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Before the Romans came to Britain and annexed it into their Empire, ancient Britain was home to some of the most fascinating kingdoms, or tribes in the Celtic world. These Celts occupied different areas of Britain, Wales and Scotland, every having their own distinct heritage and traditions.

When seeking at Celtic tribes, either in Britain or anywhere else in Europe, it is critical to anxiety that the word Celtic is an umbrella term it refers to a group of individuals who speak a Celtic language, which is descended from the Indo-European loved ones language branch. These ‘Celts’, identified throughout British Isles and Europe, all shared a widespread origin, not only in language, but culture and blood. In this then, the Celtic folks are only referred to as ‘Celtic’ by modern standards and would not have referred to as themselves Celtic.

There are no records as to what these ancient men and women referred to as themselves. The term ‘Britains’ and the naming of their lands ‘Britannia’ had been what the Romans referred to these tribes. It is very possible that the individuals, rather of calling themselves Britains or Celts, would have known as themselves right after the tribes they belonged to. Academically speaking, it is much more appropriate to refer to these ancient individuals as Late Iron Age men and women.

There were about 20 main distinct tribes throughout the island of Britannia, though there were smaller tribes who had comparable characteristics with these bigger groups.

The Atrebates had been 1 of these main 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 had been at Selsey and Silchester, this capitol getting named Calleva Atrebatvm.

One of our most important sources of info on the Atrebates comes from the Romans. When Caesar invaded Britain, he created note of the individuals he found there. “The sea coast is peopled by the Belgians, drawn thither by the love of war and plunder. These men and women, coming from distinct parts of their parent country and settling in Britain, nonetheless retain the name of the states from which they emigrated”.

 The Atrebates had been 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 folks from Belgium who was really different, and much less civilized, than the people he had met all through Gaul on his way to Britain.

One crucial 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 trustworthy 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 almost certainly due to the reality that they supported Roman rule and had a succession of tribal leaders who were loyal to Rome, which includes Tincommius, Eppillus and Verica. Even so, by 25 CE, the Atrebates had been under constant pressure from the Catuvellauni, until they had been able to subjugate the whole Atrebate lands. Indeed, 1 tribal ruler, possibly Verica, was forced to seek refuge with Claudius, the Roman emperor who finally brought Britannia under Roman rule.  

Another ancient tribe of Britain had been the Cornovii. These were a men and women whose territory was located in contemporary day Shropshire and Wroxeter, with their capitol named Viroconivm Cornovirovm. Like with numerous Late Iron Age British folks, we rely on significantly of our data on these tribes comes from Roman sources. One source locations the tribe, with its towns Deva and Viroconium, quickly east of the Ordovices of North and Central Wales, another gives amongst his list of towns the barbarous form Utriconion Cornoninnorum. Older scholars have known as the tribe Cornavii but a lot more recent scholars, nonetheless, have preferred the form Cornovii. In addition to this, the former scholar mentions Cornavii in the north of Scotland, and it is feasible that there was such a tribe name in Western Gaul (cf. the later name of Brittany Cornouailles).

It appears that there had been no main towns or centres amongst the Cornovii until the beginnings of Roman rule, which the tribe complied with nearly quickly. From this it appears as although they had been a pastoral life. When the Romans arrived and set up a permanent military presence in Britain, the Cornovii supplied 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 residence and a forum. Their capitol at Wroxeter was stated 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. 

Yet another Late Iron Age tribe in Britain had been the Dumnonii who had been located in contemporary 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 truth that scholars are aware of extensive trade among Ireland and the mainland at this time.

According to scholars, there had been two parts to the Dumnonii tribe, the Northern Dumnonii and the Southern Dumnonii. From an inscription in Latin, we know the name of 1 of the kings of the Northern Dumnonii, Nudos Liberalis. Searching at the religion of this tribe, “the material reality is that Welsh kings of Northern extraction bore the name and shared the attributes of the god Nudd. They are therefore strictly analogous to the Irish kings that were named following 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”.

Seeking at what is frequently identified as ‘Celtic’ tribes in Britain, we have to be conscious that most of our information comes from Roman sources. Since of this, we have to be extremely wary about taking the Roman info at face value. This is simply because Roman historians and authors presented these tribes in a negative light, to develop a distinction among the Roman way of life (which was deemed civilized) and the Celtic way of life (who were seen as barbarians and un-civilized).

 In recent decades, archaeologists have began to realize much more about the lives of the Iron Age folks and study their own distinct cultures and the impact they had on Britain. In spite of the annexation of every of the British tribes, they deserve our attention away from the Roman invaders to be viewed for the fascinating folks they undoubtedly had been.

Bibliography:

Atkinson, Donald (1924) Civitas Cornoviorum, The Classical Evaluation, Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Classical Evaluation.

Cook, Arthur Bernard (1906) The European Sky-God. IV. The Celts, Folklore, Taylor &amp 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’ Component 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 Wonderful Britain and Ireland.

Power, Patrick (1927) The Issue of the Celts, Studies: An Irish Quarterly Assessment, Irish Province of the Society of Jesus.

Stevenson, W. H. (1899) The Beginnings of Wessex, The English Historical Evaluation, Oxford University Press.

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