The Angrivarii (or Angrivari) were a Germanic people of the early Roman Empire, who lived in what is now northwest Germany near the middle of the Weser river. They were mentioned by the Roman authors Tacitus and Ptolemy.
They were part of the Germanic alliance of Arminius and his defeat of the Romans at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in the 9th year of the common era.
The Angrivarii lived in an area which was later called Angria (Modern German "Engern") in the Middle Ages, which was a major part of the Carolingian Duchy of Saxony. Both names probably derive from geographical terminology.
In his Germania Tacitus described the Angrivarii and their western neighbours the Chamavi living closer to the Rhine than "the Dulgubini and Chasuarii, and other tribes not equally famous" and east of the Frisii who lived towards the Rhine river which was the official border of the Roman Empire. The Chasuarii probably lived near the Hase river and the Ampsivarii who lived on the Ems river, and the Dulgubini probably towards the Elbe. North of all these peoples lived the Chauci, whose territory stretched to the North Sea coast.
Among the more detailed mentions of the Angrivarii which Tacitus makes in his Annals, he describes them also as neighbours to the powerful Cherusci people, of Arminius. They had built a dike to mark the boundary and this was west of the Weser.
Tacitus also notes in his Germania that together with the Chamavi, the Angrivarii had invaded the lands formerly held by the Bructeri to their southwest, the Bructeri having been expelled and utterly destroyed by an alliance of neighboring peoples.... The Bructeri had lived near the Ems and Lippe rivers, between the Rhine and Weser. This occurred after the battle of the Teutoburg Forest.
The name appears earliest in the Annales and Germania of Tacitus as Angrivarii. In Greek, Ptolemy called them the Angriouarroi (Ἀνγριουάρροι), which transliterates into Latin Angrivari. In post-classical history the name of the people had a number of different spellings in addition to the ones just mentioned.
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The Franks (Franci or gens Francorum; Francs) were originally a Germanic people who lived near the Lower Rhine, on the northern frontier of the late Roman Empire, but they successfully expanded their power and influence during the Middle Ages, until much of the population of western Europe, particularly in or near France, were commonly described as Franks, for example in the context of their joint efforts during the crusades starting in the 11th century.
The Chamavi, Chamãves or Chamaboe (Χαμαβοί) were a Germanic tribe of Roman imperial times whose name survived into the Early Middle Ages. They first appear under that name in the 1st century AD Germania of Tacitus as a Germanic tribe that lived to the north of the Lower Rhine. Their name probably survives in the region today called Hamaland, which is in the Gelderland province of the Netherlands, between the IJssel and Ems rivers.
The Cherusci were a Germanic tribe that inhabited parts of the plains and forests of northwestern Germany in the area of the Weser River and present-day Hanover during the first centuries BC and AD. Roman sources reported they considered themselves kin with other Irmino tribes and claimed common descent from an ancestor called Mannus. During the early Roman Empire under Augustus, the Cherusci first served as allies of Rome and sent sons of their chieftains to receive Roman education and serve in the Roman army as auxiliaries.