European Kingdoms

Abrincates / Abrincatui (Gauls)

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In general terms, the Romans coined the name 'Gaul' to describe the Celtic tribes of what is now central, northern, and eastern France. The Gauls were divided from the Belgae to the north by the Marne and the Seine, and from the Aquitani to the south by the River Garonne, while also extending into Switzerland, northern Italy, and along the Danube (see feature link for a discussion of the origins of the Celtic name).

A client tribe of the Venelli was the Abrincates or Abrincatui. They were a late Hallstatt tribe which left their homeland to the south-east of Cologne on the River Abrinca (Vinxtbach) in the sixth or fifth century BC. They settled in Armorica, on the River See around modern Avranches, but were dominated by the Venelli until proper Roman occupation of the area began in 49 BC.

Those Venelli overlords occupied territory to their north, separated by the River Thar, along with the Boiocasses and Viducasses. The Eburovices lay to the east, the Diablintes to the south, and the Redones to the west, separated by the River Couesnon. A somewhat confusing mention of Sexovii also has them placed in this general area.

It was Pliny who recorded them as the Abrincatui. The tribe's name breaks down into two parts - 'abro' and 'catu'. The last part, 'catu', is the familiar word used to mean 'fight/battle/war' which was also used in the Catuvellauni name (and others). The first part, 'abro', means 'very'. This is likely to have been the 'very warlike' tribe, or the 'very battlers' (ie. 'super warriors'), or something similar.

Jacques Lacroix suggests the name derives from 'abro' meaning 'powerful, strong, violent', to mean the 'powerful fighters'. Daniel Levalet takes the view that the 'abro' is a derivative of the Celtic word 'aberen' (Brythonic 'aber', Breton 'aber', and Welsh 'aber'), meaning 'estuary'. The nearby bay of Mont Saint Michel is formed by the estuaries of several rivers, hence Levalat's translation as 'warriors of the estuary'.

Remains of two pre-Roman oppida have been found in Le Petit-Celland and Carolles, while the tribe had other settlements in Montanel and near Mortain. By the first century AD the tribe's principal civitas was Ingena, then Legedia and finally, at some point during the later empire, Abrincas.

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(Information by Peter Kessler, Edward Dawson, and Trish Wilson, with additional information from the Encyclopaedia of European Peoples, Carl Waldman & Catherine Mason, from Caesar's Conquest of Gaul, TR Holmes, from Geography, Strabo, translated by H C Hamilton Esq & W Falconer, M A, Ed (George Bell & Sons, London, 1903), from The Celtic Encyclopaedia, Harry Mountain, from Geography, Ptolemy, from Roman History, Cassius Dio, from Research into the Physical History of Mankind, James Cowles Pritchard, from Encyclopaedia of the Roman Empire, Matthew Bunson (1994), and from External Links: The Works of Julius Caesar: Gallic Wars, and The Natural History, Pliny the Elder (John Bostock, Ed), and Jones' Celtic Encyclopaedia, and L'Arbre Celtique (The Celtic Tree, in French), and Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz or Dictionnaire Historique de la Suisse or Dizionario Storico dell Svizzera (in German, French, and Italian respectively).)

6th century BC

The Harii probably belong to the Hallstatt culture of Celts, along with the Abrincates, Bebryces, Boii, Cotini, Helisii, Helveconae, Manimi, Naharvali, Osi, and at least some elements of the later Lugii.

They are to be found around central Germany, in ancient Bohemia and Moravia, in today's Slovakia, and along the edges of Poland and Ukraine (a future home of Germanic tribes such as the Baemi and Quadi).

The landscape of Bohemia is and was defined by wooded mountainsides and extensive farming land - a green and fertile area at the centre of Europe and of the Hallstatt culture

Around this time a large-scale expansion begins which sees many Hallstatt Celts migrate outwards, towards northern Italy, Gaul, or Iberia. The Bebryces for one are primarily cattle herders, so they take their herds with them, greatly supplementing their diet with milk, fatty cheese, and beef.

Many others remain, and they control the region until increasing pressure in the second and first centuries BC which is imposed by newly-arriving Germanic tribes begins to erode their hold.

57 BC

The Belgae enter into a confederacy against the Romans in fear of Rome's eventual domination over them. They are also spurred on by Gauls who are unwilling to see Germanic tribes remaining on Gaulish territory and are unhappy about Roman troops wintering in Gaul.

This vast map covers just about all possible tribes which were documented in the first centuries BC and AD, mostly by the Romans and Greeks, and with an especial focus on 52 BC (click or tap on map to view at an intermediate size)

56 BC

Following his successful campaign against the Belgae in the previous year, Caesar sets out for Illyricum. Once he has left, war flares up again, triggered by Publius Licinius Crassus and the Seventh Legion in the territory of the Andes.

With supplies of corn running low, he sends scavenging parties into the territories of the Cariosvelites, Esubii, and the highly influential Veneti. The latter revolt against this infringement of their lands and possessions, and the neighbouring tribes rapidly follow their lead.

The campaign by Caesar against the Veneti is protracted and takes place both on land and sea. Veneti strongholds, when threatened, are evacuated by sea and the Romans have to begin again. Eventually the Veneti fleet is cornered and defeated in Quiberon Bay by Legate Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus.

Roman auxiliaries in the form of the Aeduii attack a Veneti vessel in Morbihan Bay on the French Atlantic coast during the campaign of 56 BC

52 BC

While Caesar is tied down in Rome, the Gauls begin their revolt, resolving to die in freedom rather than be suppressed by the invaders. The Carnutes take the lead under Cotuatus and Conetodunus when they kill the Roman traders who have settled in Genabum.

Demanded from the tribes of Gaul are six thousand men combined from the tribes of Armorica (including the Ambibari, Caleti, Cariosvelites, Lemovices, Osismii, Redones, Venelli (and therefore also the Abrincates), and Veneti).

Together they attempt to relieve Vercingetorix at the siege of Alesia, but the combined relief force is soundly repulsed by Julius Caesar. Seeing that all is lost, Vercingetorix surrenders to Caesar.

The garrison is taken prisoner, as are the survivors from the relief army. They are either sold into slavery or given as booty to Caesar's legionaries, apart from the Aeduii and Arverni warriors who are released and pardoned in order to secure the allegiance of these important and powerful tribes.

The site of Alesia, a major fort belonging to the Mandubii tribe of Celts, was the scene of the final desperate stand-off between Rome and the Gauls in 52 BC

With this action, all of Gaul has been brought under Roman domination, and the history of its population of Celts and Aquitani is tied to that of the emerging Roman empire.