View source for Gallaecia

{{short description|Roman province in the northwest Iberian Peninsula}}
{{For|the early medieval kingdom known as Gallaecia|Kingdom of the Suebi}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2023}}{{Use British English|date=December 2024}}

{{History of Galicia}}{{History of Spain}}{{History of Portugal}}

'''Gallaecia''', also known as '''Hispania Gallaecia''', was the name of a [[Roman province]] in the northwest of [[Hispania]], approximately present-day [[Galicia (Spain)|Galicia]], [[Norte, Portugal|northern Portugal]], [[Asturias]] and [[León (province)|León]], and the later [[Kingdom of Gallaecia]]. The Roman cities included [[Ourense|Auria]] (Ourense), the port of [[Portus Cale|Cale]] (Porto), and the governing centers [[Lugo|Lucus Augusti]] (Lugo), [[Bracara Augusta]] (Braga), and [[Astorga, Spain|Asturica Augusta]] (Astorga), together with their administrative areas: [[Conventus Lucensis]], [[Conventus Bracarensis]], and [[Conventus Asturicensis]], respectively.

== Description ==
The Romans named the northwest part of Hispania or the [[Iberian Peninsula]] ''Gallaecia'' after the [[Celts|Celtic tribes]] of the area, the [[Gallaeci]] or Gallaecians.<ref>Luján, Eugenio R. (2000) "Ptolemy's 'Callaecia' and the language(s) of the 'Callaeci'", in:  David N. Parsons & Patrick Sims-Williams, editors (2000) ''Ptolemy; towards a linguistic atlas of the earliest Celtic place-names of Europe'': papers from a workshop sponsored by the British Academy, Dept. of Welsh, University of Wales, Aberystwyth, 11–12 April 1999, pp. 55–72.</ref>

The Gallaic make their entry into written history in the first-century epic ''Punica'' of [[Silius Italicus]] on the [[First Punic War]]:

<blockquote>
{{lang|la|Fibrarum et pennae divinarumque sagacem}}

{{lang|la|flammarum misit dives Callaecia pubem,}}

{{lang|la|barbara nunc patriis ululantem carmina linguis,}}

{{lang|la|nunc pedis alterno percussa verbere terra,}}

{{lang|la|ad numerum resonas gaudentem plaudere caetras.}} (Book III pp.&nbsp;344–347)

"Rich Gallaecia sent its youths, wise in the knowledge of divination by the entrails of beasts, by feathers and flames&mdash;who, now crying out the [[barbarian]] song of their native tongue, now alternately stamping the ground in their rhythmic dances until the ground rang, and accompanying the playing with sonorous {{lang|la|caetrae}}" (a {{lang|la|caetra}} was a small type of [[shield]] used in the region).
</blockquote>

Gallaecia, as a region, was thus marked for the Romans as much for the Gallaeci's [[Castro Culture|''castros'']], a system of [[hillfort]]s, as it was for the lure of its gold mines. This culture extended over present-day [[Galicia (Spain)|Galicia]], the north of [[Portugal]], the western part of [[Asturias]], the [[Bierzo]], and [[Puebla de Sanabria|Sanabria]] and was distinct from the neighbouring Lusitanian culture to the south according to the classical authors [[Pomponius Mela]] and [[Pliny the Elder]].<ref>Among them the Praestamarci, Supertamarci, Nerii, Artabri, and in general all people living by the seashore except for the Grovi of southern Galicia and northern Portugal: 'Totam Celtici colunt, sed a Durio ad flexum Grovi, fluuntque per eos Avo, Celadus, Nebis, Minius et cui oblivionis cognomen est Limia. Flexus ipse Lambriacam urbem amplexus recipit fluvios Laeron et Ullam. Partem quae prominet Praesamarchi habitant, perque eos Tamaris et Sars flumina non-longe orta decurrunt, Tamaris secundum Ebora portum, Sars iuxta turrem Augusti titulo memorabilem. Cetera super Tamarici Nerique incolunt in eo tractu ultimi. Hactenus enim ad occidentem versa litora pertinent. Deinde ad septentriones toto latere terra convertitur a Celtico promunturio ad Pyrenaeum usque. Perpetua eius ora, nisi ubi modici recessus ac parva promunturia sunt, ad Cantabros paene recta est. In ea primum Artabri sunt etiamnum Celticae gentis, deinde Astyres.', Pomponius Mela, Chorographia, III. 7–9.</ref>

At a far later date, the mythic history that was encapsulated in ''[[Lebor Gabála Érenn]]'' credited Gallaecia as the point from which the Gaels sailed to conquer [[Ireland]], as they had Gallaecia, by force of arms.

== History ==
{{Unreferenced section|date=November 2024}}

=== Pre-Roman Gallaecia ===
[[Strabo]] in his ''[[Geographica|Geography]]'' lists the people of the northwestern Atlantic coast of Iberia as follows:

<blockquote>
...&nbsp;then the Vettonians and the Vaccaeans, through whose territory the Durius [Douro] River flows, which affords a crossing at Acutia, a city of the Vaccaeans; and last, the Callaicans, [Gallaicans] who occupy a very considerable part of the mountainous country. For this reason, since they were very hard to fight with, the Callaicans themselves have not only furnished the surname for the man who defeated the Lusitanians [meaning [[Decimus Junius Brutus Callaicus]], Roman general] but they have also brought it about that now, already, most of the Lusitanians are called Callaicans.
</blockquote>

=== Roman Gallaecia ===

[[Image:Gallaecia-Dioclecianus.png|thumb|230px|Roman Gallaecia under Diocletian's reorganization, 293&nbsp;[[AD]]]]
After the Punic Wars, the Romans turned their attention to conquering Hispania. The tribe of the ''[[Gallaeci]]'' 60,000 strong, according to [[Paulus Orosius]], faced the Roman forces in 137&nbsp;[[Anno Domini|BC]] in a battle at the river [[Douro]] ({{langx|es|Duero}}, {{langx|pt|Douro}}, {{langx|gl|Douro}}, {{langx|la|Durius}}), which resulted in a great Roman victory, by virtue of which the Roman proconsul [[Decimus Junius Brutus Callaicus|Decimus Junius Brutus]] returned a hero, receiving the [[agnomen]] ''Callaicus'' ('conqueror of the Callaicoi', a Gallaecian tribe inhabiting the southernmost region of Gallaecia by the mouth of the Douro), his campaign followed the Atlantic coast all the way to the river [[Lima River|Limia]], but no further than the river [[Minho (river)|Miño]]. This campaign was largely a punitive one, in the context of the aftermath of the Lusitanian wars, as the capital of the Callaici ([[Portus Cale]]) was only definitively occupied by [[Marcus Perperna Veiento|Marcus Perpena]] in 74&nbsp;BC. 

Further incursions in southern Gallaecia, included [[Publius Licinius Crassus (consul 97 BC)|Publius Licinius Crassus]]'s campaign of 96–94&nbsp;BC.

The first incursion into [[Galicia (Spain)|Northern Gallaecia]] happened in 61&nbsp;BC, during Julius Caesar's consulship, a largely naval-based campaign across the entire Northern Hispanic coastline, defeating the Gallaecians a battle near [[A Coruña|Brigantium]].

The final conquest of Gallaecia happened during the [[Cantabrian Wars]], fought under the Emperor [[Augustus]] from 26 to 19&nbsp;BC. The resistance was appalling: collective suicide rather than surrender, mothers who killed their children before committing suicide, crucified prisoners of war who sang triumphant hymns, rebellions of captives who killed their guards and returned home from [[Gaul]].

For Rome, Gallaecia was a region formed exclusively by two {{lang|la|conventus}}—the {{lang|la|Lucensis}} and the {{lang|la|Bracarensis}}—and was distinguished clearly from other zones like the Asturica, according to written sources:

*Legatus iuridici to per ASTURIAE ET GALLAECIAE.
*Procurator ASTURIAE ET GALLAECIAE.
*Cohors ASTURUM ET GALLAECORUM.
*[[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]]: ASTURIA ET GALLAECIA

In the 3rd century&nbsp;AD, [[Diocletian]] created an administrative division which included the {{lang|la|conventus}} of Gallaecia, Asturica, and possibly Cluniense. This province took the name of Gallaecia since it was the most populous and important zone within the province. In 409, as Roman control collapsed, the [[Suebi]] conquests transformed Roman Gallaecia (convents Lucense and Bracarense) into the [[Kingdom of Galicia]] (the {{lang|la|Galliciense Regnum}} recorded by [[Hydatius]] and [[Gregory of Tours]]).

==== Roman governors ====
* [[Aconius Catullinus Philomatius]], {{lang|la|[[praeses]]}} before 338

=== Later Gallaecia ===
{{main|Suebic Kingdom of Galicia}}
On the night of 31 December 406&nbsp;AD, several [[Germanic peoples|Germanic]] barbarian tribes, the [[Vandals]], [[Alans]], and [[Suebi]], swept over the Roman frontier on the Rhine. They advanced south, pillaging [[Gaul]], and crossed the Pyrenees. They set about dividing up the Roman provinces of [[Carthaginiensis]], [[Tarraconensis]], Gallaecia, and [[Baetica]]. The Suebi took part of Gallaecia, where they later established a kingdom. After the Vandals and Alans left for North Africa, the Suebi took control of much of the Iberian Peninsula. However, [[Visigothic]] campaigns took much of this territory back. The Visigoths emerged victorious in the wars that followed, and eventually annexed Gallaecia.

After the Visigothic defeat and [[Umayyad conquest of Hispania|the annexation of much of Hispania]] by the [[Moors]], a group of Visigothic states survived in the northern mountains, including Gallaecia. In [[Beatus of Liébana]] (d. 798), ''Gallaecia'' became used to refer to the Christian part of the [[Iberian Peninsula]], whereas ''Hispania'' was used for the Muslim one. The emirs, preferring to focus on the task of consolidation of conquered territory, ultimately never expanded into these highly defended mountains, which the Romans before them also had taken generations to incorporate.

In [[Charlemagne]]'s time, bishops of Gallaecia attended the Council of Frankfurt in 794. During his residence in [[Aachen]], he received embassies from [[Alfonso II of Asturias|Alfonso II of Gallaecia]], according to the Frankish chronicles.

[[Sancho III of Navarre]] in 1029 refers to [[Bermudo III of León]] as {{lang|la|Imperator domus Vermudus in Gallaecia}}.

== See also ==
{{Portal|Portugal|Spain}}
* [[Gallaecian language]]
* [[Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula]]
* [[Kingdom of Galicia]]
* [[Timeline of Galician history]]
* [[Romanization of Hispania|Romanisation of Hispania]]
* [[Gaels|Gaelic]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
* [[Géza Alföldy|Alföldy, Géza]] (2000), ''Provincia Hispania superior'', Heidelberg, {{ISBN|3-8253-1009-4}}.
* Coutinhas, José Manuel (2006), ''Aproximação à identidade etno-cultural dos Callaeci Bracari'', Porto.

== External links ==
* [https://sites.google.com/view/ocalitro/inici/the-gaels-in-gallaecia/the-gaels-in-gallaecia_1-00 Alfonso Carbonell Lombardero, "The Gaels in Gallaecia_1.00"]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20041209065332/http://www.ctv.es/USERS/ocalitro/ Alfonso Carbonell Lombardero, "The Gaels in Gallaecia"]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090814185824/http://agal-gz.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1857%2F Luís Magarinhos Igrejas, "Sobre a origem e significado das palavras Portugal e Galiza"]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20081006160601/http://www.arqueotavira.com/Mapas/Iberia/Populi.htm Detailed map of the Pre-Roman Peoples of Iberia (around 200 BC)]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060215213829/http://www.eixoatlantico.com/documentos/rutas.pdf Rutas Arqueolóxicas do Eixo Atlántico&nbsp;– Roteiro Arqueológico do Eixo Atlântico]

{{Barbarian kingdoms}}
{{Late Roman Provinces}}
{{Celts}}

[[Category:Gallaecia| ]]
[[Category:Late Roman provinces]]
[[Category:History of Galicia (Spain)]]
[[Category:States and territories established in the 3rd century]]