Coritanorum

Coritanorum is the Latin genitive form used in Roman sources to refer to the Coritani, a Celtic tribe of Iron Age and early Roman Britain. The Coritani inhabited a broad area in the central and eastern part of what is now England, with their core territory in the eastern Midlands, including parts of present-day Leicestershire and surrounding counties. The precise tribal boundaries varied over time, but they are typically associated with settlements and landscapes in this region.

In the Roman period, the Coritani were incorporated into the provincial system as a civitas, or tribal community, within Britannia. Their capital was Ratae Coritanorum, the site of the modern city of Leicester, which served as the administrative and commercial center for the civitas. The Romans established roads and rural estates in their territory, and archaeological evidence points to a mix of urbanized and rural settlement, including villas and other farming communities, integrated into the wider economy of Roman Britain.

The Coritanic name appears in classical and late antique sources, including works by Tacitus and Ptolemy, as well as in the itineraries and inscriptions of the Roman period. The toponym Ratae Coritanorum underscores the association between the civitas and its capital, while other inscriptions and coins attested in the region reflect the incorporation of the Coritani into Roman administrative and provincial structures.

In later centuries, the legacy of the Coritani persisted in local place-names and in the early medieval development of the region. The term Coritanorum is primarily encountered in Latin historiography as the genitive form denoting the people of Coritanum.