More evidence of ancient links

The Rio Tambre in Sigüeiro, Galicia

A paper by Manuel Alberro, University of Uppsala makes a strong case for the Galician people to be included in the lists of ancient celtic nations. (1)

He says:-

“Social and commercial relations between the peoples of the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula and those of Brittany and the British Islands date back to very remote times. Trade in tin between Ireland and Galicia was already established during the late Neolithic (MacCalister 1921:16), and the similarities in thousands of stone tombs found all along the coasts of Atlantic Europe could indicate that those contacts existed during the period of megalith construction as well (Eogan 1982). These ancient connections continued during the Bronze Age, when a well-defined socio-cultural and commercial zone called the Atlantic Façade, Area, or Province included Ireland, the Isle of Man, Scotland, Wales, the Cornish Peninsula, Armorica (Brittany) and Galicia in Spain, and lasted for at least three millennia (Cunliffe :The Ancient Celts: Oxford University Press: 1997: p.148). Cunliffe affords northwestern Iberia particular importance within the zone, noting how the complex influence of western seaways converged "around the isolated yet reassuring stepping-stone of Galicia" (Cunliffe 2001:60).”

What he does not mention, as far as I can see, is the similarity of place and river names. Among the most obvious is the almost identical ancient names of the rivers Tamar (Cornwall / Devon border) and the Tambre of Galicia.

Articles from Wikipedia have the details:-

The Tambre is a coastal river that crosses Galicia, in northwestern Spain. In ancient times, it was called "Támaris". (2)



The Tamar (Cornish: Dowr Tamar) is a river in south west England, that forms most of the border between Devon (to the east) and Cornwall (to the west). The area is a World Heritage Site due to its historic mining activities.
The name Tamar (or Tamare) was mentioned by Ptolomy in the second century in his Geography. The Tamar is one of several British rivers whose ancient name is assumed by some to be derived from a prehistoric river word apparently meaning "dark flowing" and which it shares with the River Thames.
The seventh century Ravenna Cosmography mentions a Roman settlement named Tamaris, but it is unclear which of the towns along the Tamar this refers to. (3)

The article in Wikipedia on the River Thames points to the fact that the link between river names is widespread:-

The Thames, from Middle English Temese, is derived from the Brittonic Celtic name for the river, Tamesas (from *tamēssa), recorded in Latin as Tamesis and yielding modern Welsh Tafwys "Thames". The name probably meant "dark" The same origin share countless other river names, spread across Britain, such as the River Tamar at the border of Devon and Cornwall, several rivers named Tame in the Midlands and North Yorkshire, the Tavy on Dartmoor, the Team of the North East, the Teifi and Teme of Wales, the Teviot in the Scottish Borders, as well as one of the Thames' tributaries called the Thame.
ndirect evidence for the antiquity of the name 'Thames' is provided by a Roman potsherd found at Oxford, bearing the inscription Tamesubugus fecit (Tamesubugus made [this]). It is believed that Tamesubugus' name was derived from that of the river. Tamese was referred to as a place, not a river in the Ravenna Cosmography (c. 700 AD).
The river's name has always been pronounced with a simple t /t/; the Middle English spelling was typically Temese and the Brittonic form Tamesis. A similar spelling from 1210, "Tamisiam", is found in the Magna Carta (4)

For an amateur such as myself, the evidence of very ancient links between the people of the Northwest coasts of the Iberian peninsula and those of the British Isles appears to be overwhelming.

1) e-Keltoi - Vol. 6, Manuel Alberro, University of Uppsala: The Celts in the Iberian Peninsula

2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tambre_(river)

3) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Tamar

4) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Thames

The Castros of Northern Spain

The similarity of cultures between southern Britain and Galicia / Asturias in northern Spain is most obvious in the structure of the hill-forts, known as "castros" in Spain

Maiden Castle in Dorset

Compare the above arial photo with this model of the castro of Viladonga near Mondoñedo in Galicia and the similarity of the construction is easy to see.

A model of the Castro of Viladonga

 A pictorial guide at the main entrance

 The castro at Viladonga has been excavated and it is now open to the public. The banks and ditches are still impressive and the remains of the gateways retain their stone facing.

Inner bank near main entrance

 Main east gateway through bank

                        View across Castro de Viladonga looking east to main entrance

A web site about the Castros is here:-   Museo de Chao SaMartin

  

A Visit to Bretoña

 

The movement of Celtic Britons to Northern Spain

Approximate Timeline

55 B.C.-Caesar attempted to invade Britain but had to withdraw

54 B.C.-Successful invasion of Britain, but withdrew

43 A.D.-Roman invasion of Southwest Britain

63 A.D.- Joseph of Arimathia is said to have visited Britain to convert its inhabitants

75-77 A.D.-Roman conquest complete

312 A.D.- Christianity official religion of Britain and the Roman Empire

410 A.D.-Last Romans leave

596 A.D.-Gregorian Mission 

664 A.D.- Synod of Whitby. Roman Church preferred over the Celtic in Britain.

According to Gildas (1) the Saxon war-bands were invited in by Vortigern in 446 A.D. to counteract the threat of invasion from the north by the Picts. Having gained a foothold they invited in their brethren, and embarked on a genocide of the original Celtic inhabitants. Those who could fled overseas. Some to Brittany, others as we shall see, to the northwest of the Spanish peninsula.

By at least 572 A.D. there was a “Diocese of the Britons” with the centre at Britoña (now Bretoña) near Mondoñedo in Galicia in north-west Spain.

BISHOPS OF BRITOÑA (Including Bishops of Laniobra, most likely its alternative name) Known bishops of the Ecclesia Brittaniensis include: (2)

• Mailoc, (Second Council of Braga, 572)
• Ermaricus (589)
• Metopius, (Fourth Council of Toledo 633)
• Sonna, (Seventh Council of Toledo 646)
• Sosani (Eighth Council of Toledo, 653 Possibly the same as Sonna)
• Bela, (Third Council of Braga 675)
• Brandila (683)
• Suniaguissius (693)
• Vitulacius? (681?)
• Theodesindus (873)

By at least 572 A.D. there was a “Diocese of the Britons”. This ancient British Celtic diocese of Britoña is thought to have been based in a small settlement in the province of Galicia in north-west of Spain. This followed the tradition of the Celtic church which avoided the administrative city centres and established their bishoprics in small rural communities.

 Britoña - now the small village of Bretoña - lies a few kilometers east of the present cathedral city of Mondoñedo.

 The modern village sign

I was able to visit the area earlier this year. Unfortunately there is little left of the ancient site most of the evidence being destroyed by later building and development. However, there are some remains even to a casual observer.

The settlement is based on an ancient small “castro” - a Celtic hillfort. Some of the circular banks remain, with the present minor road to the east of the church, running in the base of the “fossa”.
The only remaining trace of possible Celtic artwork that I found was the very weather-worn carved head on the lintel above the main door of the church. 

Viewed from the north, the church stands on the top of a banked hill - the remains of the defensive bank of the castro. 

  The remains of the banks run across the field. Church in centre background.

The minor road to the east of the church runs along the bottom of the "fossa", the ditch below the former defensive bank.

 

Looking north along the road. The corner of the church is on the extreme top left.

 Looking south along the road

Possible Celtic artwork on the lintel above the main door of the church. This stone has obviously been reused from a previous doorway as the carved lines do not match those at either side.

Carved head above main door of church

 The bank round the west side of the church is broken through in several places 

 The western bank

The church is off to the right

 

  Looking west from the church

The steep outer face of the bank on the west

A detailed contour map of the village would be of interest. This would show the relative steepness of the outer bank compared with the inner. A sketch of the continuous bank and ditch could then be made, reconstructing the bank and ditch as it was at the time of the Celtic church.

(1) Gildas – The Ruin of Britain and other documents., ed. Michael Winterbottom, London, 1978 
(2) Young – Britoña: Caminos Nuevos. p.40. Editorial Toxosoutos, Serie Keltia 2004

The Atlantic Connection 1

The Celtic Diaspora [1]

The above map of the Romano-British Celtic diaspora reflects 6th. century history according to Gildas [2] 

 My question would be :- "How far are these migratory routes a reflection of trade routes and past immigration routes?" If the links were already there, the Romano-Britons were neither "invaders" nor "invited mercenaries": two alternatives proposed by Young [3].


According to recent research (2012)  "Human populations, along with those of many other species, are thought to have contracted into a number of refuge areas at the height of the last Ice Age. European populations are believed to be, to a large extent, the descendants of the inhabitants of these refugia, and some extant mtDNA lineages can be traced to refugia in Franco-Cantabria (haplogroups H1, H3, V, and U5b1), the Italian Peninsula (U5b3), and the East European Plain (U4 and U5a). Parts of the Near East, such as the Levant, were also continuously inhabited throughout the Last Glacial Maximum, but unlike western and eastern Europe, no archaeological or genetic evidence for Late Glacial expansions into Europe from the Near East has hitherto been discovered. Here we report, on the basis of an enlarged whole-genome mitochondrial database, that a substantial, perhaps predominant, signal from mitochondrial haplogroups J and T, previously thought to have spread primarily from the Near East into Europe with the Neolithic population, may in fact reflect dispersals during the Late Glacial period, ∼19-12 thousand years (ka) ago".[4]

The link between the "Franco-Cantabria" refuge after the last Ice Age and the western areas of the British Isles may date back 19 - 12 thousand years! Oppenheimer and others suggest that these early settlers that he calls "Atlantic coastal beachcombers" spread round the Atlantic coastal fringe from the Basque refuge around 16,500 years ago. [5]

If this were the case, what was happening in the "Anglo - Saxon" areas, and how far back can we date the genetic and cultural difference between the Eastern (Northern European) population of the United Kingdom and the Western (Celtic?) peoples?
 The answer to this question may give us a clue as to when and why the Celtic - British influence took place in northern Iberia.  




[1] Map from Wikipedia Commons

[2] Gildas
[3] Young, Simon, Britonia: Caminos Nuevos, Editorial Toxosoutos, Serie Keltia 2004. pp. 105-107
[4] Pala,M et al, Mitochondrial DNA signals of late glacial recolonization of Europe from near eastern refugia.  http://www.cell.com/ajhg/abstract/S0002-9297%2812%2900204-2
[5] Oppenheimer, Stephen, Origins of the British, Constable 2006

Introduction 1

This is Chysauster, Cornwall, but it could equally be a Castro in Galicia or Asturias in the Northwest of Spain

Wikipedia has the following entry:-
"Britonia is the historical name of a settlement established in Gallaecia, northwestern Hispania, in the late 5th and early 6th centuries AD by Romano-Britons escaping the Anglo-Saxons, who were conquering Britain. Britonia is therefore similar to Brittany in Gaul in that it was settled by expatriate Britons at roughly the same time."

I have a number of questions regarding this bald statement:-

"What links were there between Britain and the North -West of Spain before the 5th Century Romano-British diaspora ?"

"Who were the Romano-Britons escaping from the Anglo-Saxons ?".

"What reasons had they for so doing?"

"What traces, if any, are there today of the Romano-British settlements in Spain?"

Legend and Language
Legend (and history according to  Gildas [1]) has the British Isles inhabited by a Celtic speaking peoples at the end of the Roman period. The "fierce and impious Saxons" are invited in as soldiers by king Vortigern to counter the invasions of the Picts and Scots. Gildas then goes on to describe  a genocide leading to the ethnic cleansing of the 'Celts' from England; remnants remaining in the mountain fastnesses of Wales and Cornwall. This version of the history of Britain is perpetuated in the book "Britonia: Camino nuevos" by Simon Young [2].
However, as we shall see later, there is little evidence apart from that of Gildas, for a destruction on the scale that he propounded.

Early Links along the Atlantic Fringe of Europe and the British Isles
Barry Cunliffe [3] suggests that the Celtic language developed along the Atlantic fringe some 4,400 years ago. This coincided with the movement of early metal prospectors at the beginning of the Bronze Age. The linguist Peter Forster[4] speculates that the fragmentation of the Celtic languages from their most recent common ancestor was in the Neolithic. Somewhat earlier than Cuncliffe's dating.

Until recently the Celtic homeland was held to be in central Europe - "near the source of the Danube". Herodotus, writing in the sixth century B.C. is the main origin of this theory. However, careful reading of his Histories [5] shows that his "source of the Ister (Danube)" was given as being in the Pyrenees and not in central Europe. This mis-information by Herodotus led to a school of thought which placed the "Keltoi" at the source of the Danube in central Europe and not on the borders of France and Spain.
again we will return to this discussion at a later point.




[1] Gildas, De excidio Britanniae (Various translations)
[2] Young, Simon (2004), Britonia: Caminos Nuevos ( Serie Keltia)
[3] Cunliffe, Barry (2004) Facing the Ocean: The Atlantic and Its Peoples (Oxford University Press)
[4] Forster, Peter and Toth, Alfred (2003), "Toward a phylogenetic chronology of ancient Gaulish, Celtic, and Indo-European" Proceedings ofthe National Academy of Sciences of the USA, 100:9079-84
[5] Herodotus, Histories (440 - 430 B.C): Macaulay's translation is available on Project Gutenberg, etext 2131

The beginning of the "Dark Ages"

The beginning of the end of Roman military influence in Britain can be dated from the withdrawal of troops in A.D.383 by Magnus Maximus in his bid for control of the Empire.(1)
Traditionally the remainder of the army of Maximus, after his defeat and execution by Theodosius in A.D.388, settled in Amorica which became known as "Lesser Britain", Brittany.

One ancient source for this is the ninth century Historia Brittonum gives the following account of Maximus and assigns him an important role:

"The seventh emperor was Maximianus. He withdrew from Britain with all its military force, slew Gratianus the king of the Romans, and obtained the sovereignty of all Europe. Unwilling to send back his warlike companions to their wives, families, and possessions in Britain, he conferred upon them numerous districts from the lake on the summit of Mons lovis, to the city called Cant Guic, and to the western Tumulus, that is Cruc Occident. These are the Armoric Britons, and they remain there to the present day. In consequence of their absence, Britain being overcome by foreign nations, the lawful heirs were cast out, till God interposed with his assistance."(2)

On 31 December in 406 several tribes of Barbarian invaders, including the Vandals, the Burgundians, the Alans and the Sueves, crossed the Rhine perhaps near Mainz, and overran the Roman defensive works in a successful invasion of the Western Roman Empire. This was a blow to the Western Empire from which it never recovered. The Roman authorities were never able to eject or destroy these invaders, most of whom eventually settled in Spain and North Africa, nor to face the movements of the Franks, Burgundians and Visigoths in Gaul at the same time.

Also, a contributing factor of major importance was the disunity among the Romans themselves. A unified Empire with the full support of a loyal population willing to make the necessary sacrifices to overcome invaders/settlers had shown in the past it was possible to keep the Empire's borders secure.

At the time of this invasion, the provinces of Britain were in revolt, setting up and pulling down a series of usurpers, which ended with the elevation of Constantine (III) early in 407. Fearful of a Germanic invasion and desperate for some sense of security in a world rapidly falling apart, the Roman military in Britain chose as their leader a man named after the famed emperor of the early fourth century, Constantine the Great, who had himself risen to power through a military coup in Britain. A common soldier, but one of some ability, Constantine moved quickly. He crossed the English Channel to the continent at Bononia (Boulogne) and (historians have assumed) took along with him all of the mobile troops left in Britain, thus denuding the province of any first line military protection and explaining their disappearance in the early fifth century.

About the same time Saxon pirates raided Britain, which Constantine had left defenseless. Obviously upset that Constantine had neglected them in his efforts to establish his own empire and had failed to defend them against the assaults they had hoped he would prevent, the Roman inhabitants of Britain and Armorica rebelled against Constantine's authority and expelled his officials. (3)

On 24th. August 410 the gates of Rome were opened from inside (by plebian malcontents?) and Alaric the king of the Visigoths entered the Imperial city.

Eventually the Roman general Constantius imprisoned Constantine and had him beheaded  in 411.

Roman rule never returned to Britain after the death of Constantine III: as the historian Procopius later explained, "from that time onwards it remained under [the rule] of tyrants."

(1) For the Welsh literary source see:-
     http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Mabinogion/The_Dream_of_Maxen_Wledig

(2) See  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historia_Brittonum

(3) There is a good summary of chronological events in the early Dark Ages in:-
     "The quest for Arthur's Britain" edited by  Geoffrey Ashe and published by Paladin.

The beginning of things

In the process of researching my previous blog on Priscillian, I came across a number of references to British influence and settlement in North-western Spain. The migration appears to have been caused by the pressure of the Anglo-Saxon settlement in the British Isles after the departure of the Roman legions.

There are many legends about this period of history but seemingly few facts!

Here is one which is well documented:-

Mailoc or Maeloc was a 6th-century bishop of Britonia, a settlement apparently founded by expatriate Britons in the north western corner of Spain. He represented his diocese, referred to as the Britonensis ecclesia or "British church", at the second Coucil of Braga in 572. Records of the council refer to his See as being the sedes Britonarum ("See of the Britons"). This is likely to have been the monastery of Santa Maria de Britoña.

The Basilica of  "San Martiño de Mondoñedo" near Foz in Galicia. 

The site of the ancient cathedral of the Diocese of Mondoñedo-Ferrol