Who Were the Gauls?
HISTORY SIMPLIFIED
GAULS vs. CELTICS
In my article on the origins of the British Monarchy, I discussed the Gauls who were influential in the beginning of Britain:
[Gaul was a region that we know today as the countries of France, Luxembourg, Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, and Northern Italy. The Gaulish were considered barbarians by the Romans, so Caesar wiped out the Gaul tribes in these regions, pushing them to Britain.]
The existence of the Gauls preceded the Celtic movement to Britain, and they are often forgotten about, perhaps because of the expansion of the Celtics.
This article serves as my exploration to see what difference, if any, the Gauls have from the Celtics. I am also curious to know about the Roman influence on the Gaul region.
WHY THAT NAME?
It is unclear where the term “Gaul” came from, exactly. The English people seem to have shortened the French word “Gaule,” which might have come from the Ancient Greek word for “milk” which was “gála” and may have referred to the milky-white skin of the Gaul people.
However, there was also a word used among the Gaul tribes which was “gallu” or “galloes” which referenced a powerful people. At the time that the term “Gaul” came about, the Roman Empire (descended from Ancient Greece) had infiltrated the Gauls, so there’s a possibility the Gauls were eventually named as a combination of gála + gallu + galloes, which means that “Gaul” likely means “powerful milky-white people.”
Honestly, none of this is all that important, except to understand that variations of these words often appear throughout this period in history and often mean a variety of things.
According to Caesar, Gauls referred to themselves as ‘Celtae,’ which we can discern is where the term ‘Celtic’ came from. In fact, the Celtic knot designs we recognize today came from Gaul culture in the 5th Century BC. This means, then, that Gauls and Celtics are essentially indistinguishable from one another.
The only real identifier is that when we refer to the Gauls, we are talking about the population on mainland Europe, whereas the Celtics are the Gaul population that emigrated to Britain.
SOCIETY AND CULTURE
The tribes throughout Gaul actually operated independently from one another, and only united in times of crisis. Each tribe had their own leaders and their own religions. However, most Gaul tribes typically worshiped several gods and often worshiped things in nature, like water and mountains.
The Roman Empire had a great impact on Gaul, but to be clear, I don’t mean ‘great,’ in a positive sense. The Gauls had spread further into Italy and closer to Rome. They battled the Romans and won, which the Romans obviously were not happy about.
Eventually, the Romans annexed this section of Italy so the Gauls could not have any more power.
Since they were super upset about losing to Gaul, Romans retaliated. They began to control and terrorize the Gaul tribes and began controlling even the tribes outside of Italy.
When Caesar made his exploration of Gaul and began governing the land (~58–54 BC), he identified three main areas of the Gaul region: Aquitania, Belgica, and Celtica, which was later known as Gallia Lugdunensis. Creating these divisions among the Gaul region helped the Roman Empire to conquer and control the land.
Caesar had many personal reasons for conquering Gaul, but mainly he wanted power, just like most conquerors throughout history, and he also clearly wanted recognition within the Roman Empire.
WHY THE GAULS DON’T EXIST TODAY
The history of the Roman Empire conquering the Gauls is rather complex and spans a few hundred years, but the outcome is quite simple, and I find that I’m able to answer the following question more easily than I thought I’d be able to. The question is: why don’t the Gauls exist today?
In simplified terms (because that’s what I’m here for!), there is no longer a Gaul population because a portion of the Gaul tribes emigrated to Britain and are what we now call the Celtics. The other Gaul people were left on the mainland and blended with Roman culture. Now, descendants of the Gaul people can be founded in most of Europe, but we wouldn’t know them as Gauls today.
I hope you learned something today! The links I used in my research are below. Thanks for reading!
