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. The Crisis of the Third Century (also known as the Military Anarchy or the Imperial Crisis ) is a commonly applied name for the crumbling and near collapse of the Roman Empire between 235 and 284 caused by the three simultaneous crises of external invasion, internal civil war and economic collapse. ... Map of Gaul circa 58 BC Gaul (from Latin Gallia, c. ... For other uses, see number 284. ... This article is about the year 286. ... Maximian on a coin (295–296 AD) Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maximianus (c. ... Marcus Aurelius Mausaeus Carausius (d. ... Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus (245-313 AD), born Diocles, was Roman Emperor from November 20, 284 to May 1, 305. ...

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 CE 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", which hardly sounds like a Christian revolt. 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. Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented in the New Testament writings of his early followers. ... The Heruli (spelled variously in Latin and Greek) were a nomadic Germanic people, who were subjugated by the Ostrogoths, Huns, and Byzantines in the 3rd to 5th centuries. ...

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 Aetius. With the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, and the rise of the Germanic kingdoms, the Bagaudae vanish from recorded history. The Ebro (Greek: Έβρος, Latin: Iberus, Spanish: Ebro, Catalan: Ebre) is one of the major rivers of Spain. ... Flavius Aetius or simply Aetius, (circa 396–454), was a Roman general of the closing period of the Western Roman Empire. ... The Roman Empire is not the Holy Roman Empire (843-1806). ...

The Basque hypothesis

Many Basque historians consider them as rebel Basque militias, hence promoting the idea of a current of Basque resistance and independence de facto through the centuries. Roman domination in the Basque Country, then larger than today, was in fact scarce through most of the history of the Empire, allowing large self-rule to the Basque tribes on both sides of the Pyrenees. With the imposition of feudalism by the Romans, Basque clans and other nearby romanized peasants seem to have started an age of amorphous independence. The Basques (Basque: euskaldunak, i. ...

Since the middle of the 4th century, the presence of many coin-prints around the historic Basque territory denotes the existence of many garrisons as, in that age, coins were used almost exclusively to pay the soldiers. This inner limes apparently shows that the Basque region was already independent when the German invaders arrived in the early 5th century. A limes is a Roman wall marking the boundaries of the Roman Empire. ... (4th century - 5th century - 6th century - other centuries) // Events Rome sacked by Visigoths in 410. ...

Basques still fought under Roman command in 407 to repeal a Swabian, Vandal and Alan invasion. Two years later, these tribes crossed the Basque passages without problems but only to move to the richer lands of Hispania proper. The next we know is that Visigoths and, later, Franks attempt once and again to subjugate those unruly lands with little or no success. In the year 711, Visigoth king Roderic was still battling against the Basques when Muslims invaded his kingdom from the south. Meanwhile, north of the Pyrenees, the Duchy of Vasconia and Aquitaine was independent at that date. Events Gunderic becomes king of the Vandals and the Alans after the death of his father Godgisel Gratianus of Britain is assassinated and Constantine III takes his place at the head of the mutinous Roman garrison in Britain. ... A Swabian is a native of Swabia, a place that is located in the south-west region of Germany. ... The Vandals were an East Germanic tribe that entered the late Roman Empire during the 5th century and created a state in North Africa, centered on the city of Carthage. ... Alan can refer to any of the following: Alan (Sesame Street), the character in the television series Sesame Street Alans, an ancient nomadic people Alan, Haute-Garonne, a commune in the Haute-Garonne département in France where tourists can see medieval monuments: a castel named THE COW OF ALAN... Hispania was the name given by the Romans to the Iberian Peninsula, and to two of the three provinces they created there: Hispania Baetica and Hispania Tarraconensis (the third being Lusitania). ... The Visigoths, originally Tervingi, or Vesi (the noble ones), one of the two main branches of the Goths (of which the Ostrogothi were the other), were one of the loosely-termed Germanic peoples that disturbed the late Roman Empire. ... The Franks were one of several west Germanic tribes who entered the late Roman Empire from Frisia as foederati and established a lasting realm in an area that covers most of modern-day France and the region of Franconia in Germany, forming the historic kernel of both these two modern... Roderic (or Roderick; Rodrigo in Spanish and Portuguese), was the last king of the Visigoths (710—711). ... Capital Bordeaux Area 41,309 km² Regional President Alain Rousset ( PS) (since 1998) Population   - 2004 estimate   - 1999 census   - Density (Ranked 6th) 3,049,000 2,908,359 74/km² (2004) Arrondissements 18 Cantons 235 Communes 2,296 Départements Dordogne Gironde Landes Lot-et-Garonne Pyrénées-Atlantiques Aquitaine...

Only that the Bagaudae rebellion was fully successful in the Basque territory may explain that this people could remain independent of the German invaders and almost ignorant of the socio-economic structures of feudalism even in the late Middle Ages, despite of the overwhelming influence of its neighbours.