Not Just Boudicca- The Celts That Fought The Romans
We have many ways of spelling her name. Boadicea and Boudicea to the Romans. Buddug to the Welsh. Boudica, Boadicca, and Boudiga to the Gauls. It's a historic, true Celtic name. And certainly fit for a queen of Boadicea's status.
Her name derives from the Proto-Celtic word *boudīkā, which means 'victory' or 'victorious'. Meaning there is a chance it was not her real name, but actually a name given to her after her rebellion against the Romans began. This crops of amongst a lot of Celtic rebels who fought the Romans.
We'll begin by explaining Boudicca's story as we know it. But from then on, I want to discuss the various other Britons, Gauls, and Picts who fought back against the Roman Empire. Because no culture wants to bow down to someone else preaching that their way is better.
What we know of her begins just prior to the events that made her famous in history. She was the wife of King Prasutagus, King of the Iceni people. The Iceni were a Brittonic tribe inhabiting the south-east of what is now England. The area they ruled is now Norfolk, as well as some parts of Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, and Suffolk.
Fun Fact: The Iceni were responsibly for producing some of the earliest recorded British coins! A lot of the south-east tribes had been minting coins for a while before the Romans took over.
The Iceni had already revolted before, in 47 AD. The Roman governor of Britain, Publius Ostorius Scapula, had attempted to disarm all Britons on the island to prevent them fighting back. This did not go as intended. As a result, Prasutagus was allowed to maintain a great deal of independence over the ruling of the Iceni kingdom, provided he remained an ally of the Romans.
Together, he and Boudicca shared two daughters. As far as we know from texts, they never had any sons.
The Cause of the Rebellion
In 60/61 AD, Boudicca's husband Prasutagus died. He left a will though. In it, he bequeathed his kingdom jointly between his daughters and the Roman Emperor Nero.
Well, the Romans didn't want to hear that. They ignored Prasutagus' will entirely. The kingdom of the Iceni was declared part of the Roman state of Britannia, and the man named Catus Decianus was sent to force the Iceni people to swear allegiance to the Roman Empire.
They were pretty famous for doing this. Often, Romans would make Celtic tribes their 'client-kingdoms' under their current leader. Money was gifted to these Celt leaders, as well as protection from neighbouring tribes. But when these leaders died? All protection was gone, and the tribe would find themselves instead governed by whatever Roman was put in charge.
Which is exactly what ended up happening. Catus Decianus pillaged the Iceni lands. Tacitus and Cassius Dio describe different accounts of what happened.
Dio says that the loans given to the Britons by Seneca and Claudius were recalled and all riches confiscated for the Roman Empire. Tacitus goes down a darker route; he states that Catus Decianus had Boudicca flogged, and her daughters raped, to send a message to the Iceni people.
The message? The Roman Empire owns you now.
Catus Decianus is largely credited for the uprising of Boudicca and the Iceni. His actions likely made the situation worse, and gave not only the Iceni, but other tribes a common enemy to work towards.
Boudicca managed to gather not only the Iceni, but her neighbouring tribe the Trinovantes. There may have been others who joined too. Together, they marched upon the Roman colony of Camulodunum, a place for retired Roman Soldiers. They razed it to the ground, killing everyone. Men serving in the Legio IX Hispana attempted to help the soldiers, but suffered defeat. The Britons killed the infantry and only the commander and a few cavalry escaped with their lives.
This was the beginning of her rebellion. Boudicca would go on to destroy two more towns.
And Catus Decianus, the man who incited her uprising? He fled to Gaul shortly after Camulodunum was destroyed. He was aware that his vicious actions towards the Iceni had aggravated the local tribes. He had sparked one of the biggest Celtic rebellions in Britain.
The main reason Boudicca had been successful in destroying Camulodunum was because the Governor of Britain, Gaius Suetonius Paulinius, was away on a campaign on the island of Mona (now known as Anglesey or Ynys Mon). Ynys Mon was the main place of learning for Druids, and even druids from Gaul came to Ynys Mon to be taught! To the Romans, this was a central place of Celtic power.
Upon hearing of Camulodunum's fate, Suetonius made a hasty return to mainland Britain, having tempered Mona. He actually made it to Londinium before Boudicca and her armies. However, he did not have the men to defend it, and so ordered evacuation and retreat. She burned the city to the ground with such ferocity that we now have the Boudican Destruction Layer in archaeology.
She then went on to destroy the Roman town of Verulamium (modern day St-Albans). Dio and Tacitus both said around 80,000 people were killed in the sackings, and the Brittonic tribes spared nobody.
And don't think the Celts were kind, either. They also committed mass rapes, pillaging, and murder. They spared no man, woman, or child, and Dio writes that noblewomen had their breasts cut off and sewed to their mouths, and were impaled on spikes. Now, it's hard to completely trust a Roman's accounts of events. But both Dio and Tacitus had been largely sympathetic to Boudicca's cause prior, so there might be some truth to it. Celts had some brutal practises in their time across the continent and Britain.
They also detail of sacrifices and feasts in the name of Andraste, a Brittonic goddess of Victory. Any game nerds will recognise the name Andraste from the Dragon Age games. But she was a real deity of some of the Celtic people, and Boudicca allegedly prayed to her for victory before battle.
All good things must sadly come to an end. Boudicca had caused so much commotion amongst the tribes against the Romans that Emperor Nero had almost considered withdrawing all Roman legions from Britain and giving up. Julius Caesar had already been driven out of the island years and years beforehand. Even in Gaul, the Celts were becoming hard to manage.
But Suetonius was not stupid. He was an excellent general. Gathering an army 10,000 strong, he placed his forced in a narrow pass with woods behind, essentially bottlenecking any Britons charging. Some sources say they were outnumbered. That mattered very little to the Romans. Regardless of the chances, Boudicca's army was decimated. The Romans even killed the women and animals.
We don't know what happened to Boudicca, or her daughters. Tacitus says she poisoned herself to prevent capture by Suetonius. Dio says she simply fell sick and died. But with her death went the rebellion of the Britons.
But she wasn't the only one.
Caratacus was a King of the Catuvellauni people during 43 - 50 AD, a mere few decades before Boudicca's rebellion. He was the son of King Cunobelinus, a pre-Roman king of the Catuvellauni and the Trinovantes. This second tribe later assisted Boudicca in her rebellion.
Fun Fact: The stronghold of the Catuvellauni was called Camulodunon! This would later become Camulodunum, the Roman colony Boudicca destroyed in her path of revenge. It derives from the Celtic god Camulus, a god of war.
Caratacus' name stems from the Common Brittonic name *Karatākos, meaning 'loving, dear, friend'. A pretty chill name for a man who united others against Roman forces.
Caratacus was actually not king after his father. That went to his uncle, Epaticcus. Epaticcus had expanded the Catuvellauni land beyond their original territory, taking land from a tribe called the Atrebates. When he died, the Atrebates took back their land under King Verica. Verica was already a client-king under the Roman Empire. His victory did not last long, however. When Caratacus took the throne, he conquered the entirety of the Atrebates' land. In response, Verica fled to Rome and appealed to his allies there to help retake his land.
This gave Emperor Claudius the excuse he needed to launch his formal invasion of Britain in 43 AD. They attacked Caratacus' stronghold of Camulodunon by four legions that were made up of 40,000 men.
Caratacus and his brother Togodumnus were summarily defeated, and Dio states his brother died, though this is contested by other modern historians. The Romans conquered the Catuvellauni territory and converted Camulodunon into an outpost for their own men.
It's important to note that I don't consider these events as part of his rebellion themselves. It was completely normal for Celtic tribes to war and fight one another over land. Caratacus seemed to have not understood the seriousness of attacking a client-kingdom of the Romans.
Caratacus survived, and had fled alongside his wife, daughter, and brothers to the lands of the Ordovices and Silures. These tribes lived in what is now Wales. Here, he rallied the tribes in the area to fight back against Roman invasion. He engaged in what we would now considered to be guerrilla warfare. Using the mountainous region to his advantage, he managed to evade capture and ambushed the Romans whenever he could.
He spent the next 7 years harrying the Romans. They were forced to chase him all around Wales. By the end of the decade, they were sick of Caratacus, and governor Publius Ostorius Scapula was determined to end the rebellion once and for all.
In 50 AD, Caratacus met the Romans in battle. As with most face-on battles against the Romans, he lost. The Roman forces were successful in capturing Caratacus' wife and daughter, whilst he himself fled to the lands of the Brigantes.
The Brigantes lived in what is now Yorkshire. They may have been a confederation of different tribes ruled under one. They were a client-kingdom of the Romans and ruled, not by a king, but a queen named Cartimandua. She's an interesting case as it is largely believed Cartimandua was a ruler in her own right, and not through her husband Venutius.
But she was also a staunch ally of the Romans. And so when Caratacus came looked for aid, she instead handed him over to her Roman allies in chains. So much for Celtic solidarity, huh?
Because it wasn't a thing. Anyone who tries to portray the Celts of Britain as a largely anti-Roman group who banded together are wrong. Many actually enjoyed life under the Roman Empire. The Romans were great soldiers, and offered protection against being conquered by other tribes.
So, the Romans had Caratacus at long last. This pacified the majority of southern Britain and brought the rebellions to a temporary halt. He was taken to Rome as a prisoner, where they intended to execute him.
Tacitus states that instead, Caratacus gave a speech on how his capture made the Romans seem that much greater. Impressed with his bravery, the Romans instead let him live his life in peace. He was pardoned and remained in Rome until the end of his days.
A NOTE: I will always defend Cartimandua, who is portrayed as a scheming, evil Queen by Tacitus and subsequently history. She was a woman leading a VERY large tribe. There would have been some of saw her as weak or easy to invade. She may have needed the Romans to keep her power.
Largely in history, Queen are portrayed as scheming and manipulative. Tacitus' words about Cartimandua are VASTLY different from how he talks about Boudicca. He stresses Boudicca fought as a free woman rather than a queen, largely because queenship was seen as a negative thing in ancient history.
But handing over Caratacus didn't work out for Cartimandua anyway. Her betrayal of the proclaimed 'King of the Britons' caused her own Brigantian people to revolt against her and the Romans. They first revolted themselves in the 50s AD, and the rebellion was put down.
The second rebellion brings us to our next Celtic leader.
We know little of Venutius prior to Caratacus' attempts to find sanctuary with the Brigantes. Some historians believe he may have belonged to the Carvetii tribe prior to marriage to Cartimandua. This tribe likely formed part of the Brigantes' confederation.
We do know that he was loyal to the Romans during his marriage to Cartimandua. He went along with her plan to hand Caratacus over to the Romans, and likely supported her during the first revolt.
Here's where things turn tricky. Cartimandua seems to have gotten fed up with Venutius as a husband, and so divorced him. Celtic women could do that, and it wasn't that uncommon to hear of. Instead, she married Venutius' armour-bearer, a man named Vellocatus. She elevated Vellocatus to king beside her and left Venutius behind.
Needless to say, he was not impressed. His initial rebellion seems to have been centered on just overthrowing his wife. Her Roman allies jumped in to protect her, and he was forced to fight. This first revolt by Venutius was quickly pacified.
He rebelled again during the unstable period for Rome known as 'the year of four emperors'. Tacitus writes that the Brigantes tribes loved Venutius, and preferred him to Cartimandua. This took place in 69 AD, 8 years after Boudicca's rebellion and defeat. Cartimandua appealed to the Romans for aid again, but they were busy with their own issues back home and could only send a handful of auxiliaries. Consequently, Cartimandua was evacuated from her lands and is never heard from in history again. Likely, she was taken to Rome and allowed to live there as a reward for her continuous loyalty to the empire, but we'll never know.
Venutius was left to rule the Brigantes. Now free from Roman influence, they seem to have continued to resist Roman rule from here until the early 2nd Century AD. The Governor of Britain in both 71-74 AD and 78-84 AD recorded campaigns in Brigantes territory. We have no further information on what happened to Venutius after this. He may have eventually been killed, or maybe he ruled until his death.
Our next rebel stays on the island, but we move much further up norht to the lands of Caledonia, or what we now know as Scotland.
This is a short section, much like Venutius'. We know very little about Calgacus, only that he fought the Romans and was the first recorded Caledonian on paper, and so the first ever Scottish person recorded in history. Pretty cool feat for the guy!
This is prior to the Gaelic invasion of Scotland, and therefore Calgacus belonged to the Brittonic speaking Caledonian confederation. He led them in rebellion against the Roman General Agricola. Agricola is kind of a big deal, as he was responsible for most of the conquering of Celtic Britain for the empire. He is also allegedly the man who figured out that Britain was indeed an island.
I have little to say on Calgacus. We know his men were defeated, but he himself is not among the list of Agricola's prisoners. He either survived or died in battle.
Now, we've been looking at rebels in AD. But now we shift to BC, to the Celts who opposed the might of Julius Caesar on his initial invasion of Celtic lands in both Britain and the continent of Europe.
We don't necessarily know a lot about some of these, so they might be short, quite like Calgacus and Venutius' sections. But I felt it was right to include them anyway.
Cassivellaunus is a legendary Brittonic Celt who made such an impression on history that he appears in both Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Brittaniae, the Mabinogi, and the Welsh Triads as the son of Beli Mawr.
That's right. This guy is so cool that he was immortalised as part of Britain's myths and legends.
Which is why its such a shock that we actually don't know a lot about his real life. What we do know is that he opposed Julius Caesar, and he was the leader of the Catuvellauni, in 54 BC.
Remember them? They were the tribe ruled by Caratacus. Cassivellaunus' successor, Tasciovanus, is actually the grandfather of Caratacus. The Catuvellauni had been a thorn in the side of the Roman empire for generations.
Cassivellaunus was a fighter, and is reported to have been in constant wars with his neighbouring tribes over land for years. He had succeeded in defeating the King of the Trinovantes, and their ruler's son Mandubracius fled to Gaul to beg Caesar for help.
Cassivellaunus, like many Celtic warriors, employed guerrilla tactics and harrying to fight the Romans. He was doing alright, until the British tribes of the Cenimagni, Cassi, Bibroci, Ancalites, and Segontiaci surrended to Caesar and gave up the location of Cassivellaunus' stronghold. Caesar commended a siege.
Cassivellaunus sent word to to the four kings of Kent, Cingetorix, Carvilius, Taximagulus and Segovax, to rally their troops and help lift the siege on his holding place. The ambush failed, however, and Cassivellaunus was forced to surrender. Hostages were traded, tributes shared, Mandubracius restores as King of the Trinovantes, and Cassivellaunus sworn to never wage war against him again.
Caesar left Britain. The Romans did not return for another 97 years.
And now we move to the continent.
We move to the 2nd Century BC, to the area now known as Auvergne, France. Bituitus was the King of the Arverni, a Gaulish tribe that had been opposing the Roman Republic during the 3rd and 2nd Centuries BC by Bituitus' father, Luernius. As we will discuss, the Arverni remained a thorn in the Romans' side of a long time, much like the Catuvellauni.
The Arverni allied with the Gallic tribe of the Allobroges in 121 BC, when the Allobroges were defeated in battle by the Romans. They planned a second attack together, and Bituitus entered battle for the second time. He greatly outnumbered the Roman legions, having amassed over 120,000 men.
He was defeated. And the reason I specified he had over 120,000 men was because we have estimated records that 120,000 of his men fell in battle. It was a slaughter that the Romans somehow managed to win. They captured Bituitus and had him taken as prisoner to Rome. Here, he was sentenced to exile in Alba Fucens and this is where he spent the rest of his life. He was the last exile King to be sent here; the rest remained in Rome from this point on.
Despite his defeat, the Arverni were left to be independent. They had ties to Rome and were mostly left to govern their own lands and neighbouring tribes under partial autonomy. The Allobroges, however, were not.
After Bituitus was exiled, the Arverni seemed to have turned from the monarchy system and moved to favour an oligarch society between 121 and 70 BC.
That is, until the next rebel leader of their tribe.
Vercingetorix was born decades after Bituitus' defeat. And it may not have been his real name. The name translates as 'supreme king of warrior' or 'great leader of heroes'. Much like Boudicca, this may have been given to Vercingetorix at some point as a result of his actions. We have no idea if he had a name prior to this.
We believe he may have been born in the 80s BC. He was a member of one of the Arverni elite families, and we have his family names on record too. His father was Celtillus, and his uncle was Gobannitio. He also had a cousin called Vercassivellanaus.
In 70-60 BC, Celtillus attempted to convince the Arvernian elites to restore kingship to the tribe, with himself as King presumably. This didn't go down well with the aristocracy of the Arverni. They murdered Celtillus. It cast suspicions on his son, who they believed may also carry similar ideals. This put Vercingetorix on the outskirts of Arverni society, unable to hold a leadership role for fear he would try a similar thing.
His moment came in 52 BC. Another Gaulish tribe called the Carnutes started a rebellion, killing Roman merchants and suppliers who resided in their capital city of Cenabum. Other tribes were also committing to similar uprisings, including the Senones tribe. Vercingetorix initially tried to rally the Arverni to join, but was exiled from his homeland of Gergovia by his uncle Gobannitio, who feared riling up their Roman allies. Remember, the Arverni had suffered defeat at Roman hands before.
Despite being sent away, he was able to rally men around the countryside to his cause. These were mostly farmers and poor folk, spurred on by his supposed cause for freedom and anti-Roman sentiment. Still, it was enough to lead an army to Gergovia, capture the city, exile those who had opposed him, and declare himself King of the Arverni.
So, the elites of the tribe had been right to fear Vercingetorix had the same goal as his father.
Thus began his rebellion against the Romans.
Around ten Gallic tribes between the Seine, the Loire, and the Atlantic Ocean joined with Vercingetorix and his tribe to fight. And he was different from other Celtic leaders. Previously, Celts had fought wildly, with guerrilla attacks and frontal force battles. They were considered barbarians and untrained to the Romans and Caesar.
But not Vercingetorix. He drilled military discipline and regiments, and instilled an organisation to his troops that had rarely been seen in other Celts who rebelled. He had a structured army, and Caesar began to see him in a different light. Suddenly, Vercingetorix was looked at as a rigorous, capable leader with a rigid and well trained army. He had become a genuine threat.
And his first decision was to try and sway other tribes to his side, rather than face the Romans just yet. And if he could not sway them, then we would force them.
Vercingetorix marched against the Bituriges Cubi, a tribe kept in check by their patron tribe, the Aedui. The Aedui were staunch Roman allies and not so willing to join the Arvernian King.
To divide Caesar, he had Cadurcian leader Lucterius provoke attacks in Gallia Narbonensis, a Roman province in what is now Southern France. Caesar stabilised the region and forced Lucterius to withdraw before attacking Arvernian territory. Vercingetorix had not expected this, but nevertheless continued. He moved to engage them, only to find Caesar had moved on to Gallic Lingonesan territory.
His response? To besiege the Aeduan oppidum of Gorgobina. An oppidum is a fortified settlement of Iron Age Celts, and it was the primary seat of the Aedui tribe. Caesar was forced to admit that this move put him in a tricky position; the season and terrain made it risky to help the Aedui without taking heavy losses, but refusing to aid the tribe could cause them to defect and join Vercingetorix's army.
But you must remember that this is Julius Caesar we're talking about. As much as I dislike the Romans from a Celtic historian's point of view, I have to admit that they were revolutionary in military tactics. Caesar instead moved to capture several towns in Arvernian territory before sieging against the Bituriges town of Avaricum. Vercingetorix had lost time and initiative to Caesar and was forced to abandon Gorgobina and move on.
Instead of meeting Caesar in combat as many Gauls might have done, Vercingetorix instead adopted 'scorched earth' methods. He burned fields and crops to force the Romans into limiting their supplies, and had Caesar's hunters and foragers harassed. Caesar attempted a surprise attack on Avaricum, but was forced to retreat to avoid heavy losses. The sudden retreat made Vercingetorix's followers suspicious; they believed there might have been a secret deal in place. Whatever the situation, Vercingetorix was able to rally them back with a speech.
The Romans did eventuall capture Avaricum. They put the people to the sword and massacred the population. Of 40,000 people, only 800 found refuge in Vercingetorix's camp. Caesar likely hoped this would kill hope in the rebels.
It did not. Instead, Vercingetorix was not abandoned, and records show he hoped to gain new allies. He had noted that the Aedui support for Romans was wavering after Caesar did not come to their aid at Gorgobina.
This is where Vercingetorix reaches his all-time high in achievements. He withdrew his forces to Gergovia, pursued by Caesar. Here, he was besieged by the Roman general. He was narrowly defeated during an attack on the Roman encampment when Caesar returned from dealing with other issues amongst the Aedui.
The issues amongst the Aedui were whispers of defection. Caesar had been forced to journey to the tribe to help decide their next chief magistrate between two candidates, Cotus and Convictolitavis. Wanting to avoid a potential war between Romans and the Aedui, Caesar reviewed the evidence and agreed with choosing Convictolitavis.
He would come to regret it. Convictolitavis had wanted the Aedui to secede from their Roman support, and had hidden that well enough that he came to be in Caesar's good graces. Now he had power, he no longer had to hide that he supported Vercingetorix's rebellion.
The Romans at Gergovia, meanwhile, were having a hard time defeating the Arvernians. Caesar and his troops made an almost successful attempt to breach Gergovia and get into the inner walls, but a counterattack sent them reeling. It didn't help that the 10,000 Aedui soldiers accompany Caesar's supply train had turned on the Romans on the orders of Litaviccus and Convictolitavis.
Faced with defeat and unaided, Caesar was forced to order a withdrawal. It was one of only three Roman defeats during Gallic Wars, and one of the few times Caesar had ever been out-manoeuvred by an opposing general. And now he had lost the support of the Aedui.
The Aedui attempted to establish themselves as leaders of the rebellion. It didn't work; the other tribes had seen clear as day that Vercingetorix was the driving force of the Gallic uprising. He was named supreme commander.
Unfortunately, Vercingetorix's luck ends there. Caesar moved to Agedincum instead of Gallia Narbonensis as the Gaul had expected.
Here, he engaged with the Gauls led by the Aedui. However, the Aedui abandoned Vercingetorix's strategies and met Caesar and his legions in open cavalry battle. A rookie move. Although it almost succeeded, Caesar had Germanic recruits who were able to break the lines and capture Aeduan leaders. It forced Vercingetorix to retreat to the city of Alesia, land of the Mandubii. He had already won one siege, and clearly he felt he could thwart Caesar with another.
Caesar was not going to fall for it a second time. He constructed siege forts, camps, ditches, etc. Soon, food began to dwindle in Alesia. Talks of surrender came about, though many were against it. The Gauls let their women, children, and elderly leave, hoping Caesar would allow them to go free or accept them as prisoners. But instead, they were trapped between Alesia and the Romans and starved to death. A cruel fate, and one that made it clear that Caesar did not intend to let the Gauls go unpunished.
A relief army led by Vercingetorix's cousin and other tribal leaders attempted to help him. The Romans were successful in stopping three attacks. In the end, Vercingetorix was forced to give up on the uprising, and the Gallic rebellion came to a halt. Vercingetorix left Alesia and rode to Caesar, casting down his arms and surrendering himself to save his people.
He was imprisoned for years. Rather than exiling Vercingetorix, as many Gallic leaders had been, Caesar chose to execute him. Historians believe it may have been strangulation.
This might be a surprise, but Caesar had very little choice. Anti-Gaul sentiment was building in Rome, and he had only recently returned from the civil war against Pompey. Though Caesar did acknowledge Vercingetorix as a worthy opponent, he could not risk the Roman people thinking Caesar liked the Gauls, as he was credited as often being too soft on them.
A very short story indeed. We know very little about Boduognatus. Only that he was the leader of the Belgic Nervii tribe during the time of Julius Caesar and the Gallic Wars. He took part in leading his people at the Battle of Sabis in 57 BC, where he launched a surprise attack on Caesar. The attack overwhelmed and almost defeated Caesar, but as usual, he recovered and managed to go on to defeat Boduognatus.
Potentially one of the most famous Celtic resistors to Roman rule, besides Boudicca, Cassivellaunus and Vercingetorix.
Ambiorix was king of half of the tribe of the Eburones. The other half was ruled by Catuvolcus. This was a Belgic tribe in north-eastern Gaul in what is now Belgium (go figure).
The story starts as thus: Caesar's troops needed food for their campaigns against the Gauls. To this end, Caesar demanded the nearby tribes give up part of their harvest. The issue was that the harvest had been poor, and by forcing the Eburones to give their food away, he was starving them. He had camps built near their villages, and centurions commanded to force the people to hand the food over.
The anger this caused Catuvolcus and Ambiorix to join forces and attack the Romans in 54 BC. Roman troops lived amongst the Eburones people during the winter. They were attacked by the people, but Ambiorix feigned ignorance and advised them to flee, stating that Germanic forces were preparing to cross the Rhine and attack. The Romans did so, only to be ambushed by remaining Eburones who killed them all.
Elsewhere amongst the Nervii, a coalition of Belgic tribes surrounded another Roman statesman's camp on Ambiorix's orders. Caesar came to their aid after hearing word, and was able to trick Ambiorix's men into attacking them and sent them fleeing. Nevertheless, most of the camp's men were injured.
The Roman Senate became aware of the Belgic rebellions. It put Caesar in a precarious position, and so he swore to massacre every Belgic tribe he found. And as we know, Caesar was good at carrying out his wishes. After several years of fighting, the Belgic tribes were driven out, slaughtered, and their fields and villages burned. After this, the Eburones do not appear in our history. A Roman writer called Florus states that Ambiorix and his men crossed the Rhine and escaped, but we'll never know how truthful that is. There are no records of his capture or death, which Caesar most definitely would have written down. He simply vanishes.
Dumnorix was a chieftain of the Aedui sometime in the 1st Century BC. He belonged to the side of the tribe that opposed Romans and wished to fight back against them. His older brother, Divitiacus, was the opposite.
Fun Fact: Divitiacus is also the only named ancient druid in history! Proof that druids did not always oppose the Romans.
Dumnorix conspired with Orgetorix of the Helvetii and Casticus of the Sequani to crown themselves as rulers of their respective tribes, and subsequently rule Gaul together. Dumnorix even married Orgetorix's daughter. Sadly, Orgetorix died shortly after their conspiracy was discovered. Nonetheless, Dumnorix continued with the rebellion, persuading the Helvetii to follow his cause and getting the Sequani to allow the tribes to cross their lands. Through all this, Dumnorix pretended to be an ally of the Romans.
It worked pretty well. He used his influence amongst the Aedui to stall their supply of grain reaching Caesar's men, and his personal retainers were a large portion of the Gallic auxiliary Caesar took with him to pursure the Helvetii. At the last second, Dumnorix withdrew his men from Caesar's army and scored the Helvetii a victory.
Eventually, a Gallic leader named Liscus betrayed Dumnorix and told Caesar who was responsible for preventing the grain shipment and losing the battle to the Helvetii. Dumnorix was spared serious charges due to his brother's good relationship with the Romans, but still placed under surveillance.
Caesar actually intended to take Dumnorix with him to Britain as a hostage. The man tried to worm his way out of it before telling the other hostages that it was a ploy to kill them secretly. He tried to escape camp with Aeduans, but was hunted down and killed by Caesar's men.
Maybe he should have gone to Britain with him. He could have met other Celts who shared his sentiments.
Brennus was the chieftain of the Gallic Senones tribe. Not to be confused with another Gallic leader called Brennus, who fought against the Greeks in an invasion of Balkan territory and died in Delphi. It was clearly a popular name.
This Brennus is just as cool. He led the Senones, a tribe that was from north-central France and expanded to occupy some of northern Italy. And he existed from 5th Century BC to 4th Century BC, making him one of the oldest Celts in our article.
Brennus had gone as far as Italy, and battled against the people of Etruria, the Etruscans. Apparently, the people known as the Clusines went to Rome for help, and Rome sent men to negotiate. Well, those neutral negotiations turned to the Romans aiding the Clusines in fighting back the Gallic men. Thus, Brennus turned on Rome for revenge.
There is no real record of this being true and it could simply be a story made up by Livy and Plutarch. The Clusines had no real motive to run to the Romans for help. Plus, the Gauls were warlike and were constantly fighting one another for land and gold. Brennus would have needed very little reason to invade Rome.
Brennus defeated the Romans at the Battle of Allia in 387 BC. In doing so, he and his men entered the city of Rome and captured it for a time, with the exception of the Capitoline Hill. The Romans allegedly tried to buy Brennus off by offering him gold. The story goes into what I consider to be dramatised retellings, with alleged quotes. But eventually, Brennus seems to have been expelled from Rome. We have no historical record of what happened to him after this.
Funnily enough, he also appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Brittaniae, under the name Brennius and as King of Northumbria, Scotland, and the Allobroges. At this rate, I'm going to have to make a post on the Celtic kings of his (fictional) account of British history.
