| This webpage was protected by HTMLProtector |
| Atrebates | The Atrebates (pronounced Atre-bar-te) occupied the area now known as Hampshire. This is another British tribe that shares a name with another tribe in pre-Roman France. This tribe was the second most powerful group in southern Britain at the time of the Roman Conquest. They issued and used coins, and had many contacts with France. They probably consisted of a group of tribes ruled by a single dynasty. Their territory originally stretched from what is today West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. After the Roman Conquest, their territory was divided into three separate civitates. One tribal centre was at the major settlement at Silchester, near Reading. Another major Royal centre, comparable to those at St Albans, Colchester and Stanwick, was at Chichester. The Atrebates had long links of trade with France and it is likely that people from the Atrebates were related by married to people from French tribes. The origin of the name Atrebates may have come from France. A French leader from the French tribes called the Atrebates, Commas, fled to Britain during Julius Caesar's conquests of Gaul. Commius then appears as the name of the Atrebates ruler. From about 15 BC, the Atrebates seem to have established friendly relations with Rome, and it was an appeal for help from the last Atrebatic king, Verica, which provided Claudius with the pretext for the invasion on Britain in AD 43. After the Roman Conquest, the territory of the Atrebates was divided up, with Silchester (Calleva Atrebatum) becoming the capital of a Roman civitas the administered the area of modern Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Surrey and north Hampshire. The name Atrebates means 'settlers' or 'inhabitants'. |
| Brigantes | This large tribe was, like the Votandini, a federation of smaller communities. The name means 'upland people' or 'hill dwellers'. This name is very appropriate as the Pennines formed the heart of their territory. After the Roman Conquest, the Brigantes were formed into a very large civitates, or administrative unit that covered most of Yorkshire, Cleveland, Durham and Lancashire. It stretched from the North Sea to the Irish Sea. We know the names of some of the smaller tribes they made up the Brigantes at the time of the Roman Conquest. They include the Setanti in Lancashire , the Lopocares, the Corionototae and the Tectoverdi around the Tyne valley. This huge area was very varied. As well as people living in the Dales and hills, many people farmed the fertile land in Durham, Tyneside and Teeside. At the time of the Roman Conquest people in this region wore swords carried in distinctive local metal scabbards that were highly decorated. An important centre for the Brigantes was built at Stanwick in North Yorkshire in the first century AD. This was probably the capital of Queen Cartimandua who ruled the Brigantes. Cartimandua was friendly towards the Romans, but her husband was anti-Roman. The Romans invaded and occupied the territory in AD79. The Brigante were happy to operate under this agreement until Caractacus brought his war with the Romans into her territory. Caractacus was seized and handed over to the Romans. This caused a split in the politics within the tribe, and a civil war ensued. It took a large Roman presence to bring things under control. |
| Cantii |
| Catuvellauni | The Catuvellauni were the tribe that lived in the modern counties of Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and southern Cambridgeshire. Their territory also probably included tribes in what is today Buckinghamshire and parts of Oxfordshire. The tribal name possibly means 'good in battle'. The Catuvellauni existed as a tribe at the time of Julius Caesar, but in the following years became an extremely powerful group. Their first known king was Tasciovanus, who is known from the coins he minted with his name on them. He founded a royal and ritual centre at Verulamium, modern St Albans in about AD10. There were several other large settlements or clusters of villages in their territory, such as at Baldock and Welwyn. Before this time, the Catuvellauni, Trinovantes and Cantiaci were very different from other British tribes. They had been using coins for at least a century, adopted the same way of burying the dead as was practised in northern France, and eat and dressed in ways more common in France than other parts of Briton. Tasciovanus successors created a large kingdom through conquest and alliance that included the Trinovantes and Cantiaci. The most successful king was Cunobelinus (Cymbeline), but after his death in the late 30's AD, his kingdom was beset by rivalries between his successors. This was the excuse used by the Roman Emperor Claudius to conquer southern Britain in 43 AD. The Catuvellauni were one of the most pro-Roman of British peoples. They very quickly and peacefully adopted Roman lifestyles and Roman rule. A very rich grave of a pro-Roman Catuvellaunian ruler who lived at the time of the Roman Conquest has been excavated at Folly Lane, St Albans. They became one of the first civitas in the new province, Verulamium becoming one of the first and most successful cities in Roman Britain. |
| Coritani | Another of the larger tribes, with tribal capitals and extensive farmlands. |
| Cornovii | The Cornovii are a surprisingly obscure tribe, given that they lay well within the boundaries of the Roman province and their civitas capital, Wroxeter, was one of the largest in Britain. They share their name with a Caledonian tribe who lived in the far north of Scotland. The name probably means 'people of the horn'. There is no reason to think that this group shared any common ancestry with the group in Caithness. Many tribes or peoples in Europe at the time of the Roman Conquest shared similar names. This might be because these tribes had contacts with each other. But it is just as likely to be a coincidence, as people used similar types of names for themselves such as 'the people of the mountains' or 'the brave people' etc. The Cornovii never issued coinage and before the Roman Conquest left little evidence to recognise them. They probably lived in what are today the modern counties of Staffordshire, Shropshire and Cheshire. |
| Damnonii | This is the tribe or people who lived in the central part of Scotland around what is today Glasgow and Strathclyde. The name of this tribe could be spelt either as Damnonii or as Dumnonii. The Dumnonii is the name of the people who lived in Devon and Cornwall at this time. Many tribes in Britain and France at the time of the Roman Conquest shared similar names. This might be because these tribes had contacts with each other. It could, however, be coincidence, as people used similar types of names for themselves such as 'the people of the mountains', 'people of the horn' or 'the brave people' etc. The Damnonii were conquered by the Romans and for many years their territory was occupied by the Roman army before they retreated further south to the line of Hadrians Wall. |
| Deceangli | The Deceangli, the Ordovices and the Silures were the three main tribe groups who lived in the mountains of what is today called Wales. However, in prehistory Wales, England and Scotland did not exist in anyway as distinctive entities in the ways they have done so for the last 1000 years. The Deceangli were the peoples of what is today north Wales. They probably included the peoples who lived on the Isle of Anglesey. The Romans considered Anglesey, or Mona as they and the locals at the time called it, as a stronghold of the Druids. Because the Druids played an important role in encouraging the recently conquered Britons to resist the Roman Conquers, the Roman army specifically targeted Anglesey for destruction. On the eve of Boudicca's revolt in what is today East Anglia, the Roman Army has only just completed the long and difficult task of conquering the tribes living in the Welsh Mountains. The final episode of that conquest was the invasion of Anglesey and the slaughter of the Druids there. |
| Demetae | These were the people who lived in the fertile lands of Pembrokeshire and much of Carmarthenshire in southwest Wales. They lived in small farms scattered across the countryside. This people shared many features of their lives with their neighbours across the Bristol Channel in Devon and Cornwall. They were friendly towards the Romans and quickly adapted to Roman rule. Unlike their more warlike and scattered neighbours in the mountains of Wales; the Silures and the Ordovices. Because of this the Demetae did not need to be intensively garrisoned by the Roman army, except along their eastern border, which may have been to protect them from their hostile neighbours, the Silures. The tribe was incorporated into the province of Britannia and became a civitas (an administrative unit, or county, within the Roman province). The capital of the Roman civitas was at Carmarthen (Moridundum Demetarum). |
| Dubunni | This large tribe lived in the southern part of the Severn Valley and the Cotswolds. They were one of the few groups to issue coins before the Roman Conquest. The main distribution of these coins shows that the Dubunni occupied or ruled an area as far south as the Mendips. The coins also hint that the group was divided into northern and southern subgroups. The Dubunni lived in very fertile farmland in farms and small villages. They did not resist the Roman Conquest, unlike their neighbours, Silures. Indeed, they may have been one of the first tribes to submit to the Romans, even before the Romans reached their territory. The Dubunni had a central or important settlement at Bagendon in Gloucester, on the eastern edge of their territory. This centre was replaced by the important Roman city of Cirencester, which became the capital of the Dubunnic civitas after the Roman Conquest. |
| Dumnonii | A British tribe that occupied the whole of the South West peninsula and parts of Southern Somerset. They did not use coins. Nor did they have large settlements to act of political centres for the tribe. The Dumnonii were probably a group of smaller tribes that lived across the large area of Cornwall, Devon and Somerset. There is no evidence for a dynasty of Dumnonian kings. People lived in small farmsteads, usually surrounded by large walls. They shared similar styles of highly decorated pottery. There is also evidence for contacts and trade with Brittany. However, there were also local differences in the types of settlements and other aspects of life between different parts of Devon and Cornwall. Cornwall was one of the few parts of Britain where the dead were buried at this time. The Dumnonii appear to have accepted the Roman conquest without resistance and as a result few garrison forts were placed in their territory. Yet this area never fully adopted Roman ways of life. Life styles and types of settlements remained little changed from the Iron Age through the Roman period. The Romans granted them civitas status and the town of Exeter (Isca Dumnoniorum) was their administrative centre. |
| Durotriges | The Durotriges (pronounced duro-tree-gays) Centred in Dorset, this people were also found in southern parts of Wiltshire and Somerset and western Dorset. This was a people that minted and used coins before the Roman Conquest, but there is no evidence from the coins or burials for a strong dynasty of kings. Rather the Durotriges seem to have been a loosely knit confederation of smaller tribal groups at the time of the Roman conquest. One of these smaller tribal groups that lived around Dorchester, buried their dead in inhumation cemeteries. A unique feature of the Durotriges at this time was that they still occupied hillforts. Although hillforts are one of the most well known features of the Iron Age, most were no longer occupied at turn of the first millennium. Best known of these Durotrigean hillforts is that of Maiden Castle near Dorchester, others include South Cadbury Castle and Hod Hill. The Durotriges did have some trading contacts with France. A major trading centre existed at Hengistbury Head from which cross-channel trade with Gaul was controlled. This may be the settlement called Dunium by Ptolemy. It was located on the border between the Durotiges and Atrebates. However, cross channel trade was no an important source of goods for the Durotriges, who preferred local products. A particular type of pottery made at Poole Harbour was traded through out the territory of the Durotriges. At the time of the Roman invasion the Durotriges put up a spirited if unsuccessful opposition and they are almost certainly one of the two tribes that Suetonius records fighting against Vespasian and the 2nd legion. After the conquest they were made into a civitas with their capital was at Durnovaria (Dorchester) in the mid-70's. Later a second Durotrigean civitas was created, administered from Lindinis (Ilchester). |
| Epidii | Little is known about this tribe. They lived in the modern region of Kintyre and probably the islands of Arran, Jura and Islay |
| Iceni | This was another tribe that issued coins before the Roman Conquest. Their coins and other archaeological evidence shows that the tribe's territory was in the modern counties of Norfolk and parts of Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. They appear to have been a wealthy and powerful group of tribes between 200 and 50 BC. From their territory come the finest hoards of gold treasure found in Iron Age Britain; the Snettisham torcs. Other hoards of elaborately decorated bronze chariot fittings point to a love of conspicuous display by the nobles of the Iceni. This tribe also shunned contacts with the Roman world and the changes they brought with them that characterised the life styles of Catuvellauni and Trinovantes at this time. The Iceni had important religious centres at Snettisham and at Thetford. But when they were made into Roman Civitas, the Romans did not choose either of these centres, but the settlement at Caistor, near what is today Norwich. Was this because the Iceni led the most successful revolt against Roman rule in the history of Roman Britain? When the Romans invade southern Britain in AD 43 the Iceni were friendly towards the new rulers. Their king Prasutagus became a client-king of Rome. But on his death the kingdom was incorporated into the Roman province and together with other abuses led to the Icenian revolt led by Prasutagus' widow, Queen Boudicca. |
| Novantae | A little known tribe or people who lived in what is today south-west Scotland. The people living in this area did not build massive forts on the tops of mountains, as did the Votandini. Nor did the make many offerings of fine metal objects. Like their neighbours to the south, the Carvetii, archaeologists have found little evidence for the lives of these peoples before the Roman Conquest. They were clearly farmers and herders, but few of their farms and other settlements have been excavated by archaeologists so far. |
| Ordovices | This group covered much of the mountains and valleys of what is today mid-Wales. They were the northern neighbours of the Silures and the Southern neighbours of the Degeangli. Like the Silures and Degeangli, these peoples lived in small farms, often defended against attack. After the emperor Claudius invaded southern England in AD 43, one of the main leaders of the Britons, called Caratacus escaped to the Ordovices and the Silures. They were stirred into rebellion by Caratacus and for a long time successfully resisted the Romans. The Roman general Agricola only finally defeated the Ordovices in 77-8. The tribe was incorporated into Britannia and became a civitas (an administrative district). |
| Parisii | The Parisi lived in East Yorkshire. They were a small, but distinctive group of people who farmed the chalk hills of the Yorkshire Wolds. The Parisi share their name with the people who lived in France around what is today Paris. Whether both tribes shared strong links is hotly debated. The British Parisi are known for their unusual 'chariot-burials' and cemeteries. Unlike other people living in Britain between about 300 and 100 BC, the people in East Yorkshire buried their dead in large cemeteries. This was much like the way many peoples in France and Germany buried their dead at the same time. However, in other respects, the East Yorkshire Parisi lived in British style houses, wore British style ornaments and used British style pottery. At the time of the Romans, the Parisi had stopped burying they dead in this unusual way. However, the carried on other distinctive styles of life and remained separate from their large, powerful neighbours, the Brigantes. After the Roman Conquest they were made into their own small civitas with their capital at Petuaria (modern Brough on Humber) |
| Regni | The Regini holds a special place in the history of Roman Britain. Under the leadership of Cogidubnus, it acheived the fastest level of Romanisation in Britain. By providing facilities for the Romans, and access to the harbour at Chichester, it gave Claudius a massive foot hold on the south coast. In return for this, Cogidubnus was given a magnificent palace at Fishbourne. There is some argument to suggest that the Roman arrival happened in this area, in the territory of a friendly king. |
| Selgovae | A British tribe of Scotland, the name is thought to mean 'hunters'. The Roman geographer Ptolemy places them in the Southern uplands of Scotland. It is not clear from the little evidence we have as to exactly where this people lived. Some scholars place them in the upper Tweed Basin. It is unclear if they were part of the Votadini. They might have used Eildon Seat as their principal settlement. But this might have been a Votadinian site. Like the Votandini the Roman army in AD 79-80 conquered them. |
| Silures | Several Roman authors including Pliny, Ptolemy and Tacitus mention this tribe and later civitas (administrative unit in a Roman province). Their territory was south east Wales - the Brecon Beacons and south Welsh valleys. A people of the mountains and valleys, we know relatively little about how they lived. Like the other tribes of the Welsh Mountains, they were difficult for the Romans to conquer and control. For a time in the period around AD 45-57, they led the British opposition to the Roman advance westwards. Tacitus describes them as a strong and warlike nation, and for ten years or more the Romans fought to contain, rather than conquer them. Although defeated and occupied by the early 60's, their bitter resistance may explain the late grant of self governing civitas status to them only in the early 2nd century. The capital was established at a previously unoccupied site at Caerwent and was given the name Venta Silrum. Tacitus described them as swarthy and curly-haired, and suggested their ancestors might be from Spain because of the similarities in appearance with some peoples in Spain. However, there is no evidence to suggest any genetic links between south Wales and parts of Spain. |
| Trinovantes | The Trinovantes are the first British tribe to be mentioned by a Roman author, appearing in Caesar's account of his invasion of 54 BC. Already at this early date they seem to have been involved in a power struggle with the neighbouring tribes to the west who were to be forged into the kingdom of the Catuvellauni under Tasciovanus. This group shared the same ways of life and religious practices as the Catuvellauni and Cantiaci. They use coins, cremated their dead, ate from plates and drank from cups. They became part of the large kingdom established by the rules of the Catuvellauni. The king Cunobelinus essentially absorbed the two tribes into one larger kingdom. He or his predecessors, established Colchester as a new royal site on the same model as St Albans. Colchester, the capital of the large kingdom, was the target for the Roman Emperor Claudius' invasion in AD43. After the Roman Conquest, the Trinovantes were restored as tribal entity in the form of a civitas (an administrative unit or county) within the new Roman Province. The capital of the civitas was the Roman city of Colchester, which was originally founded as colony for retired Roman soldiers. |
| Votadini | This was a very large tribe or people that lived in the south east of Scotland. In the north, their territory started at Edinburgh and the Firth of Forth and stretched as far south as Northumberland in northern England. Where the boundary between the Votadini and the other large tribe, the Brigantes, who lived in northern England lay is not clear. It probably frequently shifted as a result of wars and as smaller tribes and communities changed allegiances. The Votadini, like the Brigantes, were a group made up of smaller tribes. We do not know the names of these smaller tribes and communities. Archaeologically, the territory of the Votadini was very different to that of either the Venicones or the Novantae. Large walls, banks and ditches surrounded most farms. People made offerings of fine metal objects, but never wore massive armlets. There are also at least three very large hillforts in their territory. Each was located on the top of a prominent hill or mountain. They may have been used for over a thousand years by this time as places of refuge and as places for meetings for political and religious ceremonies. These hillforts were at Yeavering Bell, Eildon Seat and Traprain Law. The Votandini were conquered and occupied by the Roman Army in AD 79-80. |