Cenabum
Cenabum,Gaul(sometimes writtenCenabaumorGenabum) was the name of the capital city of theCarnutes,located near the present French city ofOrléans.Cenabum was anoppidumand a thriving commercial town on theLoireriver.
In52 BC,during theGallic Wars,the town was taken by Roman generalJulius Caesarand integrated into theRoman provinceofGallia Lugdunensis.Acts of resistance from the locals who refused to submit to Roman law were severely repressed and resulted in several massacres and the near-total destruction of the town.
In the3rd century,emperorAurelianvisited Cenabum and decided to have it rebuilt (273-274), and named it after himself:UrbsAurelianorum.In the9th century,it took the nameAurelianum,the name later evolved intoOrléans.[1]
In498,the city was conquered byGermanicinvaders, theSalian Franksand brought into the kingdom ofMerovingiankingClovis I.
Cenabum[edit]
Celtic Era[edit]
Cenabum was the most important towns of the Carnutes, its port was the commercial outlet for the grain they produced in theBeauce,north-west of the town. The town had strong fortifications, dry moats, earth palisades and also controlled a bridge over the Loire, one of considerable economic and strategic importance, attested to have been built before the Roman conquest.Strabo,in hisGeography,[2]calls the city (Κήναβον) the 'emporium of the Carnutes(τὸ τῶν Καρνούντον ἑμπόριον ).[3]Kenabon/Cenabum is probably a transcription of a Gallic word with the same sense. The town also appears on theTabula Peutingeriana,theAntonine Itineraryand the works of the Roman mathematicianPtolemy.
Roman Era[edit]
In58 BC,Roman general Julius Caesar began the Gallic Wars in an effort to bring the rest of Gaul into the Roman Empire and expand West. For the Romans, it was imperative to gain control over this strategic location. Caesar eventually succeeded in establishing a protectorate over the Carnutes by allying himself with the leader of an ancient Carnuti family namedTasgetios.Caesar re-established him on his ancestors' throne in return for helping him take Cenabum. The town and its regions then became an important supplier ofgrainfor the Romans.
However, Tasgestios' rule came to an end after two years, when in54 BChe was assassinated. Caesar sentLucius Munatius Plancusto restore order in Cenabum, punish those responsible and ordered the occupation of Cenabum by the Roman legions.
It was Cenabum that gave the signal for the Gallic revolt, first led by Cotuatos, then Conconnetodumnos and eventuallyVercingetorix.In53 BC,the Roman merchants who had established themselves at Cenabum, the overseer Gaius Fufius Cita whom Caesar had installed to control commerce and to ensure his legions' grain supply, and some Roman troops garrisoning the town were all massacred or thrown into the Loire by the Carnutes who had stormed the city.[4]This uprising triggered Caesar's seventh Gallic campaign.
In 52 BC, Caesar marched back into Gaul and reachedAgedincum.His Roman legions reached Cenabum but they did not even need to besiege it. On his approach, its population attempted to flee by crossing the bridge linking the two banks of the Loire; whilst the people tried to cross the narrow wooden bridge, the Romans scaled the ramparts. The remaining inhabitants were captured and the town was pillaged and burned down.[5]TheGutuater(considered to be a Carnuti representative whose role is thought to be linked to 'invocation' by modern historians) was found guilty of the uprising and executed.
Before leaving Cenabum, Caesar putsCaius Treboniusin charge of the city and leaves him two Roman legions to keep the ruined city under Roman control. The town and its regions are integrated into theRoman provinceofGallia Lugdunensis.
Around260 AD,Cenabum was pillaged first by theAlemanniand by otherGermanic peoplesafter them. Cenabum stayed a ruin until273 AD,when the 38th Roman emperorAurelianvisited the town.
Urbs Aurelianorum[edit]
Starting around the mid3rd century,peoples from Asia and Central Europe began to invade the Roman Empire. The Franks and the Alemanni cross thelīmitēsof the Rhin in 275-276 AD and sweep through Gaul. Starting around235 AD,the Roman emperors are incapable of restoring peace.
Around273 AD,in an effort to prevent the barbarian incursions from going further into Gaul, emperor Aurelian rebuilds the town from the ground up. He detaches it from the Carnutes' territories and gives this new city the nameUrbs Aurelianorum(i.e. city of the Aurelii) and its inhabitants areCivitas Aurelianorum.New ramparts are raised, a dry moat now surrounds the city. To the south, the ramparts are built closest to the riverside, so as to prevent attacks from the Loire.
In408 AD,theVandals,along with theAlans,cross the Loire. One of their groups, led byGoar,accepts to join the Romans.Aetiussettles on the Loire and in Orléans around 440 AD. According toConstantius of Lyon,a Gallic scholar, Aetius did so to punish a local uprising. The Alans are seen as unruly by the locals, and their settling in the region often results in land confiscation and eviction of the local people. Goar settles in Aurelianorum itself, while the rest of his people settle in the rest of the region (i.e. modernOrléanais). Indeed, numerous archeological finds linked to the Alans have been found in the northern part of the region and in northern France:Allaines,Allainville,Alaincourt.
In451 AD,king and chieftain of the Hunnic EmpireAttilalaid siege to Aurelianorum and was defeated there by an alliance between Aetius,MerovechandTheodoric I.In the same year, the king of the Alans still resided in Aurelianorum, known then asSangiban.Under his command, the Alans join forces with Aetius in opposing Attila and his conquest of Gaul, and they take part in theBattle of the Catalaunian Plains.However, according to ancient historianJordanes,Sangiban initially tried to betray the Romans and surrender Aurelianorum to Attila, but the veracity of this intention is still disputed.
TheFall of the Roman Empire,beginning in476 AD,coincided with a time of economic crisis and the christianization of the local population. SaintEuverte d'Orléanswas one of the first bishops of the city.
The independence of the Romans of Aurelianorum ended in498 AD,when the city was conquered by the Germanic people of theSalian Franksand eventually brought into the kingdom ofClovis I,king of theFranks,heir to theMerovingian dynasty.
In 511 AD, theFirst Council of Orléanstook place, summoning 32 bishops from across Gaul, to establish a strong relationship between Merovingian rule and the (Roman) Catholic episcopate. The city had no import in Gallic conciliar affairs, but over the Merovingian period, it was to become a prominent meeting place for national church councils.
Notes and references[edit]
See also[edit]
- Autricum,Chartres, capital city of the Carnutes.
External links[edit]
- History of the city of Orléans: From its origins to the Roman conquest: up to 52 BC
- The Orléanais in the time of the Gauls(Conseil Général du Loiret)
- History of the Gauls, Chapter VII
