Celtic tribes of Southern Scotland and North-East England
Although the Antonine Wall was
rapidly abandoned by the Romans, the region between it and Hadrian's Wall
remained in contact with Roman Britain, importing Roman goods and ideas.
Christianity was widespread across it by the end of the 5th century. The
Cumbric form of British was spoken as far north as Dumbarton (Dùn Breatainn,
fort of the Britons
), which Bede knew to be a British stronghold, known
in his day as Alcluith. This may explain why Bede considered that the dividing
line between Britons and Picts was the Antonine Wall.1J. E. Fraser, From Caledonia to Pictland: Scotland to
795 (2009), pp. 37, 88-90; Bede, The Ecclesiastical History of the
BritishPeople, ed. J. McClure and R. Collins (1994), p.
12.
- Corionototae: An altarstone inscription from
Hexham, Northumberland, by a Roman prefect of cavalry gives thanks to his
god for cutting-down an armed band of Corionototae.2RIB 1142. They may not have been a
specific tribe, but a war-party resisting Roman authority, since the name
derives from Indo-European *koryos (
war band, army
) + teuteh (people, nation
).3J.P. Mallory and D.Q. Adams, The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World (2006), pp. 269, 282. - Damnoni (Lat.), Dumnonii (Gr.): Lived north of the Selgovae. Their towns were Colanica, Vindogara, Coria, Alauna, Lindum and Victoria.4Claudius Ptolemy, The Geography, II.2. They could be related to the tribes of the same name in south-west Britain and in Ireland.
- Novantae (Lat.), Novantai (Gr.): Lived on the
west coast, east of the peninsula of the same name [now The Rhins]. Ptolemy
gives the names of two settlements: Locopibia and Rerigonium. The former
was probably an attempt to render the Celtic name Leucovia (
the shining place
), apparently given to a Roman fort at what is now Glenlochar. Ptolemy lists the coastal features to their south including the mouth of the Novius river. The tribe evidently took its name from the river, today known as the Nith, derived from the Celtic word fornew
orfresh
, cognate with the Latin novus. We hear of them later in a 7th-century Welsh poem as the Novantians (Wyr Enouant).5Claudius Ptolemy, The Geography, II.2; J. T. Koch, An Atlas for Celtic Studies (2007), maps 15.3, 21.3; J. T. Koch, The Gododdin of Aneirin: text and context from Dark-Age North Britain (1997), pp. lxxxii-lxxxiii. - Selgovae (Lat.), Selgoves (Gr.), meaning
the hunters
: Lived east of the Novantae. Their towns were Carbantorigon [Easter Happrew?], Uxellum, Corda [Castledykes?] and Trimontium [Newstead, Borders].6Claudius Ptolemy, The Geography, II.2; J. T. Koch, An Atlas for Celtic Studies (2007), maps 15.2, 15.3. Their name is remembered in the Solway Firth. - Votadini: Ptolemy gives the tribal name as Otadini. They lived to the east of the Damnoni. Their towns were Coria [Corbridge?] and Bremenium [High Rochester, Northumberland]. Corstopitum [Corbridge] is mentioned in the Antonine Itinerary as the second road-station along the route south from Hadrian's Wall to Praetorium [Bridlington], and may be equated with this Coria, in which case Hadrian's wall cut the tribe off from one of its settlements.7Claudius Ptolemy, The Geography, II.2; T. Codrington, The Roman Roads in Britain (1903), introduction; J. T. Koch, An Atlas for Celtic Studies (2007), maps 15.2, 15.3. Their territory is notable for its concentration of hill-forts, particularly that at Traprain Law, and for the only chariot burial in Britain outside Yorkshire. This burial at Newbridge, near Edinburgh, is dated to the 5th century BC, earlier than the East Yorkshire series, and is more like Continental La Tène types. La Tène material has been found at various sites across the territory.8J. T. Koch, An Atlas for Celtic Studies (2007), p. 112 and map 15.2; S. Carter and F. Hunter, An Iron Age chariot burial from Scotland, Antiquity, vol. 77, no. 297 (September 203), pp. 531-535. The Brythonic form of the tribal name evolved into Goutodin in early Welsh and then Gododdin. The 6th-century Welsh poem Y Gododdin mourns the loss of the heroes of Gododdin in their assault on the Angle stronghold of Catraeth [Catterick, North Yorkshire]. This was a disaster for the Britons.9J.T. Koch, Celtic Culture: a historical encyclopedia (2006), pp. 823-6; A. O. H. Jarman (ed.), Y Gododdin. Britain's Oldest Heroic Poem (1988). The kingdom was overrun by the Anglian Kingdom of Bernicia.
Notes
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- J. E. Fraser, From Caledonia to Pictland: Scotland to 795 (2009), pp. 37, 88-90; Bede, The Ecclesiastical History of the BritishPeople, ed. J. McClure and R. Collins (1994), p. 12.
- B. Collingwood and R.P. Wright (eds.), The Roman Inscriptions of Britain (1965), no. 1142.
- J.P. Mallory and D.Q. Adams, The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World (2006), pp.269, 282.
- Claudius Ptolemy, The Geography, II.2.
- Claudius Ptolemy, The Geography, II.2; J. T. Koch, An Atlas for Celtic Studies (2007), maps 15.3, 21.3; J. T. Koch, The Gododdin of Aneirin: text and context from Dark-Age North Britain (1997), pp. lxxxii-lxx.
- Claudius Ptolemy, The Geography, II.2; J. T. Koch, An Atlas for Celtic Studies (2007), maps 15.2, 15.3.
- Claudius Ptolemy, The Geography, II.2; T. Codrington, The Roman Roads in Britain (1903), introduction; J. T. Koch, An Atlas for Celtic Studies (2007), maps 15.2, 15.3.
- J. T. Koch, An Atlas for Celtic Studies (2007), p. 112 and map 15.2; S. Carter and F. Hunter, An Iron Age chariot burial from Scotland, Antiquity, vol. 77, no. 297 (September 203), pp. 531-535.
- J.T. Koch, Celtic Culture: a historical encyclopedia (2006), pp. 823-6; A. O. H. Jarman (ed.), Y Gododdin. Britain's Oldest Heroic Poem (1988)
