The Gauls are emerging due to climate deterioration at the end of the Danish Bronze Age to the ^fifth century BC. AD , thus causing population movements from areas bordering Germany that was expanding and exerting pressure on neighboring peoples (culture of La Tene ), the Belgians who then mingled with the Celtic peoples until Armorica and (Great) Britain.

and federations of nations allied or dependent who understood and gave a common origin , as shown by the comments of antiquity and the High Middle Ages , however, the Celtic means, archaeologists, all territories inhabited by the Celts historic second Iron Age beyond the scope of the Gaul alone (the Gauls being only one of the peoples of Celtic language and culture ...).

The name " Gauls "does not refer to individual residents of that territory, but the several cities united in the main confederations (such as AEdui or Arverni ) with an ally, tributary or guest (for people or elements of foreign nations forming a colony or benefiting from a treaty of hospitality). When they have not hunted or slaughtered, the Gallic cities were covered or absorbed people who have no preexisting right of citizenship.

A meeting of the Gauls (this would be the three territorial divisions Gallo-Roman: Gallic Aquitaine, Celtic and Belgian) is mentioned later.

Tacitus said that in the time that Augustus died, Germanicus found himself busy doing the census of Gaul, which requires the holding of a meeting of this great province. We find yet another session of the meeting of Gaul under the reign of Vespasian . The history of Tacitus tells us that this emperor as he held a meeting of deputies from all the Gauls, who appears to have been a representative assembly set ^, .

Territory

To -475 / -450, territories of the future Gaul at the beginning of La Tene (second Iron Age) were subsumed into a vast continental extending from the Atlantic to the Danube and were called " Celtic "by the first written evidence available to us: those of the Greeks (including Aristotle , a pupil of Isocrates and Plato , -384 to -332 ).

The name "Gauls" (Latin galli) is attested, in turn, for the first time in the writings of Cato the Elder to -168 , to designate the people of Celtic who had invaded the plain of the Po , is to say the people of Cisalpine Gaul. It is known mainly through the etymology of it was good peoples of North Alps.

In the mid first century BCE Julius Caesar divides the Transalpine Gaul into three parts: the Celtic , the Aquitaine and Belgium (see map). It is possible that this schematic division corresponded to geopolitical considerations specific to the Romans, although Caesar had crossed the Gallic territory for seven years and have prepared all sorts of strategies to conquer Gaul is fairly accurate in his descriptions of the various tribes in its Comments on the Gallic Wars. If Gaul itself appears in the writings of the Romans, it is also its definition through the history of its conquest by the latter.

Broadly, the Roman conquest of Gaul was conducted in three phases:

• the conquest of Cisalpine Gaul , including plain and Cispadan Transpadane (late ^third century BCE ), soon named "toga Gaul (Gallia togata);
• the conquest of Narbonne , that is to say, the south-eastern France and the valley of the Rhone (last third of the ^second century BCE ) after the battle of the confluence , known as "Gaul bray" (gallia bracata) versus Cisalpine Gaul;
• the conquest of the " Hairy Gaul (Gallia comata), that is to say the rest of France, Belgium and the Swiss plateau (mid ^first century BCE).

The Cisalpine, part of the Italy under the Republic , became an extension of Rome , while Narbonne constituted a "province" is not located in Roman Italy (the Latin word provincia, literally "defeated previously, gave the name Provena in Occitan , "Provence" in French).

The names "Gaul" and "Barbarians" meanwhile remained in use to designate the Roman provinces extending over the rest of these territories (France, Belgium and Swiss plateau current) and the inhabitants of Roman culture (as archeology and French historiography in the neologism refers erroneously Gallo-Roman ).

In -12 , Augustus instituted the first "institution" supra-provincial of the Empire with the "council of the three Gauls" (Concilium trium Galliarum) annually brings together representatives of the cities of Gaul, Lyon , in Gaul, Aquitaine and Belgian Gaul to Lugdunum to celebrate the imperial cult. It is likely that this action merely confirmed the old ties that existed between the inhabitants of these territories. It is these links, woven closer and closer, which may ultimately explain the unified character suggests that, beyond the differences, the description of Gaul by Caesar nearly half a century before.

The Gauls

Originally, the Celts , or their predecessors were able to populate the Europe Central. To -500 , they have begun to migrate north-west to form, two hundred years later, a significant portion of the population of different regions of Gaul. Finally, they have begun significant migration to the Italy and east of Europe in the late ^fifth century BC. AD. But it is also now proposed ^Language

The majority of the inhabitants of Gaul speak mainly protohistoric 3 languages, available in several dialects. Julius Caesar mentions that in his day, however, the three parts of Gaul are distinguished by customs, manners, but also the "language". This assertion is very difficult to understand: Julius Caesar does he speak of three distinct languages? Then it would seem that Celtic Gaul between the Seine-et-Garonne, as Cisalpine Gaul with Lepontic , that the Celts were using before the arrival of the Gaulish language group Continental Celtic , while Aquitaine south of the Garonne would have spoken a language after the proto-Basque , and finally the Belgians might be cast for some of them in a dialect of Proto-Germanic. However, the indices gazetteers, names of tribes and anthroponyms, and the few inscriptions found (Arras, Bavai) clearly show the origin of the Celtic language spoken, even as another Indo-European idiom ( see Bloc northwest ), there is however no evidence, other than the words of Caesar (Germanic cisrhnani), who would say that the Germanic was spoken before the progressive and later the Germans in northern Gaul. As to Latin, he was already spoken for at least a century Narbonne in Gaul (and perhaps even outside the province, see Corent ) before the arrival of Caesar's troops.

The Gauls were a Celtic language family of Indo-European , near the Brythonic as evidenced, among other things the inscription found at Bath (Great Britain), the many names that have anthroponyms and sometimes strict equivalence in Gaul. Breton, though he belongs to the Brythonic group essentially has been influenced by a Gaulish substrate and the langue d'oil is the Romance language most imbued with a Celtic substrate. The hypothesis of Gallic dialects was echoed by John Rhys evokes a dialect celtican (conservation-that-, ex: Sequana, EQVOS) or Joshua Whatmough , however, that for Pierre-Yves Lambert even if idea of different dialects in Gaulish is not irrational in itself .. it is not based on solid evidence at present.

Economy

Agriculture and Food

Gaul, contrary to the preconceived idea that she wants to be covered with forests in which the Gauls predominantly involved in the hunt, is largely cleared farmland to build very rich with many farms. In the ^first century BC. AD , operating from its soil was actively pushed. Indeed, during his campaigns, Caesar always found locally wheat needed to feed its troops, yet the Roman soldier was a major consumer of wheat. River ports located near the producing regions playing the role of the warehouses where the reserves are concentrated wheat. These could well be carried by water to reach hosts that is the case of Orleans on the Loire , from which one can assume that the Beauce had, at that time, significant plantings. This is also true of Chalon-sur-Saone and Macon on the Saone , and also to Amiens store that also served in Northern Gaul. Almost all cities had their wheat fields and could stand on their own: to the edge of the Pyrenees , the wheat was harvested, the lower valley of the Maurienne offered in large quantities in Hannibal , even for marginal land Flanders , then covered with marshes, producing. The case of Anjou , which Caesar mentions specifically the lack of wheat, is isolated. Perhaps this absence was it temporary or accidental. Among the wheat lands known at the time, we must mention the region of Toulouse , in Volques among Cavares and the lower valley of the Rhone , the Burgundy (especially) and the country Bituriges and that of Carnutes. In northern and north-east, Soissons and Champagne were also quite rich.

Studies archaeobotanical (including carpology ) show that the Gauls were fed mainly cereals (four kinds of corn: einkorn, emmer, and Spelt wheat, barley, oats and millet), vegetables (turnips, cabbage) and legumes (lentils Beans, beans, peas ...). Grains, low in gluten (so little bread) are consumed in the form of crushed grains, porridges, soups and cakes. The beautiful white wheat bread was the delight of noble Gallic and lust for other peoples. Wheat was the staple food of the people .

The Zooarchaeology shows that the meat came from farming because of hunting (hare, deer, deer or wild boar), noble sport, was marginal (less than 1% of the diet). It consisted mainly of pork, but beef in central Gaul, goats and sheep in the south and horses in the North. Cured meats and sausages were deemed Gallic Rome. Poultry, yet they also exploited, were not consumed .

The Greek philosopher Stoic Posidonius , in his History, describes the Gallic drinks. Especially the people drank ale , beer from barley, while the elite consumed wine. The culture of the vine at the time of the conquest of Gaul was not widespread and did not go beyond the outskirts of Marseille. Wine, drink rarely, was therefore imported from Rome and is considered a luxury, a slave was exchanged against an amphora of wine for example. Intensifying trade with Rome (the underwater archeology the estimated one million jars per year), the wine has democratized progresive .

The horse breeding

The horse has always held a prominent place in the life of the Gauls, to the point shown on their coins. They say the cavalry was an essential element of their military power. During the Gallic wars , the numbers involved were huge, which required a very active horse breeding. The horse breeding contributed greatly to the reputation of the farmer and do not forget that Epona , the Gaulish goddess only integrated into the Roman pantheon, was represented in the company of a horse. Gallic aristocrats (the equites ) were used to riding in the cavalry and the permanent use of carts required a large number of horses. However, from the ^fourth century BC. BC , the Gauls fighting abroad are discovering the great horses Mediterranean, different horses native correspond to our ponies or ponies double-current of passion and attack, and Caesar says: "acquire them at any price. . Yet it seems that the breeding is further developed under the Roman power.

Trade

The abundance of resources makes suspect the importance of roads and trade. Here again, the Gauls benefited from the sustained efforts of earlier populations. Dissemination of materials most popular, from their production centers, had led the search for the easiest route. The trade of tin , which continues to the Iron Age , was on the road development, the biggest impact. The location and the scarcity of this metal deposits determined the directions of traffic. The ore was imported, mainly from the Guadalquivir ( Tartessos ) and the western tip of Britain , from Cornwall and from there the metal was brought to the coast of the Channel and up the mouth of the Loire, followed the major valleys to get inside the country.

In the first Iron Age, the trade are no longer limited to raw materials. Of Central Europe , the Danube , arriving patterns of swords of iron entering into Gaul by the gap between the Vosges and Jura mountains and the valley of Doubs. Also manage objects imported from Italy : cylindrical buckets called cysts , or tapered situlae called, and each other in bronze by beating. Sometimes vases Etruscan and Greek in the accompanying mound latest of Gaul from the East. For the same path that carried the Danube traffic. Since the discovery of the crater of Vix , the question of where this huge vessel had been sent was discussed at length. In addition to the traditional routes, we considered the Col du Grand St. Bernard and above the Rhone valley, but nothing decisive. If the Rhone corridor then remains outside of the great commercial movement, is that the coastline, except Marseilles, and the lower Rhone Valley is still in the hands of the Ligurian , unsociable. These backward tribes form a screen between the outbreak of Mediterranean civilization and Celtic , whose southern limits rarely exceed the confluence of Lyon. Moreover, Vix is beautifully located at the point where the track of the Loire protohistoric Lower and Middle of the gap Belfort cut the route marked by the valley of the Seine.

It was not until the descent of the Gauls on the coast of Provence to finally direct relations might be established between Marseille and Celtic. Therefore opens a bright future for the most expressive way that nature had placed on the soil of Gaul. This route takes the Rhone Valley to the elbow of the Saone to Chalon , by passages of Burgundy, it reaches the basin of the Seine and the Paris hub. From there you can follow the river to its mouth or win the Pas-de-Calais. The growth experienced in the river port of Chalon-sur-Saone, in ^the third century BC. AD , fixed the date from which this route was regularly monitored. It served traffic tin, Diodorus we passed, from the relationship of a senior author, specific details on its use: the merchants were buying the metal to the natives of Britain, carried on the continent, then journey by land through Gaul for thirty days or so, they drove their loads to the mouth of the Rhone. Another geographer, Greek, Strabo , describes a communication primarily river used for transportation of all commodities. We went up the Rhone and the Saone and after leaving the river, what we could do that Chalon, he had to win the Seine by land and from there we could reach the ocean.

Testimony to know these people: their currencies

Each Gallic tribe was independent from the viewpoint of coinage, some more productive than others, but there is every reason to suppose that the precious metal coins circulated between neighboring nations.

The currency made its appearance in Gaul in the ^sixth century BC. BC by the Greek colony established in Marseille that strikes obols. Gradually, it spread among the neighboring peoples ( treasure Auriol ). In ^the second century BC. AD , the silver coinage develops in middle valley of the Rhone, and the people who mine for gold , as Arverni , strike of staters who are also a way of asserting their sovereignty and power. In the ^first century BC. AD , the Parisii produce their famous and beautiful gold stater horse.

Political organization and social

The peoples of Gaul were previously directed by a nobility of archaic type with the different strata of the hierarchy. The nobility had formed throughout the time "heroic" during various wars or expeditions. The Gallic nobility, feudal type, had under him a host of vassals and clients whose loyalty was absolute. At the bottom of the a social pyramid were the slaves. These are the new bourgeoisie that Gallic shopping in different places of Gaul have chosen to collaborate with the Roman conquerors to protect their business and their social status. These tendencies of treason, "collaboration" with the Roman occupiers do not always passed very well for the new oligarchs Celtic since all members of the senates of Aulerci , the Lexovii and Eburovices were massacred last until the princes and the nobles of their people. It seems that the bourgeoisie Venetian did not follow the same approach as it was understood that the Romans wanted to take its markets and it had everything to lose with the Roman conquest.

Religion

The Gauls had druids , as Diodorus called the "philosophers" who were somehow their priests. Among other processions, they practiced human sacrifice. They were often prisoners of war who were killed. The druid planted them with a sword and fall depending on the body, the position he had and runoff of blood, he could read the future.

Art Gallic

Art Gaulois is very different aesthetic criteria of the Roman culture.

The architectural art is unfortunately difficult to grasp because it has not survived the years, the Gauls building primarily wood and mud.

An art decor

The Gauls did not seek to represent reality. Reflected in the faces brief and lack detail ^{Materials used}

The art is expressed mainly by the Gauls and metalworking ( bronze , iron and gold ). The Gauls knew precisely manipulate these metals, and goldsmiths were excellent ^Quotes

"Asked" the Gauls are they our ancestors? "The answer can be given is therefore less about the reality of a relative descent than on the possessive, which over the past two centuries, been a deliberate choice of the French. The Roman civilization in Gaul

The different parts of Gaul (58 BC)

The changes introduced by the conqueror have long overshadowed the whole idea of a persistence of certain traits: first, the Roman religious syncretism and the prohibition of Druidism certainly cause the disappearance of a Celtic religion which we can guess only a few contours through archeology, first, and by comparison with some Roman relics, second and especially the confrontation with the literary sources island (see eg Irish mythology and Welsh literature Celtic ).

Frameworks of power - the Roman government - the economy, art, including monuments and literary culture in Latin, too, needed, perhaps more easily that nothing can compete with existing.

After the Roman conquest of Gaul, completed in -51 , romanization is rapidly among elites. It is not known yet what is its exact growth and depth as regards the people. It must in any case remain uneven and limited in many areas related to daily life, as indicated by several examples.

Reuse of the site of the shrine Celtic Gournay-sur-Aronde , Belgium, or ex-votos of the sources of Seine show like many other places sacred to the Gauls of the period of independence that places Roman cult of prolonged use of old (see nemeton ).

When a certain "barbarism" of the Empire takes place ⁱⁿ the third century, traits of civilization which remained in force since the time of independence are introduced in turn in the imperial culture: the Gallic cloak that gives his nickname to the Emperor Caracalla has been replaced by the lifestyle of the Roman conqueror. In many areas relating to crafts, where the Gauls excellent, their inventions are required: this is the case, including the barrel, which is necessary to face the amphora more fragile and less capacity. The chainmail is adopted by the Romans in the early centuries of the Republic, considered more convenient than Greek armor, while the Imperial Gallic helmet was adopted by the Legionnaires in the ^first century BC. AD, like breeches for field work during cold periods or breeches short for soldiers of the West.

Gaul in Late Antiquity

Some features of ancient Gaul continue after the Roman Empire.

When the Roman imperial government collapsed, the Gaul "Germanization" slowly and partially. The presence of Germanic names is first attested on its fringes, due to stocking, often for defensive purposes and organized by early Rome, regions affected by crises and epidemics. Such enduring institutions of settlers "barbarians" (the letes ) were also held in the Roman Empire throughout the ^fourth century and the ^fifth century. And quotas Franks settled in Belgium, the Alemanni in Alsace and Switzerland, the Burgundians in Savoy.

The symbolic date of the disappearance of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and that of the baptism of the king of the Franks Clovis , about 496 , do not mark in this regard, to break these events take place at a time when Franks , Burgundians and Visigoths were "strain" and have long been the monopoly of military affairs.

Also, families of the Roman aristocracy still long for the bulk of real political power in episcopal cities: the " patrician , "as Marseille Mauronitus , or bishops, as the Auvergne Gregory of Tours , are the real representatives of the people. Thus, the new culture that develops in Gaul, after the imperial period, is primarily Christian, and in many ways Augustinian.

More generally, the Permanent Observer of life in the late antiquity until ^the seventh century in Gaul are many: it is mostly from the ^mid-seventh century, a time of crisis, that the Germanic surnames multiply among elites, thus indicating that the center of gravity in Europe shifted to the north and that the balance of the ancient world were severed.

Ultimately, if the classical Latin culture recedes, Latin continues to be the language of culture and especially the exclusive written (the first written in the vernacular as the Oaths of Strasbourg , dated 842 ).

Also, the use of names "Gaul" and "Gaul" is kept until the end of the Merovingian , at least in writing. Slowly, during the Carolingian period, the name of "Francie" (Francia, then francia occidentalis) spreads to describe the major political reality what has become the Frankish kingdom ( regnum Francorum ). But that name does not refer only incidentally territories to the former Roman Gaul, now attached to a larger whole.

It is also the Carolingian Renaissance , which lays the foundations for a truly new culture. This renaissance, however, wants to initially restore the ancient Roman culture and imperial.

References

1. Henriette Walter , The Adventure of French words from elsewhere, pages 37-49
2. Pierre-Yves Lambert , The Gallic language, published by Wandering, 1994, p. 194.
3. Christian Goudineau , philological and archaeological study on the use of .., National Antiquities.
4. Jean Dubois, Henri Mitterand, Albert Dauzat, New etymological and historical dictionary (Larousse 1990), p. 336, ISBN 2-03-340329-7
5. The occlusive / g / (denoted by <g> or <gu>) at the initial French words "central". Formerly called " Francian ", the ancestor of the French language was supposed to be the dialect of Paris. the term "French central" corresponds to an area bounded by a number of isoglosses , such as that of <g / / v (or w)>, the / g / initial (rated <g> or <gu> being characteristic of a dialect area extending west to the south of Normandy and Ile de France to Poitou and Berry. dialects north of the retaining isogloss / w / which in some places went to / v / stem from the evolution / gw / of / w / Germanic sometimes "Germanization" of Latin origin words with / v / initial (ex: Italian Vespa - wasp French, Italian volpe - French fox). The old diphthong / a / (denoted by the digraph <at>) is a steady development / al / before a consonant (cf. ~ riding horses and Latin alter> other) is an evolution similar to that of " Willow "from the Germanic Salha. In any event," Gaul "can not be a continuation of regular Latin word because / g / Latin becomes the initial / / in French before / a / ( cf. gallus (rooster)> Old French jal / yellowish "rooster"), and it can not be a scholar loan because in this case in the diphthongization / a / would be no explanation. For example: the Latin alternative gave the Popular words "other" and scientists "otherness" or the Latin altus gave Germanized popular term "up" and learned "altitude, altimeter." Similarly, the suffix-ee of "Gallic" is from the Germanic-isk.
6. Caesar mentions that all the Druids of Gaul held a joint assembly in a wooded area which is located in the city of Carnutes. This is not different from the role played by the sanctuary (international) Delphi for Greek cities.
7. Henri Hubert, The Celts, partially reconstructed the genealogical distance and proximity of different cities of Gaul from all ancient texts
8. Critical History of the establishment of the French monarchy in Gaul - BOOK 1 CHAPTER 4 (called general meetings that were holding the cities of Gaul.
9. A meeting of Gaul is also mentioned in the summary of the one hundred thirty-fourth book in the history of Livy Critical History of the establishment of the French monarchy in Gaul - BOOK 1 CHAPTER 1, said Jean-Baptiste Dubos ( 1734)
10. Bernard Sergent , Les Indo-Europeans: History, languages, myths, science libraries Payot, Paris, 1995.
11. Op city., p. 19
12. Veronica Matterne, Agriculture and food plant during the Iron Age and Gallo-Roman period in northern France, editions Mergoil M., 2001
13. Patrice Mniel , Gauls and animals wandering editions, 2001
14. Issuance France Culture Conference, 8 August 2010 Goudineau Christian , professor at the College de France, holder of the Chair of National Antiquities
15. ^{a and b} http://jfbradu.free.fr/celtes/les-celtes/cadre-art-celtes.htm

Notes

Bibliography

• Camille Jullian , Histoire de la Gaule, in eight volumes published between 1907 and 1921.

Related articles

• Gallic
• Roman Gaul
• Celtic Gaul
• Hairy Gaul
• Belgian Gaul
• Narbonne Gaul
• Gaule aquitaine
• Cisalpine Gaul
• Transalpine Gaul
• Gallic Wars and Comments on the Gallic War (De Bello Gallico or)
• Gallic religion
• Merovingian
• History of France

External Links

• Oppidum: Celtic cities during the conquest of Gaul

History of France
Antiquity	Gaul Roman Gaul Franks
Middle Age	Merovingian Carolingians Carolingian Empire Western Francia Kingdom of France Capetians Valois (direct)
Modern times ( Old Scheme )	Valois-Orlans Valois-Angoulme Bourbons
Contemporary	French Revolution Directory Consulate First Empire Restoration July Monarchy Second Republic Second Empire Third Republic Vichy Regime / Free France Provisional Government Fourth Republic Fifth Republic
Thematic History	Economic History Military History
See also: Chronology of France list of related articles

• Portal History
• Portal of the ancient world
• Portal Celtic
• France portal

Leave a Reply

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website

Frequently Asked Questions