The Chats (Latin chatti) are an ancient Germanic people, who were settled at the beginning of the Christian era in the region of the upper course of the Weser and the Eder. They will give birth to the current Hesse (Hattes or Hesse) and Franconia above the Main. They were formidable infantrymen. The Batawes would be a branch descended from the Chattes.
The Cats are cited by Pliny the Elder, around 75, as members of a common ethnic federation with the Suevi and Cheruscans. Except for the name of this one - the Herminones - we know almost nothing about it:the very nature of this alliance remains obscure. We also know that the Batavians were originally part of the Cats, like the Mattiacians (Tacitus, Germania), but the latter quickly turned to Rome rather than to the "free" peoples of inland Germania.
Shortly before the beginning of our era, the Cats took part in the insurrection led by Arminius which led to the loss of the Roman legions of Varus, during the battle of Teutoburg:the Cats are thus among the main actors of the end of the Roman expansion beyond the Rhine.
Following this episode and during the first century of our era, the Rhenish limes were established in the south of their territories, not without several clashes having taken place before.
Their capital, Mattium, in Hesse, was burnt down during the trans-Rhenish campaign of Germanicus († in 19).
Around 37, the Cats, who carried out their looting as far as the territory of the Ubians, where Agrippina was from, were the object of a Roman punitive campaign led by Lucius Pomponius:during this one, the general freed from the Romans who had been captured and enslaved in the time of Varus (Tacitus, Annals). The Cats were forced to negotiate peace and had to send hostages to Rome:among the latter was to be the daughter of the chief of the Cats, Catumerus, whose son in turn became king of the Cheruscans (Tacitus, op. cit. XI, 16).
In 70, a revolt was led, initially in support of another candidate for imperial dignity, by the Batavian Civilis, who was a Roman officer and citizen. This revolt then took an anti-Roman turn when the originally supported candidate was killed (Vitellius).
Established in the Empire, Civilis did not hesitate to seek help for the occasion from the Cats, on the other side of the Rhine. He was finally defeated by the troops who remained loyal to the new Emperor.
Emperor Domitian (81 - 96 AD) again confronted the Cats among other peoples of Inner Germania (Suetonius).
According to Ferdinand Lot, it is probable that in the 5th century they settled on the lower course of the Moselle and that they colonized the east of the department of Moselle. (The Moselle valley was occupied by Frankish tribes in 454, ).
The region of origin of the Cats began to convert to Christianity at the beginning of the 8th century of our era, under the action of the missionary Saint Boniface. The latter had a sacred oak belonging to them cut down in 723, near Fritzlar.
The name of Hesse finds its etymology in the name of the Cats.
Tacitus, in his Annals, informs us about a confrontation that occurred between the Cats and the Hermundures:he then mentions that the former lent a sacred character to the rivers and forests where salt is produced and that they could dedicate their warriors to March before the fight, which resulted in the kill in case they were the losers of the battle.
Finally, in Germania, he tells us that Cats grew beards and hair and wore an iron ring as a mark of infamy until they killed their first opponent in battle.