The Sugambri (also Sygambri) were a mighty Germanic tribe on the right bank of the Lower Rhine, in the area between Ruhr, Sieg and Lippe. They were among Rome's toughest opponents in the Rhine region.
Several times the Sugambri crossed the Rhine and beat Roman troops; in 16 BC they even destroyed a legion (the "clades Lolliana"). Rome answered harshly: part of the tribe was resettled under Tiberius to the left bank of the Rhine and absorbed into Roman units.
"Sugambri" or "Sicambri" became a poetic name for the Franks as a whole. When the Frankish king Clovis was baptised around AD 500, Bishop Remigius is said to have called out to him: "Bow your neck gently, Sugambrian." Thus the name bridges Germanic antiquity and the baptism of Clovis.
"Bow your neck gently, Sugambrian: worship what you have burned, burn what you have worshipped."Remigius to Clovis, after Gregory of Tours (public domain, own translation)
The Sugambri were one of the most powerful Germanic tribes on the right bank of the Lower Rhine, roughly in the area between Ruhr, Lippe and Sieg. From here they led bold raids across the Rhine into Roman-occupied Gaul and became a feared opponent for Rome – a tribe directly opposite the landscape that is our home today.
In 16 BC the Sugambri, together with neighbouring tribes, dealt the Romans a stinging defeat and captured the eagle of the 5th Legion. This clades Lolliana – the "defeat of Lollius" – was seen in Rome as a grave disgrace and was one of the reasons why Emperor Augustus began the great German offensive.
Rome answered with force and cunning. Around 8 BC the later emperor Tiberius had a large part of the Sugambri resettled onto the left, Roman side of the Rhine. From these resettled people came, among others, the tribe of the Cugerni in the Xanten area. Thus a dangerous enemy was uprooted and integrated into the Roman order.
The name of the Sugambri did not die out entirely: it lived on as an honorary epithet of the Franks. When the Frankish king Clovis was baptised around 500, Bishop Remigius is said to have called to him that as a proud Sugambrian he should now bow his neck and worship what he had burned. Thus the tribe bridges from the early Germanic age to the baptism in the nearby Rhineland.
The resettlement of the Sugambri was no small affair: ancient authors speak of tens of thousands of people whom Rome moved from the right to the left bank of the Rhine. Whole families, herds and household goods were led across the river and settled anew in the province. Thus Rome secured the frontier and at the same time robbed the tribe of its homeland and striking power. From such transplanted groups grew new communities like the Cugerni, whose descendants lived in the Xanten area – another chapter in the eventful history of the Lower Rhine.
The Sugambri belong to the Rhine peoples between Germania and Rome. Continue with the Ubii and Tencteri & Usipetes.
The Ubii · Tencteri & Usipetes · The Eburones · The Treveri · The Cherusci & Arminius.
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