Before the Romans came to Britain and annexed it into their Empire, ancient Britain was home to some of the most interesting kingdoms, or tribes in the Celtic world. These Celts occupied different areas of Britain, Wales and Scotland, each having their own distinct heritage and traditions.
When looking at Celtic tribes, either in Britain or anywhere else in Europe, it is important to stress that the word Celtic is an umbrella term; it refers to a group of people who speak a Celtic language, which is descended from the Indo-European family language branch. These ‘Celts’, found throughout British Isles and Europe, all shared a common origin, not only in language, but culture and blood. In this then, the Celtic people are only referred to as ‘Celtic’ by modern standards and would not have called themselves Celtic.
There are no records as to what these ancient people called themselves. The term ‘Britains’ and the naming of their lands ‘Britannia’ were what the Romans referred to these tribes. It is quite possible that the people, instead of calling themselves Britains or Celts, would have called themselves after the tribes they belonged to. Academically speaking, it is more appropriate to refer to these ancient people as Late Iron Age people.
There were around 20 major distinct tribes throughout the island of Britannia, although there were smaller tribes who had similar characteristics with these larger groups.
The Atrebates were one of these major tribes, the extent of their land occupation in parts of West Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire, Berkshire and north east Wiltshire in southern England. We know from excavations that their occupations were at Selsey and Silchester, this capitol being called Calleva Atrebatvm.
One of our most key sources of information on the Atrebates comes from the Romans. When Caesar invaded Britain, he made note of the people he found there. “The sea coast is peopled by the Belgians, drawn thither by the love of war and plunder. These people, coming from different parts of their parent country and settling in Britain, still retain the name of the states from which they emigrated”.
The Atrebates were a tribe that migrated from Belgium, but we should be wary of taking Caesar’s account as literal truth; Caesar saw Britain as a land full of people from Belgium who was very different, and less civilized, than the people he had met throughout Gaul on his way to Britain.
One important Atrebate was Comius, a chief of this tribe. There are accounts that Caesar sent him to Britain ahead of him, intending to use him as an ambassador to the people due to the influence he had. From this, and other reliable archaeological sources, there are possibilities that there were a tribe of Atrebates in Britain before Comius was sent by Caesar.
They were considered to be the most civilized of the tribes and this is probably due to the fact that they supported Roman rule and had a succession of tribal leaders who were loyal to Rome, including Tincommius, Eppillus and Verica. However, by 25 CE, the Atrebates were under constant pressure from the Catuvellauni, until they were able to subjugate the entire Atrebate lands. Indeed, one tribal ruler, probably Verica, was forced to seek refuge with Claudius, the Roman emperor who finally brought Britannia under Roman rule.
Another ancient tribe of Britain were the Cornovii. These were a people whose territory was located in modern day Shropshire and Wroxeter, with their capitol named Viroconivm Cornovirovm. Like with many Late Iron Age British people, we rely on much of our information on these tribes comes from Roman sources. One source places the tribe, with its towns Deva and Viroconium, immediately east of the Ordovices of North and Central Wales, another gives among his list of towns the barbarous form Utriconion Cornoninnorum. Older scholars have called the tribe Cornavii but more recent scholars, however, have preferred the form Cornovii. In addition to this, the former scholar mentions Cornavii in the north of Scotland, and it is possible that there was such a tribe name in Western Gaul (cf. the later name of Brittany Cornouailles).
It seems that there were no major towns or centres among the Cornovii until the beginnings of Roman rule, which the tribe complied with almost immediately. From this it seems as though they were a pastoral life. Once the Romans arrived and set up a permanent military presence in Britain, the Cornovii provided the Romans with the regiment Notitia Dignitatum who served the north west of Britain.
With the coming of the Romans, the Cornovii built up their towns with Roman influence, including the construction of a Roman bath house and a forum. Their capitol at Wroxeter was said to have been destroyed in the second century CE but it has been suggested, and widely accepted amongst scholars, that it wasn’t destroyed until the time of Marcus Aurelius.
Another Late Iron Age tribe in Britain were the Dumnonii who were located in modern Devon and Cornwall. Their capitol was called Isca Dvmnoniorvm.
The Dumnonii are a tribe with a long history which can be traced back to the Bronze Age but it wasn’t until later that they were named Dumnonii. Indeed, early Irish accounts call them the Fir Domnann, and it has been suggested that there was a mass migration from Cornwall to Ireland, introducing bronze metal working to Ireland. One reason supporting this belief is the fact that scholars are aware of extensive trade between Ireland and the mainland at this time.
According to scholars, there were two parts to the Dumnonii tribe, the Northern Dumnonii and the Southern Dumnonii. From an inscription in Latin, we know the name of one of the kings of the Northern Dumnonii, Nudos Liberalis. Looking at the religion of this tribe, “the material fact is that Welsh kings of Northern extraction bore the name and shared the attributes of the god Nudd. They are thus strictly analogous to the Irish kings that were named after the god Nuada. To complete the parallel, it should be shown that Nudd, like Nuada, was at once a sky-god connected with the sun and a water-god connected with a river”.
Looking at what is commonly known as ‘Celtic’ tribes in Britain, we have to be aware that most of our information comes from Roman sources. Because of this, we have to be extremely wary about taking the Roman information at face value. This is because Roman historians and authors presented these tribes in a negative light, to create a distinction between the Roman way of life (which was considered civilized) and the Celtic way of life (who were seen as barbarians and un-civilized).
In recent decades, archaeologists have started to understand more about the lives of the Iron Age people and study their own distinct cultures and the impact they had on Britain. Despite the annexation of each of the British tribes, they deserve our attention away from the Roman invaders to be viewed for the fascinating people they undoubtedly were.
Bibliography:
Atkinson, Donald (1924) Civitas Cornoviorum, The Classical Review, Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Classical Review.
Cook, Arthur Bernard (1906) The European Sky-God. IV. The Celts, Folklore, Taylor & Francis Ltd on behalf of Folklore Enterprises Ltd.
Crawfurd, John (1867) On Caesar’s Account of Britain and Its Inhabitants to Ethnology, Transactions of the Ethnological Society of London, Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland.
Geary, James A. (1933) The Early Irish Race, The Scientific Monthly, American Society for the Advancement of Science.
Hind, J. G. F. (1977) The ‘Genounian’ Part of Britain, Britannia, The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies.
Powell, T. G. E. (1948) Celtic Origins: A Stage in the Enquiry, The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland.
Power, Patrick (1927) The Problem of the Celts, Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review, Irish Province of the Society of Jesus.
Stevenson, W. H. (1899) The Beginnings of Wessex, The English Historical Review, Oxford University Press.
No comments:
Post a Comment