Editing Luxembourg (section)

=== Before AD 963 ===
{{Main|Celtic Luxembourg}}

[[File:Codex aureus Epternacensis folio 24 2.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Text page from the [[Codex Aureus of Echternach]], an important surviving codex, was produced in the [[Abbey of Echternach]] in the 11th century.<ref name="Beckwith, John 1979 pp. 122">{{cite book | last=Beckwith | first=John | title=Early Christian and Byzantine art | date=1979 | isbn=0-14-056133-1 | oclc=4774770 | page = 122| publisher=Penguin Books }}</ref>]]

The first traces of settlement in what is now Luxembourg are dated back to the [[Paleolithic Age]], about 35,000 years ago. From the 6th century BC, [[Celtic tribes]] settled in the region between the rivers [[Rhine]] and [[Meuse]].<ref>Michel Pauly, Geschichte Luxemburgs 2013 p. 9</ref>

Six centuries later the [[Ancient Rome|Romans]] named the Celtic tribes inhabiting these exact regions collectively as the ''[[Treveri]]''. Many examples of archaeological evidence proving their existence in Luxembourg have been discovered, the most famous being the Oppidum of [[Titelberg]].

In around 58 to 51 BC, the Romans invaded the country when [[Julius Caesar]] [[Gallic Wars|conquered Gaul]] and part of [[Germania]] up to the Rhine border, thus the area of what is now Luxembourg became part of the [[Roman Empire]] for the next 450 years, living in relative peace under the [[Pax Romana]].

Similar to those in Gaul, the Celts of Luxembourg adopted Roman culture, language, morals and a way of life, effectively becoming what historians later described as [[Gallo-Roman culture|Gallo-Roman civilization]].<ref>Michel Pauly, Geschichte Luxemburgs 1988 (2013)p. 16</ref> Evidence from that period includes the [[Dalheim Ricciacum]] and the [[Vichten|Vichten mosaic]], on display at the [[National Museum of History and Art]] in Luxembourg City.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://collections.mnha.lu/object/mnha00110/1/LOG_0000/|title=Mosaïque de Vichten|website=-: Mosaïque de Vichten, -: – -.|access-date=21 April 2021|archive-date=21 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210421144306/https://collections.mnha.lu/object/mnha00110/1/LOG_0000/|url-status=live}}</ref>

The territory was infiltrated by the [[Germanic peoples|Germanic]] [[Franks]] from the 4th century, and was abandoned by Rome in AD 406,<ref name=Trausch2003>{{cite book | last=Trausch | first=Gilbert | title=Histoire du Luxembourg: le destin européen d'un petit pays | publisher=Privat |location=Toulouse | date=2003 | isbn=2-7089-4773-7 | oclc=52386195 | language=fr}}</ref>{{rp|page = 65}} after which it became part of the [[Kingdom of the Franks]]. The Salian Franks who settled in the area are often described as the ones having brought the Germanic language to present-day Luxembourg, since the [[Frankish language|old Frankish]] language spoken by them is considered by linguists to be a direct forerunner of the [[Moselle Franconian language|Moselle Franconian dialect]], which later evolved into, among others, the modern-day [[Luxembourgish|Luxembourgish language]].<ref name=Trausch2003 />{{rp|page=70}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.axl.cefan.ulaval.ca/europe/francique-map.htm|title=Francique|website=www.axl.cefan.ulaval.ca|access-date=21 April 2021|archive-date=26 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126024438/http://www.axl.cefan.ulaval.ca/europe/francique-map.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

The [[Christianization]] of Luxembourg is usually dated back to the end of the 7th century. The most famous figure in this context is [[Willibrord]], a [[Northumbria]]n missionary saint, who together with other monks established the [[Abbey of Echternach]] in AD 698,<ref>Michel Pauly, Geschichte Luxemburgs 2013 p. 23</ref> and is celebrated annually in the [[dancing procession of Echternach]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Echternach |first=Willibrordus Basilika |title=Basilica & Willibrord |url=https://basilika.lu/en/ |access-date=2025-04-20 |website=Willibrordus Basilika Echternach |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Abbey of Echternach |url=https://www.catholic.com/encyclopedia/abbey-of-echternach |access-date=2025-04-20 |website=Catholic Answers}}</ref> For a few centuries the abbey would become one of northern Europe's most influential abbeys.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-11-01 |title=The Echternach scriptorium |url=https://bnl.public.lu/en/a-la-une/a-la-loupe/2024/scriptorium-echternach.html |access-date=2025-04-20 |website=bnl.public.lu |language=en}}</ref> The [[Codex Aureus of Echternach]], an important surviving codex written entirely in gold ink, was produced here in the 11th century.<ref name="Beckwith, John 1979 pp. 122"/> The so-called [[Emperor's Bible]] and the [[Golden Gospels of Henry III]] were also produced in Echternach at this time.<ref>The Emperor's Bible". Uppsala University Library. Retrieved 17 October 2020</ref><ref>{{cite book | last=Pauly | first=Michel | title=Geschichte Luxemburgs |location=München |publisher=Verlag C.H. Beck | date=2011 | isbn=978-3-406-62225-0 | oclc=724990605 | language=de}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Emperor's Bible |url=https://www.alvin-portal.org/alvin/attachment/document/alvin-record%3A56059/ATTACHMENT-0328.pdf}}</ref>