Belgae Britain after participating in Vercingetorix's rebellion and either joined or established a British branch of his tribe. Based on the development of imagery on coins, by the time of the Roman conquest, some of the tribes of south-eastern Britain likely were ruled by a Belgic nobility and were culturally influenced by them. The later "civitas" (administrative division) of Roman Britain had towns including "Portus Adurni" (Portchester), and "Clausentum" (Southampton). The "civitas" capital was at "Venta Belgarum" (Winchester), which was built on top of an Iron Age "oppidum" (which was itself built on the site of two earlier abandoned hillforts), which
Venta Belgarum Britain in his "History of the Britains". Following the Roman withdrawal from Britain in 410, urban life seems to have ceased around 450, although a small administrative centre might have continued after that on the site of the later Anglo-Saxon palace. Amid the Saxon invasions of Britain, cemeteries dating to the 6th and 7th centuries suggest a revival of settlement and Wintanceastre became the usual court for the kings of Wessex, and then for other Saxon, Danish, and Norman kings of England. Venta Belgarum Venta Belgarum was a town in the Roman province of Britannia Superior, the civitas capital of