The
Tencteri and Usipetes were an ancient people group, described by the Romans as
Germanic, located on the eastern bank of the lower
Rhine in the 1st century BC. They are known primarily from
Julius Caesar's account of his campaigns against them in his
Commentarii de Bello Gallico.
While the Usipetes and Tencteri were referred to by the Romans as Germanic rather than Gallic, their recorded names are most reasonably explained as Celtic Usipetes translates as "good riders" and Tencteri as "the faithful".[2]
Caesar describes how the Tencteri and Usipetes had been driven from their traditional lands by the Suebi, whose military dominance of the region led to constant warfare and neglect of agriculture. In the winter 55 BC, having failed to find new lands elsewhere in Germania, they came to the mouth of the Rhine, into the territory of the Menapii, a Belgic tribe which had land on both sides of the river and had not yet submitted to Roman rule. Alarmed by the scale of the incursion, the Menapii had withdrawn from their territories east of the Rhine and successfully resisted the Germans' bid to cross it for some time. The Germans feigned a retreat, allowing the Menapii to return to their territories east of the Rhine. Their cavalry then returned and made a surprise night attack. They crossed the river in seized Menapian ships, occupied Menapian villages and towns, and spent the rest of the winter living on Menapian provisions.
Caesar, fearing that the Gauls might ally themselves with the newcomers against him, hurried to deal with this threat to his command of the region. He discovered that a number of Gallic tribes had attempted to pay the Germans generously to leave, but the Tencteri and Usipetes, interpreting this as weakness, had ranged further into Gallic territory into the lands of the Condrusi and Eburones. Caesar convened a meeting of the Gallic chiefs, and, pretending he did not know of their attempts at bribery, demanded cavalry and provisions for war against the Tencteri and Usipetes.
