Alemanni,

Alemanni, the name of a confederacy of several German tribes which began to appear in the country between the Main and the Danube about the beginning of the 3d century. Caracalla (in 211 A.D.) and Alexander Severus fought against them unsuccessfully; but Maximinus at length drove them beyond the Rhine. After his death they again invaded Gaul, but were defeated and pursued into Germany. After 282, being pressed upon from the north-east by the Burgundians, they took up permanent settlements within the Roman boundary from Mainz to Lake Constance. Julian repelled one of their repeated incursions into Gaul in 357. After the 5th century, the confederated nation is spoken of as Alemanni and Suavi or Suevi. In the course of the 4th century, they had crossed the Rhine, and extended as far west as the Vosges, and south to the Alps. At length Clovis broke their power in 496, making them subject to the Frankish dominion; and the southern part of their territory was formed into a duchy called Alemannia. The name of Swabia came to be applied to the part of the duchy lying east of the Rhine. From the Alemanni the French have given the name of Allemands and Allemagne to Germans and Germany in general, though the proper descendants of the Alemanni are the inhabitants of the north of Switzerland, of Alsace, and part of Swabia.