ANGRIVA´RII
Eth.
ANGRIVA´RII (Eth.
Ἀγγριουάριοι), a German tribe dwelling on both sides of the river Visurgis (
Weser), but mainly in the territory between that river and the Albis (
Elbe); they were separated in the south from the Cherusci by a mound of earth. (
Tac. Ann. 2.19;
Ptol. 2.11.16.) Their name is commonly connected with the word
Anger, that is, a meadow. The Angrivarii were at first on good terms with the Romans, but this relation was interrupted, though only for a short time, by an insurrection in A. A.D. 16,
[p. 1.137]when they joined the league of the Cherusci. The Germans were defeated on that occasion in two great battles, at Istavisus, and at a point a little more to the south. (
Tac. Ann. 2.8,
22,
41.) About A.D. 100, when the Cheruscan league was broken up, the Angrivarii, in conjunction with the Chamavi, attacked the neighbouring Bructeri, and made themselves masters of their country, so that the country bearing in the middle ages the name of Angaria (
Engern), became part of their territory. (Tacit.
Germ. 34; comp. Wilhelm,
Germanien, p. 162, foll.; Ledebur,
Land u. Volk der Bructerer, pp. 121, 240, foll.)
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L.S]
