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The approximate territory of the Atrebates |
The Atrebates
The Iron Age demonstrates a shift away from loyalty to kin to ultimately a
class structured society headed by a regional ruler. The history of the local leaders of this period is reconstructed from their
coinage and Roman sources. These peoples had no written history so we do not
know the names of their settlements, rulers or tribes - we know only the Latinised
versions of their names as recorded by the Romans.
So it appears that from about 50 BC onwards, the local rulers were the Atrebates (a word
probably meaning 'settlers' - from Gaul). Their capital was the hillfort Calleva
(by Silchester, north of Basingstoke).
They were a Belgic people who began to settle in southern Britain in the
first half of the first century BC. The Atrebates were recognised by the
Romans as client kings. Commios, a young man of the continental branch was
appointed by Caesar as his envoy to other tribes. Caesar made him king of his
people in Belgium. But Commios fell out with the Romans and narrowly escaped capture by them.
About 50 BC, he emigrated to our
local British branch saying he would never associate with Romans again.
According to Caesar
said he was highly regarded in Britain; he apparently rose to become the leader of the British Atrebates and struck
coins in his name.
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Eppillus struck coins proclaiming
himself to be the king of Calleva
Photos courtesy of the School of
Archaeology at the University of Oxford |
His successor was Tincomarus (the name suggesting that he was of the line of
Commios). Then it gets strange; Tincommios' successor Eppillus styles himself
"son of Commios" (EPPI COMMI F on one coin - other variations
existing) Eppillus also designates himself as the "King of Calleva"
(REX CALLE). The Atrebates line appears to have been only of sons of Commios, and either this
means that they were an exceptionally long lived family, or that rulers liked to
link themselves with a great leader of the past.
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Gold
coin of Verica, king (REX) of the Atrebates.
It
shows a stylised mounted warrior.
Photo: British Museum |
Around 10 AD, the Atrebatic territory seems to have been unified under
Verica, who issued a long series of coins, mostly displaying motifs borrowed
from classical coins and gemstones. Verica who also styled himself as the son of
Commios, and sometimes as "Rex" without any town name.
It appears that the occupants of Calleva were quite prosperous. There is no
evidence for growing or processing crops, for instance the thrashing of wheat -
it appears that crops came into the town ready to cook. It is therefore likely
that the town either generated wealth, perhaps through industry, which could be
bartered for food: or that it demanded a percentage of the produce of the
surrounding population.
However, tribes further north
of the Thames were less enamoured of Roman culture. Power struggles and
territorial disputes broke out between the anti-Roman tribes and the Atrebates.
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The division of the Atrebatic lands
Map: David Stokes |
The coinage seems to suggest that by AD 25 the Trinovantes or Catuvellaunians
(from the region that is now Hertfordshire) conquered the Atrebates, took Calleva and
probably drove the Atrebates to the south, into their
heartland around what is now Chichester. Epaticcus ruled the Atrebates just before the
Roman Claudian invasion but seems to
have been Trinovantian/Catuvellaunian -- at least he styled himself as the
"son of Tasciovanus (a Catuvellaunian king). His coin types sometimes
combine a Trinovantes obverse (Cunobelin ear of barley type) with an Atrebatan
reverse (warrior with spear).
Some experts believe that at about this time, the Romans were already
established in Southern Britain. Dr Francis Pryor has said that archaeological findings
in Chichester prove that relationships between tribes in southern England and
the Romans continued after Caesar's attempted invasion. Oxford historian Dr
Martin Henig said that the whole of southern England could have been a Roman
protectorate for nearly 50 years prior to the AD43 invasion. "There is a
possibility that there were actually Roman soldiers based in Britain during the
whole period from the end of the first century BC". 2
Verica went to Rome to enlist the support that culminated in the Claudian invasion of
Britain and the restoration of Verica or the establishment of his heir Tiberius
Claudius Cogidubnus (who was brought up in Rome and possessed Roman citizenship) as
client-king of the Romans.
The Atrebates' territory was restored to
include most of the land from the Thames to the South Coast, and Cogidubnus
given the title 'King of Britain'. So by this date our local tribal leader
was a Latin speaker and had lived and been educated in Rome.
On Cogidubnus' death, ca. AD 80, the Romans divided his kingdom into three
civitates.
