Alamanni people
The Alamans (German: Alemannen, proto-Germanic *allai manniz) were a group of established Germanic tribes in the upper, middle and lower reaches of the Elbe and along the Main. They were first mentioned by Dio Cassius in 213.
According to Asinius Quadratus, their name indicates that they were the grouping of several tribes, and means "all men":
- Bucinobates
- Cubes
- Hermunduros (Hermiones)
- Jutungos
- Lentiense
- Semnones and
- Teutones.
They are also included within the Suebi along with other peoples.
The Alamanni were in permanent conflict with the Roman Empire. Initially located north of the province of Raetia, they were contained by the Romans until the middle of the III century, after two centuries of clashes. They managed to move little by little towards the west to settle definitively on the territory that includes part of the current Vorarlberg (Austria), Switzerland, Baden-Württemberg and Alsace.
The name German in Spanish and other languages derives from this Germanic tribe. The name Alamania is the Latinization of an expression in Old High German: Alle Mannen (“all men”), which encompasses all the peoples who inhabited that area in times of Julius Caesar (Teutones, Bucinobantes, etc.) and was transmitted to several modern languages, such as Arabic (ألمانيا), Catalan (Alemanya), Cornish (Almayn), Spanish (Germany), French (Allemagne), Welsh (Yr Almaen), Galician (Alemaña), Portuguese (Alemanha) and Turkish (Almanya), compared to those derived from the Latin Germania, such as English (Germany). The name Germani is the Latinization of a word in Rhine languages: Germanen (“on this side of the Rhine”), which was used by Julius Caesar to refer specifically to the Eburones. from Gaul Belgium (west of the Rhine).
Chronology
- 213: first appearance of the alamanes in Germania Superior.
- 253: the Franks and the Samaritans invade the Galia.
- 277: Emperor Probo frees the Gaul and makes the alamanes go back beyond the Rhine.
- 352: the alamanes and francs defeat the Roman army, take forty cities and settle between the Moselle and the Rhine.
- 378: the alamanes invade the present Alsace.
- 496: the Franks defeat the alamanes in the battle of Tolbiac.
- 512: End of the war between the Franks and the Alamans.