Aedui, Haedui or Hedui were a Gallic

Gauls

The Gauls were a Celtic people living in Gaul, the region roughly corresponding to what is now France, Belgium, Switzerland and Northern Italy, from the Iron Age through the Roman period. They mostly spoke the Continental Celtic language called Gaulish....

 people of Gallia Lugdunensis

Gallia Lugdunensis

Gallia Lugdunensis was a province of the Roman Empire in what is now the modern country of France, part of the Celtic territory of Gaul. It is named after its capital Lugdunum , possibly Roman Europe's major city west of Italy, and a major imperial mint...

, who inhabited the country between the Arar (Saône

Saône

The Saône is a river of eastern France. It is a right tributary of the River Rhône. Rising at Vioménil in the Vosges department, it joins the Rhône in Lyon....

) and Liger (Loire

Loire

Loire is an administrative department in the east-central part of France occupying the River Loire's upper reaches.-History:Loire was created in 1793 when after just 3½ years the young Rhône-et-Loire department was split into two. This was a response to counter-Revolutionary activities in Lyon...

), in today's France. Their territory thus included the greater part of the modern departments of Saône-et-Loire

Saône-et-Loire

Saône-et-Loire is a French department, named after the Saône and the Loire rivers between which it lies.-History:When it was formed during the French Revolution, as of March 4, 1790 in fulfillment of the law of December 22, 1789, the new department combined parts of the provinces of southern...

, Côte-d'Or

Côte-d'Or

Côte-d'Or is a department in the eastern part of France.- History :Côte-d'Or is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was formed from part of the former province of Burgundy.- Geography :...

 and Nièvre

Nièvre

Nièvre is a department in the centre of France named after the Nièvre River.-History:Nièvre is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...

.

Geography

The country of the Aedui is defined by reports of them in the ancient writers. The upper Loire

Loire

Loire is an administrative department in the east-central part of France occupying the River Loire's upper reaches.-History:Loire was created in 1793 when after just 3½ years the young Rhône-et-Loire department was split into two. This was a response to counter-Revolutionary activities in Lyon...

 formed their western border, separating them from the Bituriges

Bituriges

The Bituriges was a tribe with its capital at Bourges .Early in the 1st century BCE, they had been one of the main tribes, especially in terms of Druids and their political influence. But they soon declined in power as the Druids were an important target for Julius Caesar in his conquest of Gaul...

. The Saône

Saône

The Saône is a river of eastern France. It is a right tributary of the River Rhône. Rising at Vioménil in the Vosges department, it joins the Rhône in Lyon....

 formed their eastern border, separating them from the Sequani

Sequani

Sequani, in ancient geography, were a Gallic people who occupied the upper river basin of the Arar , the valley of the Doubs and the Jura Mountains, their territory corresponding to Franche-Comté and part of Burgundy.-Etymology:...

. The Sequani did not reside in the region of the confluence of the Doubs

Doubs

Doubs is a department the Franche-Comté region of eastern France named after the Doubs River.-History:As early as the 13th century, inhabitants of the northern two-thirds of Doubs spoke the Franc-Comtois language, a dialect of Langue d'Oïl. Residents of the southern third of Doubs spoke a dialect...

 into the Saône and of the latter into the Rhône

Rhône

Rhone can refer to:* Rhone, one of the major rivers of Europe, running through Switzerland and France* Rhône Glacier, the source of the Rhone River and one of the primary contributors to Lake Geneva in the far eastern end of the canton of Valais in Switzerland...

, as Caesar says that the Helvetii

Helvetii

The Helvetii were a Celtic tribe or tribal confederation occupying most of the Swiss plateau at the time of their contact with the Roman Republic in the 1st century BC...

, following the pass between the Jura Mountains

Jura mountains

The Jura Mountains are a small mountain range located north of the Alps, separating the Rhine and Rhone rivers and forming part of the watershed of each...

 and the Rhône southwards, which belonged to the Sequani, plundered the territory of the Aedui. These circumstances explain an apparent contradiction in Strabo

Strabo

Strabo, also written Strabon was a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher.-Life:Strabo was born to an affluent family from Amaseia in Pontus , a city which he said was situated the approximate equivalent of 75 km from the Black Sea...

, who in one sentence says that the Aedui lived between the Saône and the Doubs, and in the next, that the Sequani lived across the Saône (eastward). Both statements are true, the first in the south, and the second to the north.

History

According to Livy

Livy

Titus Livius — known as Livy in English — was a Roman historian who wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people. Ab Urbe Condita Libri, "Chapters from the Foundation of the City," covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome well before the traditional foundation in 753 BC...

 (v. 34), they took part in the expedition of Bellovesus

Bellovesus

Bellovesus was a legendary Gallic king. He lived around 600 BCE and is remembered for invading northern Italy with his people during the legendary reign of the 5th king of Rome, Tarquinius Priscus , although archeology would associate Gallic expansion into Italy to around 500 BCE.The historical...

 into Italy in the 6th century BC.

Before Caesar's

Julius Caesar

Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....

 time they had attached themselves to the Romans

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

, and were honoured with the title of brothers and kinsmen of the Roman people. When the Sequani

Sequani

Sequani, in ancient geography, were a Gallic people who occupied the upper river basin of the Arar , the valley of the Doubs and the Jura Mountains, their territory corresponding to Franche-Comté and part of Burgundy.-Etymology:...

, their neighbours on the other side of the Arar

Saône

The Saône is a river of eastern France. It is a right tributary of the River Rhône. Rising at Vioménil in the Vosges department, it joins the Rhône in Lyon....

, with whom they were continually warring with, invaded their country and subjugated them with the assistance of a Germanic chieftain named Ariovistus

Ariovistus

Ariovistus was a leader of the Suebi and other allied Germanic peoples in the second quarter of the 1st century BC. He and his followers took part in a war in Gaul, assisting the Arverni and Sequani to defeat their rivals the Aedui, after which they settled in large numbers in conquered Gallic...

, the Aedui sent Diviciacus

Diviciacus (Aedui)

Diviciacus or Divitiacus of the Aedui is the only druid from antiquity whose existence is attested by name. He should not be confused with the king of the Suessiones also known by the Latinised name Diviciacus; coins, possibly issued by the latter, give the Gaulish name in Greek lettering as...

, the druid, to Rome to appeal to the senate

Roman Senate

The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic, however, it was not an elected body, but one whose members were appointed by the consuls, and later by the censors. After a magistrate served his term in office, it usually was followed with automatic...

 for help, but his mission was unsuccessful.

On his arrival in Gaul

Gaul

Gaul was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium, most of Switzerland, the western part of Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the left bank of the Rhine. The Gauls were the speakers of...

 (58 BC), Caesar restored their independence. In spite of this, the Aedui joined the Gallic coalition against Caesar (B. G. vii. 42), but after the surrender of Vercingetorix

Vercingetorix

Vercingetorix was the chieftain of the Arverni tribe, who united the Gauls in an ultimately unsuccessful revolt against Roman forces during the last phase of Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars....

 at Alesia

Battle of Alesia

The Battle of Alesia or Siege of Alesia took place in September, 52 BC around the Gallic oppidum of Alesia, a major town centre and hill fort of the Mandubii tribe...

 were glad to return to their allegiance. Augustus dismantled their native capital Bibracte

Bibracte

Bibracte, a Gaulish oppidum or fortified city, was the capital of the Aedui and one of the most important hillforts in Gaul. It was situated near modern Autun in Burgundy, France. The material culture of the Aedui corresponded to the Late Iron Age La Tène culture,In 58 BC, at the Battle of...

 on Mont Beuvray, and substituted a new town with a half-Roman, half-Gaulish name, Augustodunum (modern Autun

Autun

Autun is a commune in the Saône-et-Loire department in Burgundy in eastern France. It was founded during the early Roman Empire as Augustodunum. Autun marks the easternmost extent of the Umayyad campaign in Europe.-Early history:...

).

In 21, during the reign of Tiberius

Tiberius

Tiberius , was Roman Emperor from 14 AD to 37 AD. Tiberius was by birth a Claudian, son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia Drusilla. His mother divorced Nero and married Augustus in 39 BC, making him a step-son of Octavian...

, they revolted under Julius Sacrovir, and seized Augustodunum, but were soon put down by Gaius Silius (Tacitus Ann.

Annals (Tacitus)

The Annals by Tacitus is a history of the reigns of the four Roman Emperors succeeding Caesar Augustus. The surviving parts of the Annals extensively cover most of the reigns of Tiberius and Nero. The title Annals was probably not given by Tacitus, but derives from the fact that he treated this...

iii. 43-46). The Aedui were the first of the Gauls to receive from the emperor Claudius

Claudius

Claudius , was Roman Emperor from 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, he was the son of Drusus and Antonia Minor. He was born at Lugdunum in Gaul and was the first Roman Emperor to be born outside Italy...

 the distinction of jus honorum. The oration of Eumenius

Eumenius

Eumenius , was one of the Roman panegyrists and author of a speech transmitted in the collection of the Panegyrici Latini .-Life:...

, in which he pleaded for the restoration of the schools of his native place Augustodunum, shows that the district was neglected. The chief magistrate of the Aedui in Caesar's time was called Vergobretus (according to Mommsen

Theodor Mommsen

Christian Matthias Theodor Mommsen was a German classical scholar, historian, jurist, journalist, politician, archaeologist, and writer generally regarded as the greatest classicist of the 19th century. His work regarding Roman history is still of fundamental importance for contemporary research...

, "judgment-worker"), who was elected annually, possessed powers of life and death, but was forbidden to go beyond the frontier. Certain clientes, or small communities, were also dependent upon the Aedui.

It is possible that the Aedui adopted many of the governmental practices of the Romans, such as the electing of magistrates and other officials. Or perhaps this was a natural development in their political system. It is thought other Celtic tribes, such as the Remi and the Baiocasses, also elected their leaders.