Parisii (Yorkshire)

This article is about one of the two Celtic peoples called the Parisii. For other uses, see Parisii (disambiguation).

Parisii
Approximate territory of the Parisii
Geography
Capital	Petuaria (Brough)
Location	East Riding of Yorkshire
Rulers	None known

The Parisii were a Celtic tribe who in pre-Roman times controlled almost all of the area which is now known as the East Riding of Yorkshire. Under Roman administration, the capital of their civitas was Petuaria, which today is known as Brough.

A tribe of the same name inhabited the part of Gaul presently occupied by central Paris; the notion that the tribes are connected—however conjectural—has proven powerful, the two peoples sharing Arras cultural characteristics in addition to a nominative identity. On the island of Great Britain, the Parisii were bordered by the Brigantes in the rest of the Yorkshire area and just across the Humber were the Corieltauvi.

After the Romans had left Britain following three and a half centuries of rule, the petty kingdom of Deira (eventually absorbed into Northumbria) occupied much the same area as the pre-Roman Parisii. Deira is thought to be derived from the Celtic word for 'oak' and this may be evidence for a temporary reappearance of a Celtic kingdom.

History and culture

Traditionally the people have been seen as immigrants from the Gaulish tribe of the same name. The burial customs of the Gaulish and British tribes differ slightly but the Iron Age Arras Culture of the early La Tène period seems to have strongly influenced that of East Yorkshire. Barry Cunliffe states that the Arras Culture, which is associated with the Parisii, demonstrates economic and social continuity from the 5th century BC onwards, however, and the view that the East Yorkshire Parisii were a colony of the Gaulish Parisii may be a simplistic one.

With the Suessiones, the Gallic Parisii participated in the general rising of Vercingetorix against Julius Caesar in 52 BC. Following their defeat by Caesar in 52 BC, some may at this time have fled to Britain although it is more likely that Parisii had already colonised part of the island before this time^{[citation needed]} and preceding the waves of Belgic immigration.^{[citation needed]}

Burials involving placing the deceased in a wheeled vehicle beneath square barrows, as found in both the Marne region of France and in the homeland of the British Parisii, was once considered proof of a genetic link.^{[citation needed]} An alternative explanation to a folk movement however is that the British Arras culture was an attempt by some of the native Britons to ape continental society. It may be that the upper echelons of British society were trying to distinguish themselves by copying foreign ways. The vehicle burial aspect of the culture developed in Britain in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC^{[citation needed]} which suggests that it was adopted independently and prior to the historic defeat of Vercingetorix. Alternatively the practice may have been forgotten and then re-introduced by an immigrant group.

Either way, it is clear from the archaeological record that the two groups of Parisii had some affinity.

Barry Cunliffe in Iron Age Communities in Britain (1974) p. 45, distinguishes the Parisii as those in the Nanterre-Paris region, and the Parisi as those in Britain, based on Ptolemy's descriptions.

External links

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