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Cimbri
& Teutones (Germans?/Celts?)
A large-scale incursion of the sea into
Jutland around the period
between 120-114 BC is known as the Cimbrian Flood. It permanently altered
the shape of the coastline and drastically affected the way people live in
the region. It was probably this event (which is ascribed by some scholars
to 307-306 BC) which affected the
Germanic Teutones (Teutons)
in the centre of the peninsula and their northern neighbours, the Cimbri,
enough to force them to migrate southwards in large numbers.
A
good deal of controversy exists as to whether particular tribes were
German or Gaulish (Celtic).
Both the Cimbri and Teutones appear to have borne some elements of Celtic
society, although they were primarily Germanic. This trait seems to have
been common with all Germanic peoples in the Cimbric Peninsula, with them
straddling both definitions. Early Germanics were influences by northern
Celts for perhaps a millennium before the birth of Christ, although this
assertion is somewhat contentious. The subject is discussed in greater
detail in the accompanying feature and also in the Germanics page (see
link, above).
The Cimbri tribal name is wholly Celtic, and means 'compatriots' or
'companions' in the sense that they were people with a common background
and heritage. So was the tribe itself really Celtic, or perhaps Germanic
with a Celtic elite ruling it? The ruler of the Cimbri, Boiorix, had a
name which meant literally 'king of the
Boii'. The Boii were a tribe
of Celts that occupied a wide swathe of central Europe at this time, which
raises the possibility that the driving force behind this migration was
the Boii themselves, which is backed up by Julius Caesar's own thoughts
on the matter. Even 'Teutobod', leader of the Teutones, is partially
Celtic. The second part of his name, '-bod', is a Celtic word and the
first part, whilst accepted by mainstream opinion as being a Germanic
word, can be argued as being Celtic with a Germanic equivalent of 'folc'
or 'folk'. The Cimbri also included a Lugius amongst their sub-kings,
another Celtic name.
It may have been this migration event which began or was part of a
population shift in southern
Sweden. It was this
latter migration that triggered the movement of the
Goths into Central
Europe, where they settled between the Oder and the Vistula in what
is now Poland. It
was also almost certainly the Cimbri and Teutones migration that
triggered a large-scale influx of Belgic tribes into
Britain
that was only increased by the campaigns of Julius Caesar.
(Additional information by Edward Dawson. Other major sources listed
in the 'Barbarian Europe' section of the
Sources page.) |