Cananefates

The Cannenefates (spelled in many ways including Cananefates, Canninefates) were a Germanic people who lived in the western Rhine-Meuse delta, in the Roman province of Germania Inferior. In present-day terms they lived in what is now the Dutch province of South Holland), during the time of the Roman Empire. They were the western neighbours of the Batavians, living on the western part of the same island, called Batavia, and therefore south the Oude Rijn (part of the old course of the Rhine, near the North Sea). According to the classical author Tacitus, they closely resembled the Batavians in their origins, language, and in their courageous character, but they were inferior in numbers. With some exceptions, scholars generally interpret this to mean that their military elite descended from the Chatti, which is how Tacitus explains the origins of the Batavians. North of the Cannenefates lived the Frisii, on the other side of the Rhine. The Cannenefates contributed cavalry and elite soldiers to the Roman military.