Celtic Kingdoms of the British Isles

Regninses / Regni (Britons)

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It was the Romans who coined the name 'Gaul' to describe the Celtic tribes of what is now France and Belgium, quite possibly based on an original form of the word 'Celt' itself (see feature link). When it came to the Celts of Britain, the name of the islands itself was used: Prydein (Latinised as Prettania or Britannia).

Its collective people were Britons, although not all of them were Celts, let alone the same 'type' of Celts. Successive waves of immigration had left a vague mix of Bell Beaker folk, Urnfield proto-Celts, Hallstatt and La Tène waves, and Belgae, the latest arrivals. By the first century BC these latter people dominated the south and east of the isles.

The Regninses were a little-known tribe or unit which occupied modern East Sussex, south-west Kent, eastern Surrey, and the eastern edges of Hampshire. Their tribal centre was at Noviomagus (Chichester in West Sussex), close to Trisantona Fluvius (the River Arun) which joined the English Channel at Littlehampton, a little way to the east of Noviomagus.

The tribe was bordered to the west by the Belgae, to the north by the Atrebates, and to the east by the Cantii, while much of their northern border was filled by the vast and near-impenetrable Weald Forest. Nevertheless, they were thinly scattered on either side of the Weald, and there were safe paths through the forest (see the map of most of Europe's tribes around the first centuries BC and AD to view this tribe's location in relation to all other Celts).

For the most part, the Regninses (Regnenses or Regini / Regni) appear to have been vassals of the Atrebates. They may have been only a division of the Belgic Atrebates, or may have been part of a confederation of smaller tribes which predated the arrival of the Atrebates throughout Sussex and Hampshire.

They seem to have escaped true conquest by the Atrebates and even any real influence from them, but their obvious links with them are shown by Noviomagus being the earliest capital of the Atrebates, especially as it lies close to an easy-accessible coastline for migrating Celts travelling over from continental Europe.

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(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information by Edward Dawson, from Geography, Ptolemy, from The Oxford History of England: Roman Britain, Peter Salway, from The Oxford History of England: Roman Britain, Peter Salway, from The La Tene Celtic Belgae Tribes in England: Y-Chromosome Haplogroup R-U152 - Hypothesis C, David K Faux, from Atlas of British History, G S P Freeman-Grenville (Rex Collins, London, 1979), and from External Link: Proto-Celtic Word List (PDF).)

c.100 - 80? BC

The date at which the Belgic Atrebates arrive in Britain is unknown, but it may be around this period. They possibly migrate into the country from the south coast (most likely via Selsey in West Sussex, precisely the same point at which the later South Saxons also land), and found an early tribal capital at Noviomagus (modern Chichester in West Sussex).

The Roman baths at Noviomagus in Regninses territory were uncovered by archaeologists in the 1970s and were later exposed more permanently to be incorporated into a permanent underground exhibition

Over time they migrate north-westwards, integrating with earlier Celtic populations in the region and founding a new settlement at Calleva, although this remains relatively minor until the late first century BC.

However, coin distribution contradicts this picture, suggesting that the Atrebates arrive via the Thames, settling in the Upper Thames Valley and migrating southwards from there. This would make much stronger the possibility that the Regninses are an earlier Celtic population which later is subjugated by the Atrebates.

c.90 - 60 BC

Gallo-Belgic C coins can be found which are tentatively identified with Diviciacus of the Suessiones. Finds are concentrated amongst the Cantii, but can be found as far west as the Sussex coast in the territory of the Regninses, and up to the Catuvellauni territory around the Wash.

By the end of the first century BC and the start of the first century AD, British politics often came to the attention of Rome, and the borders of the tribal states of the south-east were pretty well known (click or tap on map to view full sized)

During this late Iron Age period, it seems that the Regninses capital is located at a prehistoric settlement at Selsey (in West Sussex), possibly around the Mixon rocks to the south of Selsey itself. Archaeological evidence to support the theory has yet to be found, but plenty of Atrebatean and early Roman coins have been found in this area. The settlement declines during the Roman period and is later covered by rising sea levels.

c.30 - 20 BC

It is possible that during a period of joint rule, Tincommius of the Atrebates governs the southern half of Atrebatean territory from the secondary capital of Noviomagus, which is within the territory of the Regninses.

c.AD 15

Eppillus of the Atrebates is overthrown by his younger brother after the latter builds up a following of nobles who are disaffected by Eppillus' own recent grab for power. He flees to the land of the Cantii, probably passing through Regninses territory along the way, where he overthrows the ruler and takes command.

Shown here are both sides of a coin which was issued by the Atrebates between 50-20 BC, either under the authority of Commius or his son, Commius 'the Younger'

43

The Romans conquer the kingdom under the command of soon-to-be Roman Governor Aulus Plautius. The Regninses territory is taken from the control of the Atrebates and is reorganised into the pro-Roman kingdom of the Regninses under the rule of Tiberius Claudius Cogidubnus.

He may be the son of Verica, the last native king of the Atrebates. He appears to be granted the titles 'Rex Britannorum' ('King of Britain') and Legatus Augusti (imperial legate). A military supply base is built at Noviomagus from which to provision the legions as they push farther west, into the territories of the Belgae and Durotriges.

43 - 80?

Roman client king of the Atrebates, Belgae, & Regninses.

c.80?

Direct rule under the Romans follows the apparently peaceful death of Cogidubnus (which remains unrecorded and therefore, probably, unspectacular or noteworthy). During the last years of his life, a palatial Romano-British villa is built at Fishbourne, one of the largest ever seen in Britain, and is quite possibly his seat of power.

Fishbourne villa was one of the most extensive and richly-decorated establishments in the whole of Britain, surely a palace fit for a (client) king of the Regninses?

It lies alongside a deep water harbour (now several hundred metres from the Chichester Channel, and about two kilometres east of Noviomagus), which is probably built as early as AD 43 or 44 as part of the Roman supply chain.

The former tribal territory of the Atrebates is subsequently organised into the civitates (administrative districts within a Roman province) of the Atrebates, Regninses, and possibly the Belgae. The Regninses are governed from the tribal capital at Noviomagus Regnorum.

c.140s

Writing around this time, the geographer, Ptolemy, notes that the 'Regni' are situated below the Atrebates and Cantii with their chief town of Noviomagus. In this century the town gains a bank-and-timber palisade which is later replaced with stone, probably in the third century.

c.290

The Saxon Shore fort of Anderitum or Anderidos (the modern Pevensey Castle) is constructed on ground not previously used for any form of habitation. The ground is a peninsula which rises above the marshes along this stretch of the coast and surrounding it on three sides.

The Roman invasion of Britain began late in the season, using three divisions which swiftly conquered the south-east before more slowly penetrating the west and north to bring all of England and Wales under their control, as shown in this series of sequential maps (click or tap on map to view full sized)

The existence of a Roman road to the site well before the fort's construction suggests the existence of a port which has yet to be found by archaeologists. The fort appears to be built not to prevent incursions by marauding Saxons but to provide defensive capabilities during a period in which Britain is isolated from continental Europe by the rebellion of Marcus Mausaeus Carausius, who declares himself to be Roman emperor (a later date of the 330s or 340s is sometimes also given to the fort's founding).

Perhaps it is no coincidence that the extensive villa at Fishbourne is apparently destroyed by fire in the same period (late third century). Archaeology has shown that lead from the melting roof falls onto the mosaic beneath it.

The villa is subsequently abandoned. Many of its precision-made building stones are re-used in other constructions and a number of late Romano-British burials subsequently take place at the site.

c.400

The fort of Anderitum undergoes repair work under the direction of Roman General Stilicho. He is known to be in Britain in 398 where he is suspected to have defended the provinces during the second of the 'Pictish wars'. He certainly attends to the island's defences before leaving for the European mainland and taking more troops with him. Parts of the fort still stand today.

Silver ingots from the late fourth or early fifth century were used to pay soldiers and civil servants in the late Roman empire, with these being discovered at the site of the Tower of London, and at Reculver and Richborough in Kent

5th century

Roman authority has long been fading in Britain (see feature link), albeit more extensively in the west and north than along the south coast. Still, with Roman administration being expelled in 409 and some form of native government seeming to replace it, the Regninses appear to regain some level of self-control in the form of the postulated territory of Rhegin.