Brigantes

Territory: between the rivers Tyne and Humber in Northern Britain.
Tribal Capital: Isurium Brigantum (modern Aldborough, North Yorkshire)
The Brigantes were a tribe, or perhaps more accurately: a loose confederation of related tribes, of British Celts inhabiting almost all of the area between the rivers Humber and Tyne. It is thought that their name derives from that of the Celtic goddess Brigantia (Brigit). The name Brigantes, then, should be translated 'The People of Brigit'.

At the time of the Roman invasion in 43 AD the Brigantes were arguably the most powerful Celtic tribe in Britain. Initially the Brigantes, under their queen Cartimandua, remained independent in the first phase of the Roman conquest of Britain, acting as a "client-kingdom". The defeated resistance leader Caratacus sought sanctuary with Cartimandua in 51 AD, but she showed her loyalty to the Romans by handing him over to them. It was also a fairly typical act for the Celts, who could never stop fighting amongst themselves long enough to mount a serious obstacle to the Roman advance.

Cartimandua has reasons to be greatful to her Roman allies; in 47 AD, the governor of Britain, Scapula, was forced to abandon his campaign against the Deceangli of North Wales because of "disaffection" among the Brigantes. A few of those who had taken up arms were killed and the rest were pardoned. In 57 AD Venutius, Cartimandua’s husband, tried to seize the power, but the Romans sent troops to defend Cartimandua and Venutius's rebellion was defeated after fierce fighting. After their divorce, Cartimandua married Venutius's armour-bearer, Vellocatus, and raised him to the kingship. Venutius staged another rebellion in 69 AD, taking advantage of Rome’s instability in the Year Of The Four Emperors. This time the Romans were only able to send auxiliaries, who succeeded in evacuating Cartimandua but left Venutius in possession of the kingdom. She eventually fled Brigantine territory and was never heard from again.

In 73 AD the governor Petillius Cerialis defeated Venutius, but continued unrest led to Agricola finally annexing Brigantine territory for good in 79 AD. Isurium Brigantum became the administrative centre of Brigantine territory, though there is no evidence to suggest any settlement was there prior to the Roman invasion.

But the Brigantines were not finished; in 138 AD, when you would be forgiven for thinking that they must have been thoroughly "Romanised", they rebelled against the Emperor Antonius, who was attempting to push north from Hadrian's Wall into Brigantine territory in modern Scotland. The Romans under Lollius Urbicus quickly put down the revolt. In 154 AD the Brigantes rebelled yet again, with similar results.

Some archaeological evidence suggests that there may have been a Brigantine presence in Ireland; certainly a second century map by Ptolemy shows the Brigantes there, and excavations on the island of Lambay show Brigantine artefacts dating from the end of the first century AD. This might indicate a settlement of Brigantines fleeing from the final Roman occupation of their tribal territories in England.

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