The Abrincatui were a Gallic tribe dwelling in the south of the

Cotentin Peninsula The Cotentin Peninsula (, ; ), also known as the Cherbourg Peninsula, is a peninsula in Normandy that forms part of the northwest coast of France. It extends north-westward into the English Channel, towards Great Britain. To its west lie the Gu ...

during the

Roman period The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

Name

They are mentioned as ''Abrincatuos'' by Pliny (1st c. AD), ''’Abrinkátouoi'' (’Aβρινκάτουοι) by

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...

(2nd c. AD), and as ''Abrincatis'' and ''Abrincateni'' in the ''

Notitia Dignitatum The (Latin for 'List of all dignities and administrations both civil and military') 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 ...

'' (5th c. AD)., s.v. ''Abrincatui''. The city of

Avranches Avranches (; ) is a commune in the Manche department, and the region of Normandy, northwestern France. It is a subprefecture of the department. The inhabitants are called ''Avranchinais''. History Middle Ages By the end of the Roman period, th ...

, attested in the 6th c. AD as ''civitas'' ''Abrincatum'' ('

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 Roman law, law (). It is the law that binds them together, giving them responsibilitie ...

of the Abrincatui', ''Abrincae'' ca. 550, ''de Avrenchis'' in 1055–66), and the region of

Avranchin Avranchin is an area in Normandy, France corresponding to the territory of the Abrincatui, a tribe of Celts from whom the city of Avranches, the main town of the Avranchin, takes its name. In 867, by the Treaty of Compiègne, Charles the Bald g ...

, are named after the Gallic tribe.

Geography

The territory of the Abrincatui mostly corresponded the later regions of

and Mortainais. It was inherited with only slight border changes by the ''

'' ''Abrincatum'' and, later, by the diocese of Avranches. However, the area of Mortainais was mostly uninhabited until the Roman period, and remained sparsely populated at the turn of the first millennium AD. Two pre-Roman

oppida An ''oppidum'' (: ''oppida'') is a large fortified Iron Age Europe, Iron Age settlement or town. ''Oppida'' are primarily associated with the Celts, Celtic late La Tène culture, emerging during the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, spread acros ...

were located in Le Petit-Celland and Carolles, with other settlements in Montanel and near

Mortain Mortain () is a former commune in the Manche department in Normandy in north-western France. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of Mortain-Bocage. Geography Mortain is situated on a rocky hill rising above the gorge of the ...

History

They were a client tribe 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 Publiu ...

until the Roman occupation in 49 BC, when they were separated.

References

Bibliography

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