Raetia great

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Location of the predecessor province Raetia

Raetia prima was a Roman province that emerged in the course of the Diocletian reforms in the early 4th century through the division of the former province of Raetia . The thesis that the Curia Raetorum was raised to the capital of the newly created province is plausible, but “cannot be proven at the moment”.

history

Under the province name → Raetia (originally Raetia et Vindelicia ) were the 15 BC in the first half of the 1st century AD. BC areas of the foothills of the Alps between the Danube and Inn , today's Switzerland south of Lake Constance and northern Tyrol were combined under Roman rule. Around 180 Raetia became an imperial province 2nd class, administered by a senator with a praetorical rank. In the course of the Diocletian imperial reforms , the province of Raetia was divided into two new provinces, Raetia prima ( Curiensis ) and Raetia secunda ( Vindelica ), along Lake Constance and the northern Alps in AD 297 . The two new provinces belonged to the Diocese of Italia and were militarily subordinate to a Dux Raetiae . Civil administration in each of the two new provinces was the responsibility of a praeses , governors of lower rank. The later German names “Churrätien” and “Vindelicien” were derived from their residences Curia Raetorum ( Chur ) and Augusta Vindelicorum ( Augsburg ).

The area of ​​the province of Raetia prima in the 4th century can hardly be recognized from sources. For a long time the prevailing opinion was that it simply comprised the alpine part of the predecessor province of Raetia , including the northern Alps as far as Kufstein , the Inn valley from Finstermünz down to the Zillertal and the upper Eisack valley . The new Pauly (2001) and Heuberger ( 1930e , without Vinschgau since 1932), on the other hand, roughly state the Argen as the northern border and the eastern border as running from Isny over the Arlberg through the Val Müstair to the Stilfser Joch . It is not certain whether northern Ticino with Bellinzona and the Italian Eschental also belonged to the Raetia prima .

Even after the fall of the Western Roman Empire in AD 476, the political connection between Raetia prima and Italy did not break, on the contrary. At first this province came under the rule of Odoacer . After his death in 493, the Ostrogothic Empire gained control of Raetia just fine. The Ostrogothic King Theodoric used a Dux (German: Duke ) again in the province of Raetia to secure Italy . But this had purely military powers. The office of Praeses was retained for civil administration . The main seat of this administration was Chur , which was first mentioned in 452 as a bishopric . In 537 the Ostrogothic King Witiges had to cede part of Raetia prima, the area south of Lake Constance , to the Frankish King Theudebert I in return for his support of the Ostrogoths against the Byzantine Empire ( Gothic War (535-554) ). Taking advantage of the military weakening of the Ostrogoths in the fight against the Byzantines, Theudebert I also brought the rest of Raetia with the militarily and economically important Graubünden pass roads under his control until his death in 548 . Exactly how this happened, by struggle or by agreement, is not recorded. Raetia prima, called Churrätien since the Middle Ages , was now part of the Merovingian Empire and thus lost its political connection with Italy.

See also

Further details, larger contexts and references can be found in the articles

literature

  • Richard Heuberger : Raetia prima and Raetia secunda. In: Klio. Contributions to ancient history. Vol. 24 (New Series Volume VI), 1931, pp. 348–366 ( PDF; 1.54 MB ).

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Anne Hochuli-Gysel: Chur (community). 1 - prehistory and early history. 1.2 - Roman era. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
  2. ↑ See R. Heuberger : Raetia prima and Raetia secunda (1930e and Klio 1931), p. 352.
  3. ↑ Handbuch der Schweizer Geschichte Vol. 1, p. 68. For a complete overview of the literature, see there.
  4. ↑ Ursula Koch: "Defeated, robbed, expelled - The consequences of the defeats of 496/497 and 506", in: Archäologisches Landesmuseum Baden-Württemberg (Ed.): "Die Alamannen", Wais & Partner publishing house, Stuttgart 1997, p. 196, ISBN 3-8062-1302-X
  5. ↑ Hasler, Heiligmann, Höneisen, Leuzinger, Swozilek (eds.): "In the protection of mighty walls - late Roman forts in the Lake Constance area", Verlag Huber & Co. AG, Frauenfeld 2005, p. 56, ISBN 3-9522941-1-X
  6. ↑ Office for Archeology of the Canton of Thurgau: "Römer, Alemannen, Christen - Frühmittelalter am Bodensee", Frauenfeld 2013, p. 15 and p. 28, ISBN 978-3-9522941-6-1
  7. ↑ Otto P. Clavadetscher: "Churrätien in the transition from late antiquity to the Middle Ages according to the written sources", in: Joachim Werner / Eugen Ewig (eds.): "From Spätantike zum alten Mittelalter", Sigmaringen 1979. pp. 165–168.