Corieltauvi

Corieltauvi
Territory of the Corieltauvi
Geography
Capital	Ratae Corieltauvorum (Leicester)
Location	East Midlands of England
Rulers	Volisios Dumnocoveros, Dumnovellaunus, Cartivelios

The Corieltauvi (formerly thought to be called the Coritani, and sometimes referred to as the Corieltavi) were a tribe of people living in Britain prior to the Roman conquest, and thereafter a civitas of Roman Britain. Their territory was in what is now the English East Midlands. They were bordered by the Brigantes to the North, the Cornovii to the West, the Dobunni and Catuvellauni to the South, and the Iceni to the East. Their capital was called Ratae Corieltauvorum, known today as Leicester.

The Corieltauvi were a largely agricultural people who had few strongly defended sites or signs of centralised government. They appear to have been a federation of smaller, self-governing tribal groups. From the beginning of the 1st century, they began to produce inscribed coins: almost all featured two names, and one series had three, suggesting they had multiple rulers. The names on the earliest coins are so abbreviated as to be unidentifiable. Later coins feature the name of Volisios, apparently the paramount king of the region, together with names of three presumed sub-kings, Dumnocoveros, Dumnovellaunus and Cartivelios, in three series minted ca. 45 AD. The Corieltauvi had an important mint, and possibly a tribal centre, at Sleaford.

The discovery in 2000 of the Hallaton Treasure more than doubled the total number of Corieltauvian coins previously recorded. In 2014 26 gold and silver ancient Corieltauvi coins were found in Reynard's Kitchen Cave in the UK.

They seem to have offered little or no resistance to Roman rule: Ratae was captured c. AD 44, and it may have had a Roman garrison. The Fosse Way, a Roman road, passed through their territory.