Imanuentius appears in some manuscripts of Julius Caesar

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....

's De Bello Gallico as the name of a king of the Trinovantes

Trinovantes

The Trinovantes or Trinobantes were one of the tribes of pre-Roman Britain. Their territory was on the north side of the Thames estuary in current Essex and Suffolk, and included lands now located in Greater London. They were bordered to the north by the Iceni, and to the west by the Catuvellauni...

, the leading nation of south-eastern Britain

Prehistoric Britain

For the purposes of this article, Prehistoric Britain is that period of time between the first arrival of humans on the land mass now known as Great Britain and the start of recorded British history...

 at that time, who ruled before Caesar's second expedition to the island in 54 BC

54 BC

Year 54 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Appius and Ahenobarbus...

. Variant spellings include Inianuvetitius, Inianuvetutus and Imannuetitius. In other manuscripts this king's name is not given.

Imanuentius was killed by the warlord Cassivellaunus

Cassivellaunus

Cassivellaunus was an historical British chieftain who led the defence against Julius Caesar's second expedition to Britain in 54 BC. The first British person whose name is recorded, Cassivellaunus led an alliance of tribes against Roman forces, but eventually surrendered after his location was...

, and his son Mandubracius

Mandubracius

Mandubracius or Mandubratius was a king of the Trinovantes of south-eastern Britain in the 1st century BC.-History:Mandubracius was the son of a Trinovantian king, named Imanuentius in some manuscripts of Julius Caesar's De Bello Gallico, who was overthrown and killed by the warlord Cassivellaunus...

 fled to the protection of Caesar 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...

. Cassivellaunus then led the British defence against 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....

, but the Trinovantes betrayed the location of his fortress to Caesar, who proceeded to besiege him there. As part of the terms of Cassivellaunus's surrender, Mandubracius was installed as king of the Trinovantes, and Cassivellaunus undertook not to make war against him.

John Koch suggests that the original form of Imanuentius's name may have been *Mannuētios. He also suggests that the Welsh

Welsh mythology

Welsh mythology, the remnants of the mythology of the pre-Christian Britons, has come down to us in much altered form in medieval Welsh manuscripts such as the Red Book of Hergest, the White Book of Rhydderch, the Book of Aneirin and the Book of Taliesin....

 mythological figure Manawydan

Manawydan

Manawydan fab Llŷr is a figure of Welsh mythology, the son of Llŷr and the brother of Brân the Blessed and Brânwen. The first element in his name is cognate with the stem of the name of the Irish sea god Manannán mac Lir, and likely originated from the same Celtic deity as Manannán...

may derive from an earlier *Mannuētiagnos, "son of Mannuetios".

External links

• Trinovantes at Roman-Britain.org
• Trinovantes at Romans in Britain