Dobunni | |
---|---|
Geography | |
Capital | Corinium Dobunnorum (Cirencester) |
Location | West Oxfordshire Gloucestershire Monmouthshire North Somerset Bristol South Herefordshire Warwickshire Wiltshire Worcester Breconshire |
Rulers | Anted[...], Eisu[...], Catti[...], Comux, Inam[...], Corio[...], Boduoc[...] |
The Dobunni were one of the Iron Age tribes living in the British Isles prior to the Roman conquest of Britain. There are seven known references to the tribe in Roman histories and inscriptions. [1] [2]
Various historians and archaeologists have examined the Dobunni, including Stephen J. Yeates in his book The Tribe of Witches (2008), where he suggests that the latter part of the name possibly derives from *bune, a cup or vessel, with a similar meaning to the later tribal name Hwicce; both being related to the recognisable cult of a Romano-British goddess. [3] This view has been sharply criticised by several archaeologists. [4] [5] [6] Archaeologist Miles Russell suggests that their original name may have been "Bodunni", connecting this with the Celtic word *bouda meaning "Victorious", in the sense of "The Victorious Ones". [7]
The tribe lived in central Britain in an area that today broadly coincides with the English counties of Bristol, Gloucestershire and the north of Somerset, although at times their territory may have extended into parts of what are now Herefordshire, Oxfordshire, Wiltshire, Worcestershire, and Warwickshire. [8] [9] Their capital acquired the Roman name of Corinium Dobunnorum , which is today known as Cirencester.
Their territory was bordered by the Cornovii and Corieltauvi to the North; the Catuvellauni to the East; the Atrebates and Belgae to the South; and the Silures and Ordovices to the West. Some of these suggestions are, however, speculative.
There is evidence for a cult associated with the tribe in the Romano-British period; the evidence being coterminous with the tribe's territory. Sculpture has been found at Gloucester, Cirencester, Nettleton, Bath, Wellow, and Aldsworth. [10]
The Dobunni were a large group of farmers and craftspeople, living in small villages concentrated in fertile valleys. A major study of the Iron Age material was carried out by Tom Moore. [11]
Remnants of several fortified camps, otherwise known as hillforts, thought to have been occupied by the Dobunni can be seen in the Bristol area at Maes Knoll, Clifton Down, Burwalls and Stokeleigh - all overlooking the Avon Gorge - and at Kingsweston Down and Blaise Castle.
In the late Iron Age period, southern Britain saw the development of sites generally referred to as oppida (towns). An example of such a site has been recognised for some time at Bagendon, near Cirencester. [12] It has now been realised that the Bagendon site was not as important as first thought, as other extensive sites are now known to have existed at places such as Salmonsbury. [13]
Dio Cassius referred to the tribe as "Bodunni", probably a misspelling of the Dobunni. Tributary to the Catuvellauni, they capitulated to the invading Romans when Caratacus and Togodumnus withdrew. [14]
Unlike the Silures, their neighbours in what later became south east Wales, they were not a warlike people and submitted to the Romans even before they reached their lands. Afterwards they readily adopted the Romano-British lifestyle.
Even though the Dobunni were incorporated into the Roman Empire in AD 43, their territory was probably not formed into Roman political units until AD 96–98. The tribal territory was divided into a civitas centred on Cirencester, and the Colonia at Gloucester. The Colonia was established during the reign of the emperor Nerva (AD 96–98). [15]
At the beginning of the 4th century, Britain was reorganised into, initially, four and then five provinces. The Dobunnic territory lay in the province of Britannia Prima, as described in an inscription found at the base of a Jupiter column. [16] The area remained a Roman Civitas until approximately 409.[ citation needed ]
The Dobunnic territory contained two large towns (Corinium Dobunnorum now Cirencester, and Colonia Nerviana Glevum now Gloucester). Besides this there were numerous smaller towns, and many rich villas.
Stephen Yeates asserts that a study of the religion of the Dobunni has shown that there was a focus on the worship of the natural world. It is possible to identify deities associated with the landscape; for example: *Cuda, a mother goddess associated with the Cotswold Hills, and its rivers and springs, and Sulis Minerva at Bath. Other cults were defined by social action, such as mining, for example at Lydney Park, and hunting, for example at Pagan's Hill near Chew Stoke. [17]
After the collapse of the Roman Provincial Government, the core of this area retained territorial identity until the Battle of Deorham in 577, (regarded by some as a dubious event [18] ) when the Saxons made advances as far as the River Severn. These gains were reversed 50 years later when Penda of Mercia fought the West Saxons at the Battle of Cirencester, and the area came under the influence of Mercia as the sub-kingdom of the Hwicce. It has been suggested that the area retained a distinct identity as a Christian sub-kingdom, instead of being simply absorbed into Pagan Mercia, as a reward for an alliance against the West Saxons; and that this is evidence of a cultural continuity between the Dobunni Civitas and the Hwicce Kingdom. [19]
The Dobunni were one of the tribes believed to have issued coins before Roman arrival and the introduction and adoption of Roman currency. Numismatic evidence suggests that the Dobunni kings subdivided their land between a north and south zone, sometimes becoming unified in a single ruler.
A repeated theme of coins ascribed to the Dobunni is a branched emblem appearing on the obverse. [20] The symbol's significance and origins are unclear although corn, ferns and a derivative of the wreath on the British Q stater have all been suggested. [20]
The Cotswolds is a region in central-southwest England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and Evesham Vale.
Roman Britain was the territory that became the Roman Province of Britannia after the Roman conquest of Britain, consisting of a large part of the island of Great Britain. The occupation lasted from AD 43 to AD 410.
The Battle of Deorham is claimed as a decisive military encounter between the West Saxons and the Britons of the West Country in 577. The battle, which was a major victory for Wessex's forces led by Ceawlin and his son, Cuthwine, resulted in the capture of the Brythonic cities of Glevum (Gloucester), Corinium Dobunnorum (Cirencester), and Aquae Sulis (Bath). It also led to the permanent cultural and ethnic separation of Dumnonia from Wales.
Hwicce was a tribal kingdom in Anglo-Saxon England. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the kingdom was established in 577, after the Battle of Deorham. After 628, the kingdom became a client or sub-kingdom of Mercia as a result of the Battle of Cirencester.
Cirencester is a market town in Gloucestershire, England, 80 miles (130 km) west of London. Cirencester lies on the River Churn, a tributary of the River Thames, and is the largest town in the Cotswolds. It is the home of the Royal Agricultural University, the oldest agricultural college in the English-speaking world, founded in 1840. The town had a population of 20,229 in 2021.
The Silures were a powerful and warlike tribe or tribal confederation of ancient Britain, occupying what is now south east Wales and perhaps some adjoining areas. They were bordered to the north by the Ordovices; to the east by the Dobunni; and to the west by the Demetae.
Camulodunum, the Ancient Roman name for what is now Colchester in Essex, was an important castrum and city in Roman Britain, and the first capital of the province. A temporary "strapline" in the 1960s identifying it as the "oldest recorded town in Britain" has become popular with residents and is still used on heritage roadsigns on trunk road approaches. Originally the site of the Brythonic-Celtic oppidum of Camulodunon, capital of the Trinovantes and later the Catuvellauni tribes, it was first mentioned by name on coinage minted by the chieftain Tasciovanus some time between 20 and 10 BC. The Roman town began life as a Roman legionary base constructed in the AD 40s on the site of the Brythonic-Celtic fortress following its conquest by the Emperor Claudius. After the early town was destroyed during the Iceni rebellion in AD 60/61, it was rebuilt, reaching its zenith in the 2nd and 3rd centuries. During this time it was known by its official name Colonia Claudia Victricensis, often shortened to Colonia Victricensis, and as Camulodunum, a Latinised version of its original Brythonic name. The town was home to a large classical temple, two theatres, several Romano-British temples, Britain's only known chariot circus, Britain's first town walls, several large cemeteries and over 50 known mosaics and tessellated pavements. It may have reached a population of 30,000 at its height.
The River Churn is a tributary of the River Thames in central England. It rises at Seven Springs in Gloucestershire and flows south for approximately 37.3 km (23.2 mi) to meet the Thames at Cricklade in Wiltshire. Its length from its source to the confluence with the Thames is greater than that of the Thames from Thames Head, but the Churn is regarded as a tributary, rather than the main river.
The Catuvellauni were a Celtic tribe or state of southeastern Britain before the Roman conquest, attested by inscriptions into the 4th century.
Togodumnus was king of the British Catuvellauni tribe, whose capital was at St. Albans, at the time of the Roman conquest. He can probably be identified with the legendary British king Guiderius. He is usually thought to have led the fight against the Romans alongside his brother, but to have been killed early in the campaign. However, some authorities now argue that he sided with the Romans and is one and the same person as the client-king Tiberius Claudius Cogidubnus, whose original name may have been Togidubnus or Togodumnus.
The region now known as Gloucestershire was originally inhabited by Brythonic peoples in the Iron Age and Roman periods. After the Romans left Britain in the early 5th century, the Brythons re-established control but the territorial divisions for the post-Roman period are uncertain. The city of Caerloyw was one centre and Cirencester may have continued as a tribal centre as well. The only reliably attested kingdom is the minor south-east Wales kingdom of Ergyng, which may have included a portion of the area. In the final quarter of the 6th century, the Saxons of Wessex began to establish control over the area.
Kempsey is a village and civil parish in the Malvern Hills District in the county of Worcestershire, England. It is bounded by the River Severn on the west, and the A38 main road runs through it and is about 3 miles (5 km) south of Worcester. The village has a long history. Its name is derived from the Saxon "Kemys' Eye", or the island of Kemys. Kemys was a Saxon chief, whose island lay between marshes and the River Severn. One of the roads in Kempsey, Lyf's Lane, is named after another Saxon chief. The village was recorded in the 11th century Domesday Book as having a value of £7.
Arlingham is a village and civil parish in the Stroud District of Gloucestershire, England. The 2021 Census recorded a parish population of 533. The parish contains the hamlets of Milton End, Overton and Priding. The next parish to the east is Fretherne with Saul.
The names of the Celtic Iron Age tribes in Britain were recorded by Roman and Greek historians and geographers, especially Ptolemy. Information from the distribution of Celtic coins has also shed light on the extents of the territories of the various groups that occupied the island.
Chedworth Roman Villa is located near Chedworth, Gloucestershire, England and is a scheduled monument. It is one of the largest and most elaborate Roman villas so far discovered in Britain and one with the latest occupation beyond the Roman period. The villa was built in phases from the early 2nd century to the 5th century, with the 4th-century construction transforming the building into an elite dwelling arranged around three sides of a courtyard. The 4th-century building included a heated and furnished west wing containing a dining-room (triclinium) with a fine mosaic floor, as well as two separate bathing suites: one for damp-heat and one for dry-heat.
The Westerne were an Anglo-Saxon tribe, probably in western England. The name is a genitive plural and probably means "the westerners". They occur only in the Tribal Hidage, an early eighth-century catalogue of kingdoms and principalities produced in Mercia for the purposes of tax or tribute. Little is known about them, not even precisely where they were. Their position in the Tribal Hidage list suggests a location on the western fringe of the Mercian heartland and it is possible that they were associated with the Magonsaetan, who occupied the lands around Leominster and Hereford. There are very few Anglo-Saxon cemeteries from the area, which may indicate that Mercian rulers took over an existing British political region, possibly that of the Romano-British civitas of the Cornovii. The Tribal Hidage assessment for the Westerne (7,000 hides ranks them alongside other minor kingdoms such as Lindsey, the Hwicce, the East Saxons and the South Saxons. It is likely that the area was ruled by an ealdorman, a senior noble representing the interest of the kings of Mercia.
Corinium Dobunnorum was the Romano-British settlement at Cirencester in the present-day English county of Gloucestershire. Its 2nd-century walls enclosed the second-largest area of a city in Roman Britain. It was the tribal capital of the Dobunni and is usually thought to have been the capital of the Diocletian-era province of Britannia Prima.
The England–Wales border, sometimes referred to as the Wales–England border or the Anglo-Welsh border, runs for 160 miles (260 km) from the Dee estuary, in the north, to the Severn estuary in the south, separating England and Wales.
The Tribe of Witches: The Religion of the Dobunni and Hwicce is a historical and archaeological study of pre-Christian religion among the Iron Age Dobunni and the Early Medieval Hwicce, two tribal groups who lived in central England. It was written by the archaeologist Stephen J. Yeates and published by Oxbow Books in 2008. Yeates had previously published his theories in a three-volume British Archaeological Report monograph entitled Religion, Community and Territory: Defining Religion in the Severn Valley and Adjacent Hills from the Iron Age to the Early Medieval Period (2006).
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