FRANKS. The name Franks seems to have been given in the 4th century to a
group of Germanic peoples dwelling north of the Main and reaching as far
as the shores of the North Sea; south of the Main was the home of the
Alamanni. The names of some of these tribes have come down to us. On the
_Tabula Peutingeriana_ appear the "Chamavi qui et _Pranci_," which
should doubtless read "qui et _Franci_"; these Chamavi apparently dwelt
between the Yssel and the Ems. Later, we find them a little farther
south, on the banks of the Rhine, in the district called Hamalant, and
it is their customs which were brought together in the 9th century in
the document known as the _Lex Francorum Chamavorum_. After the Chamavi
we may mention the Attuarii or Chattuarii, who are referred to by
Ammianus Marcellinus (xx. 10, 2): "Rheno exinde transmisso, regionem
pervasit (Julianus) Francorum quos Atthuarios vocant." Later, the _pagus
Attuariorum_ corresponds to the district of Emmerich and Xanten. It
should be noted that this name occurs again in the middle ages in
Burgundy, not far from Dijon; in all probability a detachment of this
people had settled in that spot in the 5th or 6th century. The Bructeri,
Ampsivarii and Chatti may also be classed among the Frankish tribes.
They are mentioned in a celebrated passage of Sulpicius Alexander, which
is cited by Gregory of Tours (_Historia Francorum_, ii. 9). Sulpicius
shows the general Arbogast, a barbarian in the service of Rome, seeking
to take vengeance on the Franks (392): "Collecto exercitu, transgressus
Rhenum, Bricteros ripae proximos, pagum etiam quem Chamavi incolunt
depopulatus est, nullo unquam occursante, nisi quod pauci ex Ampsivariis
et Catthis Marcomere duce in ulterioribus collium jugis apparuere." It
is evidently this Marcomeres, the chief of these tribes, who is regarded
by later historians as the father of the legendary Faramund (Pharamund)
although in fact Marcomeres has nothing to do with the Salian Franks.
The earliest mention in history of the name Franks is the entry on the
_Tabula Peutingeriana_, at least if we assume that the term "et Franci"
is not a later emendation. The earliest occurrence of the name in any
author is in the _Vita Aureliani_ of Vopiscus (ch. vii.). When, in 241,
Aurelian, who was then only a tribune, had just defeated some Franks in
the neighbourhood of Mainz and was marching against the Persians, his
troops sang the following refrain:
Mille Sarmatas, mille _Francos_, semel et semel occidimus;
Mille Persas, quaerimus.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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