Home » Travel » Liechtenstein » Alemanni Liechtenstein

Alemanni Liechtenstein

© James Foster Robinson

Roman power in Rhaetia and other areas waxed and waned as various groups of people pushed west and south into Europe. Where they could, the Romans defeated them in battle or hired them as auxiliaries in the hopes of neutralizing them. But others tribes were always ready to take their place. Rome had to also cope with rebellions in the provinces and mutinies among their troops.

In 213 AD the Alemanni (also spelled ALAMANNI, OR ALAMANI), a Germanic tribe started to press on Roman territory. They occupied the Agri Decumates - the Black Forest to the north east of Liechtenstein in 260 AD. By 330 AD they had pushed the Romans back to the Rhine. Roman armies Under Aurelian and Diocletian recaptured some strongholds but the writing was on the wall. Rome's power in this part of the world was waning.

Then in 261 AD the Alemanni invaded Rhaetia and rampage down the Splugen road through the Liechtenstein valley chasing Emperor Gallienus. At Milan, Gallerius defeated them and chase them back over the Alps to the Black Forest. The Alemanni returned in 264 AD and started to settle the region north of Liechtenstein while fending off the attacks of the Burgundians. For awhile the Liechtenstein valley saw relative peace still under Roman rule punctuated with barbarian raids.

In 313 AD, the Emperor Constantine adopted Christianity as official religion of the Roman Empire. Shortly thereafter a bishopric was established at Chur to the southwest of Liechtenstein. Christianity became more excepted it the Alpine valleys.

The Alemanni along with other Germanic tribes swarmed crossed the frozen Rhine in 406-407 and settled in the northern part of modern Switzerland. The people of the Liechtenstein valley were still left in peace as the Alemanni expanded westward and came into conflict with the Franks. Then came the Huns under Atila who raided far into France before they were defeated.

The Ostrogoths invaded Italy in 488 AD and tried to revive the Roman Empire. Chlodwig, Merovingian Ruler of the Franks defeated the Alemanni some who sought refuge in the Rhaetian Alps, now part of the Ostrogoths kingdom. In 496 Clovis incorporated the Alemanni into his Frankish dominions. Rhaetia divided into two parts. Upper part stretched from the Lake of Constance to Donau with the ower part consisting of the Alpine region up to Kae of the Constance with its capital at Curia Rhaetorum (Chur)

By 536 a lieutenant of a Frankish king ruled the Alemanni and the inhabitants of the Liechtenstein valley. The modern French word Allemagne - "Germany" comes "Alamannia" as the region became known as. Frankish administration and Christianity supplanted the pagan ways but not entirely. Some vestiges still remain as in Halloween.

The copyright of the article Alemanni Liechtenstein in Liechtenstein is owned by . Permission to republish Alemanni Liechtenstein in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.