Bagaudae (also spelled plu.bacaudae orbacauda singular) were groups ofpeasant insurgents in the western parts of thelaterRoman Empire, who arose during theCrisis of the Third Century and persisted until the veryend of the Western Empire, particularly in the less-Romanised areas ofGallia andHispania. They were affected by the depredations of the late Roman state, wealthylandowners, and clerics.[1]
The invasions, military anarchy, and disorders of the third century provided a chaotic and ongoing degradation of the regional power structure within a declining Empire. During the chaos, thebagaudae achieved some temporary and scattered successes under the leadership of members of theunderclass as well as former members of local ruling elites.
The name probably means 'fighters' inGaulish.[2] C. E. V. Nixon[3] assesses thebagaudae, from the official Imperial viewpoint, as "bands of brigands who roamed the countryside looting and pillaging".
In the sister language of Brythons said to be similar to Gaulish by Roman writers, Bacauda mirrors aspects of the Middle Welsh 'Brwydr', 'to fight', particularly in pronunciation. From Proto-Brythonic *bruɨdr, from Proto-Celtic *breitrā (“word”), also "battle," perhaps related to *brē-, *bri- (“to cut”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerH- (“to strike”); compare Old Irish bríathar (“word”).[1]
J. C. S. Léon interprets the most completely assembled documentation and identifies thebagaudae as impoverished local free peasants, reinforced by brigands, runaway slaves and deserters from the legions, who were trying to resist the ruthless labor exploitation of the late Romanproto-feudalcolonusmanorial and military systems, and all manner of punitive laws and levies in the marginal areas ofthe Empire.[4]
After thebagaudae came to the full attention of the central authorities around 284 AD, the re-establishment of the settled social order was swift and severe: the peasant insurgents were crushed in 286 AD by the co-CaesarMaximian and his subordinateCarausius under the aegis of the AugustusDiocletian. Their leaders are mentioned asAmandus andAelianus, although E.M. Wightman, in herGallia Belgica[5] proposes that the two belonged to the localGallo-Roman landowning class who then became "tyrants"[6] and most likely rebelled against the grinding taxation and garnishing of their lands, harvests, and manpower by the predatory agents of the late Roman state (seefrumentarii,publicani).
ThePanegyric of Maximian, dating to 289 AD and attributed toClaudius Mamertinus, relates that during thebagaudae uprisings of 284–285 AD in the districts aroundLugdunum (Lyon), "simple farmers sought military garb; the plowman imitated the infantryman, the shepherd the cavalryman, the rustic harvester of his own crops the barbarian enemy". In fact they shared several similar characteristics with the GermanicHeruli people. Mamertinus also called them "two-shaped monsters" (monstrorum biformium), emphasising that while they were technically Imperial farmers and citizens, they were also marauding rogues who had become foes to the Empire.
The phenomenon recurred in the mid-fourth century in the reign ofConstantius, in conjunction with an invasion of theAlemanni. Although Imperial control was re-established by the Frankish generalSilvanus, his subsequent betrayal by court rivals forced him into rebellion and his work was undone. In around 360 AD the historianAurelius Victor[7] is the sole writer to note the attacks ofbagaudae in the peripheries of the larger towns and walled cities.
In the fifth centuryBagaudae are noted initially in theLoire valley andBrittany, circa 409–417 AD,[8] fighting various armies sent against them by the last seriously effective Western Roman general,Flavius Aëtius. Aetius used federates such as theAlans under their kingGoar to try and suppress a Bacaudic revolt inArmorica.St Germanus got mercy for the Bagaudae but they later revolted again under a leader calledTibatto. They are also mentioned around the same time in the province of Macedonia, the only time they emerge in the Eastern Empire, which may be connected with economic hardships underArcadius.
By the middle of the fifth century they started to appear in Hispania too, and are mentioned in control of parts of central Gaul and theEbro valley. InHispania, the king of theSuevi,Rechiar (died 456 AD), took up as allies the localbagaudae in ravaging the remaining Romanmunicipia, a unique alliance between Germanic ruler and rebel peasant.[9]
That the depredations of the ruling classes were mostly responsible for the uprising of thebagaudae was not lost on the fifth-century writer of historicised polemicSalvian; setting himself in the treatiseDe gubernatione Dei the task of proving God's constant guidance, he declares in book III that the misery of the Roman world is all due to the neglect of God's commandments and the terrible sins of every class of society. It is not merely that slaves and servants are thieves and runaways, wine-bibbers and gluttons – the rich are much worse (IV, 3); it is their harshness and greed that drive the poor to join thebagaudae and flee for shelter to the barbarian invaders (V, 5 and 6).
The reputation of thebagaudae has varied with the uses made of them in historicised narratives of the Late Roman Empire and the Middle Ages. There has been some speculation that theirs was aChristian revolt, but the sparsity of information in the texts gives that little substance although there may well have been many Christians among them. In general, they seem to have been equal parts of brigands and insurgents.
In the second half of the 19th century, interest in thebagaudae revived, resonating with contemporarysocial unrest. The French historian Jean Trithemié was famous for a nationalist view of the "Bagaudae" by arguing that they were an expression of national identity among the Gallic peasants, who sought to overthrow oppressive Roman rule and realize the eternal "French" values ofliberty, equality and brotherhood.[10]
E. A. Thompson inPast and Present (1952) portrayed this rural discontent within the context of Marxistclass warfare.
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