Semigallians
Sign in to saveSemigallians (; ; also Zemgalians, Semigalls or Semigalians) were the Baltic tribe that lived in the south central part of contemporary Latvia and northern Lithuania. They are noted for their long resistance (1219–1290) against the German crusaders and Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades. Semigallians had close linguistic and cultural ties with Samogitians.
Article
6 sectionsContents
- Name
- History
- Semigallian archaeological sites in Latvia
- Semigallian archaeological sites in Lithuania
- Notable leaders
- References
Semigallians (; ; also Zemgalians, Semigalls or Semigalians) were the Baltic tribe that lived in the south central part of contemporary Latvia and northern Lithuania. They are noted for their long resistance (1219–1290) against the German crusaders and Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades. Semigallians had close linguistic and cultural ties with Samogitians.
==Name== The name of Semigallia appears in contemporary records as Seimgala, Zimgola and Sem[e]gallen. The -gal[l] element means "border", while the first syllable corresponds to ziem ("north") or zem ("low"). So the Semigallians were the "people of the northern borderlands" or "people of the low borderlands", i.e. the lower parts of the Mūša and Lielupe river valleys.