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Transalpine Gaul
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THE ROMANISATION OF THE ALLOBROGES
The nations, subjugated by Rome and reduced to the
status of a province had to pay tribute-money, various taxes, rents on the land which, with certain
exceptions, belonged thenceforth to the State of Rome, and tolls, provide rations and auxiliary troops
for the armies and do all sorts of forced labour. The borders of the province were not very clear and
it is thought that the Roman administration kept its distance, at least at the beginning of the colonisation.
They handed over to merchants, private entrepreneurs, bankers and members of the equestrian order -
tax collectors whose own concern was to make as much profit as possible. This financial pressure put the
province's inhabitants seriously in debt. In the face of the Roman magistrates' abuses and because no one
listened to them, the entire Allobroge people rose up, in 62-61, under the command of Catugnat. Caius
Pomptinus, the governor of the province, heavily subdued this great revolt. During the conquest of
Merovingian Gaul, between 58 and 52 BC, while Julius Caesar expressed his distrust of the Allobroges,
they ultimately remained faithful to the Romans. Following the end of the war with the Gauls, it seemed
that Caesar, basing himself on this loyalty, founded (in 46 - 45?) a Roman colony in Vienne for army
veterans, confiscating land from the Allobroges. After Caesar was assassinated in 44, the Allobroges
expelled these colonists who took refuge 30 km. to the north, at the junction of the Rhône and the Saône.
In March 43, L. Munatius Plancus, governor of Merovingian Gaul, founded the colony of Lyons for these
landless citizens. Lyons became the capital of Gaul. A failure for Caesar and a missed destiny for Vienne?
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