The Viducassēs (

Gaulish Gaulish was an ancient Celtic language spoken in parts of Continental Europe before and during the period of the Roman Empire. In the narrow sense, Gaulish was the language of the Celts of Gaul (now France, Luxembourg, Belgium, most of Switze ...

: *''Uiducassēs/Widucassēs'') were a Gallic tribe dwelling in the modern

Calvados Calvados (, , ) is a brandy from Normandy in France, made from apples or pears, or from apples with pears. History In France Apple orchards and brewers are mentioned as far back as the 8th century by Charlemagne. The first known record of Nor ...

department during the

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly ...

and the

Roman period The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...

Name

They are mentioned as ''Viducasses'' by

Pliny Pliny may refer to: People * Pliny the Elder (23–79 CE), ancient Roman nobleman, scientist, historian, and author of ''Naturalis Historia'' (''Pliny's Natural History'') * Pliny the Younger (died 113), ancient Roman statesman, orator, w ...

(1st c. AD), and as ''Bidoukesíōn'' (Βιδουκεσίων; var. Βιδουκασίων, Βιδουκαίσιων) and ''Bidoukésioi'' (Βιδουκέσιοι; var. Οὐιδουκαίσιοι, Οὐιδουκέσιοι) by

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importanc ...

(2nd c. AD). The

ethnonym An ethnonym () is a name applied to a given ethnic group. Ethnonyms can be divided into two categories: exonyms (whose name of the ethnic group has been created by another group of people) and autonyms, or endonyms (whose name is created and us ...

derives from the root *''uidu-/widu'' ('tree, wood'). The meaning of the second element ''-casses'', attested in other Gaulish ethnonyms such as ''

Bodiocasses The Bodiocasses or Baiocasses were an ancient Gallic tribe of the Roman period. They were a tribal division of the ''civitas'' of the Lexovii, in the Roman province of Gallia Lugdunensis. Name They are mentioned as ''Bodiocasses'' by Pliny (1s ...

'', ''

Durocasses The Durocasses were a Gallic tribe dwelling around present-day Dreux during the Roman period. Name They are mentioned ''Durocasis'' (var. ''durocacasis'') on the ''Itinerarium Antonini'' (early 3rd c. AD), as ''Durocassio'' on the '' Tabula P ...

'', '' Sucasses'', ''

Tricasses The Tricasses were a Gallic tribe dwelling on the upper Seine and the Aube rivers during the Roman period. Until the first century AD, they were probably reckoned among the Senones. Name They are mentioned as ''Tricasses'' by Pliny (1st c. AD), ...

'', or ''

Veliocasses The Veliocasses or Velocasses (Gaulish: *''Weliocassēs'') were a Belgic or Gallic tribe of the La Tène and Roman periods, dwelling in the south of modern Seine-Maritime and in the north of Eure. Name They are mentioned as ''Veliocasses'' by ...

'', has been debated, but it probably signifies '(curly) hair, hairstyle' (cf. Old Irish ''chass'' 'curl'), perhaps referring to a particular warrior coiffure. The name may thus be translated as 'the tangled-hair ones', that is to say 'those with the hair tangled like a tree'.

Patrizia de Bernardo Stempel Patrizia de Bernardo Stempel (born 5 April 1953) is an Italian philologist, linguist and scholar of Celtic studies. Biography Patrizia de Bernardo was born on 5 April 1953 in Milan, Italy, the daughter of Mario de Bernardo and Adriana Marra. She ...

has proposed to interpret the name as 'those with wooden helmets'. The city of Vieux, attested in the 3rd century AD as ''Civitas Viducassium'' ('

civitas In Ancient Rome, the Latin term (; plural ), according to Cicero in the time of the late Roman Republic, was the social body of the , or citizens, united by law (). It is the law that binds them together, giving them responsibilities () on th ...

of the Viducasses'; ''Veiocae'' in 1180, ''Vieux'' in 1294), is named after the Gallic tribe.

Geography

The Viducasses dwelled south of the

, north of the

Aulerci Diablintes The Diablintes or Aulerci Diablites (also ''Diablintres'' or ''Diablindes'') were a Gallic tribe dwelling in the north of the modern Mayenne department during the Iron Age and the Roman period. They were part of the Aulerci. Name They are menti ...

, southeast of the

Venelli The Venellī or Unellī (Gaulish: *''Uenellī/Wenellī'') were a Gallic tribe dwelling on the Cotentin peninsula, in the northwest of modern Normandy, during the Iron Age and the Roman period. In 57 BC, they capitulated to Caesar's legate Publi ...

, northeast of the

Abrincatui The Abrincatui were a Gallic tribe dwelling in the south of the Cotentin Peninsula during the Roman period. Name They are mentioned as ''Abrincatuos'' by Pliny (1st c. AD), ''’Abrinkátouoi'' (’Aβρινκάτουοι) by Ptolemy (2nd c. A ...

, west of the

Lexovii The Lexovii (Gaulish: *''Lexsouioi'', 'the leaning, lame'), were a Gallic tribe dwelling immediately west of the mouth of the Seine, around present-day Lisieux, during the Iron Age and the Roman period. Name They are mentioned as ''Lexovii'' (v ...

, and northwest of the Sagii., Map 7: Aremorica. During the Roman period, their chief town was known as Aregenua ('by the Guigne river'; modern Vieux), whose area roughly corresponded to the plain of

Caen Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,Severan period The Severan dynasty was a Roman imperial dynasty that ruled the Roman Empire between 193 and 235, during the Roman imperial period. The dynasty was founded by the emperor Septimius Severus (), who rose to power after the Year of the Five Emper ...

(193–235). In an inscription dated to 238 AD, the settlement is called both a 'free city' and a 'colony'. In the 3rd century, Aregenua became Civitas Viducassium, although it was probably absorbed by the

of the

in the early 4th century, for the Civitas Viducassium is not mentioned in the ''

Notitia Dignitatum The ''Notitia Dignitatum'' (Latin for "The List of Offices") is a document of the late Roman Empire that details the administrative organization of the Western and the Eastern Roman Empire. It is unique as one of very few surviving documents o ...

'' and the ''

Notitia Galliarum The ''Notitia Galliarum'' (or ''Notitia provinciarum et civitatum Galliae'') is a Roman register of cities dating to the 4th–6th centuries AD., contains the text of the ''Notitia'' with a map. The Latin register is divided into two headings. Te ...

''.

Religion

A sanctuary from the end of the 1st century BC is known at

Baron-sur-Odon Baron-sur-Odon () is a commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region of north-western France. The inhabitants of the commune are known as ''Baronnais'' or ''Baronnaises''. The commune has been awarded one flower by the ''National Cou ...

, 2.5km west of Aregenua.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * {{Gallic peoples Historical Celtic peoples Gauls Tribes of pre-Roman Gaul