Veneti (Gaul)
The Veneti were a Gallic tribe dwelling in Armorica, in the southern part of the Brittany Peninsula, during the Iron Age and the Roman period.
A seafaring people, the Veneti strongly influenced southwestern Brittonic culture through trading relations with Great Britain. After they were defeated by Junius Brutus Albinus in a naval battle in 56 BC, their maritime commerce eventually declined under the Roman Empire, but a prosperous agricultural life is indicated by archaeological evidence.
Name
They are named in Latin as Veneti by Caesar, Livy and Pliny and in Greek as Ouénetoi by Strabo and Ptolemy. The name Veneti appears also on the Tabula Peutingeriana, and the form Benetis in the Notitia Dignitatum.The ethnonym Venetī is a Latinized form of Gaulish *Uenetoi, meaning 'the kinsmen' or 'the friendly ones', and possibly also 'the merchants'. The name derives from the stem *uenet-, itself from Celtic *weni-. This ultimately goes back to Proto-Indo-European *wenh₁-.
The Gaulish form is cognate with several Indo-European ethnonyms found across ancient Europe, including the Venedoti, the Adriatic Veneti, the Vistula Veneti, and the Eneti.
The city of Vannes, attested c. 400 AD as civitas Venetum is named after the Gallic tribe.
Geography
The Veneti built their strongholds on the tips of coastal spits or promontories, where shoals make approaching the headlands by sea dangerous, an unusual position which sheltered them from sea-borne attack.They inhabited southern Armorica, along the Morbihan bay. Their most notable city, and probably their capital, was Darioritum, mentioned in Ptolemy's Geography. Other ancient Celtic peoples historically attested in Armorica include the Redones, Curiosolitae, Osismii, Esubii and Namnetes.
History
Coming of Caesar
Caesar reports in Bellum Gallicum that he sent in 57 BC his protégé, Publius Crassus, to deal with coastal tribes in Armorica in the context of a Roman invasion of Britain planned for the following year, which eventually went astray until 55. Although Caesar claims that they were forced to submit to Roman power, there is no evidence of an initial opposition from the Gallic tribes, and the fact that Caesar sent only one legion to negotiate with the Veneti suggests that no trouble was expected. Caesar's report is probably part of a political narrative that was set up to justify the conquest of Gauls and to downplay his aborted plan to invade Britain in 56.' The scholar Michel Rambaud has argued that the Gauls initially thought they were making an alliance with the Romans, not surrendering to them.In 56 BC, the Veneti captured the commissaries Rome had sent to demand grain supplies in the winter of 57–56, in order to use them as bargaining chips to secure the release of the hostages they had previously surrendered to Caesar. Hearing of the nascent revolt, all the coastal Gaulish tribes bound themselves by oath to act in concert. This is the cause explicitly given by Caesar for the war.' This version is contradicted by Strabo, who contends that the Veneti aimed to stop Caesar's planned invasion of Britain, which would have threatened their trade relations with the British island. Strabo's claim appears to be confirmed by the participation in the war of other Gallic tribes involved in trade with Britain, and by the involvement of Britons themselves.'
Caesar had left for Illyricum at the beginning of the winter of 57–56. Informed of the events occurring in Armorica by Crassus, he launched the construction of a fleet of galleys, and placed orders for ships from the Pictones, Santones, and other 'pacified tribes'. War preparations were quickly achieved, and Caesar joined the Roman army 'as soon as the season permitted'. In response, the Veneti summoned help for further groups, including the Morini, Menapii and Britons.'
Given the highly defensible nature of the Veneti strongholds, land attacks were frustrated by the incoming tide, and naval forces were left trapped on the rocks when the tide ebbed. Despite this, Caesar managed to engineer moles and raised siege-works that provided his legions with a base of operations. However, once the Veneti were threatened in one stronghold, they used their fleet to evacuate to another stronghold, obliging the Romans to repeat the same engineering feat elsewhere.
Julius Caesar's victories in the Gallic Wars, completed by 51 BC, extended Rome's territory to the English Channel and the Rhine. Caesar became the first Roman general to cross both bodies of water when he built a bridge across the Rhine and conducted the first invasion of Britain.
Battle of Morbihan
Since the destruction of the enemy fleet was the only permanent way to end this problem, Caesar directed his men to build ships. However, his galleys were at a serious disadvantage compared to the far thicker Veneti ships. The thickness of their ships meant they were resistant to ramming, whilst their greater height meant they could shower the Roman ships with projectiles, and even command the wooden turrets which Caesar had added to his bulwarks. The Veneti manoeuvred so skilfully under sail that boarding was impossible. These factors, coupled with their intimate knowledge of the coast and tides, put the Romans at a disadvantage. However, Caesar's legate Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus was given command of the Roman fleet, and in a decisive battle, succeeded in destroying the Gaulish fleet in Quiberon Bay, with Caesar watching from the shore. Using long billhooks, the Romans struck at the enemy's halyards as they swept past, having the effect of dropping the huge leather mainsails to the deck, which crippled the vessel whether for sailing or rowing. The Romans were at last able to board, and the whole Veneti fleet fell into their hands.Economy
Both Caesar and Strabo describe the Veneti as a well-established maritime trading power, operating numerous ships regularly sailed between Gaul and Britain. They controlled key harbours along the Channel coast, levied tolls on passing traffic, and employed robust plank-built ocean-going vessels, archaeologically hinted at by coin imagery and anchors. The Veneti exploited inland routes and rivers of Armorica to support their commerce with the island. By the late 1st century BC, several major sea routes connected the Rhine, Seine, Loire, and Garonne to Britain, indicating frequent and organized cross-Channel communication likely rooted in a much older Atlantic seafaring activity.Caesar portrays that the Veneti as the most influential tribe of Armorica, owing to the size of their fleet and their control of coastal navigation and trade with Britain. Their importance is reflected in the dispatch of two Roman officers, rather than one, to requisition grain from them in the winter of 57–56 BC. However, Caesar’s destruction of the Venetic fleet in 56 BC severely disrupted these long-standing trade networks. Archaeological evidence show a shift in trade with Britain from Armorica to the more north-easterly routes during the second half of the 1st century BC, following the Roman decisive victory over Gaulish Armorican tribes.