TheNervii orNervians were one of the most powerful tribes of theBelgae in northernGaul at the time of its conquest by Rome. Their core of their territory corresponded to the medievalCounty of Hainaut and contained a significant part of modern centralBelgium, includingBrussels andMons, as well as stretching southwards toCambrai in what is now France. During his first century BC Roman military campaign,Julius Caesar's contacts among theRemi reported that the Nervii were the most warlike of the Belgae, trekking long distances to take part in battles. Like the other tribes of northern Gaul, including theMenapii to the west, and theEburones to the east, the Nervii were considered by Caesar to be relatively uncorrupted by civilization.[1]
They are referred to asNervii byCaesar (mid-1st c. BC) andOrosius (early fifth c. AD),[2]Neroúioi (Νερούιοι) byStrabo (early first c. AD),[3]Nerui byPliny (1st c. AD) and theNotitia Dignitatum (5th c. AD),[4]Nervios byTacitus (early second c. AD),[5] and asNeroúsioi (Νερούσιοι) byPtolemy (2nd c. AD).[6][7]
TheethnonymNervii probably stems from the WesternIndo-European root *ner-, meaning 'man' (cf.Middle Welshner 'lord, chief'). It appears to becognate with the LatincognomenNerva.[8]
Although it is often assumed that the Nervii spoke a Celtic language, the evidence regarding their linguistic affiliation is inconclusive. The same applies to other Belgian tribes, like theMenapii andMorini, to the west of the Nervii on theEnglish Channel, and theGermani cisrhenani to the east of the Nervii, stretching to the Rhine.[9]
Caesar writes that the Belgae generally had received immigration from Germanic people from east of the Rhine.[10] The Romanized GreekStrabo wrote that the Nervii were of Germanic origin.[11]Tacitus, in his bookGermania, says that in his time the Nervii andTreveri both claimed Germanic ancestry, similar to that of their mutual neighbours theTungri, in order to distinguish them from the weaknesses of theGauls.[12]
The Romans were not precise in theirethnography of northernbarbarians: by "Germanic" Caesar may simply have meant "originating east of the Rhine" with no distinction of language intended. During Caesar's lifetime, Germanic languages east of the Rhine may have been no closer than the riverElbe.[9] It has instead been argued based on place name studies that the older language of the area, though apparentlyIndo-European, was also not Celtic (seeNordwestblock) and that Celtic, though influential amongst the elite, might never have been the main language of the part of the Belgic area north of the Ardennes.[13][14] On the other hand, these same studies of placenames such as those ofMaurits Gysseling, have also shown evidence of Germanic languages entering the Belgic area north of theArdennes, before the Roman conquest, while strong evidence for old Celtic place names is found in the Ardennes and to the south of them.[13][14] Luc van Durme summarizes competing evidence of Celtic and Germanic influence at the time of Caesar by saying that "one has to accept the rather remarkable conclusion that Caesar must have witnessed a situation opposing Celtic and Germanic in Belgium, in a territory slightly more to the south than the early medievalRomance–Germanic language border", but van Durme also accepts that "second century BC Germanisation did not block theceltisation coming from the south . . . but that both phenomena were simultaneous and interfering instead".[15]
According to Xavier Deru, the core region of the Nervii was equivalent to the medievalpagus ofHainaut, the region of theHaine river, the upperSambre, andgreater andlesser Helpe rivers. To the north of the Haine, it also included what would become the medievalpagus of Brabant, making its northwestern border on theScheldt (FrenchEscaut, DutchSchelde) river.[16] A large population occupied the southern territories, near the riverSambre with the biggest being atAvesnelles, nearAvesnes-sur-Helpe.
Anoppidum found nearAsse may have belonged to them but it was isolated and near to the territory of theMenapii. In the south the Nervians stretched no further than the forests ofArrouaise andThiérache[17] South of them were theViromandui, south of Cambrai, and theRemi. Deru proposes that the region orpagus ofCambrai in the southwest was relatively undeveloped until Roman times.[18]
To the east, based upon medieval boundaries it is likely that the Nervii's territories stretched to theDyle and theEau d'Heure [fr]. Some of this territory especially in the north may have been added to the district during Roman times according to Deru. Thecivitas of the Nervii did not includeLouvain orNamur.
Caesar also mentions smaller tribes who were expected to contribute troops to Nervian forces; Levaci, Pleumoxii, Geidumni, Ceutrones, and Grudii. None of these can be convincingly located.
In the Middle Ages, Hainaut was sometimes still referred to as the county of the Nervians (comitatus nerviensis) in medieval Latin, and when this came to be politically united with mainly Dutch speaking Brabant again, the counties were still distinguished in the official Latin titles (comitatus Nerviensisatque Bracbatensis).
Today, Hainaut is divided between France and Belgium. To its north, parts of the modern Belgian provinces ofAntwerp,East Flanders,Flemish Brabant and French-speakingWalloon Brabant include the rest of the old Nervian territory.
Julius Caesar considered the Nervii to be the most warlike of the Belgic tribes, and that the Belgic tribes were the bravest in Gaul. He says that their culture was a Spartan one: they would not partake of alcoholic beverages or any other such luxury, feeling that the mind must remain clear to be brave. He also says they disliked foreign trade and neither had a merchant class nor would permit merchants within their territory.[19]
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Archaeologists have sought to define the territories of the northern Belgic tribes by looking at the coins they used. The Nervii produced astater on which the obverse features a design that resembles a Greekepsilon.[20]
Remarkably, given the archaeological evidence of a CelticLa Tène culture having been present in the pre-Roman past, Caesar reports that the Nervii had no cavalry. In fact theyestablished hedges throughout their lands in order to make them difficult for cavalry.[17]
TheFrasnes hoard, accidentally unearthed by foresters in 1864 nearFrasnes-lez-Buissenal inHainaut, along with coins attributed to theMorini and the Nervii, also contained characteristically Gallic goldtorques, one of which was in Alastair Bradley Martin's Guennol collection.[21]
The Nervii were part of the Belgic alliance that resisted Julius Caesar in 57 BC. After the alliance broke up and some tribes surrendered, the Nervii, under the command ofBoduognatus and aided by theAtrebates andViromandui, came very close to defeating Caesar (theAtuatuci had also agreed to join them but did not arrive in time). In 57 BC at thebattle of the Sabis (now identified as the riverSelle, near modernSaulzoir; previously identified as theSambre),[22] they concealed themselves in the forests and attacked the approaching Roman column at the river. Their attack was so quick and unexpected that some of the Romans didn't have time to take the covers off their shields or even put on their helmets. The element of surprise briefly left the Romans exposed. However Caesar grabbed a shield, made his way to the front line, and quickly organised his forces; at the same time, the commander of thetenth legion,Titus Labienus, attacked the Nervian camp. The two legions who had been guarding the baggage train at the rear arrived and helped to turn the tide of the battle. Caesar says the Nervii were almost annihilated in the battle and is effusive in his tribute to their bravery, calling them "heroes".[23]
WhenAmbiorix and theEburones rebelled in 53 BC, the remaining Nervii joined the uprising and besiegedQuintus Tullius Cicero – brother of the orator – and his legion in their winter camp until they were relieved by Caesar in person.[24] They were able to rapidly build a rampart around the Roman fortification, using only swords to dig, "in less than three hours they completed a fortification of ten miles in circumference; and during the rest of the days they began to prepare and construct towers of the height of the ramparts, and grappling irons, and mantelets". Caesar reported that this technique was learned from the Romans, and under the advisor of captured Roman soldiers.[25]
On the seventh day of the attack, a very high wind having sprung up, they began to discharge by their slings hot balls made of burned or hardened clay, and heated javelins, upon the huts, which, after the Gallic custom, were thatched with straw. These quickly took fire, and by the violence of the wind, scattered their flames in every part of the camp.[26]
The situation was recovered when a Nervian in the Roman camp was able to send a slave with a message, who managed to remain inconspicuous and get it to Caesar.[27] Caesar was able to amass forces and defeat some of the Nervians.
The Nervii and their allies, the Aduatuci, Eburones,Treveri andMenapii continued to prepare for war with the Romans, and sought assistance from the Germanic peoples east of the Rhine. The Roman struck a significant blow when they killed the Treveran kingIndutiomarus. Soon after:
Accordingly, while the winter was not yet ended, having concentrated the four nearest legions, he marched unexpectedly into the territories of the Nervii, and before they could either assemble or retreat, after capturing a large number of cattle and of men, and wasting their lands and giving up that booty to the soldiers, compelled them to enter into a surrender and give him hostages.[28]
In the final phase of Caesar's war in Gaul, the Nervii were called upon to contribute to the large allied force ofVercingetorix which amassed atAlesia, but these were defeated in theBattle of Alesia.
During theRoman era, the original chief city of the Nerviancivitas was atBagacum, (Gaulish:Bāgācon, frombagos 'beech').[29] The city was founded to the south of the traditional Nervian territory and is now known asBavay, a town in France near the Belgian border. The forum has been excavated. The town was founded in c.30 BC and rapidly became a centre of Roman civilization. Towns belonging to the Nervian territory wereFanum Martis (Famars), and Geminiacum (Liberchies).
The Nervians were well known for the export of grain; an interesting tombstone of afrumentarius was excavated as far away asNijmegen. They also produced ceramics (terra nigra).
Inscriptions found on artifacts recovered atRough Castle Fort along theAntonine Wall across theCentral Belt of Scotland indicate that in the second century the fort was the base for 500 men of the Sixth Cohort of Nervii, an infantry unit. According to Tacitus, the Nervians also served incohorts based along the Rhine border. Altars found at the Roman fort ofWhitley Castle in Northumberland, also known as Epiacum, bear inscriptions showing that the Second Nervians were garrisoned at the fort. Two sandstones uncovered atBainbridge, record the Roman construction of a fort at Brough Hill in the third century. An inscription on a tablet indicated that the fort was built by the Sixth Cohort, under the charge ofGaius Valerius Pudens, a senator of consular rank.
TheNotitia Dignitatum reports that the Nervii were a Gaulish tribe.[30]
At some point probably after the disastrous attacks by theFranks in 260-275 AD, a new chief city was designated at Camaracum (Cambrai), further south than Bavay, and Bavay itself, and the main road it was on, became part of a new secondary fortified border zone. The northern part of Nervian territory, was eventually settled by Germanic groups, while the southern part, the southern part of medievalBrabant, andmedieval Hainaut, remained more Romanized. By 432 it seems the Franks had penetrated into the country of the Romanized Nervians and had been taken over by the Franks. Their kingChilderic I was buried inTournai. The medievalRoman Catholic Archdiocese of Cambrai continued to cover the same approximate area as the Romancivitas until 1559.
One likely difference between the Roman and medieval boundaries is that the north-eastern part of the archdiocese, the deanery of Antwerp east of the riverRupel may have been a medieval attachment.[31]
The Nervii and their western neighbours the Menapii are the main subjects of the comic bookAsterix in Belgium. In it, a competition between the Belgians and the Gauls fromArmorica takes place to decide who was the bravest, under the unlikely adjudication of Julius Caesar.
The Nervii are featured in the video gameTotal War: Rome II.
