European Kingdoms

Leuci (Belgae)
Incorporating the Betasii

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In general terms, the Romans coined the name 'Gaul' to describe the Celtic tribes of what is now central, northern, and eastern France. The Gauls were divided from the Belgae to the north by the Marne and the Seine, and from the Aquitani to the south by the River Garonne, and they also extended into Switzerland, northern Italy, and along the Danube (see feature link for a discussion of the origins of the Celtic name).

The Leuci may have been included amongst the Belgae, being located in the midst of them by the middle of the first century BC. At this time they occupied parts of the modern regions of Alsace and Lorraine on the west bank of the Rhine. They were neighboured to the north by the Remi and Mediomatrici, to the east, near the Rhine, by the Germanic Nemetes and Triboci, to the south by the Lingones, and to the west by the Tricasses and Catalauni.

The Belgae appear to have been formed of tribes which were seaborne and which lived along the North Atlantic and/or Baltic coastlines. They would seem to have been a branch of Celts who had established themselves in Northern Europe, although precisely where is entirely open to speculation (not to mention some heated debate).

Their dialect probably used a 'b' or a 'v' sound where their western cousins in Gaul used a 'w' sound, opening up different interpretations for their names. Fortunately the Leuci name is an easy one to interpret. It comes from the Celtic *leuko-, which means 'white'. The tribe were very descriptively known as 'the whites' or 'the blonds'.

This small tribe occupied land in the upper reaches of the Lorraine, somewhere around the span between the rivers Mosella (the modern Moselle) and the Mosa (now the Meuse). Their oppidum was Tullum (modern Toul, on the banks of the Moselle in north-eastern France), which remained their capital under Roman administration.

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(Information by Peter Kessler and Edward Dawson, with additional information by Trish Wilson, from The La Tene Celtic Belgae Tribes in England: Y-Chromosome Haplogroup R-U152 - Hypothesis C, David K Faux, from Geography, Ptolemy, from Roman History, Cassius Dio, from Research into the Physical History of Mankind, James Cowles Pritchard, from Geography, Strabo, translated by H C Hamilton Esq & W Falconer, M A, Ed (George Bell & Sons, London, 1903), from Natural History, Pliny, and from External Links: The Works of Julius Caesar: Gallic Wars, and Kemmelberg (A History Files microsite), and The Illustrated History of Belgium, and The Natural History, Pliny the Elder (John Bostock, Ed), and Geography, Strabo (H C Hamilton & W Falconer, London, 1903, Perseus Online Edition), and Jones' Celtic Encyclopaedia, and L'Arbre Celtique (The Celtic Tree, in French), and Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz or Dictionnaire Historique de la Suisse or Dizionario Storico dell Svizzera (in German, French, and Italian respectively).)

58 BC

The Aeduii appeal to Rome for relief from Ariovistus' alleged cruelty towards them. Having just defeated the Helvetii and created problems for himself with the possibility of Germanic incursions into Gaul, Julius Caesar, in his role first as consul and then as governor of Gaul (from 58 BC), appears to pursue a diplomatic course which will deliberately end in warfare. Caesar is also informed that a further hundred units of Suevi are about to cross the Rhine.

The Vosges Mountains probably lay on the southern borders of Leuci territory, which would explain their building of a hill fort there and which was also the scene of the battle of 58 BC

The showdown happens at the Battle of Vosges (one of the Leuci hillforts) following an unsuccessful face-to-face parley between the two leaders. The Sequani, Leuci, and Lingones have supplied his troops with corn as promised, so now he is ready to face the Germanic groups.

The Suevi host lines up in units of tribal groups, but superior Roman tactics breaks the line and the Suevi host makes a run for the Rhine. Ariovistus makes it across, but many of his allies now turn on him and the core Suebi. The defeated Suevi now avoid the Rhine for generations, concentrating on building a fresh confederation in central Germania.

Northern Gaul is soon brought under Roman domination, and the history of its population of Celts is tied to that of the empire.

This vast map covers just about all possible tribes which were documented in the first centuries BC and AD, mostly by the Romans and Greeks, and with an especial focus on 52 BC (click or tap on map to view at an intermediate size)