Atrebates
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The Atrebates (meaning settlers) were an Iron Age tribe of Gaul and Britain before the Roman conquests.
The Gaulish Atrebates lived in or around modern Artois in northern France. Their capital, Nemetocenna, is now the city of Arras. The British tribe lived in modern Hampshire, West Sussex and Surrey, centred on the capital Calleva Atrebatum (Silchester Roman Town).
The Gaulish tribe participated in the Belgic alliance against Julius Caesar in 57 BC. When that alliance broke up and some tribes surrendered, they joined with the Nervii and Viromandui and attacked Caesar at the river Sambre. Their attack was so quick and unexpected that some of the Romans didn't have time to take the covers off their shields or even put on their helmets. The element of surprise briefly left the Romans exposed. However Caesar grabbed a shield, made his way to the front line, and quickly organised his forces. The two legions who had been guarding the baggage train at the rear arrived and helped to turn the tide of the battle. Caesar says the Nervii were almost anihilated. The Atuatuci, who were on the march to join the battle, turned back when they heard of the defeat.
After conquering the Atrebates, Caesar appointed one of their countrymen, Commius, as their king. Commius was involved in Caesar's two expeditions to Britain in 55 and 54 BC and negotiated the surrender of Cassivellaunus. However he turned against the Romans and joined in the revolt led by Vercingetorix in 52 BC. After Vercingetorix's defeat at the Siege of Alesia, Commius fled to Britain with his followers, and by about 30 BC had established himself as king of the British Atrebates, a kingdom he may have founded. Coins stamped with his name continued to be issued from from Calleva until about 20 BC.
The settlement of the Atrebates in Britain was not a mass population movement. Archaeologist Barry Cunliffe argues that they "seem to have comprised a series of indigenous tribes, possibly with some intrusive Belgic element, given initial coherence by Commius". It is possible that the name "Atrebates", as with many "tribal" names in this period, referred only to the ruling house and not to an ethnic group, and that Commius and his followers, after arriving in Britain, established a power-base and gradually expanded their sphere of influence, creating what was in effect a proto-state. However the fact that, when Caesar was unable to bring his cavalry over to Britain during his first expedition there, Commius was able to provide a small group of horsemen from his people, suggests that he already had kin in Britain at this time.
Some have suggested that given the length of his floruit there may have been two kings, father and son, of the same name, but if Commius was a young man when appointed by Caesar he could very well have lived until 20 BC. Some coins of this period are stamped "COM COMMIOS", which, interpreted as "Commius son of Commius", seem to support the two kings theory.
Commius (the younger if there were two) had three notable sons, Tincommius, Eppillus and Verica. Tincommius seems to have ruled jointly with his father from about 25 BC until Commius's death in about 20 BC. After that, Tincommius ruled the northern part of the kingdom from Calleva, whicle Eppillus ruled the southern half from Noviomagus (Chichester). Numismatic and other archeological evidence suggests Tincommius took a more pro-Roman stance than his father.
At some point, probably before 7 AD, Tincommius was ousted and appears as a supplicant to the Roman emperor Augustus in his Res Gestae. After this, Epillus's coins are marked "Rex", indicating that he was recogised as king by Rome.
In about 15, Eppillus was succeeded by Verica. At about the same time, a king by the name of Eppillus appears as ruler of the Cantiaci in Kent. But Verica's kingdom was being pressed by the expansion of the Catuvellauni under Cunobelinus. Calleva fell to Cunobelinus's brother Epaticcus by about 25. Verica regained some territory following Epaticcus's death in about 35, but Cunobelinus's son Caratacus took over the campaign and by the early 40s the Atrebates were conquered. Verica fled to Rome, giving the new emperor Claudius the pretext for the Roman invasion of Britain.
After Roman conquest, part of the Atrebates' lands were organized into the pro-Roman kingdom of the Regnenses under Tiberius Claudius Cogidubnus, possibly Verica's son. The tribal territory was later organised as the civitates (administrative districts within a Roman province) of the Atrebates, Regnenses and possibly the Belgae.
References
- Julius Caesar, De Bello Gallico
- Caesar Augustus, Res Gestae
- Sextus Julius Frontinus, Strategemata
- Cassius Dio, Roman History
- Barry Cunliffe, Iron Age Britain
- Sheppard Frere, Britannia
- Commius (http://www.roman-britain.org/people/commius.htm) and the Atrebates (http://www.roman-britain.org/tribes/atrebates.htm) at Roman-Britain.org (http://www.roman-britain.org)