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{{short description|Historical region of Western Europe inhabited by Celtic tribes}}
{{About|the region|the people who lived there|Gauls|other uses|Gaul (disambiguation)}}
{{Redirect|Gallia}}
[[File:Map Gallia Tribes Towns-la.svg|thumb|upright=1.35|Gaul {{Circa|58 BC}}, on the eve of the [[Gallic Wars]]. The Romans divided Gaul into five parts: [[Gallia Celtica]] (largely corresponding to the later province [[Gallia Lugdunensis]]), [[Gallia Belgica]], [[Gallia Cisalpina]], [[Gallia Narbonensis]], and [[Gallia Aquitania]].]]
{{History of France}}
'''Gaul''' ({{langx|la|Gallia}})<ref>{{IPAc-en|lang|ˈ|ɡ|æ|l|i|ə}}</ref> was a region of [[Western Europe]] first clearly described by the [[Roman people|Romans]], encompassing present-day [[France]], [[Belgium]], [[Luxembourg]], and parts of [[Switzerland]], the [[Netherlands]], [[Germany]], and [[Northern Italy]]. It covered an area of {{convert|494,000|km2|mi2|abbr=on}}.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Arrowsmith|first1=Aaron|title=''A Grammar of Ancient Geography'': Compiled for the Use of King's College School|year=1832|url=https://archive.org/details/agrammarancient00arrogoog|quote=gallia |publisher=Hansard London 1832|page=[https://archive.org/details/agrammarancient00arrogoog/page/n62 50]|access-date=21 September 2014}}</ref> According to [[Julius Caesar]], who took control of the region on behalf of the [[Roman Republic]], Gaul was divided into three parts: [[Gallia Celtica]], [[Gallia Belgica|Belgica]], and [[Gallia Aquitania|Aquitania]]. Archaeologically, the [[Gauls]] were bearers of the [[La Tène culture]] during the 5th to 1st centuries BC.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Bisdent|first1=Bisdent|title=''Gaul''|url=https://www.worldhistory.org/gaul/|date=28 April 2011|publisher=[[World History Encyclopedia]]|access-date=15 May 2019}}</ref> This [[material culture]] was found throughout Gaul and as far east as modern-day southern Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary.

Warbands led by the Gaul [[Brennus (leader of the Senones)|Brennos]] [[Battle of the Allia|sacked Rome]] in 387 BC, becoming the only time Rome was conquered by a foreign enemy in 800 years. However, [[Gallia Cisalpina]] was conquered by the Romans in 204 BC and [[Gallia Narbonensis]] in 123 BC. Gaul was invaded after 120&nbsp;BC by the [[Cimbri]] and the [[Teutons]], who were in turn defeated by the Romans by 103&nbsp;BC. Julius Caesar finally subdued the largest part of Gaul in his [[Gallic Wars|campaigns from 58 to 51 BC]]. [[Roman Gaul|Roman control of Gaul]] lasted for five centuries, until the last Roman [[rump state]], the [[Kingdom of Soissons|Domain of Soissons]], fell to the [[Franks]] in AD 486.

While the Gauls shifted from a primarily [[Celts|Celtic]] culture during [[Late Antiquity]], becoming amalgamated into a [[Gallo-Roman culture]], ''Gallia'' remained the conventional name of the territory throughout the [[Early Middle Ages]], until it acquired a new identity as the [[House of Capet|Capetian]] [[Kingdom of France]] in the high medieval period. ''Gallia'' remains a name of France in modern Greek (Γαλλία) and modern Latin (besides the alternatives ''Francia'' and ''Francogallia'').

==Etymology==<!-- 'Galatia (Europe)' redirects here; this section is linked from 'Celt' -->
{{further|Names of the Celts#Galli, Galatai}}
The Greek and Latin names ''[[Galatia]]'' (first attested by [[Timaeus (historian)|Timaeus of Tauromenium]] in the 4th century BC) and ''Gallia'' are ultimately derived from a [[Celts|Celtic]] ethnic term or clan ''Gal(a)-to-''.{{sfn|Birkhan|1997|page=48}} The ''Galli'' of ''[[Gallia Celtica]]'' were reported to refer to themselves as ''Celtae'' by Caesar. Hellenistic [[etymology]] connected the name of the [[Galatians (people)|Galatians]] (Γαλάται, ''Galátai'') to the supposedly "milk-white" skin (γάλα, ''gála'' "milk") of the [[Gauls]].<ref>"The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville" p. 198 Cambridge University Press 2006 Stephen A. Barney, W. J. Lewis, J. A. Beach and Oliver Berghof.</ref> Modern researchers say it is related to Welsh ''gallu'',{{cn|date=October 2023}} {{langx|kw|galloes}},<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.howlsedhes.co.uk/cgi-bin/diskwe.pl|last=Howlsedhes Services|title=Gerlyver Sempel|access-date=31 December 2016|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170127015146/http://www.howlsedhes.co.uk/cgi-bin/diskwe.pl|archive-date=27 January 2017}}</ref> "capacity, power",<ref>[[Pierre-Yves Lambert]], ''La langue gauloise'', éditions Errance, 1994, {{p.|194}}.</ref> thus meaning "powerful people".

Despite its superficial similarity, the normal English translation of ''Gallia'' since the Middle Ages, ''Gaul'', has a different origin from the Latin term. It stems from the French ''Gaule'', deriving from the [[Old Frankish]] ''*Walholant'' (via a Latinized form ''*Walula''),<ref>Ekblom, R., "Die Herkunft des Namens La Gaule" in: Studia Neophilologica, Uppsala, XV, 1942–43, nos. 1-2, pp. 291–301.</ref> literally the "Land of the Foreigners/Romans". ''*Walho-'' is a reflex of the [[Proto-Germanic language|Proto-Germanic]] ''*[[walhaz]]'', "foreigner, Romanized person", an [[exonym]] applied by Germanic speakers to Celts and Latin-speaking people indiscriminately. It is [[cognate]] with the names [[Wales]], [[Cornwall]], [[Wallonia]], and [[Wallachia]].<ref>Sjögren, Albert, Le nom de "Gaule", in ''Studia Neophilologica'', Vol. 11 (1938/39) pp. 210–214.</ref> The Germanic ''w-'' is regularly rendered as ''gu-'' / ''g-'' in French (cf. ''guerre'' "war", ''garder'' "ward", ''Guillaume'' "William"), and the historic diphthong ''au'' is the regular outcome of ''al'' before a following consonant (cf. ''cheval'' ~ ''chevaux''). French ''Gaule'' or ''Gaulle'' cannot be derived from Latin ''Gallia'', since ''g'' would become ''j'' before ''a'' (cf. ''gamba'' > ''jambe''), and the diphthong ''au'' would be unexplained; the regular outcome of Latin ''Gallia'' is ''Jaille'' in French, which is found in several western place names, such as, [[La Jaille-Yvon]] and [[Saint-Mars-la-Jaille]].<ref>''[[Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology]]'' (OUP 1966), p. 391.</ref><ref name=Larousse>''Nouveau dictionnaire étymologique et historique'' (Larousse 1990), p. 336.</ref> Proto-Germanic ''*walha'' is derived ultimately from the name of the [[Volcae]].{{sfn|Koch |2006 |p=[https://archive.org/details/celticculturehis00koch_128/page/n567 532]}}

Also unrelated, in spite of superficial similarity, is the name ''[[Gael]]''.{{refn|1=''Gael'' is derived from [[Old Irish]] ''Goidel'' (borrowed, in turn, in the 7th century AD from [[History of the Welsh language|Primitive Welsh]] ''Guoidel''—spelled ''Gwyddel'' in [[Middle Welsh]] and [[Welsh language|Modern Welsh]]—likely derived from a [[Brythonic languages|Brittonic]] root ''*Wēdelos'' meaning literally "forest person, wild man"){{sfn|Koch |2006 |pp=775–776}}}} The [[Irish language|Irish]] word ''gall'' did originally mean "a Gaul", i.e. an inhabitant of Gaul, but its meaning was later widened to "foreigner", to describe the [[Viking]]s, and later still the [[Normans]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Medieval World |author1-link=Peter Linehan |last=Linehan |first=Peter |author2=Janet L. Nelson |year=2003 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-30234-0 |volume=10 |page=393 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ReIdkk5pEMsC&pg=PA393 }}</ref> The [[dichotomic]] words ''gael'' and ''gall'' are sometimes used together for contrast, for instance in the 12th-century book ''[[Cogad Gáedel re Gallaib]]''.

As adjectives, English has the two variants: ''Gaulish'' and ''Gallic''. The two adjectives are used synonymously, as "pertaining to Gaul or the Gauls", although the Celtic language group once spoken in Gaul is predominantly known as [[Gaulish language|Gaulish]].

==History==

===Pre-Roman===<!--linked-->
{{Further|Prehistoric France|Celts|La Tène culture|Greeks in pre-Roman Gaul}}
[[File:Droysens Hist Handatlas S16 Gallien.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|Map of Roman Gaul (Droysens Allgemeiner historischer Handatlas, 1886)]]

There is little written information concerning the peoples that inhabited the regions of Gaul, save what can be gleaned from coins. Therefore, the early history of the Gauls is predominantly a matter of archaeology, and the relationships between their [[Archaeological culture|material culture]], genetic relationships (the study of which has been aided, in recent years, through the field of [[archaeogenetics]]) and linguistic divisions rarely coincide.

Before the rapid spread of the [[La Tène culture]] in the 5th to 4th centuries BC, the territory of eastern and southern France already participated in the Late [[Bronze Age Europe|Bronze Age]] [[Urnfield culture]] ({{Circa|12th}} to 8th centuries BC) out of which the early [[Iron Age Europe|iron-working]] [[Hallstatt culture]] (7th to 6th centuries BC) would develop. By 500 BC, there is strong [[Hallstatt culture|Hallstatt]] influence throughout most of France (except for the Alps and the extreme north-west).

Out of this Hallstatt background, the La Tène culture arose during the 7th and 6th century BC, presumably representing an early form of [[Continental Celtic languages|Continental Celtic]] culture and likely under Mediterranean influence from the [[Ancient Greece|Greek]], [[Phoenicia]]n, and [[Etruscan civilization]]s. This culture spread out along the [[Seine]], the [[Middle Rhine]] and the upper [[Elbe]]. By the late 5th century BC, La Tène influence spread rapidly across the entire territory of Gaul. The La Tène culture developed and flourished during the late [[Iron Age]] (from 450 BC to the Roman conquest in the 1st century BC) not only in France but also what is now [[Switzerland]], northern [[Italy]], [[Austria]], southern [[Germany]], [[Bohemia]], [[Moravia]], [[Slovakia]] and [[Hungary]]. A major archaeogenetics study uncovered a migration into southern [[Bronze Age Britain|Britain]] in the Bronze Age, during the 500-year period from 1300 to 800 BC. The newcomers were genetically most closely related to ancient individuals from Gaul. The authors describe this as a "plausible vector for the spread of early [[Celtic languages]] into Britain".<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Patterson|first1=N.|last2=Isakov|first2=M.|last3=Booth|first3=T.|title=Large-scale migration into Britain during the Middle to Late Bronze Age|journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]|date=2021|volume=601 |issue=7894 |pages=588–594 |doi=10.1038/s41586-021-04287-4|pmid=34937049 |pmc=8889665 |bibcode=2022Natur.601..588P |s2cid=245509501 }}</ref> 

The major source of early information on the Celts of Gaul is [[Posidonius|Poseidonios]] of Apamea, whose writings were quoted by [[Timagenes]], [[Julius Caesar]], the [[Sicily|Sicilian]] [[Greeks|Greek]] [[Diodorus Siculus]], and the Greek geographer [[Strabo]].<ref>{{cite book|author = Berresford Ellis, Peter|title = ''The Celts: A History''|pages = 49–50|publisher = Caroll & Graf|year = 1998|isbn = 0-7867-1211-2}}</ref> In the 4th and early 3rd century BC, Gallic clan confederations expanded far beyond the territory of what would become [[Roman Gaul]] (which defines usage of the term "Gaul" today), into Pannonia, Illyria, northern Italy, Transylvania and even Asia Minor. By the 2nd century BC, the Romans described [[Gallia Transalpina]] as distinct from [[Gallia Cisalpina]]. In his ''[[Gallic Wars]]'', Julius Caesar distinguishes among three ethnic groups in Gaul: the [[Belgae]] in the north (roughly between the [[Rhine]] and the Seine), the Celtae in the center and in [[Armorica]], and the [[Aquitani]] in the southwest, the southeast being already colonized by the Romans. While some scholars believe the Belgae north of the [[Somme (river)|Somme]] were a mixture of Celtic and Germanic elements, their ethnic affiliations have not been definitively resolved.

In addition to the Gauls, there were other peoples living in Gaul, such as the Greeks and Phoenicians who had established outposts such as Massilia (present-day [[Marseille]]) along the Mediterranean coast.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=26owDwAAQBAJ|last=Dietler|first=Michael|title=Archaeologies of Colonialism: Consumption, Entanglement, and Violence in Ancient Mediterranean France|date=2010|publisher=Univ of California Press|location=Berkeley|isbn=9780520287570}}</ref> Also, along the southeastern French Mediterranean coast, the [[Ligures]] had merged with the Celts to form a Celto-[[Liguria]]n culture.

===Roman conquest===
{{Main article|Gallic Wars}}

In the 2nd century BC Mediterranean Gaul had an extensive urban fabric and was prosperous. Archeologists know of cities in northern Gaul including the Biturigian capital of [[Avaricum]] ([[Bourges]]), [[Cenabum]] ([[Orléans]]), [[Autricum]] ([[Chartres]]) and the excavated site of [[Bibracte]] near [[Autun]] in Saône-et-Loire, along with a number of hill forts (or [[oppidum|oppida]]) used in times of war. The prosperity of Mediterranean Gaul encouraged Rome to respond to pleas for assistance from the inhabitants of [[Massilia]], who found themselves under attack by a coalition of Ligures and Gauls.{{sfn|Drinkwater|2014|page=5}} The Romans intervened in Gaul in 154 BC and again in 125 BC.{{sfn|Drinkwater|2014|page= 5}} Whereas on the first occasion they came and went, on the second they stayed.{{sfn|Drinkwater|2014|page= 6}} In 122 BC [[Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus (consul 122 BC)|Domitius Ahenobarbus]] managed to defeat the [[Allobroges]] (allies of the [[Salluvii]]), while in the ensuing year [[Quintus Fabius Maximus Allobrogicus|Quintus Fabius Maximus]] "destroyed" an army of the [[Arverni]] led by their king [[Bituitus]], who had come to the aid of the Allobroges.{{sfn|Drinkwater|2014|page= 6}} Rome allowed Massilia to keep its lands, but added to its own territories the lands of the conquered tribes.{{sfn|Drinkwater|2014|page= 6}} As a direct result of these conquests, Rome now controlled an area extending from the [[Pyrenees]] to the lower [[Rhône]] river, and in the east up the [[Rhône valley]] to [[Lake Geneva]].<ref>{{harvnb|Drinkwater|2014|page= 6}}. "[...] the most important outcome of this series of campaigns was the direct annexation by Rome of a huge area extending from the Pyrenees to the lower Rhône, and up the Rhône valley to Lake Geneva."</ref> By 121 BC Romans had conquered the Mediterranean region called ''Provincia'' (later named ''[[Gallia Narbonensis]]''). This conquest upset the ascendancy of the Gaulish Arverni peoples.[[File:GaulsinRome.jpg|thumb|upright|Gauls in Rome]]

The Roman proconsul and general Julius Caesar led his army into Gaul in 58 BC, ostensibly to assist Rome's Gaullish allies against the migrating [[Helvetii]]. With the help of various Gallic clans (e.g., the [[Aedui]]) he managed to conquer nearly all of Gaul. While their military was just as strong as the Romans', the internal division between the Gallic tribes guaranteed an easy victory for Caesar, and [[Vercingetorix]]'s attempt to unite the Gauls against Roman invasion came too late.<ref name="EB_The_Roman_Conquest">{{cite web |url=http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/215768/France/41196/The-press |title=France: The Roman conquest |website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica Online]] |publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica (company)|Encyclopædia Britannica]] |access-date=April 6, 2015 |quote="Because of chronic internal rivalries, Gallic resistance was easily broken, though Vercingetorix's Great Rebellion of 52 bc had notable successes."}}</ref><ref name="The_first_triumvirate_and_the_conquest_of_Gaul">{{cite web |url=http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/88114/Julius-Caesar/9735/The-first-triumvirate-and-the-conquest-of-Gaul |title=Julius Caesar: The first triumvirate and the conquest of Gaul |website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica Online]] |publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica (company)|Encyclopædia Britannica]] |access-date=February 15, 2015 |quote="Indeed, the Gallic cavalry was probably superior to the Roman, horseman for horseman. Rome's military superiority lay in its mastery of strategy, tactics, discipline, and military engineering. In Gaul, Rome also had the advantage of being able to deal separately with dozens of relatively small, independent, and uncooperative states. Caesar conquered these piecemeal, and the concerted attempt made by a number of them in 52 BC to shake off the Roman yoke came too late."}}</ref> Caesar was checked by Vercingetorix at a [[Battle of Gergovia|siege of Gergovia]], a fortified town in the center of Gaul. Caesar's alliances with many Gallic clans broke. Even the Aedui, their most faithful supporters, threw in their lot with the Arverni but the ever-loyal [[Remi]] (best known for its cavalry) and [[Lingones]] sent troops to support Caesar. The [[Germani]] of the [[Ubii]] also sent cavalry, which Caesar equipped with Remi horses. Caesar captured Vercingetorix in September 52 BC in the [[Battle of Alesia]], which ended the majority of Gallic resistance to Rome.

As many as one million people (probably 1 in 5 of the Gauls) died, another one million were [[Slavery in ancient Rome|enslaved]],<ref>Plutarch, Caesar 22.</ref> 300 clans were subjugated and 800 cities were destroyed during the Gallic Wars.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lsHLDAAAQBAJ&q=300+clans+were+subjugated+and+800+cities+were+destroyed+during+the+Gallic+Wars&pg=PT307|title=50 Great Military Leaders of All Time|last=Tibbetts|first=Jann|date=2016|publisher=Vij Books India Pvt Ltd|isbn=9789385505669|language=en}}</ref> The entire population of the city of Avaricum (Bourges) (40,000 in all) were slaughtered.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sights.seindal.dk/sight/766_Julius_Caesar-3.html|last=Seindal|first=René|title=Julius Caesar, Romans [The Conquest of Gaul – part 4 of 11] (Photo Archive)|date=28 August 2003|access-date=29 June 2019}}</ref> Before Caesar's campaign against the Helvetii (Switzerland), the Helvetians had numbered 263,000, but afterwards only 100,000 remained, most of whom Caesar took as slaves.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Serghidou|first1=Anastasia|title=Fear of slaves, fear of enslavement in the ancient Mediterranean|date=2007|publisher=Presses Univ. Franche-Comté|location=Besançon|isbn=978-2848671697|page=50|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZIHDaGuXkI4C&q=population+helvetii+caesar+slavery&pg=PA50|access-date=8 January 2017}}</ref>

===Roman Gaul===
{{Main article|Roman Gaul|3 = History of France}}
[[File:Gaul Soldiers.JPG|thumb|Soldiers of Gaul, as imagined by a late 19th-century illustrator for the [[Grand dictionnaire universel du XIXe siècle|Larousse dictionary]], 1898]]
After Gaul was absorbed as ''Gallia'', a set of Roman provinces, its inhabitants gradually adopted aspects of Roman culture and assimilated, resulting in the distinct [[Gallo-Roman culture]].<ref>A recent survey is G. Woolf, ''Becoming Roman: The Origins of Provincial Civilization in Gaul'' (Cambridge University Press) 1998.</ref> Citizenship was granted to all in 212 AD by the [[Constitutio Antoniniana]]. From the 3rd to 5th centuries, Gaul was exposed to raids by the [[Franks]]. The [[Gallic Empire]]—consisting of the provinces of Gaul, [[Roman Britain|Britannia]], and [[Hispania]], including the peaceful [[Hispania Baetica|Baetica]] in the south—broke away from Rome from 260 to 273. In addition to the large number of natives, Gallia also became home to some [[Colonia (Roman)|Roman citizens from elsewhere]] and also immigration of Germanic and Scythian tribes such as the [[Alans]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jbz9IyOvfPoC|title=Merovingian Military Organization, 481–751|last=Bachrach|first=Bernard S.|date=1972|publisher=U of Minnesota Press|isbn=9780816657001|pages=10|language=en}}</ref>

The religious practices of inhabitants became a combination of Roman and Celtic practice, with Celtic deities such as [[Cobannus]] and [[Epona]] subjected to {{lang|la|[[interpretatio romana]]}}.<ref>{{cite book |first=J. |last=Pollini |title=Gallo-Roman Bronzes and the Process of Romanization: The Cobannus Hoard |series=Monumenta Graeca et Romana |volume=9 |location=Leiden |publisher=Brill |year=2002}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=L.S. |last=Oaks |chapter=The goddess Epona: concepts of sovereignty in a changing landscape |title=Pagan Gods and Shrines of the Roman Empire |year=1986}}</ref> The [[imperial cult]] and Eastern [[mystery religions]] also gained a following. Eventually, after it became the official religion of the empire, and paganism became suppressed, Christianity won out in the twilight days of the [[Western Roman Empire]]. A small but notable [[Judaism|Jewish]] presence also became established.

The Gaulish language is thought to have survived into the 6th century in France, despite considerable Romanization of the local material culture.<ref name=Helix>{{cite book|author=Laurence Hélix| title=Histoire de la langue française|isbn=978-2-7298-6470-5|publisher=Ellipses Edition Marketing S.A.|page=7|quote=Le déclin du Gaulois et sa disparition ne s'expliquent pas seulement par des pratiques culturelles spécifiques: Lorsque les Romains conduits par César envahirent la Gaule, au 1er siecle avant J.-C., celle-ci romanisa de manière progressive et profonde. Pendant près de 500 ans, la fameuse période gallo-romaine, le gaulois et le latin parlé coexistèrent; au VIe siècle encore; le temoignage de Grégoire de Tours atteste la survivance de la langue gauloise.| year=2011}}</ref> The last record of spoken Gaulish deemed to be plausibly credible<ref name=Helix/> concerned the destruction by Christians of a pagan shrine in Auvergne "called Vasso Galatae in the Gallic tongue".<ref>''Hist. Franc.'', book I, 32 ''Veniens vero Arvernos, delubrum illud, quod Gallica lingua Vasso Galatæ vocant, incendit, diruit, atque subvertit.'' And coming to Clermont [to the [[Arverni]]] he set on fire, overthrew and destroyed that shrine which they call Vasso Galatæ in the Gallic tongue.</ref> Coexisting with Latin, Gaulish helped shape the [[Vulgar Latin]] dialects that developed into French.<ref>Henri Guiter, "Sur le substrat gaulois dans la Romania", in ''Munus amicitae. Studia linguistica in honorem Witoldi Manczak septuagenarii'', eds., Anna Bochnakowa & Stanislan Widlak, Krakow, 1995.</ref><ref>Eugeen Roegiest, ''Vers les sources des langues romanes: Un itinéraire linguistique à travers la Romania'' (Leuven, Belgium: Acco, 2006), 83.</ref><ref name=Savignac>{{cite book|author=Savignac, Jean-Paul|year=2004|page=26|title=Dictionnaire Français-Gaulois|location=Paris|publisher=La Différence}}</ref><ref name=Matas>{{cite book|author=Matasovic, Ranko|year=2007|chapter=Insular Celtic as a Language Area|title=The Celtic Languages in Contact |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VgBtaDT-evYC&pg=PA106 |type=Papers from the Workshop within the Framework of the XIII International Congress of Celtic Studies|page=106 |publisher=Potsdam University Press|isbn=978-3-940793-07-2 }}</ref><ref name=Adams>{{cite book|author= Adams, J. N.|date= 2007|title= The Regional Diversification of Latin 200 BC – AD 600|url= https://archive.org/details/regionaldiversif600adam_341 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |url-access= limited|chapter= Chapter V – Regionalisms in provincial texts: Gaul|page= [https://archive.org/details/regionaldiversif600adam_341/page/n300 279]–289|location= Cambridge|doi= 10.1017/CBO9780511482977|isbn= 9780511482977}}</ref> The Vulgar Latin in the region of Gallia took on a distinctly local character, some of which is attested in graffiti,<ref name="Adams" /> which evolved into the [[Gallo-Romance languages|Gallo-Romance]] dialects which include French and its closest relatives. The influence of [[substrate (linguistics)|substrate]] languages may be seen in graffiti showing sound changes that matched changes that had earlier occurred in the indigenous languages, especially Gaulish.<ref name="Adams" /> The Vulgar Latin in the north of Gaul evolved into the [[langues d'oïl]] and [[Franco-Provencal]], while the dialects in the south evolved into the modern [[Occitan language|Occitan]] and [[Catalan language|Catalan]] tongues. Other languages held to be "Gallo-Romance" include the [[Gallo-Italic languages]] and the [[Rhaeto-Romance languages]].

===Frankish Gaul===
{{main article|Neustria|Frankish Aquitaine|Frankish Burgundy|Frankish Gascony}}
{{further|Visigothic Kingdom|Christianity in Gaul|List of Frankish synods}}
Following Frankish victories in the [[Franco-Roman War of 486|Franco-Roman War]] (486) and the [[Franco–Gothic War (507–511)|Franco–Gothic War]] (507) and [[Battle of Autun (532)|Autun (532)]], Gaul (except for [[Brittany]] and [[Septimania]]) came under the rule of the [[Merovingian dynasty|Merovingian]]s, the first [[kings of France]]. Gallo-Roman culture persisted particularly in the areas of Gallia Narbonensis that developed into [[Occitania]], [[Cisalpine Gaul|Gallia Cisalpina]] and to a lesser degree, [[Aquitania]]. The north developed into Merovingian culture. Roman life, centered on the public events and cultural responsibilities of urban life in the ''[[res publica]]'' and the sometimes luxurious life of the self-sufficient rural [[Roman villa|villa]] system, took longer to collapse in the Gallo-Roman regions, where the [[Visigoths]] largely inherited the status quo in the early 5th century. Gallo-Roman language persisted in the northeast into the [[Silva Carbonaria]] that formed an effective cultural barrier, with the Franks to the north and east, and in the northwest to the lower valley of the [[Loire]]. Gallo-Roman culture interfaced with Frankish culture in urban areas like [[Tours]].

<gallery mode="packed" heights="140px">
File:Massalia large coin 5th 1st century BCE.jpg|Massalia (Marseille) silver coin with Greek legend, 5th–1st century BC.
File:ParisiiCoins.jpg|Gold coins of the Gaul [[Parisii (Gaul)|Parisii]], 1st century BC, ([[Cabinet des Médailles]], Paris).
File:RomanSilverDenariusWithHeadOfCaptiveGaul48BCE.JPG|Roman silver Denarius with the head of captive Gaul 48 BC, following the campaigns of Julius Caesar.
</gallery>

==Culture==
=== <span class="anchor" id="Gallia Comata"></span> Social structure, indigenous nation and clans ===
{{Main article|Gauls}}
{{More citations needed section|date=August 2011}}
[[File:Gaul, 1st century BC.gif|thumb|upright=1.25|A map of Gaul in the 1st century BC, showing the relative positions of the [[Celts|Celtic]] ethnicities: '''Celtae''', '''Belgae''' and '''Aquitani'''.]]
[[File:Celts in III century BC.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|Expansion of the Celtic culture in the 3rd century BC.]]

The fundamental unit of Gallic politics was the clan, which consisted of one or more of what Caesar called ''pagi''. Each clan had a council of elders and initially a king. Later, the executive was an annually-elected magistrate. Among the Aedui, a clan of Gaul, the executive held the title of ''Vergobret'', a position much like a king, but his powers were held in check by rules laid down by the council.

The regional ethnic groups, or ''pagi'' as the Romans called them (singular: ''pagus''; the French word ''pays'', "region" [a more accurate translation is 'country'], comes from this term), were organized into larger multi-clan groups, which the Romans called ''[[civitates]]''. These administrative groupings would be taken over by the Romans in their system of local control, and these ''civitates'' would also be the basis of France's eventual division into [[List of Ancien Régime dioceses of France|ecclesiastical bishoprics and dioceses]], which would remain in place—with slight changes—until the [[French Revolution]].

Although the clans were moderately stable political entities, Gaul as a whole tended to be politically divided, there being virtually no unity among the various clans. Only during particularly trying times, such as the invasion of Caesar, could the Gauls unite under a single leader like Vercingetorix. Even then, however, the faction lines were clear.

The Romans divided Gaul broadly into ''Provincia'' (the conquered area around the Mediterranean), and the northern '''Gallia Comata''' ("free Gaul" or "long-haired Gaul"). Caesar divided the people of Gallia Comata into three broad groups: the ''Aquitani''; ''Galli'' (who in their own language were called ''Celtae''); and ''Belgae''. In the modern sense, [[Gauls|Gaulish peoples]] are defined linguistically, as speakers of dialects of the Gaulish language. While the Aquitani were probably [[Vascons]], the Belgae would thus probably be a mixture of Celtic and Germanic elements.

Julius Caesar wrote in ''[[Commentarii de Bello Gallico|The Gallic Wars]]'':

{{blockquote|All Gaul is divided into three parts, one of which the Belgae inhabit, the Aquitani another, those who in their own language are called Celts, in our Gauls, the third. All these differ from each other in language, customs and laws. The river Garonne separates the Gauls from the Aquitani; the Marne and the Seine separate them from the Belgae. Of all these, the Belgae are the bravest, because they are furthest from the civilization and refinement of [our] Province, and merchants least frequently resort to them, and import those things which tend to effeminate the mind; and they are the nearest to the Germans, who dwell beyond the Rhine, with whom they are continually waging war; for which reason the Helvetii also surpass the rest of the Gauls in valor, as they contend with the Germans in almost daily battles, when they either repel them from their own territories, or themselves wage war on their frontiers. One part of these, which it has been said that the Gauls occupy, takes its beginning at the river Rhone; it is bounded by the river Garonne, the ocean, and the territories of the Belgae; it borders, too, on the side of the Sequani and the Helvetii, upon the river Rhine, and stretches toward the north. The Belgae rises from the extreme frontier of Gaul, extend to the lower part of the river Rhine; and look toward the north and the rising sun. Aquitania extends from the river Garonne to the Pyrenaean mountains and to that part of the ocean which is near Spain: it looks between the setting of the sun, and the north star.<ref>{{cite book |last=Caesar |first=Julius |date=1869 |title=The Gallic Wars |url=http://classics.mit.edu/Caesar/gallic.1.1.html |translator1-last=McDevitte |translator1-first=W. A. |translator2-last=Bohn |translator2-first=W. S. |location=New York |publisher=Harper |page=9 |isbn=978-1604597622 |access-date=8 January 2017}}</ref>}}

===Religion===
{{Main article|Celtic polytheism}}

The Gauls practiced a form of [[animism]], ascribing human characteristics to lakes, streams, mountains, and other natural features and granting them a quasi-divine status. Also, worship of animals was not uncommon; the animal most sacred to the Gauls was the [[boar]]<ref>{{cite book|last1=MacCulloch|first1=John Arnott|title=The Religion of the Ancient Celts|date=1911|publisher=Clark|location=Edinburgh|isbn=978-1508518518|page=22|chapter-url=http://sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/rac/rac06.htm |chapter=Chapter III. The Gods of Gaul and the Continental Celts |via=Internet Sacred Text Archive |access-date=8 January 2017}}</ref> which can be found on many Gallic military standards, much like the [[Aquila (Roman)|Roman eagle]]. Their system of gods and goddesses was loose, there being certain deities which virtually every Gallic person worshipped, as well as clan and household gods.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Warner|first1=Marina|last2=Burn|first2=Lucilla|title=World of Myths, Vol. 1|date=2003|publisher=British Museum|location=London|isbn=978-0714127835|page=382|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H-iqkWDTzA4C&q=gauls+%22ancestor+god%22+dis+pater+caesar&pg=PA382|access-date=8 January 2017}}</ref>

Perhaps the most intriguing facet of Gallic religion is the practice of the [[Druid|druids]]. The druids presided over human or animal sacrifices that were made in wooded groves or crude temples. They also appear to have held the responsibility for preserving the annual agricultural calendar and instigating seasonal festivals which corresponded to key points of the lunar-solar calendar. The religious practices of druids were syncretic and borrowed from earlier pagan traditions, with probably [[Proto-Indo-European society|Indo-European]] roots. Caesar mentions in ''The Gallic Wars'' that those Celts who wanted to make a close study of druidism went to Britain to do so. In a little over a century later, [[Gnaeus Julius Agricola]] mentions Roman armies attacking a large druid sanctuary in [[Anglesey]] in Wales. 

There is no certainty concerning the origin of the druids, but it is clear that they guarded the secrets of their order and held sway over the people of Gaul. Indeed, they claimed the right to determine questions of war and peace and thereby held an "international" status. In addition, the druids monitored the religion of ordinary Gauls and were in charge of educating the aristocracy. They also practiced a form of excommunication from the assembly of worshippers, which in ancient Gaul meant a separation from secular society as well. Thus the druids were an important part of Gallic society. The nearly complete and mysterious disappearance of the Celtic language from most of the territorial lands of ancient Gaul, with the exception of Brittany, can be attributed to the fact that Celtic druids refused to allow the Celtic oral literature or traditional wisdom to be committed to the written letter.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kendrick |first=Thomas D. |author-link=T. D. Kendrick |date=1966 |title=The Druids: A Study in Keltic Prehistory |location=New York |publisher=Barnes & Noble |page=78}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Ambiorix]]
* ''[[Asterix]]'' – a French comic about Gaul and Rome, mainly set in 50 BC
* [[Bog body]]
* [[Braccae]] – trousers, typical Gallic dress
* [[Cisalpine Gaul]]
* [[Galatia]]
* [[Lugdunum]]
* [[Roman Republic]]
* [[Roman villas in northwestern Gaul]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{cite book|first = H.|last = Birkhan|title = Die Kelten|location = Vienna|year = 1997}}
* {{cite book|last1=Drinkwater|first1=John Frederick |author-link1=John F. Drinkwater |chapter=Conquest and Pacification |title=Roman Gaul: The Three Provinces, 58 BC–AD 260 |series=Routledge Revivals |date=2014 |orig-year=1983 |location=Abingdon |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1317750741 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=AfpQAwAAQBAJ}}
* {{cite book|last=Koch|first=John Thomas|year=2006 |title=Celtic culture: a historical encyclopedia |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=1-85109-440-7 |url=https://archive.org/details/celticculturehis00koch_128 |url-access=limited}}
*{{cite book |editor1-last=Ñaco del Hoyo |editor1-first=Toni |editor2-last=Principal |editor2-first=Jordi |editor3-last=Dobson |editor3-first=Mike |title=Rome and the north-western Mediterranean : integration and connectivity c. 150–70 BC |publisher=Oxbow Books |date=2022 |location=Oxford |isbn=9781789257175}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Roman Gaul}}

{{Celts}}
{{Classical antiquity}}
{{France topics}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Gaul| ]]
[[Category:Historical regions]]