Ripuarian Franks

The Ripuarian Franks (Latin: Ripuari) were Franks that lived along the middle-Rhine River during the Roman Era.

Etymology

The name Ripuarian, and variants Ripaurii and Riparii, may have come from the Roman word ripa, (Latin for "river bank"), to mean people from the Rhine according to Perry, Generally Ripuarian refers to a people river-dwelling along the Rhine, and would be used to differentiate them from the Salian Franks (the Franks of the Sal, the IJssel River, or the Franks of the salty sea.) The first obscure reference to the Ripuarians has been attributed to the historian of the Goths Jornandes . Jordanes alludes to them in Getica (The Origin and Deeds of the Goths), dated approximately 551 AD, where he listed the "Riparii" as one of the Aetius' allies in the Battle of Chalons, in an auxiliary of tribes:

"Hi enim affuerunt auxiliares: Franci, Sarmatae, Armoriciani, Liticiani, Burgundiones, Saxones, Riparii, Olibriones ..."Getica, Jordanes 551 v.191.

History

The people who came to be known as the Ripuarians probably composed the Frankish army that was defeated by Emperor Maximian (250-310) in...
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