c. 2nd century BCE–43
Cunobeline was a powerful king in pre-Roman Britain, ruling the Catuvellauni and associated territories in the early first century AD. Cunobeline held the title of king. Cunobeline is generally dated to c.
Cunobeline's authority appears to have centred on Camulodunum and is documented especially through an extensive coinage carrying his name and symbols of kingship and trade. Roman writers remembered him as a powerful British ruler, and after his death his sons, including Caratacus and Togodumnus, were among the leaders who resisted the Roman invasion launched by Claudius in AD 43.
In Michael Arnold’s The Savage Isle, the death of Cunobeline ends a political balance that had restrained direct Roman intervention. In Simon Scarrow’s Warrior: The War Prince, after years of Druid training, Caratacus is recalled to Cunobeline’s court when the death of a neighbouring heir threatens the balance among British kingdoms. Cunobeline is treated fictionally in Simon Scarrow’s Warrior: The King in Rome, Simon Scarrow’s Warrior: Brothers of the Sword, Simon Scarrow’s Warrior: Lord of War, Simon Scarrow’s Warlord of Britannia, and Simon Scarrow’s Warrior: The Druids’ Lair.
