Celtic Britons
The Romans invaded northern Britain, but the Britons and Caledonians in the north remained unconquered and Hadrian's Wall became the edge of the empire.[3] It is unclear what relationship the Britons had with the Picts, who lived outside of the empire in northern Britain, however, most scholars today accept the fact that the Pictish language was closely related to Common Brittonic.The culture and language of the Britons fragmented, and much of their territory gradually became Anglo-Saxon, while the north became subject to a similar settlement by Gaelic-speaking tribes from Ireland.[21] Alternatively, Patrick Sims-Williams criticizes both of these hypotheses to propose 'Celtic from the Centre', which suggests Celtic originated in Gaul and spread during the first millennium BC, reaching Britain towards the end of this period.[23] The migrants were "genetically most similar to ancient individuals from France" and had higher levels of Early European Farmers ancestry.[citation needed] Fifty years or so after the time of the Roman departure, the Germanic-speaking Anglo-Saxons began a migration to the south-eastern coast of Britain, where they began to establish their own kingdoms, and the Gaelic-speaking Scots migrated from Dál nAraidi (modern Northern Ireland) to the west coast of Scotland and the Isle of Man.Linnuis (which stood astride modern Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire) was subsumed as early as 500 AD and became the English Kingdom of Lindsey.The Gaels arrived on the northwest coast of Britain from Ireland, dispossessed the native Britons, and founded Dal Riata which encompassed modern Argyll, Skye, and Iona between 500 and 560 AD.Caer Lundein, encompassing London, St. Albans and parts of the Home Counties,[31] fell from Brittonic hands by 600 AD, and Bryneich, which existed in modern Northumbria and County Durham with its capital of Din Guardi (modern Bamburgh) and which included Ynys Metcaut (Lindisfarne), had fallen by 605 AD becoming Anglo-Saxon Bernicia.Pengwern, which covered Staffordshire, Shropshire, Herefordshire, and Worcestershire, was largely destroyed in 656 AD, with only its westernmost parts in modern Wales remaining under the control of the Britons, and it is likely that Cynwidion, which had stretched from modern Bedfordshire to Northamptonshire, fell in the same general period as Pengwern, though a sub-kingdom of Calchwynedd may have clung on in the Chilterns for a time.Some Brittonic kingdoms were able to successfully resist these incursions: Rheged (encompassing much of modern Northumberland and County Durham and areas of southern Scotland and the Scottish Borders) survived well into the 8th century AD, before the eastern part peacefully joined with the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Bernicia–Northumberland by 730 AD, and the west was taken over by the fellow Britons of Ystrad Clud.The Kingdom of Cait, covering modern Caithness, Sutherland, Orkney, and Shetland, was conquered by Gaelic Scots in 871 AD.[38] The Britons also retained control of Wales and Kernow (encompassing Cornwall, parts of Devon including Dartmoor, and the Isles of Scilly) until the mid 11th century AD when Cornwall was effectively annexed by the English, with the Isles of Scilly following a few years later, although at times Cornish lords appear to have retained sporadic control into the early part of the 12th century AD.Wales remained free from Anglo-Saxon, Gaelic Scots and Viking control, and was divided among varying Brittonic kingdoms, the foremost being Gwynedd (including Clwyd and Anglesey), Powys, Deheubarth (originally Ceredigion, Seisyllwg and Dyfed), Gwent, and Morgannwg (Glamorgan).Cornwall (Kernow, Dumnonia) had certainly been largely absorbed by England by the 1050s to early 1100s, although it retained a distinct Brittonic culture and language.Wales, Cornwall, Brittany and the Isles of Scilly continued to retain a distinct Brittonic culture, identity and language, which they have maintained to the present day.Many place names in England and Scotland are of Brittonic rather than Anglo-Saxon or Gaelic origin, such as London, Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Carlisle, Caithness, Aberdeen, Dundee, Barrow, Exeter, Lincoln, Dumbarton, Brent, Penge, Colchester, Gloucester, Durham, Dover, Kent, Leatherhead, Penrith, Cumbria, Cornwall, Strathclyde and York.Similarly many personal and family names in Britain and among people of British origin are of Brittonic origin, such as: Abercrombie, Alvin, Bowen, Bevan, Brent, Butlin, Craddock, Carr, Coe, Conan, Carlisle, Carwin, Davies, Davis, Dando, Denzel, Darwin, Ellis, Emlyn, Floyd, Ferris, Frewin, Fido, Gareth, Garth, Glendower, Haddock, Hughes, Harris, Hopkins, Howell, Hewell, Ieuan, Ivor, Jenkins, Jones, Jolly, Jellicoe, Kernow, Kelvin, Lloyd, Lewellyn, Lindo, Madoc, Maddox, Morgan, Maplin Merlin, Ninian, Nimmo, Owen, Penhaligon, Pendry, Pendarrick, Penhall, Penn, Pender, Power, Price, Pritchard, Preece, Purkiss, Pengelly, Patrick, Pegler, Reece/Rhys/Rees, Rankin, Radnor, Simpkin, Selwyn/Selwin, Trelawny, Tremaine/Tremayne, Tudor, Upchurch, Vivyan, Watkins and Yorath among many others.[42] Though sharing a common Northwestern European origin, the Iron Age individuals were markedly different from later Anglo-Saxon samples, who were closely related to Danes and Dutch people.[44] Martiano et al. (2016) examined the remains of a female Iron Age Briton buried at Melton between 210 BC and 40 AD.
Mainly (non-Pictish)
Brittonic
areas
Mainly
Pictish
areas
Mainly
Goidelic
areas
Great Britainfounding of Anglo-Saxon kingdomsBrittonicPictishGoidelicindigenousCeltic peopleBritish Iron AgeHigh Middle AgesCornishBretonsCommon BrittonicBrittonic languagesGreco-RomanhillfortsAncient Celtic religiondruidsBelgicaminted their own coinsRoman Empireconquered most of Britainprovince of Britanniainvaded northern BritainCaledoniansHadrian's WallRomano-British cultureBritish LatinPictish languageend of Roman rule in BritainAnglo-Saxon settlementAnglo-SaxonGaelicBrittanyChannel IslandsBritoniaGaliciaHen OgleddPictish peopleCumbricBretoncarnyxWaterloo HelmetSt Fagans National Museum of HistoryBritain (placename)Celtic studiesIron Agecentral Middle AgesPytheasBritish IslesNatural HistoryAlbionAvieniusP-CelticethnonymCommon CelticOld IrishOld WelshCumbriansa bardJohn RhysGoidelOxford English Dictionaryearly Middle Agesthe Anglo-Saxon settlement of BritainAnglo-SaxonsMedieval LatinActs of Union 1707Kingdom of Great BritainEnglishScottishBritish EmpireStaffordshire Moorlands PanInsular Celtic languageMacsen WledigArmoricaBreton languageBritanniaProto-Celtic languageWesternSouthwestern Brittonic languagesCumbric languageSouth West Englandlanguage revitalizationBrittonic tribesisthmusIrish annalsCommon Brittonic languageGoidelic (Gaelic)CruithneAtrebatēsCalleva AtrebatumBrigantēs/BrigantīIsurium BrigantumCantiacīDurovernum CantiacorumCarvetīī (*Carwetīī)LuguvaliumCatuvellaunī (*Catuwellaunī)VerulamiumCorieltauvī (*Corieltauī)Ratae CorieltauvorumCornovīī (*Cornowīī)Viroconium CornoviorumDamnonīīLoudoun HillWalls HillDeceanglīCanoviumClwydian hillfortsDemetaeMoridunumDobunnī/BodunnīCorinium DobunnorumDumnonīīIsca DumnoniorumDurotrigēsDurnovariaMaiden CastleĪcenī/EcenīVenta IcenorumNovantae (*Nowantī)RispainOrdovicēs (*Ordowicī)Dinas DinorwigParisīPetuaria