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33-689: Carausius, a Menapian of humble birth, rose through the ranks of the Roman military and was appointed to a naval command at Bononia ( Boulogne ), tasked with clearing the English Channel of Frankish and Saxon raiders. However, he was accused of collaborating with the pirates to enrich himself, and the western Augustus , Maximian , ordered that he be put to death. Carausius responded by declaring himself emperor in Britain. His forces comprised not only his fleet, augmented by new ships he had built, and

66-477: A Proto-Celtic form reconstructed as * Menak ī or * Manak ī , whose meaning remains uncertain, perhaps the 'mountain people' or the 'high-living people' (from the root * mon - 'mountain'; cf. MWelsh mynydd , OBret. monid , OCo. menit ), or from the root * men - ('think, remember'; cf. OIr. muinithir 'think', Welsh mynnu 'wish'). The city of Cassel , attested on Peutinger's Tabula as Castellum Menapiorum ( Cassello in 840–75, Cassel in 1110),

99-552: A praetorian prefect as his chief aide. The prefecture comprised not only Gaul , but also of Roman Britain , Spain , and Mauretania Tingitana in Africa Proconsulare . Its territory overlapped considerably with what was once controlled by the short-lived Gallic Empire in the 260s. After the permanent partition of the Empire in 395 into West and East spheres of control, the prefecture of Gaul continued to belong to

132-466: A military victory, and Eutropius says that hostilities were in vain thanks to Carausius's military skill, and peace was agreed. Having warded off a threat to his power, Carausius began to entertain visions of legitimacy and official recognition. He minted his own coins and brought their value into line with Roman issues as well as acknowledging and honouring Maximian and then Diocletian . This suggests that he would have been very willing to participate in

165-557: A rapprochement, if the others had agreed. He appears to have appealed to native British dissatisfaction with Roman rule: he issued coins with legends such as Restitutor Britanniae (Restorer of Britain) and Genius Britanniae (Spirit of Britain). Previously, Britain had been part of the Gallic Empire established by Postumus in 260, which had also included Gaul and Hispania and had only been restored by Aurelian in 274. A milestone from Carlisle with his name on it suggests that

198-483: Is a native Briton who persuades the Romans to give him a naval command, and uses that to overthrow the king of Britain, Bassianus, or Caracalla . The Romans send Allectus with three legions to remove him, but Allectus proves an oppressive ruler, and Asclepiodotus, here a duke of Cornwall, leads a popular uprising to depose him. He defeats Allectus near London, and besieges his last legion in the city. The Romans surrender on

231-866: Is attested by inscriptions dating to the 2nd century in Britain . Carausius , the 3rd century commander of the Roman fleet who declared himself emperor of Britain and northern Gaul, was a Menapian, born in Batavia . A legion called the Menapii Seniores is mentioned in the Notitia Dignitatum , a 5th-century register of Roman government positions and military commands. They are mentioned as Menapii by Caesar (mid-1st c. BC) and Orosius (early 5th c. AD), Menápioi (Μενάπιοι; var. Μονάπιοι, Μενάσπιοι) by Strabo (early 1st c. AD) and Ptolemy (2nd c. AD), as Menapi by Pliny (1st c. AD) and

264-698: Is indirectly named after the tribe. According to descriptions in such authors as Strabo , Caesar , Pliny the Elder and Ptolemy their territory had stretched northwards to the mouth of the Rhine in the north, but more lastingly it stretched along the west of the Scheldt river. In later geographical terms this territory corresponds roughly to the modern Belgian coast, the Belgian provinces of East and West Flanders . It also extended into neighbouring France and

297-399: The Notitia Dignitatum (5th c. AD), and under the accusative forms Menapios by Tacitus (early 2nd c. AD) and Menapíous (Μεναπίους) by Cassius Dio (3rd c. AD). The Gaulish ethnonym Menapii has been phonetically compared with Manapii , the name of a tribe from southeastern Ireland mentioned by Ptolemy in the 2nd century AD. These tribal names may ultimately derive from

330-865: The Nervii , and near the Meuse river. While these authors make it clear that the Menapii still lay north of the Nervii in Roman times, it is not clear if they still bordered directly upon the former territory of the Eburones , as they had been in Caesar's time, and which in imperial times was within the Civitas Tungrorum , or civitas of the Tungri . In any case as mentioned above they bordered in Roman times upon

363-745: The Roman empire was Cassel in northern France, and later this was moved nearer to a river in Tournai , in present-day Belgium, on the Scheldt. Both of these are near Thérouanne , which was the civitas of the neighbouring Morini tribe, and indeed in the Middle Ages Cassel became part of the Catholic Diocese of Thérouanne . Cassel was therefore in the southern extreme of the Menapii lands. A pattern of placing Roman tribal capitals in

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396-663: The Scheldt , in Strabo 's 1st-century Geographica , they are situated further away than the Nervii and on both sides of the Rhine near its outlets to the sea, apparently not far from the Germanic Sigambri . Apparently following Caesar he said that they "dwell amongst marshes and forests, not lofty, but consisting of dense and thorny wood". They are also referred to in Ptolemy 's 2nd century Geographia , situated "above"

429-683: The Toxandrians , who apparently lived in the north of the lands of the Nervii and Tungri. South of the Menapii were the Atrebates in Artois, and south-west along the coast were the Morini . The boundary with the Morini in classical times appears to have been the river Aa . In the later Roman empire, The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites reports that "Cassel was superseded as capital of

462-494: The Veneti against Caesar. Caesar was again victorious, but the Menapii and the Morini refused to make peace and continued to fight against him. They withdrew into the forests and swamps and conducted a hit-and-run campaign . Caesar responded by cutting down the forests, seizing their cattle and burning their settlements, but this was interrupted by heavy rain and the onset of winter, and the Menapii and Morini withdrew further into

495-649: The Western Roman Empire . Augusta Treverorum (present-day Trier in Germany ) served as the prefecture's seat until 407 (or, according to other estimates, in 395), when it was transferred to Arelate ( Arles ). The prefecture continued to function until 477, when the last areas under its control were seized by the Visigoths after the abolition of the Western imperial government of Ravenna in

528-467: The Menapii by Tournai after Gaul was reorganized under Diocletian and Constantine the Great . The civitas Menapiorum became the civitas Turnencensium ." By medieval times, when these Roman districts evolved into medieval Roman Catholic dioceses, Cassel had in fact become part of the diocese of Thérouanne , which had been the civitas of the Morini. Their civitas , or administrative capital, under

561-686: The Menapii. South of the delta, east of the river Scheldt from the Menapii, and therefore apparently south of the Frisiavones, Pliny mentions the Toxandri , in a position apparently on the northern edge of Gaul. It is known that the Toxandri were associated with the civitates of both the Nervii and the Tungri, so they presumably had a presence in both. While in Pliny the Menapii do not stretch beyond

594-568: The Rhine. Praetorian Prefecture of the Gauls The Praetorian Prefecture of Gaul ( Latin : praefectura praetorio Galliarum ) was one of four large prefectures into which the Late Roman Empire was divided. The prefecture was established after the death of Constantine I in 337, when the empire was split up among his sons and Constantine II received the rule of the western provinces, with

627-561: The area was threatened by Frankish tribes from outside the empire. The economic activity of the Menapii was primally extraction of wool from sheep, and the fabrication of primitive cloths, and these were perfected while the Roman Reign in the Region. These cloths were one of the most rare things in terms of goods, because of the geographical location where they were made. Besides, these cloths were exported to Italy and other regions through

660-552: The condition they are allowed safe passage out of Britain, which Asclepiodotus grants, but his allies the Venedoti behead them and throw their heads in the river Gallobroc . Ten years later Asclepiodotus is deposed by Coel , duke of Colchester, for his part in the persecution of Christians under Diocletian . The Romans send Constantius to negotiate with him. Coel agrees to pay tribute to Rome and gives Constantius his daughter Helena in marriage, and upon his death Constantius becomes

693-675: The elder lists the people in these "Gallic Islands" as Batavi and Canninefates on the largest island, Frisii and the Chauci whose main lands were to the north of the deltas, and the Frisiavones , Sturii , and Marsacii . Of these last three, the Marsaci appear to be mentioned in another place by Pliny as having a presence on the coast south of the delta, neighbouring the Menapii, within Gaul itself. The Frisiavones are also mentioned within

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726-425: The forests. In 55 BC the Menapii tried to resist a Germanic incursion across the Rhine , but were defeated. Later that year, while Caesar made his first expedition to Britain , he sent two of his legates and the majority of his army to the territories of the Menapii and Morini to keep them under control. Once again, they retired to the woods, and the Romans burned their crops and settlements. The Menapii joined

759-574: The listing for Belgian Gaul, but probably therefore lived in the part of the delta south of the Batavi, northeast of the Menapii. In one inscription, from Bulla Regia , the Tungri , Batavians and Frisiavones are grouped together, apparently confirming that the Frisiavones lived inland. It is suggested that the Marsaci and the Sturii could be " pagi " belonging to the civitas of either the Frisiavones or

792-585: The new king of Britain. Menapii The Menapii were a Belgic tribe dwelling near the North Sea , around present-day Cassel , during the Iron Age and the Roman period . The Menapii were persistent opponents of Julius Caesar 's conquest of Gaul, resisting until 54 BC. They were part of the Belgic confederacy defeated by Caesar in 57 BC, contributing 9,000 men. The following year they sided with

825-442: The revolt led by Ambiorix in 54 BC. Caesar says that they, alone of all the tribes of Gaul, had never sent ambassadors to him to discuss terms of peace, and had ties of hospitality with Ambiorix. For that reason he decided to lead five legions against them. A renewed campaign of devastation finally forced them to submit, and Caesar placed his ally Commius of the Atrebates in control of them. A cohort of Menapian auxiliaries

858-646: The river deltas of the Southern Netherlands . To the north and east of the Menapii lay the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta . In the time of Caesar, the Menapii had settlements throughout this region and as far as the Rhine in present-day Germany, or at least its branch, the Waal. During Roman times these islands were under the frontier province of Germania Inferior , and inhabited partly by various groups of people who had moved there under Roman rule. Pliny

891-403: The south is also found in the neighbouring Belgian tribal states, of the Nervii and Tungri . The positions of such Roman tribal capitals frequently didn't correspond to the centre of a tribe's territory in pre-Roman political geography. Similarly, in those neighbouring regions, the centre of Roman civilization was typically moved further south, and on to a major river, in late Roman times, after

924-515: The three legions stationed in Britain, but a legion he had seized in Gaul, a number of foreign auxiliary units, a levy of Gaulish merchant ships, and barbarian mercenaries attracted by the prospect of booty. A panegyric delivered to Maximian in AD ;288 or 289 refers to the emperor preparing an invasion to oust Carausius. A later panegyric to Constantius Chlorus says that this invasion failed due to bad weather, although Carausius claimed it as

957-516: The whole of Roman Britain was in Carausius' grasp. In 293 Constantius Chlorus , now the western Caesar, isolated Carausius by retaking the territory he held in Gaul. Constantius next besieged the port of Bononia, building a mole across the harbour mouth to prevent the rebels from escaping by sea and ensure they could not receive maritime aid, and invaded Batavia in the Rhine delta, securing his rear against Carausius's Frankish allies. However, it

990-1046: Was all over, and the panegyrist claims he was welcomed by the Britons as a liberator. At some point following the island's recovery by the Empire, the Diocletian Reforms were introduced: Britain as a whole became the Diocese of the Britains under the administration of the Prefecture of the Gauls based in Augusta Treverorum ( Trier ) and was divided from two provinces into four or five. Carausius, Allectus, Asclepiodotus and Constantius appear in Geoffrey of Monmouth 's Historia Regum Britanniae (1136) in distorted guise, as rulers of Britain. Here, Carausius

1023-522: Was commanded by Asclepiodotus , prefect of the Praetorian Guard . Allectus stationed his fleet at the Isle of Wight , but fog allowed Asclepiodotus's ships to pass the defenders unseen. Asclepiodotus landed in the vicinity of Southampton and burned his ships. The rebels were forced to retreat from the coast, but in doing so, fell into the hands of another division and were routed. Allectus himself

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1056-438: Was impossible to mount an invasion of Britain until a suitable fleet could be built. Carausius, who had been in power for seven years, was assassinated by his subordinate Allectus , who assumed command. Three years later, in 296, the reconquest of Britain began. With Maximian holding the Rhine frontier, Constantius divided his fleet into several divisions. He led one division himself from Bononia; another, sailing from Le Havre ,

1089-469: Was killed in the battle, having removed all insignia in the hope that his body would not be identified. Archaeology suggests that Calleva Atrebatum ( Silchester ) was the site of his defeat. A group of Roman troops, who had been separated from the main body by the fog during the channel crossing, caught up with the remnants of Allectus's men, mostly Franks, at Londinium ( London ), and massacred them. Constantius himself, it seems, did not reach Britain until it

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