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( Gallia Belgica)
Gallia Belgica was a Roman province located in what is now the southern part of the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, northeastern France, and western Germany. The indigenous population of Gallia Belgica consisted of a mixture of Celtic and Germanic tribes, often described as the Belgae. According to Julius Caesar, the border between Gallia and Belgica was formed by the Marne and the Seine[1] and that with Germania by the Rhine[2] The area is the historical heart of the Low Countries, a region corresponding roughly to the current Benelux group of states, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg as well as the French Flanders and some part of the Rhineland. In 57 BC, Julius Caesar led the conquest of the tribes in the region which Romans would later call Gallia Belgica. Modern accounts hold that there were eighteen peoples in the region.[3] Save the southern Remi, all the tribes allied against the Romans, fearful of isolation if the rest of the region was conquered and angry at the Roman decision to garrison legions in their territory the preceding winter. Contemporary estimates of the allies’ combined strength numbered the troops at 288,000, led by the Suession king, Galba.[4] Due to the Belgic coalition’s size and reputation for uncommon bravery, Caesar avoided meeting the combined forces of the tribes in battle. Instead, he used cavalry to skirmish with smaller contingents of tribesmen. Only when Caesar managed to isolate one of the tribes did he risk conventional battle. The tribes fell in a piecemeal fashion and Caesar claimed to offer lenient terms to defeated, including Roman protection from the threat of surrounding tribes.[5] Most tribes agreed to the conditions. A series of uprisings followed the 57 BC conquest. The largest revolt was led by the Bellovaci in 52 BC, after the defeat of Vercingetorix. During this rebellion it was the Belgae who avoided direct conflict. They harassed the Roman legions, led personally by Caesar, with cavalry detachments and archers. The rebellion was put down after a Bellovaci ambush of the Romans failed. The revolting party was slaughtered. The province of Gallia Belgica was originally part of Gallia Comata, however this governmental structure proved ineffective. Following a census of the region in 27 BC, Augustus ordered a restructuring of the provinces in Gaul. Therefore in 22 B.C., Marcus Agrippa split Gallia Comata into three regions (Gallia Aquitania, Gallia Lugdunensis and Gallia Belgica.) Agrippa made the divisions on what he perceived to be distinctions in language, race and community - Gallia Belgica was meant to be a mix of Celtic and Germanic peoples.[6] The capital of this territory was Reims, according to the geographer Strabo, though later the capital moved to modern day Trier. The date of this move is uncertain. Modern historians view the term ‘Gaul’ and its subdivisions as a “product of faulty ethnography” and see the split of Gallia Comata into three provinces as an attempt to construct a more efficient government, as opposed to a cultural division.[7] Successive Roman emperors struck a balance between Romanizing the people of Gallia Belgica and allowing pre-existing culture to survive. The Romans allowed local governments to survive, typically in the form of Cantons, however their number in Gallia Belgica was curbed. Roman government was run by Concilia in Reims or Trier. Additionally, local notables from Gallia Belgica were required to participate in a festival in Lugdunum (modern Lyon) which typically celebrated or worshiped the emperor’s genius. The gradual adoption of Romanized names by local elites and the Romanization of laws under local authority demonstrate the effectiveness of this concilium Galliarum.[8] With that said, the concept and community of Gallia Belgica did not predate the Roman province, but developed from it.
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