A case for another Germanic people, the Heruskoz

A case for a western Germanic faction, a HERMINONE tribe
I was greatly influenced by Power2the1’s thread and I think that it is a great idea to put your opinions and thoughts out there. I think there’s still 2 faction spots out of the 10 still open so why not.
The HERU-SKOZ people
At the time of Christ the Romans were the undisputed masters of the Mediterranean. Their empire stretched from Iberia to Syria. It seemed that no one could resist their onslaught for long, if not at all. They considered themselves as the champions of civilization, of chivalry and honour. They looked upon everyone else as ‘barbaric’. Many of the mightiest, great warrior nations had succumbed to the Romans through their relentless expansion.
http://www.cit.gu.edu.au/~wiseman/Roman/RE0009x.gif
Roman Empire at 9ad
The great empires of antiquity; the Carthaginians, Seleukids, Ptolemaioi and Makedonians had tried and all failed to halt the Romans.
It seemed as if the whole world would fall by the Roman sword.

The Germans on the other hand were a very different people. They were a very savage people, toughened by their countries hard weather and fighting almost continually to survive. They believed themselves to be ‘real’ men as compared to their enemies the Romans and Celts.
It was said that to the Germans it was forbidden to intermarry with other nations in a bid to try to keep their blood’ pure’ and stay an unmixed race, stamped with a distinct character.
"Hence, a family likeness pervades the whole, though their numbers are great. Their eyes are stern and blue, their hair ruddy, and their bodies large..."

The Germans had settled almost all the land which later became Germany by approximately 2000 BC. They lived a lifestyle very similar to that of the Celts - working iron, textiles, semi-precious stones, ceramics, pottery and gold, and living in villages rather than great towns. Also, like all their Indo-European cousins bar the Balts, the Germans continually made land grabs whenever the opportunity arose. They were different from the Celts in terms of being ‘civilized.’ Whereas the Celts openly accepted new ideas and other cultures influences, the Germanic people were happier living the simple way they had lived for thousands of years prior. They were much happier with a simple existence.

By 300 BC, they had advanced westwards as far as the Rhine river, and shortly thereafter this advance, tribes crossed the Rhine and settled what is today Belgium (the Romans called these tribes the Belgae, hence that country's name) where they mingled with the Celtic inhabitants and created the Belgae confederacy.

They contested over land many times with Celtic peoples. The Celts at first overpowered the German peoples but soon the Germanic peoples started to get the better of their Western neighbors. Soon strong tribes began to take shape (i.e. Chatti, Chauki, Brukteri, Cherusci etc) and tribal confederations began to rise. Namely the Suebians (Swebaz), Lugii and the Herminone Cherusci (Ermanaz Heruskoz, tribe of the same name leading them).

The Cherusci themselves, were the most celebrated Germanic tribe of ancient times, when in their most flourishing state.
The first historical mention of the Cheruski occurs in Book 6.10 of Julius Caesar's De Bello Gallico, which recounts events of 53 BC. Caesar relates that he crossed the Rhine again to punish the Suebi for sending reinforcements to the Treveri. He mentions that the Bacenis forest separated the territory of the Cherusci from that of the Suebi.
About the period of the birth of Christ they possessed an extensive domain, but of which it cannot be exactly stated how much was properly their own hereditary land, and how much of the land belonged to their more closely attached confederates, who are often called by the Romans, off-handedly, also, the Cherusci. This domain extended from the Harz, its centre, eastward as far as the Saale and the Elbe, northward nearly as far as the Aller, westward as far as the Weser, and southward as far as the Werra and the Thuringian forest. From the time of Drusus to the generalship of Varus, in the twenty years during which the Romans were almost settled in Lower Germany, and already spoke of a Roman province, the Cherusci were on friendly terms with them; the sons of their princes entered the Roman armies, Augustus had a German body guard, and all seemed peaceable. But under Varus the Cherusci placed themselves at the head of almost all the tribes between the Rhine and the Weser; the smaller tribes, particularly on the left bank of the Weser, united themselves with them, whom the Romans often called clients of the Cherusci, naming them often absolutely Cherusci, whence has arisen the error that the Cherusci dwelt on both sides of the Weser. Later, when Arminius/ Ermanameraz ("Exalted One" or "Enormous One"), or Harjamannaz ("Battle-man") went forth against Marbodius’ Markomanni, the other major Suebian tribes, the Longobardi and Semnoni, their powerful neighbors in the East turned against their kinsmen the Markomanni and united themselves with the Arminius. But after the death of Arminius the superiority of the Cherusci diminished
They became enervated in a protracted state of inactivity, and were by degrees so weakened by the Longobardi, Chauki, and Chatti tribes, that the shadow alone of their former greatness remained. Once again only does their name appear as a constituent portion of the confederation of the Franks.

Ptolemy mentions their towns in Latin, Lupia or Lupta now Eimbeck, Pheugarum now Halberstadt, Callagri, Halle on the Saale, Brieurdium, Erfurt and some that can be interpreted into probable Proto-Germanic- Askalingaz, Minden. There was also sacred meeting place(s) of all the Herminone tribes in the Cheruski domain called Erknahammaraz, Externsteine (Ermanazul, Irminseoul).

The Cherusci culture and that of all the Herminones was influenced very much by the Celts because of their close proximity to these people. The name "Cheruski" may also point to a Celtic origin for the tribe as it ends similarly to the names of other Celtic tribes such as the Norisci, Taurisci etc. It is probable that they were a mix of both of these cultures being a Germano-Celtic people.

It is probably thanks to the Cherusci and their confederates that Germania stayed independent of the Roman empire.

Nice information you have there :book: Some of it I did not know of or had forgotten. I hope the EB guys give your post here a good look.

I've also been wanting a second a second Germanic faction in Europe somewhere. Originally, I started out on reading up more about the Germanic peoples, checking out books at the campus library but gravitated on the Celts. What you have here is some good stuff. I really hope the EB team grants the Germans a second faction too dude. :2thumbsup:

Thanks, as I said before it was through your idea I got this started. If you want your faction, fight for it, so to say:furious3:

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Interesting post. :book2: Are there any published sources or reliable online material, preferably but not necessarily in English, that you can point us towards?
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Its information from just about everywhere. Some's from a classical gazetter, wikipedia, various encyclopedias, various Roman accounts, Tacitus' Germania and a website called historion.net. I'm not sure of its reliability and I don't know if you can judge that or not. Wikipedia you can be skeptical about but it seems to be similar to most encyclopedias accounts.

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Thanks. :bow:

The citation required policy seems to have improved Wiki's quality quite a little. ~:)
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no probs

Azzabaz, good effort put in there. But using sources like Wikipedia clearly affects your image in front of the EB team. You NEVER use sources like wikipedia to back up your claims. It just ain't viable enough to even consider. This goes to even more advanced sources, like Osprey books.

Good work anyhow.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by edyzmedieval

Azzabaz, good effort put in there. But using sources like Wikipedia clearly affects your image in front of the EB team. You NEVER use sources like wikipedia to back up your claims. It just ain't viable enough to even consider. This goes to even more advanced sources, like Osprey books.

Good work anyhow.

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Dw, I did a very thorough search, in this case the information on wikipedia was quite reliable matching more reliable sources like the Roman sources etc. I'm not too concerned with my image in front of the EB team because I don't think they listen to me too much anyway. Thank you for the thumbs up.

I think the main problem with the Cherusii is that we have next to no information about them at EB's starting date. They only turn up at the extreme end of the time-frame. So we cannot know whether they were unified in 272 B.C. (I recall one of the Cherusii chiefs fighting against Arminius so they probably weren't), nor whether they had an organization above tribal level like the Suebi did.

Another faction in the area would be nice, though. But I think you are on safer ground with the Cimbrii: they turn up earlier and the fact that they are moving together suggests some sort of unification, even if forced.

(Edit: my favourites for a faction in the area are the Boii, but I am pretty sure those will be in anyway.)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Labrat

I think the main problem with the Cherusii is that we have next to no information about them at EB's starting date. They only turn up at the extreme end of the time-frame. So we cannot know whether they were unified in 272 B.C. (I recall one of the Cherusii chiefs fighting against Arminius so they probably weren't), nor whether they had an organization above tribal level like the Suebi did.

Another faction in the area would be nice, though. But I think you are on safer ground with the Cimbrii: they turn up earlier and the fact that they are moving together suggests some sort of unification, even if forced.

(Edit: my favourites for a faction in the area are the Boii, but I am pretty sure those will be in anyway.)

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It's the same with all germanic people at this time though. If you want another germanic faction the Cherusci sounds like the most sensible in my eyes. The Cimbri could be represented but even less is known about them.

Here is an interesting website about the Cimbri
www.davidkfaux.org/Cimbri-Chronology.pdf