Arbogast

Arbogast is an early Germanic name which was associated with the tribe of the Salian Franks. As early as 240 AD Arbogast was the name of a clan within the tribe.

Origin

Schretzheim I, found in Bayrisch Schwaben, Germany, is a silver bulla (i.e. an amulet box), dated c. AD 600. The runic inscription reads as Arogisd(l), which is the probable origin of the name "Arbogast". It is kept in the Stadtund Hochstiftmuseum, Dillingen a.d. Donau, Germany. The rune on the lid reads "arogisd". According to Jantina Helena Looijenga in her book "Runes Around the North Sea and On the Continent AD 150-700", the proto-Germanic name was "ara" (eagle) plus "gisalaz" (companion, hostage). Thus Aragisalaz (eagle companion). Over time, the name became arogisd(l). The name may also be interpreted as Arogist, Arogast or Arogastiz. This Proto-Germanic name changed as the language evolved to the old Frankish language. Dutch is the closest contemporary language to Old Frankish. Today in Dutch and elsewhere, "gast" translates as guest. The "Arbogast" name also appeared on a silver disc brooch found in a grave at Kirchheim-Teck dating to the second half of the sixth century.

Arbogast (Count of Trier)

Arbogast was a comes (Count) of Trier of Frankish origin in the late fifth century.

Biography

Arbogast is mentioned in letters sent to him by two bishops: one by Sidonius Apollinaris probably dating back to 471 or more probably 476-477 and another from 470 by Auspicius of Toul who addresses him as comes of Trier.

Arbogast was born into a Romanized Frankish family and was a Catholic Christian. His father Arigius (mentioned by Auspicius) was possibly a native of Trier, and one of his ancestors was the 4th century magister militum Flavius Arbogastes. Arbogast was obviously highly educated, and Sidonius Apollinaris ( Epistulae 4.17) praises him as one of the last defenders of the collapsing Western Roman Empire and Roman culture.

Arbogast independently ruled his relatively small domain with the help of remaining Roman troops and Frankish foederati following the political disintegration of Gaul in the early 460s. Although Trier may have formally pledged allegiance to the Ripuarian Franks by 475, Franz Staab notes that Frankish graves are entirely absent from the area before 500. Arbogast's reign may thus represent a transitional period between Roman and Frankish rule. The culture of late antiquity died out soon afterwards in the sixth century.

Arbogast (general)

Flavius Arbogastes (died September 8, 394), or Arbogast was a Frankish general in the Roman Empire. It has been stated by some ancient historians that he was the son of Flavius Bauto, Valentinian II's former magister militum and protector before Arbogast, but modern scholars largely discount this claim.

Early career

Flavius Arbogastes, or simply Arbogast, was the nephew of the great Frankish General Flavius Richomeres and resided within the Frankish domain as a native of Galatia Minor until he was expelled in the later 370s CE. His Germanic name, *Arbogastiz, is also otherwise attested; it is derived from the elements arbo- "heir; inheritance" and gastiz "guest, spirit". It was at this point when Arbogast joined the Roman imperial military service under the command of the emperor Gratian, son of Valentinian I and elder brother to Valentinian II, in the Western Roman Empire. Shortly after his induction into the Roman military, Arbogast made a name for himself as being an extremely efficient and loyal field-commander. So much so, in fact, that in 380 CE Gratian sent Arbogast along with his magister militum Bauto to aid Theodosius I against the Goths and their leader Fritigern after they had pillaged and plundered areas of Macedonia and Thessaly that year and the year before. The Western armies, commanded by Bauto and Arbogast, and those from Theodosius I in the East, successfully pushed Fritigern out of Macedonia and Thessaly towards Thrace in lower Moesia where their raids had begun, and ultimately established a peace treaty with the Visigoths in 382 CE.