  Another one is that they were there before the Balts came from the Belarus region.  A third one is suggested by Annales Ryenses (Rydårbogen) where there is talk of the Danish king Lotharknut resettling a third of his serfs in Prussia, Karelia and Semigalia sometime between 891 and 901.  At least some of those may have come from the islands of Møn, Falster & Lolland.  These, in turn, it has been suggested were populated at the time by Slavs (articles by Koczy and another by Slaski).

“…et venientes, totam
Pruciam, Semigaliam,
et terram Carelorum,
aliasqve qvam plures
terras subjugaverunt sibi, et…”

What’s striking about this is that it’s not clear whether the Danes included in this settlement process also the Pomeranian coast – if not, then presumably because it was filled with Slavs (the reference to other lands seems rather ambiguous given that lands further removed from Denmark than Pomerania are actually mentioned by name).

A similar tale was apparently also in the lost annals of Valdemar II.

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March 2, 2017