Bagaudae
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Bagaudae (also spelled Bacaudae) was the name for groups of peasant insurgents during the "Crisis of the Third Century", particularly in Gaul. The name probably means "fighters". C.E.V. Nixon in In Praise of Later Roman Emperors: The Panegyrici Latini (1994) documents the Bagaudae as "bands of brigands who roamed the countryside looting and pillaging." They came to the attention of the authorities in 284, and were crushed by 286 under the Caesars Maximian and Carausius, working for Augustus Diocletian. Their leaders are given as Amandus and Aelianus, although E.M. Wightman, in Gallia Belgica claims that the two were likely local Gallic landowners who became "tyrants" and fought back against the Romans.
There has been some speculation that theirs was a Christian revolt, but the sparsity of information in the texts gives this little substance, although there may well have been Christians among them. The Panegyric of Maximian, dating to 289 and attributed to Claudius Mamertinus, relates that during the Bagaudae uprising of 284–285, "inexperienced farmers sought military garb; the plowman imitated the infantryman, the shepherd the cavalryman, the rustic ravager of his own crops the barbarian enemy". In fact, they share several similar characteristics with the Germanic Heruli. Mamertinus also called them "two-shaped monsters" (monstrorum biformium), emphasizing that while they were technically Gallo-Roman farmers and citizens, they were also marauding rogues who had become foes of the empire.
The name "Bagaudae" reappeared in the earlier 5th century, when they are mentioned as in control of parts of Gaul and the Ebro valley, and fought armies sent against them by the general Aëtius. With the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, and the rise of the Germanic kingdoms, the Bagaudae vanish from recorded history.
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