The Pictons (Pictones) are a people of Gaul. Depending on the sources and the times, they were first called Picts, which is also the name of a people of ancient Scotland, or even after the Pictavi conquest (Pictavi).
The period of independence
Territory
The limits of the territory of the Pictons are deductible from three elements:
* toponymy:the toponym Equoranda or Ewiranda designates an aquatic element serving as a border; it is found in Ingrandes in the commune of Couziers, where it made the border with the Andécaves or Andes (Anjou); in Ingrandes, with the Turons (Touraine); in Ingrandes near Le Blanc, with the Bituriges Cubes; it is also found in the name of the Équilandes stream, near Bourg-Archambault, on the border with Lémovices (Limousin); in the forest of Argenson; with a Guirande river, south of Niort;
* numismatics:Picton coins are mainly found in the south of Loire-Atlantique within the current departments of Vendée, Deux-Sèvres and Vienne.
* the limits of the former bishopric of Poitiers, which was established in the 3rd century and therefore took over the division of the city of the 3rd century, which extended over the entire city (Roman administrative division) of Pictons, and which then became the county of Poitou, until in the 10th century Poitou was amputated from the Pays de Retz and Mauges, then in 1317 the bishoprics of Maillezais and Luçon were detached from it.
From these elements, it can be established that the Picton territory extended, before the Roman conquest, with certainty over the current departments of Vienne and Deux-Sèvres, that is to say Haut-Poitou. It is probable, but not certain that the Vendée was not part of it (probably occupied by the Ambilatres). The extension of their territory to the Loire over its entire lower course before the Roman conquest is a hypothesis that has been almost abandoned. In any case, after the Conquest, the three departments formed a unit which lasted until the French Revolution, that is to say more than eighteen centuries.
Cities and economy
The “capital” of the Pictons was Lemonum, the Celtic name of present-day Poitiers, meaning “Ormeraie”. This term would come from the Gallic "Lemo-" Orme, which is compared exactly with the Irish "Lem-" Orme, Latinized Lemonum then which became "the city of Pictons", that is to say "Poitiers". Lemonum was an oppidum located on a vast promontory at the confluence of the Clain and the Boivre.
Political organization and cults
Just before the Roman conquest, it appears that the Picton state was organized around the old royal Celtic system, and not a vergobret.
Several names from neighboring tribes of the Pictons have come down to us, such as the Ambiliates or Ambilatres (current Vendée), Agésinates, and the Agnutes or Anagnutes.
Duratios was king of the Pictons at the time of the conquest, but his power seemed limited by that of the Picton warlords.
Coining
Celtic Poitou experienced an original monetary circulation from the end of the 2nd century BC. These are electrum coins (ternary alloy of gold, silver and copper). Like most Gallic coins, it is inspired by the Macedonian stater and Greek coins. of the colony of Empuries in Catalonia.
* On the obverse, there is a human head, with arabesques and dots;
* On the reverse, there is a horse with a human head surmounted by a charioteer brandishing a crown.
These motifs directly inspired the coinage of the Namnètes, as the political influence, as well as the Picton economic stability, were important in this region of the Loire. Picton coins are quickly enriched with a motif that is specific to the Pictish nation:the open hand under the horse.
These coins are abundantly found in Vienne and Deux-Sèvres, and in small quantities in Vendée.
It also exists in the 1st century BC. AD a series of silver, adorned with a winged horseman jumping over a lily-type flower, close to the Bituriges coinage. Its specific Picton character, however, is less certain.
The Gallic Wars and the end of independence
The Pictons were among the peoples who could feel threatened by the migration of the Helvetians to the territory of the Santons, in the event that it would have taken place via the north of the Massif Central. They therefore had every interest in the intervention of Julius Caesar.
Like the Santons, they provided Caesar with a fleet in 56 BC. Their leader Duratios remained loyal to Caesar during the insurrection of 52 BC. However, Vercingetorix asked for reinforcements from all the peoples of Gaul, including 8,000 men from the Pictons, who were sent to him. The Picton people were therefore divided. The contingent favorable to Vercingetorix joined the chief of the Andes Dumnacos at Angers, who then moved towards Lemonum to besiege Duratios there. The latter sent a courier to the Roman legate Caius Caninius, who came from the territory of the Rutenes to bring him support. But having only troops of little value, he built an entrenched camp in order to resist Dumnacos. This one assaulted him for several days without succeeding in penetrating him.
Dumnacos fled when he learned that the legate Caius Fabius, who was obtaining allegiance from the peoples between Beauvais and Tours, was coming to the aid of Caninius.
Having remained mostly loyal to Caesar, the Picton city, that is to say the Roman administrative subdivision which was attributed to the Pictons during the organization of Gaul into Roman provinces between 16 BC. AD and 13 BC. AD, was probably increased by the territory of Ambilatres and Agnutes (probably the Vendée).
Roman Peace
Although benefiting from Roman peace, in particular through numerous urban constructions (see History of Poitiers), the people of the Pictons, like all Gallic peoples, were not deeply Romanized. From the middle of the 2nd century, milestones indicate distances in Gallic leagues, and no longer in Roman miles. In 237, we find the first mention of the gradual change of the name from Limonum to Poitiers.
The city of Pictons is nevertheless prosperous, as evidenced by the agglomerations which developed around rural sanctuaries, such as Sanxay, and the Tours Mirandes in Vendeuvre in the first two centuries of the Christian era. Other agglomerations further developed from the 3rd century, such as Vieux-Poitiers in Naintré, a town which also produced two exceptional tombs (the Ladies of Naintré). This town only disappeared with the Norman invasions of the 9th century. In the 1st century AD, the geographer Strabon[2] also mentions the two main Picton towns of the time:Lemonum (Poitiers) and Ratatium (Rezé). This port was used for trade with the British Isles [ref. needed].
After Constantine I gave citizenship to Christianity, it spread more and more rapidly. Saint Hilaire was the first assured bishop of Poitiers around 350. He welcomed the future Saint Martin of Tours, who founded in Ligugé the oldest monastery in Gaul, still active today.