Pre-Roman Celtic Kingdoms

Tribe of the Catuvellauni

The main territorial ground of the Catuvellauni was in the north of Thamesis (River Thames), and to the north (modern Hertfordshire), which is where they originally had their powerbase. Under Cassivellaunus they expanded outwards to dominate Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire east of the Cherwell, Middlesex and north-east Surrey.

They were one of the most prominent Celtic tribes of their time, and also one of the richest. Nevertheless, as with all the pre-Roman Celts, they left no written records. Their rulers are only noted after they came into contact with the Romans.

(Additional information taken from The Oxford History of England: Roman Britain, Peter Salway.)

c.60 - 48 BC

Cassivellaunus

High King of Britain. Fought Julius Caesar.

54 BC

After leading a coalition army against the invading Romans, Cassivellaunus is defeated by Julius Caesar and his expeditionary force south of Thamesis, near modern Brentford, and again at Wheathampstead in Hertfordshire on 5th August.

c.20 BC - AD 10

Tasciovanus

c.AD 5 - 15

Andocomius

c.10 - 41

Cunobelinus (Cymbeline)

High King. Also king of the Trinovantes (AD 1-41).

c.25

The Catuvellauni manage to gain control of the Cantii.

c.25 - c.35

Cunobelinus' brother, Epaticcus, seizes the throne of the Atrebates.

c.35 - 43

Cunobelinus' son Caratacus takes over the task of conquering the Atrebates, completing it by AD 43.

39/40

Adminus, son of Cunobelinus, is expelled by his father and flees to the Continent with a small band of followers, where he surrenders to the Romans. The emperor, Gaius (Caligula) may get his initial idea of mounting an expedition across this channel from this 'famous victory', as he had it proclaimed.

41 - 43

Togodumnus

Son.

By 43

The Catuvellauni seem to have exerted some level of control over the northeastern part of the Dobunni by this stage.

43

Togodumnus, with his brother Caratacus, is defeated in battle near the River Medway in Ceint by Aulus Plautius some time before the end of May. The Dobunni surrender to the Romans. Togodumnus is killed soon after, with the effect that the Britons become even more united in the face of the enemy. The kingdom also loses its eastern possession of the Trinovantes, as well as its relocated capital of Colchester.

43

Caratacus

Brother. High King. Formerly King of the Cantii.

43

The Catuvellauni are conquered by the invading Romans.

Possibly sheltering with the anti-Roman western Dobunni in the meantime, Caratacus re-emerges in AD 47 to lead the Silures and Ordovices tribes in Wales against the Romans.

A descendant of his is to be found ruling the Dunbarton Damnonii in the second century, while the fifth century kings of the Goutodin also traced their lineage back to him, suggesting that his surviving family in Britain fled to the free British north of lowland Scotland.