Sicambri (Sugambri)

Earliest ancestor (67th Great Grandfather) : Antharius, King of the Sicambri (77 - 39 BC)

The Sicambri (var. Sicambers, Sicambres, Sugambri or Sicambrians) were a Germanic people living in what is now called the Netherlands at the turn of the first millennium. Originating in the Germanic-Celtic contact zone (cf. Nordwestblock), they had become Frankish by the 3rd century, associated with the Low Franconian Salians.

History

The Sicambri appear in history around 55 BC, during the time of conquests of Gaul by Julius Caesar and his expansion of the Roman Empire. Caesar wrote in his Commentarii de Bello Gallico that at the confluence of the Rhine and Meuse River a battle took place in the land of the Menapii with Tencteri and Usipetes. When these two peoples were routed by him their cavalry escaped and found asylum north of the river with the Sicambri. Caesar then built a bridge across the river to punish the Sicambri.

Claudius Ptolemy located the Sicambri, together with the Bructeri Minores, at the most northern part of the Rhine and south of the Frisii who inhabit the coast north of the river. Strabo located the Sicambri next to the Menapii, “who dwell on both sides of the river Rhine near its mouth, in marshes and woods. It is opposite to these Menapii that the Sicambri are situated". So the Sicambri must have lived at the lower Rhine in what is now called the Netherlands.

When Caesar defeated the Eburones, he invited all of the peoples that were interested to destroy the remainder. The Sicambri responded to Caesar's call. They took large amounts of cattle, slaves and plunder. Caesar commented that "these men are born for war and raids", "No swamp or marsh will stop them". After the raid on Eburones they moved on against the Romans. They destroyed some of Caesars units, in revenge of his campaign against them and when the remains of the legion withdrew into the city Atuatuca the Sicambri went back across the Rhine.

In 16 BC their leader Melo, brother of Baetorix, organised a raid and defeated a Roman army under the command of Marcus Lollius, which sparked a reaction from the Roman Empire and helped start the series of Germanic Wars. Later the Sicambri under Deudorix, son of Baetorix, joined the rebellion of Arminius with whom they terminated the 3 Roman legions of Publius Quinctilius Varus.

In 11 BC, a part of this tribe was forced by Nero Claudius Drusus to move to the south side of the lower Rhine, where they evidently formed a component of the Tungri before becoming Franks. The main part of the Sicambri "migrated deep into the country anticipating the Romans" according to Strabo.