European Kingdoms

Bituriges Cubi (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.

By the middle of the first century BC, the Bituriges were located in central Gaul, between Orleans and Bourges, and between the rivers Cher and Creuse. They were neighboured to the north by the Turones and Carnutes, to the east by the Mandubii and Aeduii and a small pocket of Boii, to the south by the Arverni, and to the west by the Pictones. The Bituriges Cubi were a splinter of this vast tribe.

The Cubi epithet of the tribe's name can be broken down into the proto-Celtic 'kwu' (?), which means 'to', while 'bei-e/o-' (??) means 'live'. 'Cubi meant 'to live'. Essentially, the 'Bituriges Cubi' name matches the Biturices Vivisci name, both roughly implying the same meaning. The intriguing question is why the 'kings of life' would need to reaffirm their name in this way. In both cases it possibly would be another reference to the druidism which seemed to be a major part of the tribe's identity.

By the first century BC the tribe's glory days had faded somewhat. It had splintered along the way, with the Bituriges Cubi settling or remaining in central France, in the region of Berry. It had a chief oppidum at Avaricum (modern Bourges) but, by the first century BC, it seems to have been little more than a client tribe of the neighbouring Aeduii.

The other division of the tribe was the Biturices Vivisci, which ended up to the south-west of the Cubi in Bordeaux. This southern division had been cut off from their northern relations by the middle of the first century BC as the Santones and Lemovices intruded into the north of the Garonne.

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(Information by Peter Kessler and Edward Dawson, with additional information from The La Tene Celtic Belgae Tribes in England: Y-Chromosome Haplogroup R-U152 - Hypothesis C, David K Faux, from The History of Rome, Volume 1, Titus Livius, translated by Rev Canon Roberts, from A Genetic Signal of Central European Celtic Ancestry, David K Faux, from Celts and the Classical World, David Rankin, from The Civilisation of the East, Fritz Hommel (Translated by J H Loewe, Elibron Classic Series, 2005), from Europe Before History, Kristian Kristiansen, from Geography, Ptolemy, from the Encyclopaedia of European Peoples, Carl Waldman & Catherine Mason, from Caesar's Conquest of Gaul, TR Holmes, from Roman History, Cassius Dio, 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 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, the Perseus Digital Library, and Livy's History of Rome Book 5, and the Indo-European Etymological Dictionary, J Pokorny, 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).)

1st century BC

By the beginning of the first century BC, and perhaps for an indeterminate period before it, the Aeduii are at the head of a tribal confederation which also includes the Ambarri, Aulerci, Bellovaci, Bituriges Cubi (a divided portion of the earlier Bituriges), Brannovices, Mandubii, Parisii, Segusiavi, and Senones. Against this confederation in the contest for supremacy in Gaul are the Arverni, to its immediate south, and the Sequani to its east.

The Aeduii confederation is shown here, around 100 BC, with borders approximate and fairly conjectural, based on the locations of the tribes half a century later - it can be seen that the Aulerci at least migrate farther north-west during that time, although the remainder largely stay put (click or tap on map to view full sized)

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. News of the event reaches the Arverni that morning, and Vercingetorix summons his people to arms.

He sends Lucterius of the Cadurci into the territory of the Ruteni to gain their support, and marches in person to the Bituriges. The latter, under the protection of the Aeduii, send to them for help to resist the Arverni but are forced to join the revolt. Lucterius continues to the Gabali and Nitiobroges and wins their support, collecting together a large force ahead of an advance into the province of Narbonensis.

Caesar gets there first and rallies the garrisons among the Ruteni and Volcae Arecomisci, and Lucterius is forced to retreat. From there Caesar circles through the territory of the generally pro-Roman Helvii (who provide auxiliaries) to reach that of the Arverni, despite deep winter snows in the mountains.

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)

Vercingetorix, after sustaining a series of losses at Vellaunodunum, Genabum, and Noviodunum, summons his men to a council in which it is decided that the Romans should be prevented from being able to gather supplies. A scorched earth policy is adopted, and more than twenty towns of the Bituriges are burned in one day, although their oppidum at Avaricum is spared.

Vercingetorix, his cavalry subsequently routed in battle, withdraws in good order to Alesia, a major fort belonging to the Mandubii. The remaining cavalry are dispatched back to their tribes to bring reinforcements.

Caesar begins a siege of Alesia, aiming on starving out the inhabitants. Four relief forces amounting to a considerable number of men and horses are assembled in the territory of the Aeduii by the council of the Gaulish nobility. Among those demanded from the tribes of Gaul are twelve thousand each from the Bituriges, Carnutes, Ruteni (mostly archers), Santones, Senones, and Sequani.

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

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.

During the revolt, the Bituriges Cubi fall back to Avaricum. Although they put up a desperate resistance, their hill fort ultimately falls to a Roman assault and all its surviving inhabitants are put to the sword.

The Carnutes make their own situation worse by attacking the decimated Bituriges Cubi, whom Caesar now aids. As a reminder of their part in the rebellion, the Carnutes town of Cenabum is left in ruins and the location is garrisoned by two Roman legions.

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.

Having surrendered with honour to Caesar in 52 BC, Vercingetorix remained a potent symbol of resistance to Roman domination, so his murder in 46 BC dealt a terminal blow to hopes of renewed Gaulish freedom

AD 468 - 469

Riothamus, 'King of the Britons' and potential prince of Dumnonee, crosses the English Channel to Gaul, bringing twelve thousand shipborne troops. He remains in the country for a year or more, perhaps reinforced by Armorican Bretons, and is able to advance to Bourges (the ancient territory of the Bituriges) and even further.

Gaul's imperial prefect, the deputy of the Western Roman emperor, treacherously undermines him by apparently dealing with the Visigoths, probably to try and divert the Visigothic king to attacking the Breton territories to the benefit of Roman holdings.

In the end, both Riothamus and the imperial army are defeated in separate battles, and Bourges falls to the Visigoths. Soissons and Armorica are cut off from Rome.

In AD 469/470 the Visigoths expanded their kingdom to its largest extent, reaching Nantes in the north and Cadiz in the south, but it was not to last - with the accession of Clovis of the Salian Franks, the Visigoths had found an opponent who would wrest Gaul away from their control in stages (click or tap on map to view full sized)