Brinno was leader of the

Canninefates The Cananefates, or Canninefates, Caninefates, or Canenefatae, meaning "leek masters", were a Germanic tribe, who lived in the Rhine delta, in western Batavia (later Betuwe), in the Roman province of ''Germania Inferior'' (now in the Dutch prov ...

when they joined in the

Batavian rebellion The Revolt of the Batavi took place in the Roman province of Germania Inferior between AD 69 and 70. It was an uprising against the Roman Empire started by the Batavi, a small but militarily powerful Germanic tribe that inhabited Batavia, on t ...

at the mouth of the Rhine in AD 70. According to Tacitus, his father had been hostile towards the Romans during the reign of

Caligula Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (31 August 12 – 24 January 41), better known by his nickname Caligula (), was the third Roman emperor, ruling from 37 until his assassination in 41. He was the son of the popular Roman general Germanic ...

. Therefore, Brinno was chosen to lead the Canninefates against Rome, and was ceremoniously raised on a shield. His first move as commander was to attack Roman winter camps by sea with the help of the

Frisii The Frisii were an ancient Germanic tribe living in the low-lying region between the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta and the River Ems, and the presumed or possible ancestors of the modern-day ethnic Dutch. The Frisii lived in the coastal area ...

, in which he was successful due to the unprepared enemy. Tacitus, ''Histories'' 4.15 One of the camps destroyed has been identified at

Praetorium Agrippinae Praetorium Agrippinae was a Roman settlement in the province of Lower Germania, in the area of the Cananefates, located in modern-day Valkenburg, Netherlands. It was an army encampment (Lat.: ''castellum'') on the Old Rhine (at the time the m ...

. Brinno then threatened to advance on the Roman forts in the region, leading the Romans to burn these forts down with the fear of being unable to defend them, one such fort being located at Traiectum.

References

Germanic rulers Germanic warriors 1st-century monarchs in Europe {{AncientRome-bio-stub