Burgundians

This article is about the Germanic tribe that lived during the Roman era. For the royal dynasty, see House of Burgundy. For the political group during the Hundred Years War, see Burgundian (party).

"The Burgundians" redirects here. For the history book, see The Burgundians (book).

The Burgundians (Latin: Burgundiones or less commonly Burgundii) were one or more Germanic peoples of the Roman imperial era, associated with different European regions in different periods, up until the fifth-century establishment of the Kingdom of the Burgundians, in what what is now western Switzerland and eastern France.^[1] The Burgundians who founded this kingdom were ruled by the Gibichung dynasty, and they previously lived as barbarian foederati in Roman territory near the Rhine. After the Romans and their Hun allies killed king Gundahar and many of his subjects for rebellion in 437, the new kingdom was founded in Sapaudia, now in French-speaking Switzerland. It was from here that their kingdom's territory expanded into what is now France, and it became a part of the medieval Frankish empire in 534. The death of King Gundahar at the hands of Attila's Huns became a major fictional theme in several medieval Germanic heroic legends, including the Niebelungenlied, where Gundahar is reflected in the character of Günther, and the Völsunga saga, where he is reflected in Gunnar.

The Second Burgundian Kingdom between 443 and 476

Although they used Germanic language and customs when they arrived in Sapaudia, the people led by the last Gibichungs had diverse origins, and there are indications in Greco-Roman accounts that even before leaving the Rhine they had long seen themselves as descendants of Roman soldiers who had once manned Roman border defences in what is now southern Germany, west of the Rhine. It was in this region that the Burgundians on the Rhine were indeed first noted in the written record. In the third century, Burgundians were first mentioned east of the Rhine, as invaders and raiders. They became neighbours of the Suebian Alemanni, who took control of the previously Roman-ruled Agri Decumates territories between the Rhine and Upper Danube in the third century. Neither the Burgundians nor the Alemanni appear in any older records for this region, and archaeological evidence suggests that both peoples included newcomers from the east. The Burgundians apparently took over older farmlands where the ancestors of the Alemanni had lived previously near the Main river. In the fourth century these Burgundians became allies of the Romans in their conflicts against the Alemanni. By 409 they crossed the Rhine to enter the empire during a period of crisis.

Earlier Greco-Roman literature also reports still earlier Burgundians who lived between the first and third century near the Vistula river in present day Poland. They suffered devastating defeats against the eastern European Gepids and Goths in the third century, and this may have induced some of them to move west in this period, closer to the empire.

Although there is no clear documentary evidence for any exact connection to the other Burgundians, the early medieval inhabitants of the Baltic island of Bornholm, were probably also called Burgundi (never Burgundiones). It has not only been proposed that there must be a connection between these island-dwellers and the continental Burgundi known to the Romans, but also that they originally came from what is now Norway, where there are many similar placenames. This narrative remains well-known, and is connected to the once more popular idea that many Germanic peoples originally migrated from Scandinavia. However, many modern historians are sceptical.

Name

The ethnonym "Burgundians" is commonly used in English to refer to the Roman era Burgundiones or less commonly Burgundi. Confusingly, in English the term "Burgundians" can also sometimes refer to inhabitants of various much later medieval or modern polities and regions called Burgundy, which derive their names from associations with regions ruled much later by the medieval Kings of the Burgundians. In modern times the only area still referred to as Burgundy (French: Bourgogne) is in France, which derives its name from the medieval Duchy of Burgundy and County of Burgundy, which are now both within the modern French region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. This region was in the north of the old kingdom at its largest extent, but does not correspond to the original core of the early medieval kingdom, which is mainly in present day Switzerland. Furthermore, in the context of the Late Middle Ages the term "Burgundian" can sometimes also refer to the powerful political entity the Dukes of Burgundy controlled, which eventually expanded to have a strong association with areas now in modern Belgium.

Both the main forms of the names appeared throughout the Roman era, and are believed to have the same Germanic etymology, with the main stem *burgund- meaning "high", from earlier Proto-Indoeuropean *bʰérǵʰ with the grammatical suffix *-onts making an adjective. It is probable that the Burgundians were named after a high place or area which was referred to with this name, although their name might have also been describing the Burgundians as high or elevated in some other sense. The long and short forms have different Germanic suffixes, -ja- or -jan-, which are typically used to form nouns for types of people.^[2]

Some scholars have pointed out that the less common short forms of the name can be associated with the small number of references to the "eastern" Burgundians near the Vistula, in the texts of Claudius Ptolemy, Jordanes, and Latin panegyric "11" of 291. Notably, the panegyric even uses the short forms when seeming to refer to eastern events, and the long form for western events. Scholars who have seen this as a sign that these are two distinct peoples have historically included Otto Maenchen-Helfen and Johann Kaspar Zeuss. Exceptions to the pattern include Ammianus Marcellinus, who always used the short form to refer to the Rhine Burgundians (which he expressly describes as a name with a local origin), and Pliny the Elder and Ptolemy who both seem to use the long form in eastern contexts.^[3]

Notably, a classical author also proposed an etymology. It is not accepted by modern scholars, but it gives an indication of thoughts at the time. Orosius, a contemporary of the Burgundian move across the Rhine, and their acceptance into the empire, wrote as follows:^[4]

In earlier times, when the interior of Germany had been subjugated by Drusus and Tiberius, the adopted sons of Caesar, the Burgundians were stationed at different frontier posts. Later they united to form a great people. They took their name from their stations, for the dwelling places at frequent intervals along the frontier are commonly called burgi.

While this is etymologically incorrect, it is noted by Schipp that there may have still been Burgundians stationed in forts near the Rhine frontier in the lifetime of Orosius, and so this story probably projects that situation back in time to create a believable story, which appears to have been widely accepted.^[5] On the other hand, already in about 369, when emperor Valentinian was first seeking their alliance against the Alemanni, Ammianus Marcellinus claimed the Burgundians "know that they are descendants of the Romans from ancient times". Although Roman propaganda may have been playing a role, this seems to indicate that the Burgundians in any case had no clear alternative origin stories.^[6]

History

Bornholm as "Burgund island"

Location of the island of Bornholm as part of modern Denmark

Early medieval writers reported that the now Danish island of Bornholm in the Baltic sea was called "Burgund land" or "Burgund island" – holm being a word for an island. In a 9th century description of Europe attached to his translation of Orosius, Alfred the Great called it Burgenda land in Old English. He was quoting Wulfstan of Hedeby, who reported that this was an island with its own king. He also quoted Ohthere of Hålogaland who mentioned Burgendan (plural), south of the Swedes (Sweon), and east of the Ostseæ – the Ostseæ being described as the "arm" of sea running north of the Danes, and south of the Swedes. Much later, Saxo Grammaticus called Bornholm Burgenda insula in Latin (insula also meaning island). Icelandic sources from the 13th century onward refer to the island as Borgundarhólmr.^[7]

The old name of the island is traditionally believed to imply that there was a people living on Bornholm with a name identical to one of the Latin forms used to refer to the Burgundians, even though the name, meaning "high island", probably referred to the geography of the island itself.^[7] Whether or not there is a connection to the continental Burgundii known to Rome is unknown. Scholars believe that a name coincidence is likely, because the shorter "Burgundii"-version of the name is based upon a descriptive placename which can be found in many places in Europe. A parallel Celtic tribal name is for example also known, the Brigantes in the highlands of northern England. On the other hand, it has been argued that this geographical placename is especially common in Scandinavia.^[2] In Norway, for example, there are small villages named Borgund in Lærdal Municipality, Stad Municipality, and another in Ålesund Municipality. An old proposal, now doubted by modern historians, is that the continental Burgundians known to the Romans had previously migrated from Bornholm. A related proposal associated with older historiography is that these Burgundi of Bornholm had themselves migrated from Norway.

Vistula Burgundians

Germania according to Ptolemy, with Vistula as eastern boundary

European Sarmatia according to Ptolemy, with Vistula as western boundary

Burgundians, or at least one or more peoples with the same name, were first described by early Roman writers as living in present-day Poland. In the first century AD, Pliny the Elder (IV.28) said there were five types of Germanic peoples (germanorum genera quinque) and the first of these he listed were the Vandili. This group included Burgodiones, Varinnae, Charini, and the Gutones. Pliny gives no exact location but the Gutones and Varini are known from other sources to have lived east of the Elbe, and the Gutones are widely believed to be ancestors of the Goths. Modern scholars therefore typically see Pliny's Burgodiones as speakers of East Germanic languages similar to Gothic. Furthermore, because the 6th-century origin story of the Goths written by Jordanes claims that they moved from Scandinavia, which he saw as a womb or workshop of barbarian nations, this "Vandili"-category reported by Pliny is also sometimes seen as evidence that the Vistula Burgundians were originally Scandinavian.

In the 2nd century the geography of Claudius Ptolemy seems to list the Burgundians twice, in two neighbouring regions, with two different name variants. On the west side of the Vistula, in "Germania", he noted the Βουργοῦνδοι (Ancient Greek Burgundi) living between the Suevus (probably the Oder) and Vistula rivers. To their west lived the powerful Semnones. To their north the Aelvaeones (perhaps Helveconae) were between them and the coastal Rugiclei (perhaps Rugii). To their south the Lugians lived between them and the mountains. Secondly, east of the Vistula in "Sarmatia", the Burgundians also seem to have been present as the Frugundiones.^[8] Based on this geographical description, scholars believe that the Vistula Burgundians were users of Przeworsk culture (or "cremation-pit" culture) material technologies, as identified by archaeologists in this region and period.^[9]

Writing in the 6th century, Jordanes reported that during the 3rd century AD, during the reign of Ostrogotha, Burgundians living near the Vistula basin were almost annihilated (pene usque ad internicionem) by Fastida, king of the Gepids. Jordanes believed the Gepids were living near the mouth of the Vistula prior to this, but seeking new lands to the south. (They would eventually settle in Dacia, which the Romans had abandoned.) The expansionism of Gepids and Goths in this period is a possible reason that archaeological evidence indicates that the Przeworsk culture shifted southwards starting in the second century. Within this archaeological complex, some scholars propose that while some Burgundians remained near the Vistula the main concentration of their settlements was shifting westwards over the Oder river.^[9] A proposal that a Burgundian polity eventually formed with its centre between the Elbe and Oder is based upon this archaeological evidence, and no classical sources including Jordanes report any specific Burgundian presence in this area. Possible support for a Burgundian presence in this region is sometimes seen as coming from the report in the Origo Gentis Langobardorum, an account of Langobard origins, which says that the migrating Langobards stopped in a land called Vurgundaib – apparently a place named after the Burgundians, located somewhere on the Langobard trek from the Lower Elbe to the Middle Danube.^[10]

Latin panegyric "number 11" (as it is known to modern scholarship), which was written in 291 AD, mentioned that during the reign of the emperor Maximian (reigned 286-305) the Burgundians were utterly destroyed by another Gothic group, this time simply referred to as the Goths (Gothi Burgundos penitus excidunt, using the short form of the Burgundian ethnonym). The Goths were associated in this period with regions south and east of the Carpathians. Following on from this, the panegyric says that the Alemanni "again arm themselves for/as losers" (rursumque pro victis armantur Alamanni), implying that they fought in support of (or perhaps against) the Burgundians after this defeat. The Alamanni in this period were far to the west in what is now southern Germany, having taken control of the Agri Decumates around 260. Because of the distance between the Goths and Alemanni historians have sometimes argued that the text must be an error, perhaps originally referring to the Alans.^[11] However, in a second passage soon afterwards, this panegyric mentions that in this period the Burgundians took farmland from the Alamanni (Burgundiones Alamannorum agros occupauere, using the longer -iones name), which the Alamanni were still trying to recover in 291. This panegyric therefore appears to associate the same Burgundians with both the eastern Goths, and the western Alamanni.^[12]

Burgundians as neighbours of the Alemanni

Territories conquered by Rome between Rhine and Danube

In the late 3rd century AD, already before the panegyric of 291, there is a first report of Burgundians near the Rhine and Roman Gaul. Zosimus (1.68) reports the Burgundi and Vandals (Ancient Greek: Βουργούνδοις και Βανδίλοις) being defeated by the emperor Probus in 278, near a river, during a campaign based upon the Rhine. Some scholars interpret the text to be specifying that this was the Lech river, which enters the Danube from the south in what is now Bavaria, but this reading is uncertain.^[13]

In his Latin panegyric "10" of 289, Claudius Mamertinus subsequently mentioned the Burgundiones et Alamanni as allies who attacked Gaul with a large force in 287 AD, and were defeated by Maximian, when the large size of their force led to famine.^[14] The Alamanni at this time had recently taken control of the Agri Decumates on the eastern side of the Rhine. This panegyric taken together with panegyric "11" of 291 may represent a series of conflicts in which violence in the east pushed the Burgundians and Vandals westwards, and involved them with the Alamanni and Romans. The two peoples clearly worked as allies one at least one occasion but came into conflict when the Burgundians started taking over Alemanni farmlands.^[12] It is possible that eastern Burgundians were also already beginning to settle permanently in the Main river area, already before the Gothic defeat. The lands they entered may have included territory that some Alemanni were no longer attending because of their own moves westward into the Agri Decumates.^[11]

The Laterculus Veronensis, written in about 314, places the Burgunziones between the Alamanni and the Chatti, who were historically present north of the Main river, although this is one of the last mentions of them. This was a listing of barbarian peoples who had supposedly been under imperial control at some point. This adds to the impression that Burgundians had been living close to the Alemanni in the third century, and probably somewhere near the Main and its tributaries.^[15]

In 359 contemporary historian Ammianus Marcellinus reported that emperor Julian the Apostate began a campaign at Mainz, where the Main enters the Rhine, and travelled through Alemanni lands until they reached border stones marking the edge of Burgundian territory. There are two interpretations of the text, which says either that the boundary was between "Alamanni and the Burgundians" (Alamannorum et Burgundiorum), or "Romans and the Burgundians" Romanorum et Burgundiorum. According to the interpretation of Hans H. Anton the second version is correct, and the Alemanni are living within the Agri Decumates, which had been Roman, and which still had a Roman population. This interpretation would mean in turn that the boundary between Burgundians and Alemanni was approximately where the old Romes border (limes) had been. Ammianus says the place was called "Capillacii or Palas", and scholars have proposed that this may be near Öhringen.^[11] More generally there is archaeological evidence in this period which links the population east of the old limes with burial customs and materials previously found in later phases of the Przeworsk culture.^[16]

Orosius reported that the Burgundians, "a new enemy with a new name, numbering, it is said, more than eighty thousand armed men", settled on the banks of the Rhine (ripae Rheni fluminis insederunt), during the reign of the Emperor Valentinian I, who reigned 364-375. He believed they were moving from old Roman frontier forts where their ancestors had been posted.^[17] In 369/370, Valentinian enlisted the aid of the Burgundians in his own war against the Alamanni. In this context, Ammianus wrote an extended digression about the Burgundians, which gives insight into their language and customs:^[18]

8 Valentinian, turning over many different plans in his mind, was gripped with anxious concern, considering many things and looking around for what stratagems he might use to break the pride of the Alamanni and their king Macrianus, who without end or limit kept disturbing the Roman state with their restless movements.

9 For this fierce nation, diminished from its earliest beginnings by many changes of fortune, so often grows strong again that it might be thought to have remained untouched for many centuries. The emperor, approving one proposal after another, finally settled on the plan of stirring up the Burgundians against them — warlike and abounding in the strength of a vast youth population, and therefore feared by all their neighbours.

10 He wrote frequently to their kings through certain discreet and trustworthy messengers, asking that they, at an appointed time, should fall upon the Alamanni. He promised that he himself, after crossing the Rhine with Roman troops, would meet the frightened enemy — taken by surprise as they tried to avoid the weight of arms.

11 The princes received the emperor’s letters gladly, for two reasons: first, because the Burgundians knew that from ancient times they were descended from the Romans; second, because they had often quarrelled with the Alamanni over salt works and boundaries. So they sent out their choicest companies, which, before the Roman soldiers had assembled in one body, advanced as far as the banks of the Rhine. There, while the emperor was occupied with building defensive works, they became a source of great alarm to our troops.

12 But after delaying for a short while — when neither did Valentinian, as he had promised, arrive on the appointed day, nor did they see any of the promises fulfilled — they sent envoys to the imperial court, requesting that assistance be given them for their return home, so that they would not be left to expose their unprotected backs to the enemy.

13 When they realized, through evasions and delays, that this would be refused, they departed in sadness and indignation. When the kings learned of this, they raged as if they had been mocked, killed all their captives, and returned to their native lands.

14 Among them, the general title for “king” is Hendinos; and according to ancient custom, he is removed from power if, under his rule, fortune wavers in war or the land refuses to produce abundant crops—just as the Egyptians are accustomed to attribute such misfortunes to their rulers. The highest priest among the Burgundians is called Sinistus; his office is perpetual, and, unlike that of the kings, he is subject to no such dangers.

The mention of a disputed salt spring gives an opportunity for localisation. Anton argues that this must have been in the Kocher valley near Schwäbisch Hall, and that this must have been near the border between the Alemanni and Burgundians. Although the written record is very limited scholars such as Anton, envision the Burgundians gradually changing their position during this period - initially east of the Alamanni, but later gain accessing to the Rhine between present-day Wiesbaden and Mannheim, pushing the Alemanni south of the Neckar river.^[19]

In his summing up of the career of Valentinian Ammianus said that it would have been glorious if he had captured King Macrianus, but "he learned with grief and sorrow that the king had escaped from the Burgundians".^[20]

Kingdom west of the Rhine

See also: Burgundian Revolt of Gunther

Roman Belgica and Germania

Gunther and the Burgundians prepare to leave for Etzel's court. Hundeshagenscher Kodex

In 409, Saint Jerome first listed the Burgundians as one of the large number of barbarian peoples who had recently entered Gaul:^[21]

Countless savage nations (ferocissimae nationes) have overrun the whole of Gaul. Everything between the Alps and the Pyrenees, bounded by the Ocean and the Rhine — the Quadi, Vandals, Sarmatians, Alans, Gepids, Heruli, Saxons, Burgundians, Alamanni, and — Alas for the commonwealth! — Pannonian enemies — have laid waste.

While the entry of long-time neighbours into Gaul such Saxons, Alamanni and Burgundians was not unprecedented – the Burgundians having lived in the region for more than a century now – the massive movement of peoples from the Pannonian and Middle Danube region was a shocking event, partly triggered by Stilicho's movement of Roman forces from northern Europe to help in conflicts against Goths in the south. The Vandals and Alans in particular made a largescale armed crossing of the Rhine on the last day of 406 and after plundering Gaul many of them crossed further into Hispania where they fought for a rebel Roman general Gerontius, and established their own kingdoms in what is now Spain. Orosius claimed that the Burgundians crossed the Rhine driven on by the movement of the Alans and Vandals. From this point on we hearly mainly of the Burgundians on the west bank of the Rhine, in Gaul, where it is possible that the main part of their population now lived.^[22]

In 407 a rebel emperor Constantine III was proclaimed and set about establishing control in Gaul. After he died in 411, Olympiodorus of Thebes reported that a new Gallic usurper Jovinus was proclaimed emperor with the support of an Alan leader Goar, and the "tribal leader" (phylarch) of the Burgundians named Gundahar. This happened at a place called Mundiacum in Lower Germany (Germania II), which is commonly believed to be Mainz, although that was normally written as Moguntiacum and considered to be part of Upper Germany (Germania I).^[23]

In 413, after the death of Jovinus, Prosper of Aquitaine reported that the emperor Honorius, now back in control of Gaul, gave the Burgundians a part of it near the Rhine. This may have represented an official acceptance of an agreement the Burgundians already had with the usurper regime. The exact position of this Rhine kingdom is uncertain, but it is this period of Burgundian history which is fictionalised in the Niebelungenlied, which portrays king Gundahar ruling from Worms, south of Mainz, and so this is traditionally seen as the region where they settled.^[24] Modern historians interpret Prosper's remark to mean that the Burgundians were confirmed as Roman foederati at this time.^[5]

In 430, Socrates of Constantinople, who was a contemporary, reported that Burgundians who were peacefully living east of the Rhine, being almost all artisans, were being continually attacked by Huns under the leadership of king Uptar. After they converted to Roman Christianity, and Uptar died, 3000 of these Burgundians were able to kill 10,000 Huns.^[25] Modern scholars believe that King Uptar was the uncle of Attila.^[26]

In 435, Prosper reported that Flavius Aetius the Roman general crushed Gundahar, "king of the Burgundians dwelling within Gaul, and granted peace to him when he sued for it". However, this "did not hold for long, since the Huns wiped him out together with his people root and branch”. The Gallic Chronicle of 452 and Hydatius report under 436 that it was Aetius himself who devastated the Burgundians and killed their king. Hydatius adds that the Burgundians had rebelled, and says that in 437, 20,000 Burgundians were slain. The trigger for these events was probably the harassment of the province of Belgica, immediately to the west of Upper Germania, reported by Sidonius in his 7th poem in honour of the future emperor Avitus. According to Sidonius, the younger Avitus showed his military prowess in this campaign, while working with Aëtius, who had learned the "Scythian" ways of fighting with the Huns. In reality, there may have been a longer-run tensions between Burgundians and the Hunnic allies of Aetius, as reflected in reports of the conflict reported in 430.^[27]

In medieval legends such as the Nibelungenlied, on which Wagner based his Ring Cycle King Gundahar becomes Old High German Günther or Old Norse Gunnar. The king of the Huns who killed him in the story, Etzel or Atli, is based on Attila the Hun, but in the story Günther travels to the kingdom of Attila who is his brother-in-law. In reality, Attila became a joint king of the Huns with his brother Bleda in 435, the same year that the Burgundian conflict with their ally Aetius appears to have begun. Although his uncle Octar apparently died during a campaign near Gaul against Burgundians in 430, it is not known if Attila was directly involved in the real campaign against Gundahar.

Kingdom of the Burgundians

Only one source exists giving a date for the resettlement of the Burgundians to the south, near the alps, several years after their memorable defeat. Only the Gallic Chronicle of 452, which is generally unreliable for exact dates, says that in 443, "Sapaudia was given to the remainders of the Burgundians to be divided with the indigenous inhabitants". Historian Ian N. Wood has suggested that this first settlement was probably not a major event at the time.^[28]

These Burgundians were once again granted foederati status. Burgundians probably even lived near Lugdunum, known today as Lyon.^[29] A new king, Gundioc or Gunderic, presumed to be Gundahar's son, appears to have reigned following his father's death.^[30] The historian Pline^{[citation needed]} tells us that Gunderic ruled the areas of Saône, Dauphiny, Savoie and a part of Provence. He set up Vienne 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 against Attila at the Battle 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 accompanied Theodoric II to Spain to fight the Sueves in 455.^[31]

Aspirations to the empire

Tremissis of King Gundobad struck in the name of emperor Anastasius

Tremissis of King Sigismund I in the name of emperor Justin I

Also in 455, an ambiguous reference infidoque tibi Burdundio ductu^[32] implicates an unnamed treacherous Burgundian leader in the murder of the emperor Petronius Maximus in the chaos preceding the sack of Rome by the Vandals. The Patrician Ricimer 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 and Gundobad's uncle.^[33]

In 456, the Burgundians, apparently confident in their growing power, negotiated a territorial expansion and power sharing arrangement with the local Roman senators.^[34]

In 457, Ricimer overthrew another emperor, Avitus, raising Majorian 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 Emperor Anthemius–was plotting with Gundobad to kill his father-in-law; Gundobad beheaded the emperor (apparently personally).^[35] Ricimer then appointed Olybrius; both died, surprisingly of natural causes, within a few months. Gundobad seems then to have succeeded his uncle as Patrician and king-maker, and raised Glycerius to the throne.^[36]

In 474, Burgundian influence over the empire seems to have ended. Glycerius was deposed in favor of Julius 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.^[37]

Consolidation of the kingdom

Kingdom of the Burgundians in around 500

Tremissis in the name of Justinian I, made by Gundomar II

According to Gregory 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 of Clovis the Frank, and was reputedly responsible for his conversion).^[38] 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".^[39] 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.^[40] 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 over Alaric II the Visigoth.

During the upheaval, sometime between 483 and 501, Gundobad began to set forth the Lex Gundobada (see below), issuing roughly the first half, which drew upon the Lex Visigothorum.^[30] 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.

Fall

Burgundy as part of the Frankish Empire between 534 and 843

The Burgundians were extending their power over eastern Gaul—that is western Switzerland and eastern France, as well as northern Italy. In 493, Clovis, king of the Franks, married the Burgundian princess Clotilda (daughter of Chilperic), who converted him to the Catholic faith.

At first allied with Clovis' Franks against the Visigoths in the early 6th century, the Burgundians were eventually conquered at Autun by the Franks in 532 after a first attempt in the Battle of Vézeronce. The Burgundian kingdom was made part of the Merovingian kingdoms, and the Burgundians themselves were by and large absorbed as well.

Physical appearance

The 5th century Gallo-Roman poet and landowner Sidonius, 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.^[41]

Language

Burgundian
Region	Germania
Extinct	6th century
Language family	Indo-European Germanic East Germanic † (?) Burgundian
Language codes
ISO 639-3	None (mis)
Linguist List	qlb
Glottolog	None

The Burgundians and their language were described as Germanic by the poet Sidonius Apollinaris.^[42] Herwig Wolfram has interpreted this as being because they had entered Gaul from Germania.^[43]

In contrast, their language is thought to have belonged to the East Germanic language group, based upon their presumed origins near the Vistula in the east, and some names and placenames. However, this is now considered uncertain.^[44] 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,^[45] 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 to Latin Christianity.^[45]

Religion

Somewhere in the east the Burgundians had converted to the Arian Christianity from earlier Germanic paganism. Their Arianism proved a source of suspicion and distrust between the Burgundians and the Catholic Western Roman Empire.

Divisions were evidently healed or healing circa 500, however, as Gundobad, one of the last Burgundian kings, maintained a close personal friendship with Avitus, the bishop 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][46]}

Law

The Burgundians left three legal codes, among the earliest from any of the Germanic tribes.

The Liber Constitutionum sive Lex Gundobada ("The Book of Constitutions or Law of Gundobad"), also known as the Lex Burgundionum, or more simply the Lex Gundobada or the Liber, was issued in several parts between 483 and 516, principally by Gundobad, but also by his son, Sigismund.^[47] It was a record of Burgundian customary law and is typical of the many Germanic law codes from this period. In particular, the Liber borrowed from the Lex Visigothorum^[48] and influenced the later Lex Ripuaria.^[49] The Liber 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 the Lex Gundobada, Gundobad also issued (or codified) a set of laws for Roman subjects of the Burgundian kingdom, the Lex Romana Burgundionum (The Roman Law of the Burgundians).

In addition to the above codes, Gundobad's son Sigismund later published the Prima Constitutio.

See also

• Dauphiné
• List of kings of Burgundy
• Nibelung (later legends of the Burgundian kings)

Notes