Rodney Castleden - The Element Encyclopedia of the Celts

The Gododdin chief feasted the men for a year at Din Eidyn before sending them to fight the Lloegrwys (the men of England) or the Dewr a Brynaich (the men of Deira and Byrnaich). Aneirin comments grimly, “They paid for that feast of mead with their lives.” The British attack on Catraeth was probably pre-emptive, an attempt to annihilate the embryonic Anglian community while it was still relatively small and powerless; the crushing defeat would have been all the more traumatic because it was unexpected.

One line in The Gododdin jumps off the page. A warrior is praised for his fighting prowess, “though he was no Arthur.”

See Aircol , Vortipor .

See Places: Cerne Abbas .

The King of York in the early sixth century.

A hermit living at Padstow in north Cornwall, who was evicted by St. Petroc.

A king of the Dark Age Pennine kingdom of Elmet.

See Peredur Steel-Arm .

A very fine horned helmet made of bronze was deposited in the Thames River at Waterloo Bridge in the first century BC. It was found in 1868.

Like the Battersea shield, also found in the Thames ( See Art ), this was almost certainly not an accidental loss, but a deliberate deposit in water. The horns may have been intended to combine ferocity and potency symbolism. The bronze was originally enameled. It is a masterpiece of the armorer’s craft, and it is possible that it was made to adorn a wooden statue of a godrather than to be worn by a mortal in battle; it would scarcely protect the wearer from a well-aimed swordblow. The Romans had an equivalent to this in their decorative parade helmets.

See Vortigern .

See Religion: Headhunting ; Helis ; Symbols: Dog , Stag .

See Urien .

A British tribeliving in East Anglia. Its tribal focus or capital was at Caistor St. Edmund, for which the Roman name was Venta Icenorum. In the 1930s, when it was partially excavated, the evidence showed that the Iceni had adopted very little Roman culture. They were few opulent houses and few substantial public buildings. The surrounding area had few Roman villas, they were few mosaics, and there were few oil amphorae . All this was interpreted as showing that the Iceni were poor and backward. We now see the same evidence as showing that the tribe was consciously retaining its Celtic identity and resisting a takeover by the Roman way of life—not a sign of poverty or backwardness at all.

The Iceni famously engaged in a revolt against Rome in AD 60–61, after their queen, Boudicca, suffered maltreatment by Roman soldiers.

Illtud was a Breton, a cousin of King Arthur, and converted to the monastic life by Cadoc of Lancarfan. He may, as claimed, have been baptized by St. Germanus. He was ordained by St. Dubriciusin the time when Merchiaunthe Wild was King of Glamorgan.

Not long after his death he was described as “an exceptional teacher of the British, in the tradition of St. Germanus.” He is still remembered chiefly for his remarkable school at Llantwit Fawr in Glamorgan, where he taught some remarkable boys: David, Leonorus, Gildas, Samson, Paul Aurelian, and Maelgwn—all became saints except the last, who became the infamous King Maelgwn of Gwynedd.

The boys started at the age of five, learning the alphabet. There were no set fees: Illtud relied on customary “donations.”

Illtud’s teaching method was gentle and lenient. He did not believe it was sensible for growing boys to go in for excessive fasting. He also tried to dissuade the 15-year-old Paul Aurelian from going off to a desert hermitage, but in the end left the decision to the boy.

The monastery was Illtud’s own property, which his nephews expected to inherit. He died some time after 525.

By no means a Celt himself, Gaius Julius Caesar earns his place here as a destroyer of Celts. He made a greater negative impact on the Celts than anyone else in history.

Caesar came from an old patrician family. In 85 BC, when he was only 16, his father died suddenly. Caesar was young to be head of the family, but he started at once working his way up the cursus honorum , the ladder of offices and appointments that would enhance his social status. In pursuing his political career and lobbying for offices, he ran up debts and was accused of corruption.

When he was appointed Governor of Cisalpine Gaul (northern Italy), with Transalpine Gaul (southern France) added later, he was glad to get out of Rome. He was deeply in debt: a great spur to military adventure.

From a variety of motives, including self-glorification and ultimate political triumph, Caesar worked his way through Gaul, attacking the Gallic tribesone by one and defeating them. Once he had conquered the tribes along the coast of the English Channel, the way was clear to cross and take Britain.

In 55 BC, Caesar blocked an attempt by two Germanic tribes to invade Gaul. Then, in late summer, he crossed the Channel into Britain. But his geographical and political knowledge of Britain was not good enough. He managed to establish a bridgehead on the coast in Sussex, but could not go further. He withdrew to Gaul for the winter.

In 54 BC he returned to Britain with a larger force and achieved more, setting up some alliances that would prove useful later. But there were poor harvests in Gaul, and a widespread revolt there forced Caesar to withdraw from Britain again.

What Caesar did, unintentionally, was to set down a challenge for future emperors who wanted to make a name for themselves. Could they succeed in conquering Britain, where great Caesar himself had failed?

In 52 BC there was a new and larger revolt in Gaul, led by Vercingetorix. This was well-coordinated and Caesar was defeated several times before the revolt was put down at the Battle of Alesia.

Plutarch claimed that in Caesar’s Gallic Wars one million Gauls had died and another million had been enslaved. Caesar had subjugated 300 tribes and destroyed 800 towns. The figures may have been exaggerated, but it is no exaggeration to see this as little short of a Celtic genocide.

St. Kentigern was the son of Owain, son of King Urienof Rheged. His mother was Thynoy.