Cugerni
The Cugerni (or Cuberni or Guberni) was a tribal grouping with a particular territory within the Roman province of Germania Inferior, which later became Germania Secunda. More precisely they lived near modern Xanten, and the old Castra Vetera, on the Rhine. This part of Germania Secunda was called the Civitas or Colonia Traiana (polity or colony of Trajan), and it was also inhabited by the Betasii[1][2]
The Cugerni are amongst the Germanic[citation needed] tribes who crossed the Rhine to the west, and were settled in the Roman empire.[citation needed] Similarly, to their south were the Ubii who lived to the south, also on the Rhine, around the modern city of Cologne in their Colonia Agrippenses. To the west of the Cugerni the Batavi, and to their southwest were the Tungri in their Civitas Tungrorum.
Apart from the area of Xanten, places which were apparently in their region were Gelduba (Gellep near Krefeld), Asciburgium (Asberg, also near Krefeld), Burginatium (near Kalkar), and Quadriburgium (Qualberg near Kleve). However nearby Neuss was in the region of the Ubii.[2]
The name of the Cugerni is not recorded as one which ever existed on the east of the Rhine, like the Ubii are, but the Cugerni are thought to be mainly made up of a part of the Sicambri, who had already been present just over the Rhine in the time of Caesar. However as with the Batavi and Tungri and other tribes of the region during Roman times, the ancestry of the Cugerni was probably mixed, and may have included other tribes from the east of the Rhine, plus survivors of the Menapii or Eburones who lived in this region in the time of Caesar, when it was considered to be part of Gaul, and not yet part of the Roman empire.
The region of the Cugerni was the centre of action during the Batavian revolt, with different tribal groups taking different sides. The Cugerni took the side of Gaius Julius Civilis.
Like other peoples of Germania Inferior, they were later absorbed into the Franks. The Franks were an amalgamation of tribes, including still newer waves of immigrants such as the Sallii. They united under kings and became semi-independent within the empire; and then proceeded to conquer a large part of Western Europe and found the Holy Roman empire.
References
- ^ Derks, Ton (2009), "Ethnic Identity in the Roman Frontier: The Epigraphy of the Batavi and the other Lower Rhine tribes", in Derks, Ton; Roymans, Nico (eds.), Ethnic constructs in antiquity: the role of power and tradition, Amsterdam University Press
- ^ a b Byvanck (1943), Nederland in Den Romeinschen Tijd, Brill
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