Usipetes facts for kids
The Usipetes (say "Yoo-sih-PET-ees") were an ancient tribe. They lived a long time ago, around the first century BC. They moved into the area on the right side of the lower Rhine river. This put them close to Gaul (which is now France) and the powerful Roman empire. We know about them mostly from old writings by people like Julius Caesar and Tacitus. It seems they moved around quite a bit before we stopped hearing about them in history.
What's in a Name?
Even though the Romans called the Usipetes and their neighbors "Germanic" tribes, their name is often thought to come from the Celtic language. Many tribes in that area had Celtic names.
One idea for the name Usipetes was that it meant 'good riders'. This was because Caesar and others said they had strong cavalry (horse soldiers). However, experts today don't think this explanation is correct anymore.
A newer idea, from Stefan Zimmer in 2006, suggests the name might mean 'shining in the heights' or 'radiant'. This could be a proud name a tribe would give themselves.
Usipetes History
The Gallic Wars
In his book Commentarii de Bello Gallico, Julius Caesar wrote about the Usipetes. He said that the Usipetes and another tribe called the Tencteri had to leave their homes. They were pushed out by the powerful Suebi tribe, who were very warlike. The Suebi's constant fighting meant there wasn't much farming, so the Usipetes and Tencteri had to find new lands.
We don't know exactly where their first home was. But by Caesar's time, the Suebi lived in a huge forest east of the Ubii tribe. The Ubii lived on the east bank of the Rhine river, across from where the city of Cologne is today. Some historians think the Usipetes and Tencteri might have come from near the Weser river. This area was close to where they appeared on the Rhine. It might also explain why they seemed friendly with the Sigambri tribe, who could have been their old neighbors.
In the winter of 55 BC, the Usipetes and Tencteri couldn't find new land in Germania. So, they arrived at the Rhine river. They entered the land of the Menapii, a Belgic tribe who owned land on both sides of the river. The Menapii were worried by how many Usipetes and Tencteri there were. They pulled back from their lands east of the Rhine and tried to stop the Germanic tribes from crossing.
The Germanic tribes pretended to leave, and the Menapii returned to their lands. But then, the Germanic cavalry came back and attacked by surprise at night. They crossed the river, took Menapian boats, and captured villages. They spent the rest of the winter living off the Menapii's food.
Caesar was worried about how the Gauls on the left bank of the Rhine might react. So, he quickly went to deal with this threat. He found out that some Gaulish tribes had tried to pay the Germanic tribes to leave. But the Usipetes and Tencteri had gone even further. They reached the lands of the Condrusi and Eburones, who were protected by the Treveri tribe to their south. Caesar called a meeting of the Gaulish chiefs. He pretended not to know about their attempts to pay off the tribes. He demanded cavalry and supplies for a war against the Tencteri and Usipetes.
The Usipetes and Tencteri sent messengers to Caesar as he moved forward. They bragged about how strong they were, saying they could beat anyone except the Suebi. They offered to become allies with Caesar and asked him to give them land. Caesar refused to be allies as long as they stayed in Gaul. He suggested they settle in the land of the Ubii. The Ubii were another Germanic tribe who had asked Caesar for help against the Suebi. There was no land available in Gaul. (The Ubii were on the east bank of the Rhine then, but later moved to the left bank, where their main city became Cologne.)
The messengers asked for a three-day break in fighting. During this time, neither side would move forward. They wanted to take Caesar's offer back to their leaders. But Caesar didn't agree. He thought the Germanic tribes were just trying to gain time for their cavalry to return. Their cavalry had crossed the Meuse river a few days earlier to raid the Ambivariti. As Caesar kept moving, more messengers asked for another three-day truce to talk with the Ubii about his offer. Caesar refused for the same reason. He offered only one day, during which he would not move more than four miles. He told his officers to defend themselves but not to start a fight.
Even though Caesar's Gaulish horsemen outnumbered them, the Germanic cavalry attacked first. They forced the Romans to fall back. Caesar described a special fighting trick they used: horsemen would jump off their horses and stab enemy horses in the stomach. Caesar accused them of breaking the truce. He refused to accept any more messengers and arrested some who came asking for another truce. Then, he led his whole army against the Germanic camp. The Usipetes and Tencteri were confused and had to run away. Caesar's cavalry chased them to where the Rhine and Meuse rivers meet. Many were killed trying to cross the rivers. They found safety on the other side of the Rhine with the Sicambri tribe.
Plutarch wrote that back in Rome, a leader named Cato said that Caesar should be given to the "Barbarians." He thought this would make up for Caesar breaking the truce. Plutarch also said that 400,000 people who had crossed the Rhine into Gaul were killed. The few who made it back were taken in by the Sugambri, a German nation. Caesar complained about the Sugambri for this. He also wanted to be famous for being the first person to cross the Rhine with an army.
Later Mentions
The Usipetes, or "Usipi" as they were often called later, kept moving around. The details are not always clear.
In 16 BC, the Tencteri, Usipetes, and Sicambri tribes crossed the Rhine again and attacked Gaul. A Roman general named Marcus Lollius was defeated, and the Germanic tribes took the flag of the Legio V Macedonica (a Roman army group).
Around 12 BC and 11 BC, during the time of Drusus, the Usipi were said to live between Nijmegen and the Sugambri. They were also neighbors with the Tubantes. This means they were in the area of today's Dutch-German border, north of the Rhine and Lippe rivers. In 14 AD, the Usipetes still lived north of the Lippe. They joined the Bructeri and Tubantes in fighting Germanicus, another Roman general. Strabo, an ancient writer, said the Usipi were among the defeated tribes shown in Germanicus's victory parade in 17 AD.
Tacitus also wrote in his book Annales that in 58 AD, the Ampsivarii tribe wanted to use lands near the Roman border on the Rhine. These lands had recently belonged to the Usipii. It's not clear exactly where or why the Usipii had moved. But Tacitus mentions that when the Ampsivarii moved away from the Romans, they went towards the lands of the Tubantes and Usipii. So, it seems the Usipi settled north of the Rhine after Caesar's time. Then, they moved even further north, away from the Roman border, to become neighbors of the Tubantes.
Tacitus's book Agricola (chapter 28) tells a story about a group of Usipetes soldiers. They were part of a Roman army unit called a cohort. They were fighting in northern Britain with General Gnaeus Julius Agricola (probably around 82 AD). These Usipetes soldiers mutinied (rebelled). They killed their Roman officers and stole three ships. They sailed around the northern tip of Britain. They finally landed in the land of the Suebi tribe, where some were captured. Others were caught by the Frisii tribe, and a few survivors were sold as slaves.
In his book Germania, Tacitus describes the Usipetes in 98 AD as living between the Chatti tribe and the Rhine river, near the Tencteri. This shows they had moved quite a bit south from the area near the Tubantes.
Later, Claudius Ptolemy's book Geography describes the "Ouispoi" (which might be the Usipi). He says they lived south of the Tencteri, between the Rhine and the Abnoba mountains, but north of the Agri Decumates. If these are the Usipi, they had moved a lot.
On the Peutinger map (an old Roman map), the area across from Cologne and Bonn is shown as being home to the "Burcturi" (Bructeri). This tribe might have included a mix of several original Germanic tribes from across the Rhine, like the Tencteri and Usipetes. The Bructeri also seem to have moved south. To their north were the Franks, and to their south on the Rhine were the Suevi. These were new groups of people in the area.
See also
- The Gallic Wars
- List of Germanic peoples
