Aedui, Haedui or Hedui (), were a Gallic people of Gallia Lugdunensis, who inhabited the country between the Arar ( Saône ) and Liger ( Loire ), in today's France.

The Aedui were the first of the Gauls to receive from the emperor Claudius the distinction of jus honorum.

Certain clientes, or small communities, were also dependent upon the Aedui.

Among the Aedui, a tribe of Gaul, the executive held the title of Vergobret, a position much like a king, but his powers were held in check by rules laid down by the council.

Most had contact with Roman merchants and some, particularly those that were governed by Republics such as the Aedui and Helvetii, had enjoyed stable political alliances with Rome in the past.

The Aedui were loath to obey the Roman spur any longer than they must and they were keen to revisit their former days at council.

Again the accord was strained as the Aedui were brought to bay by their " protective " overlords.

Meanwhile, the Helvetii had already crossed the territories of the Sequani, and were busy pillaging the lands of the Aedui, Ambarri, and Allobroges.

Caesar in the meantime sent 4, 000 Roman and allied Aedui cavalry to track the Helvetii but they were severely beaten by only 500 Helvetii cavalry.

After his failure before Gergovia, the Aedui at Noviodunum massacred those who were there to look after stores, the negotiatores, and the travellers who were in the place.

They were either sold into slavery or given as booty to Caesar's legionaries, except for the members of the Aedui and Arverni tribes, which were released and pardoned to secure the alliance of these important tribes to Rome.

However, the Aedui were also allies of Rome, and in 58 BC Diviciacus, one of their senior magistrates, complained of Ariovistus's cruelty and pleaded with Caesar to intervene on their behalf.

At the same time that Caesar received Ariovistus's message, he heard from his Celtic allies that the Harudes were devastating the country of the Aedui and that 100 units of Suebi under the brothers Nasua and Cimberius were about to cross the Rhine.

As only small numbers of Boii were left after the battle, the Aedui were obliging.

Because the Aedui had the status of " friend of the Roman people ," contacts with Roman merchants were probable before the conquest of Gaul by Julius Caesar.

These mentions were not impartial, since Rome was allied with the Aedui, " our blood brothers ", since at least the 2nd century BCE.

In addition to this powerful alliance with Rome, the Aedui were part of a confederation of Celtic tribes:

So, the Roman products traveling up the Rhône ( the waterways were the fastest at the time ) and taking after that the Saône, the Loire or the Allier, passed through Aedui territory before joining the basins of the Loire and Seine.

The Aedui were located at a commercial crossroads between the Celtic world and Rome.

When the Sequani, their hereditary rivals, with the assistance of a Germanic chieftain named Ariovistus defeated and massacred the Aedui at the Battle of Magetobriga, the Aedui sent Diviciacus, the druid, to Rome to appeal to the senate for help.

After the Helvetian defeat at Bibracte, the influential Aedui tribe allowed the Boii survivors to settle on their territory, where they occupied the oppidum of Gorgobina.

In the cavalry battle that followed, the Helvetii prevailed over Caesar ’ s Aedui allies under Dumnorix ’ command, and continued their journey, while Caesar ’ s army was being detained by delays in his grain supplies, caused by the Aedui on the instigations of Dumnorix, who had married Orgetorix ’ daughter.

The foundation of Milan is credited to two Celtic peoples, the Bituriges and the Aedui, having as their emblems a ram and a boar ; therefore " The city's symbol is a wool-bearing boar, an animal of double form, here with sharp bristles, there with sleek wool.

Even the Aedui, their most faithful supporters, threw in their lot with the Arverni, but the ever loyal Remi ( best known for its cavalry ) and Lingones sent troops to support Caesar.

At first the plan works because the German mercenaries help the Arverni and Sequani to oppress their enemy, the Aedui.

The foundation of Milan is credited to two Celtic peoples, the Bituriges and the Aedui, having as their emblems a ram and a boar respectively ( Bituricis vervex, Heduis dat sucula signum.

By the end of the campaign, the non-client Suebi under the leadership of the belligerent Ariovistus, stood triumphant over both the Aedui and their coconspirators.

Accordingly, the Romans stopped their pursuit and headed for the Aedui town of Bibracte.

The Arverni had once been the most powerful tribal hegemony in Gaul during the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC under their king, Luernios, but when his son ( or grandson ) Bituitus was defeated by the Romans in 121 BC, their ascendancy passed to the Aedui and Sequani.

He and his followers took part in a war in Gaul, assisting the Arverni and Sequani to defeat their rivals the Aedui, after which they settled in large numbers in conquered Gallic territory in the Alsace region.

Some time before Caesar's governorship of Gaul ( which began in 58 BC ), the Gaulish Arverni and Sequani enlisted Ariovistus's aid in their war against the Aedui.

The location of the final battle between the Aedui and their enemies, which Caesar names as the Battle of Magetobriga, remains unknown, but Ariovistus ’ 15, 000 men turned the tide, and the Aedui became tributary to the Sequani.

Caesar states that this left him with a difficult decision, between keeping his forces safe over the winter but showing Roman weakness in defending her allies the Aedui and thus losing their support, or bringing Vercingetorix to open battle but risking running out of supplies-he chose the latter.

Pliny lists the following Celtic tribes as living in the area: the Aedui and Carnuteni as having treaties with Rome ; the Meldi and Secusiani as having some measure of independence ; and the Boii, Senones, Aulerci ( both the Eburovices and Cenomani ), the Parisii, Tricasses, Andicavi, Viducasses, Bodiocasses, Veneti, Coriosvelites, Diablinti, Rhedones, Turones, and the Atseui.

To add to his woes, Caesar's allies, the Aedui and the Boii, were unable to supply him, the former because they had quietly joined Vercingetorix in his rebellion, the latter because they simply did not have any food to spare.

These circumstances explain an apparent contradiction in Strabo, who in one sentence says that the Aedui lived between the Saône and the Doubs, and in the next, that the Sequani lived across the Saône ( eastward ).

The chief magistrate of the Aedui in Caesar's time was called Vergobretus ( according to Mommsen, " judgment-worker "), who was elected annually, possessed powers of life and death, but was forbidden to go beyond the frontier.

After ravaging the lands of the Aedui tribe, who called upon Caesar to help them, they began the crossing of the Saône, which took them several days.

* Julius Sacrovir, a leader of the Aedui, who together with Julius Florus revolted in AD 21.

It was the civitas capital of the Celtic Aedui, who had been allies and fratres (" brothers ") of Rome since before Julius Caesar's conquest of Gaul.

Strabo, who lived a generation after Caesar in the late republic and early empire, does make a statement concerning the cause of the conflict between the Sequani and Aedui, and it was in fact commercial, at least in Strabo's view.

The Romans quickly re-established cordial relations with the Treveri under Indus, who promised obedience to Rome ; in contrast, they completely annihilated the Aedui who had sided with Sacrovir.

It was mentioned again in 52 BCE, during which he was questioning the intentions of his Aedui allies, who had joined the revolt and crowned Vercingetorix king of the Gauls at Bibracte.

At the same time, the Viscount of Aboville, the owner of the land, conducted the necessary research and showed it to the Archbishop of Reims, who was also a member of the Aedui Society and a friend of Bulliot ( despite their disagreement on the question of Bibracte ).

Strabo the geographer, who wrote a generation after Caesar, indicated Bibracte as an Aedui stronghold again.

According to Caesar's Celtic informants, Ariovistus had appeared as a leader of Germani who had settled in the land of the Aedui ( upper Loire ) following the assistance of a vanguard of 15, 000 at the Battle of Admagetobriga in 61 BC.

Caesar opposed this migration militarily, and requested the Aedui, who were allies of Rome, to supply his soldiers with grain, but this was not forthcoming.

Liscus, the chief magistrate or Vergobretus of the Aedui, revealed to Caesar that Dumnorix, who was very popular and influential, was responsible for the withholding of the supplies.