Arverni

[1] Following Alemannic invasions of the region in the 3rd century AD, Clermont-Ferrand was reduced in size but remained an important centre during the later part of the Roman period.

[9] It is assumed that the pre-Roman territory of the Arverni roughly corresponded to the limits of the Roman-era civitas Arvernorum, later inherited by the early medieval Diocese of Clermont.

Their territory thus would have encompassed the modern departements of Puy-de-Dôme and Cantal, parts of Haute-Loire and Allier, as well as small areas of Creuse, Loire and Aveyron.

[10] They dwelled east of the Lemovices and Petrocorii, south of the Bituriges Cubi and Aedui, north of the Ruteni, Cadurci and Vellavi, and west of the Segusiavi and Ambarri.

Their power was based on strong metallurgic technologies and weapons, elaborated and rich agriculture and catering, mining, trade and military dominance over their neighbours with tributes paid to them.

[citation needed] But when Arverni king Bituitus was defeated by the Romans of Quintus Fabius and Gnaeus Ahenobarbus in 121 BC at the climactic Battle of the Isère River, their ascendancy passed to the Aedui and Sequani.

Unlike the Allobroges, who were brought under direct Roman rule as a result of the Celtic wars of the 120s, the Arverni negotiated a treaty that preserved their independence, though their territory was diminished.

The defeat of the Arverni under Bituitus led directly to the establishment of Gallia Narbonensis as a Roman province, referred to simply as the Provincia so often that a part of the ancient region is today known as Provence.

Vercingetorix was then defeated by Caesar at the Battle of Alesia, after several months where the legions built 14 ranges of military equipment around the city to lay siege upon the Gallic soldiers.

According to Gregory of Tours and his book Historia Francorum ("History of the Franks") the Arverni senators were still active in the sixth century and were deeply involved in the politics of the nascent Frankish state.