This article is about the Germanic tribe that lived during the Roman era. For the royal dynasty, seeHouse of Burgundy. For the political group during the Hundred Years War, seeBurgundian (party).
TheRoman Empire underHadrian (ruled 117–138 AD), showing a possible location of the Burgundiones Germanic group, inhabiting the region between the Viadua (Oder) and Visula (Vistula) rivers (Poland)
TheBurgundians[1] were an earlyGermanic tribe or group of tribes. They appeared east in themiddle Rhine region in the third century AD, and were later moved west into theRoman Empire, inGaul. In the first and second centuries AD, they or a people with the same name were mentioned by Roman writers living west of theVistula river, in the region ofGermania, which is now part ofPoland.
The Burgundians were first mentioned near the Rhine regions together with theAlamanni as early as the 11th panegyric to EmperorMaximian given inTrier in 291 AD, referring to events that must have happened between 248 and 291, and these two peoples apparently remained neighbours for centuries.[2]
By 411 AD, Burgundians had established control over Roman cities on the Rhine, betweenFranks and Alamanni, includingWorms,Speyer andStrasbourg. In 436 AD,Aëtius defeated the Burgundians on the Rhine with the help ofHunnish forces, and then in 443, he re-settled the Burgundians within the empire, in easternGaul. This Gaulish domain became theKingdom of the Burgundians, which much later became a component of theFrankish Empire. The name of the kingdom survives in the regional appellationBurgundy, which is now a region of France although the modern region represents only a part of that kingdom.
Another part of the Burgundians formed a contingent inAttila'sHunnic army by 451 AD.[3][4]
Before clear documentary evidence begins, the Burgundians may have originally emigrated from theBaltic island ofBornholm to the Vistula region.[5]
Theethnonym Burgundians is commonly used in English to refer to theBurgundi (Burgundionei,Burgundiones orBurgunds) who settled in eastern Gaul and the western Alps during the 5th century AD. The much larger originalKingdom of the Burgundians barely intersected the modernBourgogne and more closely matched the boundaries ofFranche-Comté in northeastern France, theRhône-Alpes in southeastern France,Romandy in west Switzerland, andAosta Valley, in north west Italy.
In modern usage, however, "Burgundians" can sometimes refer to later inhabitants of the geographicalBourgogne orBorgogne (Burgundy), named after the old kingdom, but not corresponding to the original boundaries of it. Between the 6th and 20th centuries, the boundaries and political connections of "Burgundy" have changed frequently. In modern times the only area still referred to asBurgundy is in France, which derives its name from theDuchy of Burgundy. But in the context of the Middle Ages the term Burgundian (or similar spellings) can refer even to the powerful political entity the Dukes controlled which included not only Burgundy itself but had actually expanded to have a strong association with areas now in modern Belgium and Southern Netherlands. The parts of the old Kingdom not within the French controlled Duchy tended to come under different names, except for theCounty of Burgundy.
The origins of the Burgundians before they reached the area near the Roman-controlled Rhine is a subject of various old proposals, but these are doubted by some modern historians. As remarked bySusan Reynolds, citingIan N. Wood:[6]
Wood suggests that those who were called Burgundians in their early sixth-century laws were not a single ethnic group, but covered any non-Roman follower of Gundobad and Sigismund. Some of the leaders of Goths and Burgundians may have descended from long-distant ancestors somewhere around the Baltic. Maybe, but everyone has a lot of ancestors, and some of theirs may well have come from elsewhere. There is, asWalter Goffart has repeatedly argued, little reason to believe that sixth-century or later references to what looks like names for Scandinavia, or for places in it, mean that traditions from those particular ancestors had been handed through thick and thin.
They have long been associated with Scandinavian origin based on place-name evidence and archaeological evidence (Stjerna) and many consider their tradition to be correct (e.g. Musset, p. 62). According to such proposals, the Burgundians are believed to have then emigrated to the Baltic island ofBornholm ("the island of the Burgundians" inOld Norse). By about 250 AD, the population of Bornholm had largely disappeared from the island. Most cemeteries ceased to be used, and those that were still used had few burials (Stjerna, in German 1925:176). InÞorsteins saga Víkingssonar (The Saga of Thorstein, Viking's Son), a man (or group) namedVeseti settled on aholm (island) calledborgundarhólmr in Old Norse, i.e. Bornholm.Alfred the Great's translation ofOrosius uses the nameBurgenda land to refer to a territory next to the land ofSweons ("Swedes").[7] The 19th century poet and mythologistViktor Rydberg asserted from an early medieval source,Vita Sigismundi, that they themselves retained oral traditions about their Scandinavian origin.
A people with the same name, Burgundiones, were described by early Roman writers as living in present-day Poland.
In the first century AD, authors such asTacitus andPliny the Elder knew little concerning the Germanic peoples east of theElbe river, or on the Baltic Sea. Pliny (IV.28) however mentions a group with the specific Latin name as it would be used in France,Burgundiones, among theVandalicGermani - a group which also included theGutones,Varini and the otherwise unknown Carini.
Claudius Ptolemy, writing in the 2nd century, listed theBurguntes (a more unusual form) as living between the Suevus (probably theOder) and Vistula rivers, north of theLugian tribes theOmani andDiduni, and south of theAelvaeones.
It has also been proposed that there several important Germanic tribes later found settled near Roman frontiers originally had their origins around the Baltic sea, including theRugii,Goths,Gepidae,Vandals, and others.[8] According to such proposals, their movement south created turmoil along the entire Roman frontier.[8][9][10][11] Southwards migrations are believed to have triggered theMarcomannic Wars, which resulted in widespread destruction and the first invasion of Italy in the Roman Empire period.[11] Writing in the 6th century,Jordanes reported that during the 3rd century AD, the Burgundians had been living near the Vistula basin, where they were almost annihilated byFastida, king of the Gepids, whose kingdom was also originally near the mouth of the Vistula.
In the late 3rd century AD, the Burgundians appeared on the east bank of the Rhine, apparently confronting Roman Gaul.Zosimus (1.68) reports them being defeated by the emperorProbus in 278 near a river, together with theSilingi and Vandals. A few years later,Claudius Mamertinus mentions them along with theAlamanni, aSuebic people. These two peoples had moved into theAgri Decumates on the eastern side of the Rhine, an area still referred to today asSwabia, at times attacking Roman Gaul together and sometimes fighting each other. He also mentions that the Goths had previously defeated the Burgundians.
Ammianus Marcellinus, on the other hand, claimed that the Burgundians descended from the Romans. The Roman sources do not speak of any specific migration from Poland by the Burgundians, and so there have historically been some doubts about the link between the eastern and western Burgundians.[12]
In 369/370 AD, the EmperorValentinian I enlisted the aid of the Burgundians in his war against the Alamanni.
Approximately four decades later, the Burgundians appear again. FollowingStilicho's withdrawal of troops to fightAlaric I theVisigoth in 406–408 AD, a large group of peoples from central Europe north of the Danube came west and crossed the Rhine, entering the Empire near the lands of the Burgundians who had moved much earlier. The dominant groups wereAlans,Vandals (Hasdingi andSilingi), and DanubianSuevi. The majority of these Danubian peoples moved through Gaul and eventually established themselves in kingdoms in Roman Hispania. One group of Alans was settled in northern Gaul by the Romans.
Some Burgundians were settled asfoederati in the Roman province ofGermania Prima along theMiddle Rhine. Other Burgundians, however, remained outside the empire and apparently formed a contingent inAttila'sHunnic army by 451 AD.[3][4]
In 411, the Burgundian kingGundahar (orGundicar) set up a puppet emperor,Jovinus, in cooperation withGoar, king of theAlans. With the authority of theGallic emperor that he controlled, Gundahar settled on the left (Roman) bank of the Rhine, between the riverLauter and theNahe, seizingWorms,Speyer, andStrassburg. Apparently as part of a truce, the EmperorHonorius later officially "granted" them the land,[13] with its capital at the old Celtic Roman settlement of Borbetomagus (presentWorms).
Despite their new status asfoederati, Burgundian raids into Roman UpperGallia Belgica became intolerable and were ruthlessly brought to an end in 436, when the Roman generalAëtius called inHun mercenaries, who overwhelmed the Rhineland kingdom in 437. Gundahar was killed in the fighting, reportedly along with the majority of the Burgundian tribe.[14]
The destruction of Worms and the Burgundian kingdom by the Huns became the subject of heroic legends that were afterwards incorporated in theNibelungenlied—on whichWagner based hisRing Cycle—where King Gunther (Gundahar) and QueenBrünhild hold their court at Worms, andSiegfried comes to woo Kriemhild. (In Old Norse sources the names areGunnar,Brynhild, andGudrún as normally rendered in English.) In fact, theEtzel of theNibelungenlied is based onAttila the Hun.
For reasons not cited in the sources, the Burgundians were grantedfoederati status a second time, and in 443 were resettled byAëtius inSapaudia[n 1], part of the Gallo-Roman province ofMaxima Sequanorum.[16] Burgundians probably even lived nearLugdunum, known today asLyon.[17] A new king,Gundioc orGunderic, presumed to be Gundahar's son, appears to have reigned following his father's death.[18] The historian Pline[citation needed] tells us that Gunderic ruled the areas of Saône, Dauphiny, Savoie and a part of Provence. He set upVienne as the capital of the kingdom of Burgundy. In all, eight Burgundian kings of the house of Gundahar ruled until the kingdom was overrun by the Franks in 534.
As allies of Rome in its last decades, the Burgundians fought alongside Aëtius and a confederation of Visigoths and others againstAttila at theBattle of Châlons (also called "The Battle of the Catalaunian Fields") in 451. The alliance between Burgundians and Visigoths seems to have been strong, as Gundioc and his brother Chilperic I accompaniedTheodoric II to Spain to fight the Sueves in 455.[19]
Also in 455, an ambiguous referenceinfidoque tibi Burdundio ductu[20] implicates an unnamed treacherous Burgundian leader in the murder of the emperorPetronius Maximus in the chaos preceding the sack of Rome by theVandals. The PatricianRicimer is also blamed; this event marks the first indication of the link between the Burgundians and Ricimer, who was probably Gundioc's brother-in-law andGundobad's uncle.[21]
In 456, the Burgundians, apparently confident in their growing power, negotiated a territorial expansion and power sharing arrangement with the local Roman senators.[22]
In 457, Ricimer overthrew another emperor,Avitus, raisingMajorian to the throne. This new emperor proved unhelpful to Ricimer and the Burgundians. The year after his ascension, Majorian stripped the Burgundians of the lands they had acquired two years earlier. After showing further signs of independence, he was murdered by Ricimer in 461.
Ten years later, in 472, Ricimer–who was by now the son-in-law of the Western EmperorAnthemius–was plotting with Gundobad to kill his father-in-law; Gundobad beheaded the emperor (apparently personally).[23] Ricimer then appointedOlybrius; both died, surprisingly of natural causes, within a few months. Gundobad seems then to have succeeded his uncle as Patrician and king-maker, and raisedGlycerius to the throne.[24]
In 474, Burgundian influence over the empire seems to have ended. Glycerius was deposed in favor ofJulius Nepos, and Gundobad returned to Burgundy, presumably at the death of his father Gundioc. At this time or shortly afterwards, the Burgundian kingdom was divided among Gundobad and his brothers, Godigisel, Chilperic II, and Gundomar I.[25]
According toGregory of Tours, the years following Gundobad's return to Burgundy saw a bloody consolidation of power. Gregory states that Gundobad murdered his brother Chilperic, drowning his wife and exiling their daughters (one of whom was to become the wife ofClovis theFrank, and was reputedly responsible for his conversion).[26] This is contested by, e.g., Bury, who points out problems in much of Gregory's chronology for the events.
In c. 500, when Gundobad and Clovis were at war, Gundobad appears to have been betrayed by his brother Godegisel, who joined the Franks; together Godegisel's and Clovis' forces "crushed the army of Gundobad".[27] Gundobad was temporarily holed up in Avignon, but was able to re-muster his army and sacked Vienne, where Godegisel and many of his followers were put to death. From this point, Gundobad appears to have been the sole king of Burgundy.[28] This would imply that his brother Gundomar was already dead, though there are no specific mentions of the event in the sources.
Either Gundobad and Clovis reconciled their differences, or Gundobad was forced into some sort of vassalage by Clovis' earlier victory, as the Burgundian king appears to have assisted the Franks in 507 in their victory overAlaric II the Visigoth.
During the upheaval, sometime between 483 and 501, Gundobad began to set forth theLex Gundobada (see below), issuing roughly the first half, which drew upon theLex Visigothorum.[18] Following his consolidation of power, between 501 and his death in 516, Gundobad issued the second half of his law, which was more originally Burgundian.
Burgundy as part of the Frankish Empire between 534 and 843
The Burgundians were extending their power over easternGaul—that is western Switzerland and eastern France, as well as northern Italy. In 493,Clovis, king of the Franks, married the Burgundian princessClotilda (daughter of Chilperic), who converted him to the Catholic faith.
At first allied withClovis'Franks against theVisigoths in the early 6th century, the Burgundians were eventually conquered atAutun by the Franks in 532 after a first attempt in theBattle of Vézeronce. The Burgundian kingdom was made part of theMerovingian kingdoms, and the Burgundians themselves were by and large absorbed as well.
The 5th centuryGallo-Roman poet and landownerSidonius, who at one point lived with the Burgundians, described them as a long-haired people of immense physical size:
Why... do you [an obscure senator by the name of Catullinus] bid me compose a song dedicated to Venus... placed as I am among long-haired hordes, having to endure Germanic speech, praising often with a wry face the song of the gluttonous Burgundian who spreads rancid butter on his hair? ... You don't have a reek of garlic and foul onions discharged upon you at early morn from ten breakfasts, and you are not invaded before dawn... by a crowd of giants.[29]
The Burgundians and their language were described as Germanic by the poetSidonius Apollinaris.[30]Herwig Wolfram has interpreted this as being because they had entered Gaul fromGermania.[31]
More specifically their language is thought to have belonged to theEast Germanic language group, based upon their presumed equivalence to the Burgundians named much earlier by Pliny in the east, and some names and placenames. However this is now considered uncertain.[32] Little is known of the language. Some proper names of Burgundians are recorded, and some words used in the area in modern times are thought to be derived from the ancient Burgundian language,[33] but it is often difficult to distinguish these from Germanic words of other origin, and in any case the modern form of the words is rarely suitable to infer much about the form in the old language.
The language appears to have become extinct during the late 6th century, likely due to the early conversion of the Burgundians toLatin Christianity.[33]
Divisions were evidently healed or healing circa 500, however, asGundobad, one of the last Burgundian kings, maintained a close personal friendship withAvitus, thebishop of Vienne. Moreover, Gundobad's son and successor,Sigismund, was himself a Catholic, and there is evidence that many of the Burgundian people had converted by this time as well, including several female members of the ruling family.[citation needed][34]
The Burgundians left threelegal codes, among the earliest from any of the Germanic tribes.
TheLiber Constitutionum sive Lex Gundobada ("The Book of Constitutions or Law of Gundobad"), also known as theLex Burgundionum, or more simply theLex Gundobada or theLiber, was issued in several parts between 483 and 516, principally by Gundobad, but also by his son, Sigismund.[35] It was a record of Burgundian customary law and is typical of the many Germanic law codes from this period. In particular, theLiber borrowed from theLex Visigothorum[36] and influenced the laterLex Ripuaria.[37] TheLiber is one of the primary sources for contemporary Burgundian life, as well as the history of its kings.
Like many of the Germanic tribes, the Burgundians' legal traditions allowed the application of separate laws for separate ethnicities. Thus, in addition to theLex Gundobada, Gundobad also issued (or codified) a set of laws for Roman subjects of the Burgundian kingdom, theLex Romana Burgundionum (The Roman Law of the Burgundians).
In addition to the above codes, Gundobad's son Sigismund later published thePrima Constitutio.
^The territory, which has no modern counterpart, was perhaps bounded by the rivers Ain and Rhône,Lake Geneva, the Jura and the Aar, though historians differ, and there seems to be insufficient evidence.[15]
^abLuebe,Die Burgunder, in Krüger II, p. 373 n. 21, inHerbert Schutz,Tools, weapons and ornaments: Germanic material culture in Pre-Carolingian Central Europe, 400–750, BRILL, 2001, p.36
^Reynolds, "Our Forefathers" in Goffart (ed.)After Rome's Fall, p.35, citing Ian Wood "Ethnicity and Ethnogenesis of the Burgundians" in Wolfram (ed.) Typen de Ethnogenese.
^Prosper;Chronica Gallica 452; Hydatius; and Sidonius Apollinaris
^Norman H. Baynes, reviewing A. Coville,Recherches sur l'Histoire de Lyon du Ve au IXe Siècle (450–800) inThe English Historical Review45 No. 179 (July 1930:470 474) p 471.
^Gregory, II, 28. Gregory's chronology of the events surrounding Clovis and Gundobad has been questioned by Bury, Shanzer, and Wood, among others. Gregory was somewhat of a Frankish apologist, and commonly discredited the enemies of Clovis by attributing to them some fairly shocking acts. As with Godegisel, he also commonly refers to the treachery of Clovis' allies, when in fact Clovis seems to have bought them off (e.g., in the case of the Ripuarians).
^Wolfram 1997, p. 5 "Goths, Vandals, and other East Germanic tribes were differentiated from the Germans and were referred to as Scythians, Goths, or some other special names. The sole exception are the Burgundians, who were considered German because they came to Gaul via Germania. In keeping with this classification, post-Tacitean Scandinavians were also no longer counted among the Germans...."
^Wolfram 1997, p. 259 "For a long time linguists considered the Burgundians to be an East Germanic people, but today they are no longer so sure."
^abW.B. Lockwood, "A Panorama of Indo-European Languages"
^"St. Sigismund".EWTN Global Catholic Network. RetrievedJanuary 23, 2025.
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