Corieltavorum

The Corieltavorum, also known as the Corieltavi or Corieltauvi, were a Celtic tribe in Iron Age Britain. They inhabited parts of the East Midlands, occupying what are now Leicestershire and nearby areas of Nottinghamshire, Rutland, and Lincolnshire. The ethnonym is known from classical sources; in Ptolemy’s Geography the tribe is listed under the name Corieltavorum, and the Romans later used the associated toponym for the tribal territory.

The heart of their territory lay in the river valley around the Soar and adjacent uplands, with a number of hill forts and settlements connected through trade routes. The best-known site associated with the Corieltavorum is the town later known to Romans as Ratae Corieltauvorum, corresponding to present-day Leicester. This site became the Roman capital of the local area, reflecting an early integration into provincial administration after the Roman conquest in the mid-1st century CE.

In the Roman period, the Corieltavorum territory was incorporated into Britannia as part of the larger provincial system. After Roman rule, little is known of the tribe as a distinct political entity, though elements of its place-names and archaeological heritage continued to influence the region. The Corieltavorum are thus primarily reconstructed from Romano-British sources and archaeology, rather than contemporary written records, representing one of several Iron Age populations who shaped the East Midlands before and during the early Roman era.