FranceHistories

Commius, from the Throne of the Atrebates to a British Dynasty

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The End of Independent Gaul · ANTIQUITY

The main chapter mentions, in section II, Commius’s refusal to submit after the Bellovaci’s defeat — the only chief not to lay down arms. This name is not new to readers of this project: Commius already runs through several previous chapters, first as a client king installed by Caesar, then as one of the architects of the great revolt of 52 BC. This zoom retraces his entire path, up to its most unexpected epilogue: the founding of a kingdom on the island of Britain.

👑 A king made by Rome

In 57 BC, at the end of the Belgic campaign, Caesar recognizes Commius as king of the Atrebates — a choice then presented as the reward for a reliable ally. The trust is such that before his first expedition to the island of Britain, in 55 BC, Caesar sends Commius ahead as a scout to persuade the British peoples not to resist his landing. Nothing, at this stage, foreshadows what follows.

⚔️ The break and the failed assassination

During the great uprising of 52 BC, Commius joins the Gaulish cause and takes part in the relief army sent to Alesia — a complete reversal from his original role. This choice makes him the target of an assassination attempt ordered by Labienus, who hoped to quietly eliminate an ally who had become a liability. Badly wounded but saved by his own men, Commius draws a definitive lesson from it: he vows never again to find himself face to face with a Roman.

🚢 Exile and the birth of a new dynasty

In 51 BC, after the failure of the Bellovacan coalition, Commius refuses any submission and continues alone a guerrilla campaign that the Roman cavalry officer Volusenus is tasked with suppressing. Defeated, he chooses exile over capture and crosses the Channel to settle on the island of Britain, where he becomes king of the local Atrebates — a people bearing the same name as the one he had governed in Gaul. There he strikes his own coinage from Calleva (present-day Silchester) and founds a dynasty carried on by three of his sons, Tincomarus, Eppillus, and Verica. This line will rule southern Britain for nearly a century, until Rome, under the emperor Claudius, finally conquers the island in AD 43 — closing, a century after Commius, the very circle he had tried to escape.

🧠 Key points

  • Caesar installs Commius as king of the Atrebates in 57 BC, before sending him ahead as a scout to the island of Britain as early as 55 BC.
  • Having joined the revolt of 52 BC, Commius narrowly escapes an assassination attempt ordered by Labienus, which pushes him to vow never again to face a Roman.
  • Defeated in 51 BC by Volusenus, he chooses exile on the island of Britain over submission.
  • In Britain, Commius founds a dynasty of Atrebatic kings (his sons Tincomarus, Eppillus, and Verica) that lasts until the Roman conquest of the island in AD 43.