TheAbrincatui were aGallic tribe dwelling in the south of theCotentin Peninsula during theRoman period.
They are mentioned asAbrincatuos byPliny (1st c. AD),[1]’Abrinkátouoi (’Aβρινκάτουοι) byPtolemy (2nd c. AD),[2] and asAbrincatis andAbrincateni in theNotitia Dignitatum (5th c. AD).[3][4]
The city ofAvranches, attested in the 6th c. AD ascivitasAbrincatum ('civitas of the Abrincatui',Abrincae ca. 550,de Avrenchis in 1055–66), and the region ofAvranchin, are named after the Gallic tribe.[5]
The territory of the Abrincatui mostly corresponded the later regions ofAvranchin andMortainais. It was inherited with only slight border changes by thecivitasAbrincatum and, later, by thediocese of Avranches.[6] However, the area of Mortainais was mostly uninhabited until the Roman period, and remained sparsely populated at the turn of the first millennium AD.[7]
Two pre-Romanoppida were located inLe Petit-Celland andCarolles, with other settlements inMontanel and nearMortain.[8]
They were a client tribe of theVenelli until the Roman occupation in 49 BC, when they were separated.[9]
