Vangiones
They threw in their lot with Ariovistus in his bid of 58 BC to invade Gaul through the Doubs river valley and lost to Julius Caesar in a battle probably near Belfort.
After some Celts evacuated the region in fear of the Suebi, the Vangiones, who had made a Roman peace, were allowed to settle among the Mediomatrici in northern Alsace.
When he changed his mind after the Battle of Teutoburg Forest, the Vangiones were used for garrison duty on the far-flung northern frontier of the province of Britannia, Hadrian's Wall.
In the early empire this name was extended by the Romans to all the Celticised Germans in northern France (the forerunners of the Franks), among whom were now the Vangiones.
[3] According to Caesar's Celtic informants, Ariovistus had appeared as a leader of Germani who had settled in the land of the Aedui (upper Loire) following the assistance of a vanguard of 15,000 at the Battle of Admagetobriga in 61 BC.
The Belgae (from which Belgium) of his time lived on the left bank of the lower Rhine and were considered Celts of Germanic origin.
In Pliny[4] Roman Belgae extends along the Rhine from the Scheldt to the upper Seine; that is, upstream to Switzerland, and includes many more tribes than are listed in Caesar, some of them still Germanic.
In Book I he enumerates poetically all the barbarians who will no longer be troubled by Roman troops because they have been recalled to fight the uncivil wars, among whom are those Lucan did not regard the Vangiones as nostri, "one of us".
The Vangiones appear solidly in the works of Tacitus, a writer of the 1st century AD of some authenticity and credibility, having been a Roman of fairly high office himself.
Apparently the Celtic tribes were no longer in the Agri Decumates (right bank of Rhine) because Tacitus characterizes its population as rabble and penniless adventurers.
His Annales contains brief mention of the Vangiones in connection with capturing bands of plunderers from the Chatti across the Rhine to the north (Hesse) in AD 50.
[7] The Chatti must have been overconfident to send such small numbers into Alsace, which was tenanted by both Celtic and Germanic tribes loyal to Rome and was protected by bases at Mainz and Worms.
[citation needed] His Histories describes a year of crisis for the young empire in 69,[8] when for the first time the system established by the Julio-Claudian dynasty as a solution to civil war was severely tested by the question of succession.
A revolt gradually spread along the Rhine, initiated by the Batavi and other tribes of the Belgae among the Germans, and the Treviri and Lingones among the Celts (see under Batavian rebellion).
Meanwhile, government at Rome stabilized under Vespasian, who sent some 8 legions from various parts of the empire under Quintus Petillius Cerialis, a fortunate choice, to deal with the confusion on the Rhine frontier.
On the approach of Cerealis the legions who had defected now deserted the government at Trier and sought refuge among the Mediomatrici, who, we learn, were still in place and had remained loyal to Rome.
Ammianus Marcellinus, 4th century soldier and historian (Res Gestae), after pointing out that the Rhine had previously been governed by two iurisdictiones,[10] describes the provincial division of his times.
In the jurisdiction of Prima Germania ("First or Upper Germany") are Mogontiacus (Mainz), Vangiones (Worms), Nemetae (Speyer), Argentoratus (Strasbourg) and "alia municipia.
A list is given (in the accusative case), presumably including the "alia municipia" of "Prima Germania": Argentoratum (Strasbourg), Brotomagum (Brumath), Tabernas (Saverne), Salisonem (Selz), Nemetas (Speyer), Vangionas (Worms) and Mogontiacum (Mainz).
[13] In 356 Julian moved to the relief of the cities, driving out the Alamanni, and reoccupied Cologne, forcing the Franks to the peace table.
