chiefdom · France and the Low Countries

Catalauni

300 BCE – 51 BCE (approx.) · capital Durocatalaunum

Gallic people of Champagne around Châlons, whose plains gave their name to the battle against Attila in 451.

Origins

The Catalauni are not named by Caesar and were probably part of the Remi in his time. They are known from later Roman sources as a separate community centred on Durocatalaunum (Châlons-en-Champagne) on the Marne.

Rule and society

Nothing is known of their pre-Roman rulers. Their chalk plains were rich farmland on the route between Reims and Langres.

Decline and legacy

Durocatalaunum became a separate civitas in the late Roman period and a bishopric. The Battle of the Catalaunian Plains in 451, where Aetius and the Visigoths halted the Hunnic Empire under Attila, is named after their land.

Few sources survive for this state; details are uncertain.

Connections (1)

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Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Catalauni. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/catalauni
MLA
“Catalauni.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/catalauni. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Catalauni.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/catalauni.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Catalauni’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/catalauni (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻