page_title: Cherusci
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Cherusci / History
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Blick auf das Hermannsdenkmal im Teutoburger Wald English: View of the Monument of Hermann in Teutoburg Forest, Germany
context_page_description: The Cherusci were an early Germanic people that inhabited parts of the plains and forests of northwestern Germany, in the area possibly near present-day Hanover, during the first centuries BC and AD. Ethnically, Pliny the Elder groups them with their neighbours, the Suebi and Chatti, as well as the Hermunduri, as Hermiones, one of the Germanic groupings said to descend from an ancestor named Mannus. They led an important war against the Roman Empire. Subsequently, they were probably absorbed into the late classical Germanic tribal groups such as the Saxons, Thuringians, Franks, Bavarians and Allemanni.
context_section_description: The first historical mention of the Cherusci 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 (a relatively impenetrable beech forest, possibly the Harz) separated the territory of the Cherusci from that of the Suebi. In 12 BC, the Cherusci and other Germanic tribes were subjugated by the Romans. They appear to have been living in the same homeland when Tacitus wrote, 150 years later, describing them as living east of the Chauci and Chatti. This is generally interpreted to be an area between the rivers Weser and Elbe.
  As Rome tried to expand in northern Europe beyond the Rhine, it exploited divisions within the Cherusci, and for some time the tribe was considered a Roman ally. At this time, the tribe was split between Arminius (known in modern German as "Hermann der Cherusker", although his actual Germanic name was more likely Erminaz) and Segestes.  Arminius advocated breaking allegiance to Rome and declaring independence, while Segestes wanted to remain loyal.  By about 8 AD, Arminius had gained the upper hand and began planning rebellion.  Segestes repeatedly warned Publius Quinctilius Varus, the governor of Gaul, that rebellion was being planned, but Varus declined to act until the rebellion had broken out.
  In  9 AD, in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, an army of allied Germanic tribes under the command of Arminius (the Cherusci, Bructeri, Marsi, Sicambri, Chauci, and Chatti) annihilated three Roman legions commanded by Varus. The legions' eagle standards, of great symbolic importance to the Romans, were lost.  The numbers of these three legions, Legio XVII, Legio XVIII, and Legio XIX, were never used again.
  After the mutinies of the German legions in 14 AD, Germanicus decided, at the urging of his men, to march into Germany to restore their lost honor.   In 15 AD, after a quick raid on the Chatti, they invaded the lands of the Marsi in 14 AD with 12,000 legionnaires, 26 cohorts of auxiliaries, and eight cavalry squadrons. According to Tacitus (Annals 1, 51), an area of 50 Roman miles wide was laid to waste with fire and sword: "No sex, no age found pity." A legion eagle from Varus's defeat, either from the XVII or XVIII, was recovered. Then, he began a campaign against the Cherusci.  He received an appeal to rescue Segestes, who was besieged by  Arminius.  Segestes was rescued, along with a group of relatives and dependents, including Thusnelda, Segestes' daughter and the wife of Arminius.  Germanicus spared them and gave them land in Gaul.  He then found the site of the Battle of Teutoburg Forest.  His men buried the dead and built a funeral mound.
  A series of battles followed. After major casualties on the Romans, Tiberius forbid further campaigns. This effectively led to the withdrawal of the Roman troops until the collapse of the Roman Empire.
  After Arminius' death, the Romans left the Cherusci more or less to their own devices.  In 47 AD, the Cherusci asked Rome to send Italicus, the nephew of Arminius, to become king, as civil war had destroyed their nobility.  He was initially well liked, but since he was raised in Rome as a Roman citizen, he soon fell out of favor.
  
  Tacitus writes of the Cherusci of his time (about 100 AD):
  Dwelling on one side of the Chauci and Chatti, the Cherusci long cherished, unassailed, an excessive and enervating love of peace. This was more pleasant than safe, for to be peaceful is self-deception among lawless and powerful neighbours. Where the strong hand decides, moderation and justice are terms applied only to the more powerful; and so the Cherusci, ever reputed good and just, are now called cowards and fools, while in the case of the victorious Chatti success has been identified with prudence. The downfall of the Cherusci brought with it also that of the Fosi, a neighbouring tribe, which shared equally in their disasters, though they had been inferior to them in prosperous days.
  Claudius Pto
caption: The Hermannsdenkmal in  the southern part of the Teutoburg Forest, Germany
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