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The Alemanni

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International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jul 8, 1886

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 12, No. 26.

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The Alemanni.

(Concluded.)
It was "for a short time" indeed "that the victories of Julian suspended the inroads of the barbarians." The Emperor Julian died of a wound June 27, A. D. 363. He was succeeded by Jovian, who reigned only till Feb. 17, A. D. 364, and ten days afterward Valentinian was chosen emperor, and "thirty days after his own elevation, he bestowed the title of Augustus on his brother Valens." "In the castle or palace of Mediana, only three miles from Naissus, they executed the solemn and final division of the empire [A. D. 365, spring]. Valentinian bestowed on his brother the rich prefecture of the East, from the lower Danube to the confines of Persia; whilst he reserved for his immediate government the warlike prefectures of Illyricum, Italy, and Gaul, from the extremity of Greece to the Caledonian rampart; and from the rampart of Caledonia to the foot of Mount Atlas.
"When the suffrage of the generals and of the army committed the scepter of the Roman Empire to the hands of Valentinian, his reputation in arms, his military skill and experience, and his rigid attachment to the forms, as well as the spirit, of ancient discipline, were the principal motives of their judicious choice. The eagerness of the troops who pressed him to nominate his colleague was justified by the dangerous situation of public affairs; and Valentinian himself was conscious that the abilities of the most active mind were unequal to the defense of the distant frontiers of an invaded monarchy. As soon as the death of Julian had relieved the barbarians from the terror of his name, the most sanguine hopes of rapine and conquest excited the nations of the East, of the North, and of the South. . . .
"The ambassadors of the Alemanni had been offended [A. D. 365] by the harsh and haughty behavior of Ursacius, master of the offices; who, by an act of unseasonable parsimony, had diminished the value, as well as the quantity, of the presents to which they were entitled, either from custom or treaty, on the accession of a new emperor. They expressed, and they communicated to their countrymen, their strong sense of the national affront. The irascible minds of the chiefs were exasperated by the suspicion of contempt; and the martial youth crowded to their standard. Before Valentinian could pass the Alps, the villages of Gaul were in flames; before his general Dagalaiphus could encounter the Alemanni, they had secured the captives and the spoil in the forests of Germany. In the beginning of the ensuing year [A. D. 366, Jan.] the military force of the whole nation, in deep and solid columns, broke through the barrier of the Rhine, during the severity of a northern winter. Two Roman counts were defeated and mortally wounded; and the standard of the Heruli and Batavians fell into the hands of the conquerors, who displayed, with insulting shouts and menaces, the trophy of their victory.
"The standard was recovered; but the Batavians had not redeemed the shame of their disgrace and flight in the eyes of their severe judge. It was the opinion of Valentinian, that his soldiers must learn to fear their commander before they could cease to fear the enemy. The troops were solemnly assembled, and the trembling Batavians were enclosed within the circle of the Imperial army. Valentinian then ascended his tribunal; and, as if he disdained to punish cowardice with death, he inflicted a stain of indelible ignominy on the officers, whose misconduct and pusillanimity were found to be the first occasion of the defeat. The Batavians were degraded from their rank, stripped of their arms, and condemned to be sold for slaves to the highest bidder. At this tremendous sentence, the troops fell prostrate on the ground, deprecated the indignation of their sovereign, and protested that, if he would indulge them in another trial, they would approve themselves not unworthy of the name of Romans, and of his soldiers. Valentinian, with affected reluctance, yielded to their entreaties; the Batavians resumed their arms; and, with their arms, the invincible resolution of wiping away their disgrace in the blood of the Alemanni.
"The principal command was declined by Dagalaiphus; and that experienced general, who had represented, perhaps with too much prudence, the extreme difficulties of the undertaking, had the mortification, before the end of the campaign, of seeing his rival Jovinus convert those difficulties into a decisive advantage over the scattered forces of the barbarians. At the head of a well-disciplined army of cavalry, infantry, and light troops, Jovinus advanced, with cautious and rapid steps, to Scarpona, in the territory of Metz, where he surprised a large division of the Alemanni, before they had time to run to their arms; and flushed his soldiers with the confidence of an easy and bloodless victory. Another division, or rather, army of the enemy, after the cruel and wanton devastation of the adjacent country, reposed themselves on the shady banks of the Moselle.
"Jovinus, who had viewed the ground with the eye of a general, made a silent approach through a deep and woody vale, till he could distinctly perceive the indolent security of the Germans. Some were bathing their huge limbs in the river; others were combing their long and flaxen hair; others again were swallowing large draughts of rich and delicious wine. On a sudden they heard the sound of the Roman trumpet; they saw the enemy in their camp. Astonishment produced disorder; disorder was followed by flight and dismay; and the confused multitude of the bravest warriors was pierced by the swords and javelins of the legionaries and auxiliaries. The fugitives escaped to the third, and most considerable, camp, in the Catalaunian plains, near Chalons in Champagne; the straggling detachments were hastily recalled to their standard; and the barbarian chiefs, alarmed and admonished by the fate of their companions, prepared to encounter, in a decisive battle, the victorious forces of the lieutenant of Valentinian. The bloody and obstinate conflict lasted a whole summer's day, with equal valor, and with alternate success. The Romans at length prevailed, with the loss of about twelve hundred men. Six thousand of the Alemanni were slain, four thousand were wounded; and the brave Jovinus, after chasing the flying remnant of their host as far as the banks of the Rhine, returned to Paris, to receive the applause of his sovereign, and the ensigns of his consulship for the ensuing year.
"The triumph of the Romans was indeed sullied by their treatment of the captive king, whom they hung on a gibbet, without the knowledge of their indignant general. This disgraceful act of cruelty, which might be imputed to the fury of the troops, was followed by the deliberate murder of Withicab, the son of Vadomair, a German prince of a weak and sickly constitution, but of a daring and formidable spirit. The domestic assassin was instigated and protected by the Romans, and the violation of the laws of humanity and justice betrayed their secret apprehension of the weakness of the declining empire. The use of the dagger is seldom adopted in public councils, as long as they retain any confidence in the power of the sword."—Id. 25 : 6, 17, 18.
Valentinian died Nov. 17, A. D. 375, and was succeeded by his son Gratian. When in A. D. 378 the Visigoths in the Eastern Empire had revolted from the authority of Valens, that emperor sent into the West to have Gratian with his legions to join the forces of the East in suppressing the rebellious Goths. Gratian agreed to do so, and as soon as the movement was known to the Alemanni they again poured into Gaul to recover the possessions of which they had been deprived by Julian, and which had been held by Valentinian. But unfortunately for the Alemanni they were too hasty, for the legions of Gratian had not gone so far but that they were recalled; and, having been gathered together in such numbers to assist Valens against the formidable Goths, they were enabled to inflict a severe defeat upon the Alemanni.
"After this signal victory, which secured the peace of Gaul, and asserted the honor of the Roman arms, the emperor Gratian appeared to proceed without delay on his eastern expedition; but as he approached the confines of the Alemanni, he suddenly inclined to the left, surprised them by his unexpected passage of the Rhine, and boldly advanced into the heart of their country. The barbarians opposed to his progress the obstacles of nature and of courage; and still continued to retreat, from one hill to another, till they were satisfied, by repeated trials, of the power and perseverance of their enemies. Their submission was accepted as a proof, not indeed of their sincere repentance, but of their actual distress; and a select number of their brave and robust youth was exacted from the faithless nation, as the most substantial pledge of their future moderation. The subjects of the empire, who had so often experienced that the Alemanni could neither be subdued by arms, nor restrained by treaties, might not promise themselves any solid or lasting tranquillity; but they discovered, in the virtues of their young sovereign, the prospect of a long and auspicious reign."—Id. 26 : 20.
When in A. D. 406, the Suevi, the Vandals, the Alani, and the Burgundians, swept into Gaul, while the Franks, in behalf of the empire, vigorously opposed their passage of the Rhine, the Alemanni remained strictly neutral (Gibbon 30 : 18, 19); as they did also, it seems, in the raid of Attila (A. D. 453), into Gaul. In all this time however the power of the Alemanni steadily grew until, at the time of the death of Valentinian III., A. D. 455, they held nearly all of Rhætia, and equally with the Franks held all the country from the Rhine to the Seine.
"The deaths of Ætius and Valentinian had relaxed the ties which held the barbarians of Gaul in peace and subordination. The seacoast was infested by the Saxons; the Alemanni and the Franks advanced from the Rhine to the Seine; and the ambition of the Goths seemed to meditate more extensive and permanent conquests."—Id. 36 : 5.
Thus in the year A. D. 455, the Alemanni held all the country above the Moselle, from the Seine to the Rhine, and nearly, if not quite, all of the province of Rhætia; and with such prestige as a nation that a victory which Majorian, master-general of the cavalry and infantry of the empire, had gained over nine hundred of them (cir A. D. 457) was considered sufficiently meritorious to be rewarded with the Imperial power and office.—Gibbon 36 : 9, note. J.