The New International Encyclopædia/Cherusci

CHERUSCI, kē̇-rŭs′sī̇. A German tribe first mentioned by Cæsar. They dwelt in the region of the Weser, their country lying to the northeast of that of the Chatti. They are chiefly memorable in connection with their great leader, Arminius, or Hermann, who, having formed an alliance with other German tribes, attacked and annihilated the Roman legions under Varus, in the Teutoburg Forest, A.D. 9. After the death of Arminius, internal strifes broke out among the Cherusci, and Tacitus says that they were subjugated by the Chatti, a neighboring tribe. Notwithstanding this, they again appear as the chief tribe in the military league of the Saxons about the end of the Third Century. In the beginning of the Fourth Century they are included among the peoples who had leagued against Constantine, and toward the close of the same century are still mentioned distinctively by Claudian.