Chauci

The Chauci were an ancient Germanic tribe living in the low-lying region between the Rivers Ems and Elbe, on both sides of the Weser and ranging as far inland as the upper Weser. Along the coast they lived on artificial mounds called terpen, built high enough to remain dry during the highest tide. A dense population of Chauci lived further inland, and they are presumed to have lived in a manner similar to the lives of the other Germanic peoples of the region.

Their ultimate origins are not well understood. In the Germanic pre-Migration Period (i.e., before c. 300 AD) the Chauci and the related Frisians, Saxons, and Angles inhabited the Continental European coast from the Zuyder Zee to south Jutland.[1] All of these peoples shared a common material culture, and so cannot be defined archaeologically.[2] The Chauci originally centered on the Weser and Elbe, but in c. AD 58 they expanded to the River Ems by expelling the neighboring Ampsivarii,[3][4] whereby they gained a border with the Frisians to the west. The Romans referred to the Chauci living between the Weser and Elbe as the 'Greater Chauci' and those living between the Ems and Weser as the 'Lesser Chauci'.[5]

The Chauci entered the historical record in descriptions of them by classical Roman sources late in the first century BC in the context of Roman military campaigns and sea raiding. For the next 200 years the Chauci provided Roman auxiliaries through treaty obligations, but they also appear in their own right in concert with other Germanic tribes, opposing the Romans. Accounts of wars therefore mention the Chauci on both sides of the conflict, though the actions of troops under treaty obligation were separate from the policies of the tribe.

The Chauci lost their separate identity in the third century when they merged with the Saxons,[6] after which time they were considered to be Saxons. The circumstances of the merger are an unsettled issue of scholarly research.

  1. ^ Haywood 1999:14, Dark Age Naval Power. Haywood uses the term 'North German' to distinguish them from the 'Rhine Germans' (the Caninnefates, Batavians, and "Frankish" tribes).
  2. ^ Haywood 1999:17–19, Dark Age Naval Power. Haywood cites Todd's The Northern Barbarians 100 BC–AD 300 (1987) for this conclusion.
  3. ^ Tacitus 117:253–254, The Annals, Bk XIII, Ch 55. Events of AD 54–58. The Germans under Arminius had wiped out 3 Roman legions under Varus at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. The Ampsivarii had not supported the German cause and had been ostracised as a result. Many years later, c. AD 58, the Chauci then took the opportunity to expel them and occupy their land at the mouth of the River Ems.
  4. ^ Haywood 1999:17–19, Dark Age Naval Power. Haywood cites Tacitus as well as a number of other sources.
  5. ^ Tacitus 117:355, The Annals, Translator's note on Bk XI, Ch 19.
  6. ^ Haywood 1999:28, Dark Age Naval Power.