Catuvellauni

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Catuvellauni

The Catuvellauni were a Celt

Celt

Celts , is a modern term used to describe any of the European peoples who spoke, or speak, a Celtic languages. The term is also used in a wider sense to describe the Modern Celts of those peoples, notably those who participate in a Celtic culture....
ic/Belgic

Belgae

The Belgae were a group of tribes living in northern Gaul in the 1st century BC, and later also in Roman Britain. They gave their name to the Roman province of Gallia Belgica, and later, to the modern country of Belgium, where they are colloquially known as the "Old Belgians"....
tribe or state of south-eastern Britain

Prehistoric Britain

Prehistoric Britain was a period in the human occupation of Great Britain that was the later part of prehistory, conventionally ending with the Roman invasion of Britain in AD 43, though some historical information is available about Britain before this....
before the Roman conquest

Roman conquest of Britain

By AD 43, the time of the main Roman invasion of Britain, Great Britain had already frequently been the target of invasions, planned and actual, by forces of the Roman Republic and Roman Empire....
.

The fortunes of the Catuvellauni and their kings before the conquest can be traced through numismatic evidence and scattered references in classical histories. They are mentioned by Dio Cassius

Dio Cassius

Lucius Cassius Dio Cocceianus , known in English language as Cassius Dio, Dio Cassius, or Dio was a noted Roman Empire historian and public servant....
, who implies they led the resistance against the conquest in AD 43. They appear as one of the civitates
Civitas

In the history of the Roman Empire, the Latin term civitas referred to the condition of Roman citizenship. It was also used to describe a type of settlement....
of Roman Britain

Roman Britain

Roman Britain refers to those parts of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire between AD 43 and 410. The Romans referred to their province as Britannia....
in Ptolemy

Ptolemy

Claudius Ptolemaeus , known in English as Ptolemy , was a Roman Greek mathematics, Greek astronomy, geographer and astrologer. He lived in History of Roman Egypt, and was probably born there in a town in the Thebaid called Ptolemais Hermiou; he died in Alexandria around 168 AD....
's Geography in the 2nd century, occupying modern Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire is a Ceremonial counties of England and Metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties of England Counties of England in the East of England region of England....
, Bedfordshire

Bedfordshire

Bedfordshire is a county in England that forms part of the East of England Regions of England.Its county town is Bedford, Bedfordshire. It borders Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire....
and southern Cambridgeshire

Cambridgeshire

Cambridgeshire is a Counties_of_the_United_Kingdom#England in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex, England and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west....
and based around the town of Verlamion

Verlamion

St Albans

Saint Albans is a city in southern Hertfordshire, England, around north of central London, which forms the main urban area of the City and District of St Albans....
).

The Catuvellauni may be related to the Catalauni, a people of Belgic Gaul

Gallia Belgica

Gallia Belgica was a Roman province located in what is now the southern part of the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, northeastern France, and western Germany....
attested in the region of Châlons-en-Champagne

Châlons-en-Champagne

Ch?lons-en-Champagne is a city in France. It is the capital of both the Departments of France of Marne and the r?gion in France of Champagne-Ardenne, despite being only a quarter the size of the city of Reims....
.

Before the Roman conquest
Cassivellaunus

Cassivellaunus

Cassivellaunus was a historical Brythonic chieftain who led the defence against Julius Caesar's second expedition to Great Britain in 54 BC. He also appears in British legend as Cassibelanus, one of Geoffrey of Monmouth's kings of Britain, and in the Mabinogion, Brut y Bryttaniait and Welsh Triads as Caswallawn, son of Beli Mawr....
, who led the resistance to Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar

'Gaius Julius Caesar' , July 13, 100 BC ? March 15, 44 BC,) was a Roman Republic military and political leader. He played a critical role in the transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
's first expedition to Britain in 54 BC, is often taken to have belonged to the Catuvellauni.

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Encyclopedia

The Catuvellauni were a Celt

Celt

Belgae

Prehistoric Britain

Roman conquest of Britain

Dio Cassius

Roman Britain

Roman Britain refers to those parts of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire between AD 43 and 410. The Romans referred to their province as Britannia....
in Ptolemy

Ptolemy

Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire is a Ceremonial counties of England and Metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties of England Counties of England in the East of England region of England....
, Bedfordshire

Bedfordshire

Cambridgeshire

Verlamion

St Albans

Gallia Belgica

Châlons-en-Champagne

Before the Roman conquest

Cassivellaunus

Julius Caesar

River Thames

The Thames is a major river flowing through southern England. While best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows through several other towns and cities, including Oxford, Reading, Berkshire and Windsor, Berkshire....
and to the west of the Trinovantes

Trinovantes

The Trinovantes or Trinobantes were one of the Celtic tribes that lived in pre-Roman Britain. Their territory was on the north side of the Thames estuary in current Essex, England and Suffolk, and included lands now located in Greater London....
, corresponds to that later occupied by the Catuvellauni. The extensive earthworks at Devil's Dyke

Devil's Dyke, Hertfordshire

Devil's Dyke is the remains of a defensive ditch around an ancient settlement of the Catuvellauni tribe. It lies at the east side of the current village of Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire, England....
near Wheathampstead

Wheathampstead

Wheathampstead is a small village within the City and District of St Albans, in Hertfordshire, England. It is north of St Albans and in the Hitchin and Harpenden parliamentary constituency....
, Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire is a Ceremonial counties of England and Metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties of England Counties of England in the East of England region of England....
are thought to have been the tribe's original capital.

, king of the Catuvellauni.]] Tasciovanus

Tasciovanus

File:Tasciovanus.jpgTasciovanus was a historical king of the Catuvellauni tribe before the Roman conquest of Britain....
was the first king to mint coins

Currency

A currency is a Medium of exchange, facilitating the trade of goods and/or Service s. It is coins and paper bills used as money. It is one form of money, where money is anything that serves as a medium of exchange, a store of value, and a standard of value....
at Verlamion

Verlamion

Verlamion, or Verlamio , was the tribal capital of the Catuvellauni tribe in Iron Age Britain from approximately 20 BC until shortly after the Roman Empire invasion of 43 AD....
, beginning ca 20 BC. He appears to have expanded his power at the expense of the Trinovantes to the east, as some of his coins, ca 15-10 BC, were minted in their capital Camulodunum

Camulodunum

Camulodunum is the Ancient Rome name for the ancient settlement which is today's Colchester, a town in Essex, England. Camulodunum is the Oldest town in Britain in England as recorded by the Romans, existing as a Celtic settlement before the Ancient Rome conquest, when it became the first Roman town, and eventually a settlement of discharged...
(modern Colchester

Colchester

Colchester is a town, and the largest settlement within the Colchester , in Essex, England.It has a population of List of English cities by population....
). This advance was given up, possibly under pressure from Rome

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC....
, and a later series of coins were again minted at Verulamium.

, king of the Catuvellauni.]] However, Camulodunum was retaken, either by Tasciovanus or by his son Cunobelinus

Cunobelinus

Cunobelinus was a historical king in pre-Roman Ancient Britain, known from passing mentions by classical historians Suetonius and Dio Cassius, and from his many inscribed coins....
, who succeeded him ca AD 9 and ruled for about thirty years. Little is known of Cunobelinus's life, but his name survived into British legend, culminating in William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was an English people poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's preeminent dramatist....
's play Cymbeline
Cymbeline

Cymbeline is a play by William Shakespeare, based on legends concerning the early Celtic British King Cunobelinus. Although listed as a tragedy in the First Folio, modern critics often classify Cymbeline as a Shakespeare's Late Romances....
. Geoffrey of Monmouth

Geoffrey of Monmouth

Geoffrey of Monmouth was a clergyman and one of the major figures in the English historians in the Middle Ages and the popularity of tales of King Arthur....
says he was brought up at the court of Augustus and willingly paid tribute to Rome. Archaeology indicates increased trading and diplomatic links with the Roman Empire

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the Roman Republic phase of the Ancient Rome, characterised by an autocracy form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
. Under Cunobelinus and his family the Catuvellauni appear to have become the dominant power in south-eastern Britain. His brother Epaticcus

Epaticcus

File:Epaticcus.jpgEpaticcus or Epaticcu was a brother of Cunobelinus, king of the Catuvellauni, a tribe of Iron Age Britain.Coins bearing his name begin to appear in the northern lands of the neighbouring Atrebates tribe and their capital, Calleva Atrebatum , probably fell to him around AD 25....
gained territory to the south and west at the expense of the Atrebates

Atrebates

The Atrebates were a Belgae tribe of Gaul and Great Britain before the Roman conquests. According to Alexander MacBain, the name Attrebates is related to the Irish language aitreibh, ?building,? Old Irish aittreb, ?building,? and Welsh language adref, ?homewards,? going on to state that the Celtic languages root treb cor...
until his death ca AD 35.

Three sons of Cunobelinus are known to history. Adminius

Adminius

Adminius, Amminius or Amminus was a son of Cunobelinus, ruler of the Catuvellauni, a tribe of Iron Age Britain. His name can be interpreted as Celtic languages *ad-mindios, "to be crowned"....
, whose power-base appears from his coins to have been in Kent

Kent

Kent is a Counties of England in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the River Thames estuary....
, was exiled by his father shortly before AD 40 according to Suetonius

Lives of the Twelve Caesars

De vita Caesarum commonly known as The Twelve Caesars, is a set of twelve biographies of Julius Caesar and the first 11 Roman Emperor of the Roman Empire written by Suetonius....
, prompting the emperor

Roman Emperor

The Roman Emperor was the ruler of the Roman Empire during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office: Latin language titles such as imperator , Augustus , Caesar and princeps were all associated with it....
Caligula

Caligula

Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus , more commonly known by his nickname Caligula , was the third Roman Emperor, reigning from 16 March 37 until his assassination on 24 January 41....
to mount his abortive invasion of Britain. Two other sons, Togodumnus

Togodumnus

Togodumnus was a historical king of the British Catuvellauni tribe at the time of the Roman conquest of Britain. He can probably be identified with the legendary British king Guiderius....
and Caratacus

Caratacus

Caratacus was a historical British Iron Age chieftain of the Catuvellauni tribe, who led the British resistance to the Roman conquest. The legendary Welsh mythology character Caradoc and the legendary British king Arvirargus may be based upon Caratacus....
, are named by Dio Cassius. No coins of Togodumnus are known, but Caratacus's rare coins suggest that he followed his uncle Epaticcus in completing the conquest of the lands of the Atrebates. It was the exile of the Atrebatic king, Verica

Verica

Verica was a United Kingdom Roman client kingdoms in Britain of the Roman Empire in the years preceding the Roman invasion of Britain of 43 AD....
, that prompted Claudius

Claudius

Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus or Claudius I was the fourth Roman Emperor, a member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, ruling from January 24, AD 41 to his death in AD 54....
to launch a successful invasion, led by Aulus Plautius

Aulus Plautius

Aulus Plautius was a Roman empire politician and general of the mid-1st century. He led the Roman conquest of Britain in 43, and became the first List of Roman governors of Britain of the new province, serving from 43 to 47....
, in AD 43.

Dio tells us that by this stage Cunobelinus was dead, and Togodumnus and Caratacus led the initial resistance to the invasion in Kent. They were defeated by Plautius in two crucial battles on the rivers Medway

River Medway

The 'River Medway', which is almost entirely in Kent, England, flows for from just inside the West Sussex border to the point where it enters the Thames Estuary....
(see Battle of the Medway

Battle of the Medway

The Battle of the Medway took place in 43 on the River Medway in the lands of the Iron Age tribe of the Cantiaci, now the England county of Kent....
) and Thames

River Thames

Dobunni

The Dobunni were one of the Celtic tribes living in the British Iron Age prior to the Roman invasion of Britain. The tribe lived in the part of southwestern Britain that today broadly coincides with the English counties of North Somerset, Bristol and Gloucestershire although at times their territory may have extended into parts of what are no...
, who lived in Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire is a Counties of England in South West England England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....
, and may give an indication of how far Catuvellaunian power extended. Togodumnus died shortly after the battle on the Thames. Plautius halted and sent word for the emperor to join him, and Claudius led the final advance to Camulodunum. The territories of the Catuvellauni became the nucleus of the new Roman province

Roman province

In Ancient Rome, a province was the basic, and until the Tetrarchy , largest territorial and administrative unit of the empire's territorial possessions outside of the Italia ....
.

Under Roman rule

Caratacus, however, had survived, and continued to lead the resistance to the invaders. We next hear of him in Tacitus

Tacitus

Publius Cornelius Tacitus was a Roman Senate and a historian of the Roman Empire. The surviving portions of his two major works—the Annals and the Histories —examine the reigns of the Roman Emperors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero and those that reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors....
's Annals
Annals (Tacitus)

The Annals is a history book by Tacitus covering the reign of the four Roman Emperors succeeding to Caesar Augustus. The parts of the work that survived from antiquity cover the reigns of Tiberius and Nero....
, leading the Silures

Silures

The Silures were a powerful and warlike tribe of ancient Great Britain, occupying approximately the counties of Monmouthshire, Breconshire and Glamorganshire in south Wales....
and Ordovices

Ordovices

The Ordovices were one of the Celtic tribes living in the British Islands, before the Roman invasion of Britain. Its tribal lands were located in Wales between the Silures to the south and the Deceangli to the north-east....
in what is now Wales

Wales

native_name = Cymru|conventional_long_name = Wales|common_name = Wales|image_flag = Flag of Wales 2.svg|national_motto = ...
against the Roman governor Publius Ostorius Scapula

Publius Ostorius Scapula

Publius Ostorius Scapula was a Roman empire statesman and general who governed Roman Britain from 47 until his death, and was responsible for the defeat and capture of Caratacus....
. Ostorius defeated him in a set-piece battle somewhere in Ordovician territory (see Battle of Caer Caradoc

Battle of Caer Caradoc

The Battle of Caer Caradoc was the final battle in Caratacus's resistance to Roman Empire rule. Fought in 50, the Romans defeated the Britons and thus secured the southern areas of the province of Roman Britain....
) in AD 51, capturing members of his family, but Caratacus again escaped. He fled north to the Brigantes

Brigantes

The Brigantes were a List of Celtic tribes who in British Iron Age times controlled the largest section of Northern England and a significant part of the Midlands#The English Midlands....
, but their queen, Cartimandua

Cartimandua

Cartimandua , whose name appears to contain the Indo-European element *mandu "pony",was a queen of the Brigantes, who formed a large tribal agglomeration in northern England in the early Roman Britain period....
, was loyal to the Romans and handed him over in chains.

Caratacus was exhibited as a war-prize as part of a triumphal parade

Roman triumph

A Roman triumph was a civil religion and religious rite of ancient Rome, held to publically celebrate the achievements of an army commander who had won great military successes, originally and traditionally, who had successfully completed a war....
in Rome. He was allowed to make a speech to the Senate

Roman Senate

The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic. According to the Greek historian Polybius, our principal source on the Constitution of the Roman Republic, the Roman Senate was the predominant branch of government....
, and made such an impression that he and his family were freed and allowed to live in peace in Rome.

Verulamium

Verulamium

Verulamium was the third-largest city in Roman Britain. It was sited in the southwest of the modern city of St Albans in Hertfordshire. A large portion of the Roman city remains unexcavated, being now park and agricultural land, though much has been built upon ....
, the Roman settlement near Verlamion, gained the status of municipium
Municipium

A municipium belonged to the second highest Social class of Ancient Rome cities, being inferior in status to the colonia . The first municipium was Tusculum....
ca 50, allowing its leading magistrates to become Roman citizens. It was destroyed in the rebellion of Boudica

Boudica

Boudica was a queen of the Iceni tribe of what is now known as East Anglia in England, who led an uprising of the tribes against the occupying forces of the Roman Empire....
in 60 or 61, but was soon rebuilt. Its forum

Forum (Roman)

The Forum was the public space in the middle of a Ancient Rome city.A gathering place of great social significance, it was often the scene of diverse activities, including political discussions, meetings, et cetera....
and basilica

Basilica

The Latin word basilica , was originally used to describe a ancient Rome public building , usually located in the Forum of a Roman town. In Hellenistic cities, public basilicas appeared in the 2nd century BC....
were completed in 79 or 81, and were dedicated in an inscription

Verulamium Forum inscription

The Verulamium Forum Inscription is one of the many Roman inscriptions in Britain. It was found in 1955 at the north-east entrance to the forum and basilica of Verulamium ....
by the governor, Gnaeus Julius Agricola

Gnaeus Julius Agricola

Gnaeus Julius Agricola was a Roman Empire general responsible for much of the Roman conquest of Roman Britain. His biography, the Agricola , was the first published work of his son-in-law, the historian Tacitus, and is the source for most of what is known about him....
, to the emperor Titus

Titus

Titus Flavius Vespasianus, commonly known as Titus , was a Roman Emperor who briefly reigned from 79 until his death in 81. Titus was the second emperor of the Flavian dynasty, which ruled the Roman Empire between 69 and 96, encompassing the reigns of Titus's father Vespasian , Titus himself and his younger brother Domitian ....
. Its theatre, the first Roman theatre

Roman theatre (structure)

File:Amman Roman theatre.jpgA Roman theatre is a Theater structure influenced by Hellenistic Greece....
in Britain, was built ca 140.

An inscription records that the civitas of the Catuvellauni were involved in the reconstruction of Hadrian's Wall

Hadrian's Wall

Hadrian's Wall is a Rock and Sod fortification built by the Roman Empire across the width of what is now northern England. Begun in AD 122, during the rule of emperor Hadrian, it was the middle of three such fortifications built across Great Britain, the first being from the River Clyde to the River Forth under Agricola and the last the Ant...
, probably in the time of Septimius Severus

Septimius Severus

Lucius Septimius Severus was a Roman Empire general, and Roman Emperor from April 14 193 to 211. He was born in what is now the Libyan part of Rome's historic Africa Province, making him the first emperor to be born in the Roman province of Africa Province....
in the early 3rd century. Saint Alban

Saint Alban

Saint Alban was the first British Christianity martyr. Along with his fellow saints Julius and Aaron, Alban is one of three martyrs remembered from Roman Britain....
, the first British Christian

Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism#Christian view religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus and interpreted by Christians to have been prophesied in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament....
martyr

Martyr

The term martyr is most commonly used today to describe an individual who sacrifices his or her life in order to further a cause or belief for many....
, was a citizen of Verulamium in the late 3nd or early 4th century, and was killed there. The city took its modern name from him. The tombstone of a woman of the Catuvellauni called Regina, freedwoman and wife of Barates, a soldier from Palmyra

Palmyra

Palmyra was in ancient times an important city of central Syria, located in an oasis 215 km northeast of Damascus and 120 km southwest of the Euphrates....
in Syria

Syria

Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is an Arab-majority country in Southwest Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Israel to the southwest, Jordan to the south, Iraq to the east, and Turkey to the north....
, was found in the 4th century Roman fort of Arbeia

Arbeia

Arbeia is the remains of a large Ancient Rome castra in South Shields, Tyne and Wear, England which has been partially reconstructed. It was first excavated in the 1870s and all modern building on the site were cleared in the 1970s....
in South Shields

South Shields

South Shields is a coastal town in Tyne and Wear, England, located at the mouth of the River Tyne, England. The town has a population of about 90,000 and is part of the Metropolitan_borough of South Tyneside, which includes the riverside towns of Jarrow and Hebburn and the villages of Boldon, Cleadon and Whitburn....
in the north-east of England.

List of leaders of the Catuvellauni

Cassivellaunus
Cassivellaunus

Cassivellaunus was a historical Brythonic chieftain who led the defence against Julius Caesar's second expedition to Great Britain in 54 BC. He also appears in British legend as Cassibelanus, one of Geoffrey of Monmouth's kings of Britain, and in the Mabinogion, Brut y Bryttaniait and Welsh Triads as Caswallawn, son of Beli Mawr....
, a military leader and possibly chieftain, often associated with the Catuvellauni c. 54 BC
Tasciovanus
Tasciovanus

File:Tasciovanus.jpgTasciovanus was a historical king of the Catuvellauni tribe before the Roman conquest of Britain....
, c. 20 BC - AD 9
Cunobelinus
Cunobelinus

Cunobelinus was a historical king in pre-Roman Ancient Britain, known from passing mentions by classical historians Suetonius and Dio Cassius, and from his many inscribed coins....
, AD 9 - AD 40
Togodumnus
Togodumnus

Togodumnus was a historical king of the British Catuvellauni tribe at the time of the Roman conquest of Britain. He can probably be identified with the legendary British king Guiderius....
Caratacus
Caratacus

Caratacus was a historical British Iron Age chieftain of the Catuvellauni tribe, who led the British resistance to the Roman conquest. The legendary Welsh mythology character Caradoc and the legendary British king Arvirargus may be based upon Caratacus....

Catuvellauni

Before the Roman conquest

Under Roman rule

List of leaders of the Catuvellauni

See also

External links