Brigantia Through Elmet:
West Yorkshire's Celtic
Background
Prehistory
On the evidence of the numerous archeological remains in Yorkshire, this area, like most of Britain, was once inhabited by a Celtic culture of the La Tène type. However, following work on a La Tène burial site at Arras in the Yorkshire Wolds, in which comparatively rare British examples of Continental style cart burials were discovered in the nineteenth century, I.M. Stead has argued for the concept of an 'Arras Culture', marginally distinct from other British Celtic cultures of the first and second centuries BCE, and specific to Eastern Yorkshire. It is tempting to imagine a link between the distinctiveness of this 'Arras Culture' and the equally rare (in England) profusion of cup, circle and groove-marked stones to be found literally all over Rombalds Moor and Middleton Moor in West Yorkshire. Yet, given the problems of accurately dating the carvings on these stones (not to mention the subtle distinctions between the Celtic cultures of Eastern and West Yorkshire), such a link remains conjectural at best, and it more than likely that they predate Celtic habitation of the area anyhow. It seems less than likely, however, that the stones did not play some role in the cultural practices of the early Celtic inhabitants of Yorkshire, and the folklore surrounding them in the modern era is certainly still rich in mythic nuance, not least with regard to the imposing Cow and Calf Stones which are considered as the gateway to Ilkely Moor just to the South of Ben Rhydding.
The Cow and Calf Stones, Ilkley Moor, with Ilkley in the valley below.
Local tradition has it that a giant named Rombald, while striding across the moor now bearing his name (which subsumes Ilkely Moor), tripped on the Cow Stone, breaking the Calf Stone off. Equally, there is a modern tradition of these stones being used as fire beacon points (for example, to mark the coronation of Queen Victoria in 1838), and it is probable that they would have been focal points for the four fire festivals of the Celtic calendar (Imbolc, Beltaine, Lammas and Samhain). The Cow Stone has prominent cup marks on its tip, like many other stones on the moor similarly overlooking a valley, and it could be conjectured that they were designed to hold a flammable liquid which, when lighted, would be seen for some distance, possibly along a system of fire-beacons. Certainly, the nearby Pancake Stone also has cup marks on its edges, and is directly aligned through the Cow and Calf with the promontory of Middleton Moor, where several further examples of cup marked rocks can be found.
The Pancake Stone, Ilkley Moor, with the Cow Stone lined up directly with the promontory on the horizon.
Indeed, following this line further North, we find that it intersects with another pair of rocks on Barden Fell which also happen to be called the Cow and Calf. Unfortunately, what the exact significance of this might be (if any) can only be a moot point, but at the very least it is intriguing that many stones and rocks in the area take their names from animals, other examples being the Hen Stones on Barden Fell, the Raven Stones on Rocking Moor, Cat Crag to the North of Beamsley Moor, and the Badger Stone on Ilkley Moor. Associations between stones and animals would seem to be something of a local theme, and given the fact that many of the stones appear to have been in some form of ritual use at some point in their history, it is tempting to suggest that the animal associations may contain the residue of some form of religious or at least mythical significance. Certainly, the raven is a recurrent harbinger of destruction in early Celtic literature, the cat is occasionally associated with funerary or Otherworld imagery, and the cow is generally associated with fertility and the Otherworld. However, these stones currently bear English names, and it is once more a matter of conjecture as to whether they derive from Anglo-Saxon names, let alone Celtic ones.
For the majority of the rocks around Ilkley, the cup marks appear on horizontal or near-horizontal surfaces, a fact which has given rise to various speculations about their use as recepticles of liquids, whether flammable or sacrificial (blood? milk?), and today, the hill-lore of the area suggests that good luck will be granted to anyone drinking rain water from the cups. Some of the stones also bear a groove running through the cup marks, normally sloping towards the edge of a slightly off-horizontal surface. Again, this would tend to suggest some use as a channel for liquids, but one must always allow for the possibility that the angle of the stone surfaces have moved since their original design.
Aside from the cup marked stones, there is also a large number of stones which bear only groove markings. The Calf Stone on Ilkley Moor has traces of grooves running down the side which faces towards the Cow stone. In the nineteenth century, the Romantic obsession with neo-druidic interpretations of rock art lead most commentators to confidently state that this was veritable proof of Celtic druidic fire ceremonies and/or sacrifices on the rocks. However, given the evidence of some other groove marked stones on the moor, the simple assumption of the grooves as channels for liquid must be question. A case in point would be the short, heavily grooved stone to be found just South of Carr Beck on Burley Moor.
Heavily groove-marked stone on the South side of Carr Beck, on the Burley Moor end of Rombalds Moor
Here, the stone is shaped into a pyramidal tip, with deep grooves running down each of the three sides. Evidently, with the complete absence of any cup indentation on the pointed tip of the stone, there is nowhere here for any liquids to gather in order to then run down through the grooves. It seems unlikely that the markings on this stone (if not others) were used in the way traditionally suggested. Once more, we are left with more questions than answers as to the significance of this rock art.
A more famous local mystery lies in the so-called Swastika Stone from the North side of Rombalds Moor.
Twelve Apostles
The Twelve Apostles Stone Circle, Rombalds Moor
However, the presumably ritual rock art of Rombalds Moor is not entirely the preserve of the area's prehistorical cultures. Even today, it seems that new art is still being added to the rocks of the moor. A trip across Burley Moor in August 1998 yielded several new rock carvings, one of which was still apparently a work-in-progress.
Contemporary pagan animal rock art, Rombalds Moor: (a) horse head; (b) incomplete goat head and psilocybe mushroom
Alongside the image of a horse's head and a goat's head, there were also two slightly older carvings of some form of solar deity, rays of light bursting from his forehead, beneath one of which was a semicircular shrine of piled-up rocks. The horse's head in itself may not conclusively have proven a religious significance to this group of carvings, but the presence of the solar deity, and the inclusion of a hallucinogenic psilocybe mushroom (which does indeed grow on the moor) beside the goat's head evidently point to some form of modern pagan and possibly neo-shamanic context. Equally, it is tempting to point to the coincidence of the two animal head carvings and the traditional naming of local stones by animal association, as mentioned above. However, even for art produced in the modern, historical era, our understanding of it is likely to remain somewhat conjectural.
The Romano-Celtic Period
One of the most important early pieces of historical evidence for the cultural composition of Celtic Britain is the work of the first century Greek geographer Ptolemy, who charted the island and catalogued its inhabitants as an aid to the Roman Empire's desire to expand into British territories. From this, we can see that prior to (and during) the Roman occupation of Southern Britain, what is now known as West Yorkshire was the primary territory of the Brigantes, a great federation of Celtic tribes which covered the majority of Northern England and much of the Scottish Borders. The tribal name of the Brigantes is intimately linked to the goddess Brigantia, to whom a shrine was dedicated in Birrens, Dumfriesshire, and whose name is generally taken to mean 'High' or 'Exalted One' (Modern Welsh brig = top; bri = honour, renown, distinction). Brigantia is also often equated with the Gaelic goddess Bride, and her subsequent christianised form of St. Bridget, or Ffraid in Welsh. The sub-territories of Brigantia are normally held to include not only that of the Brigantes themselves, but also the Votadini in South-Eastern Scotland, the Selgovae of the Scottish Borders (including Dumfriesshire), the Carvetii around Carlisle, and the Parisi of Eastern Yorkshire. The area around Leeds, near the center of Brigantian culture, was populated by a small tribe called the Loides (hence 'Leeds').
The Roman invasion of Celtic Britain is a complex matter of intrigues and misguided political allegiances which appears to have been sparked off by the death of King Cunobelinus (Latinate spelling), who reigned over the tribes of the Trinovantes and the Catuvellauni, North and East of the Thames, from c.10-40CE. On his death, Cunobelinus' son, Togodumnus took over the kingdom, and sanctioned his brother Caratacus to invade the territories of the Atrebates South of the Thames. This in turn prompted their leader, Verica, previously on good trading terms with the Romans, to request help from the Roman emperor Claudius, who was suffering domestic political problems at the time. As many political leaders have done since (the 'Falklands Factor' immediately springs to mind), Claudius used the idea of an Imperial invasion of Britain to unite Rome behind his premiership.
When the Roman armies invaded the South in 43CE, most of the Southern tribes were quickly assimilated into the Empire, but the Brigantes held out until around 80CE before finally and fully succombing to the pax romana. Indeed, as Tacitus relates (see Appendix), a certain amount of intrigue surrounds the initial Roman negotiations of one Brigantian queen, Cartimandua ('Sleek Pony'), who ruled around 50CE from a stronghold often thought to be the hillfort at Almondbury, near Huddersfield to the South West of Leeds, but more recently claimed to be the hillfort at Barwick-in-Elmet, to the East of the city [ref. to Webster p.91 here re Hermann Ramm]. In the early years of the occupation, Brigantia was not strictly within the Roman province of Britannia, but Cartimandua demonstrated a certain political nous in supporting the idea of an alliance with Rome. While the province in the South, established under the first Roman governor, Aulus Plautius, was not yet established enough to maintain control over Brigantia, Cartimandua seems to have realised that her position as a Northern queen could be maintained not by opposition to the invading Romans, but by adopting a client relationship with Plautius. While maintaining her political position, and giving her the military backing of the Empire against other local rulers, this agreement also, no doubt, offered her excellent international trade opportunities with the rest of the Roman Empire.
However, Cartimandua's policy of cooperation with Rome lead to disquiet amongst certain sections of the Brigantians. The Iceni of modern East Anglia were rising against the Roman occupation (although their most famous revolt was under Queen Boudica around 61CE), and this no doubt inspired the Brigantian rebel factions to arms. At this point, the civial war in Brigantia effectively halted a Roman incursion into North Wales, compelling their commader, Ostorius, to hastily return in support of Cartimandua (similarly, Boudica's later revolt would recall the Romans from their destruction of the druidic centres in Anglesey). Nevertheless, once the rebels had been captured and executed, the Silures of South Wales began a further revolt which took the Roman army South from Brigantia. With the Silurian revolt, we have the re-emergence of Caratacus, son of Cunobelinus - or, to give him his correct Brythonic name, Caradawg ('Beloved'). Caradawg had been displaced by the Roman invasion in the South, and despite the fact that his own invasion of Atrebatia (around modern Surrey and Berkshire) had effectively previpitated the arrival of the Romans, he now appeared as a strong opponent of Rome, gathering various British tribes to his cause as his legend as a freedom fighter grew. Caradawg's most famous battle was held somewhere in North Wales, in the lands of the Ordovices, around 50CE. According to the Roman historian Tacitus, Caradawg addressed his troops on the field saying that:
that day and that battle would be the beginning of the recovery of their freedom, or of everlasting bondage. He appealed, by name, to their forefathers who had driven back the dictator Caesar, by whose valour they were free from the Roman axe and tribute, and still preserved inviolate the persons of their wives and of their children. While he was thus speaking, the host shouted applause; every warrior bound himself by his national oath not to shrink from weapons or wounds. [Tacitus, The Annals, XII.34]
In this, the translation of Tacitus' word 'national' may not be too inappropriate. It is important to understand that in early Celtic Britain, there was no real sense of national identity as such - tribes were as likely to fight with each other as to promote alliances, and the devastatingly ironic example of the Celt Verica seeking help from foreign Rome against the incursions of the neighbouring Celt Caradawg is a perfect illustration of the sense of tribal, rather than national identity which the society had. However, the Roman Empire operated as a multinational power block governed by the Roman State in a sense which is easy for the modern mind to accept as a political entity resembling those of more recent times. To the Celts of first century Britain, however, such a concept of political structure and the attendant concepts of Roman national identity which went with it were quite alien. It was only at the point when the various tribes of Britain were successively conquered by or absorbed into the Roman Empire that any sense of inter-tribal unity and resistance could emerge. It is in this context that Caradawg may be considered as the first real political leader to have inspired a sense (albeit emergent) of 'national' unity amongst the diverse cultures of Celtic Britain.
Regardless, Caradawg's Ordovician campaign grinded to a halt at this battle when the Romans managed to break through the British defences and capture of his wife, daughter and brothers. Caradawg himself escaped, ostensibly to fight another day, given the fact that he next reemerges in 52CE seeking help from the Brigantians. No doubt, Caradawg had good reason to believe that there were elements within Brigantia supportive of his cause, not least given the fact that there had recently been turmoil between the pro and anti-Roman factions there. Perhaps curiously though, it appears that his main aim here was to approach Queen Cartimandua, rather than the rebel faction. It is possible that a prior arrangement had been made for them to meet on neutral terms, with Caradawg hoping to bring such a powerful figurehead around to his liberationist cause. Certainly, following the language which Tacitus uses to describe this event, it seems that Caradawg was deliberately lulled into a false sense of security. On meeting with Cartimandua, it seems that Caradawg was immediately imprisoned and handed over to the Brigantian Queen's Roman overlords. As Tacitus puts it:
"There is seldom safety for the unfortunate, and Caractacus [sic], seeking the protection of Cartismandua [sic], queen of the Brigantes, was put in chains and delivered up to the conquerors, nine years after the beginning of the war in Britain." [Tacitus, The Annals, XII.36]
"she strengthened her throne, when, by the treacherous capture of king Caractacus, she was regarded as having given its chief distinction to the triumph of Claudius Caesar. Then followed wealth and the self-indulgence of prosperity." [Tacitus, The Histories, III.45]
Indeed, the capture of Caradawg was an immense political victory for Claudius, as the British guerilla's fame had by now crossed the entire Continent and his name was whisepered in awe on the streets of Rome itself. Deciding to make as much political capital out of this situation as he could, Claudius ordered that Caradawg and his family be brought to Rome. Here, the British were paraded in front of the Roman citizens, senate, and imperial family. According to Tacitus, whose prose here is a typical set-piece, the Britons appear before Claudius trembling in fear of and deference to the mighty emperor - that is, with the exception of Caradawg, who launches into the following noble speech:
"Had my moderation in prosperity been equal to my noble birth and fortune, I should have entered this city as your friend rather than as your captive; and you would not have disdained to receive, under a treaty of peace, a king descended from illustrious ancestors and ruling many nations. My present lot is as glorious to you as it is degrading to myself. I had men and horses, arms and wealth. What wonder if I parted with them reluctantly? If you Romans choose to lord it over the world, does it follow that the world is to accept slavery? Were I to have been at once delivered up as a prisoner, neither my fall nor your triumph would have become famous. My punishment would be followed by oblivion, whereas, if you save my life, I shall be an everlasting memorial of your clemency." [Tacitus, The Annals, XII.37]
Here we have the predictable Tacitean concerns with liberty against slavery, nobility against barbarity, justice against injustice - concerns which he also places in the mouth of the Caledonian leader, Calgacus, in his great Tacitean speech against the Roman Empire. While Tacitus aims in such speeches to question the Roman assumption that the entire world was there for their exclusive use, he also nonetheless answers this question with the idea of the superior nature of Roman culture - there is always the implication here that the defeat of so noble an enemy as Caradawg further ennobles the Roman ring-master of this public circus (in a parallel yet later fate, Caradawg's story inspired Edward Elgar to write the English nationalist cantata Caractacus, commissioned by the Leeds Festival in 1898, ignoring the distinction between Welsh-speaking ancient Briton and modern Englishman and dedicated, most ironically, perhaps, to that most specious of Germanic empire-building Celtophiles, Queen Victoria):
"The Senate was then assembled, and speeches were delivered full of pompous eulogy on the capture of Caractacus. It was as glorious, they said, as the display of Syphax by Scipio, or of Perses by Lucius Paulus, or indeed of any captive prince by any of our generals to the people of Rome." [Tacitus, The Annals, XII.38]
But regardless of the accuracy of Tacitus' report of Caradawg's speech (was it made in Welsh or Latin, for example?), it nevertheless appears that Claudius imperiously granted the great Caradawg and his family the clemency which was asked of him. After this, unfortunately, Caradawg disappears from recorded history, and it is not know whether he stayed in Rome or returned to more Celtic lands in the West. Certainly, he is not recorded as participating in any further anti-Roman campaigns, even if his erstwhile allies, the Silures continued the war against Rome for a short while.
The story of Cartimandua, however, continues to be coloured with political - and personal - intrigue. After the period which Tacitus suggests as one of great prosperity for the Brigantian Queen due to her gift of Caradawg to Claudius, her reign falls into further problems with the anti-Roman factions of Brigantia, this time lead by her own consort, Venutius. Tacitus gives two accounts of this series of events, the first being from The Annals:
"After the capture of Caractacus, Venutius of the Brigantes, as I have already mentioned, was pre-eminent in military skill; he had long been loyal to Rome and had been defended by our arms while he was united in marriage to the queen Cartismandua. Subsequently a quarrel broke out between them, followed instantly by war, and he then assumed a hostile attitude also towards us. At first, however, they simply fought against each other, and Cartismandua by cunning stratagems captured the brothers and kinsfolk of Venutius. This enraged the enemy, who were stung with shame at the prospect of falling under the dominion of a woman. The flower of their youth, picked out for war, invaded her kingdom. This we had foreseen; some cohorts were sent to her aid and a sharp contest followed, which was at first doubtful but had a satisfactory termination." [Tacitus, The Annals, XII.40]
In this passage, it is clear that Venutius, while still Cartimandua's consort, was aligned with the pro-Roman faction, and that it was only when they fell into disagreement over an unspecified subject that their initial civil war developed into a war by Venutius not only against Cartimandua, but against the Romans also. This reading goes against the grain of that put forward by Graham Webster in his study, Rome Against Caratacus, where the assumption throughout is that Venutius was already on the side of the rebels in the time of Caradawg's Brigantian mission. But Tactius makes it clear that Venutius' initial quarrel was not over the Roman issue, but over another matter altogether, even if the dispute did mature into an anti-Roman war. From Tacitus' other account of these events in The Histories, the reason for the initial quarrel becomes clear:
"These dissensions, and the continual rumours of [Roman] civil war, raised the courage of the Britons. They were led by one Venutius, who, besides being naturally high spirited, and hating the name of Rome, was fired by his private animosity against Queen Cartismandua... Spurning her husband Venutius, she made Vellocatus, his armour-bearer, the partner of her bed and throne. By this enormity the power of her house was at once shaken to its base. On the side of the husband were the affections of the people, on that of the adulterer, the lust and savage temper of the Queen. Accordingly Venutius collected some auxiliaries, and, aided at the same time by a revolt of the Brigantes, brought Cartismandua into the utmost peril. She asked for some Roman troops, and our auxiliary infantry and cavalry, after fighting with various success, contrived to rescue the Queen from her peril. Venutius retained the kingdom, and we had the war on our hands." [Tacitus, The Histories, III.45]
In reading this passage, it is important to fit it into the sequence of events given in The Annals. Again, Tacitus cuts the two issues - the personal and the political - into seperate categories: on the one hand, Venutius was sexually spurned by Cartimandua and around the same time (slightly later, in The Annals) the anti-Roman Brigantes were ready for another attempt to replace Cartimandua's client regime. These events coincided to result in Venutius - who, previously had "long been loyal to Rome" - turning to the 'nationalist' cause. At no point does Tacitus imply that Caradawg came to Brigantia to rally the disaffected troops of a jilted Venutius - in fact, he explicitly states that Caradawg went to meet with Cartimandua. Equally, Venutius' defection occurred around 69CE, rather than during Caradawg's mission of 52CE. Further, it is likely that it was the Roman reaction to Venutius' uprising that eventually lead to the their full-scale invasion of Brigantia and its end as a semi-independent political unit. According to Tacitus, Venutius had won the civil war with Cartimandua, and the sudden appearance of a hostile monarch on the throne of the Roman province's Northern border, let alone a monarch ruling over such an extensive and powerful kingdom as Brigantia, must have posed a serious threat to Roman security. In this event, it is unlikely that Cartimandua, once Venutius had been finally defeated, would have been allowed to continue to rule in her previously semi-autonomous role.
Once Roman power had been fully established in West Yorkshire, as elsewhere, a series of forts were built to police the local Celtic population. However, some interesting cultural exchanges occurred at the fort of Olicana (modern Ilkley), where we find a number of archeological remains demonstrating the inter-regional aspects of the Roman Empire's operation. To begin with, there is the Romano-Celtic gravestone bearing both a carved likeness of and inscription to a wealthy woman of the Cornovii tribe whose lands lay in what are now the Northern Welsh-English borders, neighbouring the Ordovician territories and thus not far, perhaps, from the location of Caradawg's last battle.
Romano-Celtic gravestone
from Olicana (Ilkley)
Discovered in the garden of the Rose & Crown Hotel, Ilkley,
1884
By permission of the Manor House Museum,
Ilkley.
Here, what remains of the inscription reads: DIS ANIBVS VEDNIC--- ---RICONIS FILIA ANNORVM XXX. C CORNOVIA H. S. E. - To the spirits of the departed. Vednic---, daughter of ---riconis, aged 30 years, citizen of the Cornovii here lies buried. Ironically for a memorial, it is the name of the deceased and her parent which have not survived. Nonetheless, the it does testify to her tribal derivation, and one must wonder whether she was a trader with her Brigantian cousins, or perhaps more closely associated with the Roman fort of Olicana itself. Such geographical movement was more common than we might today imagine. Indeed, the ostensibly 'Roman' troops at Olicana were actually Gaulish Celts of the Lingones tribe, whose lands are to be found in modern Burgundy. Two altar stones thought to be from the fort show links between local religious cults with those of Gaul. On one, currently housed at All Saints Church (roughly on the site of the Ilkley fort), we find a carved representation of a goddess holding a winding snake in each hand, taken by most scholars to be the same iconography as a carving found in Mavilly, France, in the old Lingones territory.
Romano-Celtic altar
stone to (?) Verbeia, fertility goddess of the Wharfe.
Discovered in use as a Saxon church window-arch.
With acknowledgments to All Saints Parish
Church, Ilkley
The second altar stone is inscribed as a dedication from the Prefect of the Second Lingones Cohort of the Roman army to the goddess Verbeia, and this inscription is often assumed (perhaps rashly) to interpret the meaning of the carved snake-goddess. Further, it is widely argued, albeit tentatively, that it is Verbeia who gives her name to the River Wharfe, which flows mere metres from the walls of the old Roman fort. Many writers have attempted to derive 'Wharfe' from 'Verbeia', taking account of standard consonant mutations, but most have tended to try and find either a Gaelic root, or even, for some strange reason, a Saxon root (the Saxons arrived in Ilkley some two centuries after the Romans had left Britain!). In all cases, the iconography of the Ilkley altar has served as a conceptual guide to these efforts, so that the Gaelic argument seems to centre on either Old Irish ferb = 'cattle' or guerif = 'to heal' (both concepts generally accepted as part of the religious function of Celtic water goddesses), while the Saxon argument has concentrated on the idea of the river itself in guerf = 'rapid' or 'rough'. However, nothing quite so exotic seems particularly necessary when we remember the fact that the Brigantian territories of West Yorkshire were speaking a Brythonic, not Goidelic language, at least by the end of the Roman occupation, if not during and before. A quick foray into even a Modern Welsh dictionry yields gwartheg = 'cattle', while Modern Cornish has gwarthek. Given the standard mutation of Welsh gw to simple w (and thus gwartheg to wartheg), the link seems easily enough proven without recourse to Goidelic orthography. Equally, the transition from warthe- to verbe- could be explained in terms of the Latinisation of the Celtic goddess' name on the Ilkley inscription. But why 'cattle'? And at this point, the instance of two rock structures currently going by the English name of 'Cow and Calf Stones', on the North and South sides of Ilkley, must spring to mind as an intriguing, if obscure connection. As Anne Ross and, more recently, Miranda Green have argued, there is a strong iconographic link between cattle godesses and water godesses.
A further intriguing etymological route through reading 'Verbeia' is the fact that Pliny the Elder refers to the use of verbena (vervain) on Gaulish druidic altars as a healing herb may provide another possible etymological complex into which Verbeia's name and mystical function can be connected. The number of available possibilities seems unwilling to reduce to a single unequivocal root.
However central Brigantia must have been to the need for cultural and political cohesion within the Brigantian territories, she is far from the only deity worshipped within the Brigantian territories of West Yorkshire, as the case of Verbeia shows. Yet a further link between a goddess and a local river takes us even further afield.
Dôn (Danu in Irish), the great Mother goddess of Celts throughout Europe, commemorated in the name of the River Don (running through Sheffield, and along Elmet's Southern borders), and the goddess Verbeia, from whom it is claimed the name of the River Wharfe derives. In fact, Verbeia may have been a Continental import, brought in by a cohort of the Roman army stationed at Ilkley (Olicana) which was made up from the Celtic Gaulish tribe of the Lingones.
Unidentified god's (?)
head from Ilkley
By permission of the Manor House Museum,
Ilkley.
Unidentified god's (?)
head from Ilkley
By permission of the Manor House Museum,
Ilkley.
Yockenthwaite stone circle and prehistoric enclosures on the fell above Deepdale.
Pen-y-Ghent
Y Gwyr y Gogledd
Neud eryfais fedd ar fy
ngherdded,
Gwinfaeth rhag Catraeth, yn un gwared.
Pan laddai â 'i lafnawr, anysgoged yn nhaer,
Nid oedd wael men yd weled.
Nid oedd hyll edellyll yn ymwared,
Adwythig sgwydog, Madawg Elfed.
-Aneirin, Y Gododdin (c.600CE)
After the withdrawal of the Roman Empire in 410CE, and around the time of the English expansion from the Eastern seaboard of Britain, Leeds was within a Celtic, Welsh-speaking kingdom known as Elfed, anglicised as Elmet, a name which is retained today in the modern parliamentary constituency of the same name on the North-Eastern side of the city, and the adjacent Eastern towns of Sherburn-in-Elmet and Barwick-in-Elmet. In general, Elfed was part of a system of Celtic nations which included: Rheged, on the North-Western side of modern England and extending into the South-Western side of modern Scotland; Ystrad Glud, more-or-less around the modern Mid-Western Scottish region of Strathclyde, with its capital at Din Brython, or modern Dumbarton; and Gododdin, covering the South-East of modern Scotland, with its capital at Traprain Law until the C5thCE, when it moved North-West to Din Eidyn, or modern Edinburgh. In the old Welsh texts, all of these nations came under the general heading of Y Gwyr y Gogledd, or 'The Men of the North', and traditionally claim dynastic descent from Coel Hen ('Old Prophecy'), who has been identified with the district of Kyle in Ayrshire (known in those days as Aeron). However, he is more popularly remembered in the rhyme of 'Old King Cole'.
?Craven?
Something on Deira and Bernicia being Celtic territories - Parisii in ?Deifyr, etc. - Arras culture
Aneirin's Y Gododdin, (c.600 CE) the first surviving major bardic poem written in a dialect of Welsh (Cumbrian, or Northern Old Welsh) recounts the major battle which lead to the downfall of Y Gwyr y Gogledd, including Gododdin itself, but also ultimately Elmet. Aneirin here recounts the year-long assembly, training and feasting of the Gododdin and representatives of various other Celtic tribes at the hall of Mynyddawg Mwynfawr in Edinburgh (who, it seems, is a rare example of a Northern king not claiming descent from Coel Hen), their march South into the Saxon kingdom of Deira (Eastern Yorkshire), and their engagement of the Deiran Saxons and the Bernician (Northumbrian) Angles at Catraeth (modern Catterick in North Yorkshire - to this day, the site of an English army garrison). At that time, the leader of Elmet was Gwallawg ap Lleenawg, although the only identifiably-named warrior from Elmet mentioned by Aneirin is Madog Elfed, described as 'adwythig sgwydog', or a deadly shield-bearer (see stanza above). It has also been suggested that Aneirin was Gwallawg's nephew, being the son of the latter's sister, Dwywai. However, given that Y Gododdin makes no mention of Gwallawg, this may simply be conjecture, even if there is a certain appeal in making Aneirin either native to or connected with Elmet.
Ultimately, though, the Gododdin's attempt to halt English expansionism at Catraeth had tragic results, and according to Aneirin, only three survivors of the Celtic army left the field alive. Shortly after, the English expanded Northwards and Westwards, leaving Strathclyde as the only significant Northern Cymric nation for the next few centuries. Elmet itself fell to Edwin of Northumbria, who defeated Gwallawg's son, Ceredig, around 617 CE. From that time on, much of the upper classes of Elmet - the nobility, clergy, druids, bards, and so forth - would have moved westwards, particularly into North Wales, much as their compatriots from Strathclyde were forced to do in the centuries to come.
Bibliography
Aneirin, trans. A.O.H. Jarman, Y Gododdin: Britain's Oldest Heroic Poem (Llandysul: Gomer Press, 1990)
Anon., trans. G. Jones & T. Jones, The Mabinogion (London: Dent, 1993)
Anon., trans. M. Pennar, The Black Book of Carmarthen (Lampeter: Llanerch, 1989)
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Moor: Its History, Folklore and Geomancy (Hebden Bridge:
Bennet)
__________, Circles, Standing Stones and Legendary Rocks of
West Yorkshire (Heart of Albion Press, 1997)
Edmund Bogg, The Old Kingdom of Elmet: York and the Ainsty District (1902)
Caradoc of Llancarfan & Anon., trans. H. Williams, Two Lives of Gildas by a Monk of Ruys and Caradoc of Llancarvan (Lampeter: Llanerch, 1990)
Chadwick, Nora, The Celts (London: Penguin, 1991)
Cherici, Peter, Celtic Sexuality: Power, Paradigms and Passion (London: Duckworth, 1995)
Collyer, Robert & Turner, J. Horsfall, Ilkely: Ancient and Modern (Walker, 1885)
Dixon, John & Dixon, Phillip, Journeys Through Brigantia (Barnoldswick: Aussteiger Publications, 1990)
Eliiss, Peter Berresford, Celt and Saxon: The Struggle for Britain AD 410-937 (London: Constable, 1993)
Evans, Gwenogvryn, The Book of Taliesin: Facsimile and Text (Llanbedrog: Old Welsh Texts, 1915)
Green, Miranda, Celtic Goddesses: Warriors, Virgins and Mothers (London: British Museum Press, 1997)
Gruffydd, R. Geraint, "In Search of Elmet", Studia Celtica 28, 1994 pp.63-79.
Halcon, Peter, ed., New Light on the Parisi; Recent Discoveries in Iron Age and Roman East Yorkshire (Hull: East Riding Archeological Society & University of Hull, 1989)
Hanson, W.S., Agricola and the Conquest of the North (London: Batsford, 1987)
Hartley, Brian, Roman Ilkley (Ilkley: Olicana Museum
and Historical Society, 1987)
__________ & Fitts, Leon, The Brigantes (Gloucester:
Sutton, 1988)
Hedges, John D., The Carved Rocks on Rombald's Moore (West Yorkshire Metropolitan County Council, 1986)
Jackson, Kenneth, The Gododdin: The Oldest Scottish Poem (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1978)
Jarman, A.O.H. & Hughes, Gwilym Rees, A Guide to Welsh Literature (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1992)
Johnson, Stephen, Later Roman Britain (London: Routledge, 1980)
Laing, Lloyd & Laing, Jennifer, Art of the Celts (London: Thames & Hudson, 1992)
Mac Cana, Proinsias, The Mabinogi (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1992)
MacQueen, John, St. Nynia, With a Translation of the Miracula Nynie Episcopi and the Vita Niniani by Winifred MacQueen (Edinburgh: Polygon, 1990)
Oakley, G.T., Verbeia: Goddess of Wharfedale (Leeds: Rooted Media, 1998)
Piggot, Stuart, The Druids (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1974)
Ross, Anne, Pagan Celtic Britain: Studies in Iconography and Tradition (London: Sphere, 1974)
Shotter, David, Romans and Britons in North-West England
(Lancaster: University of Lancaster, 1993)
__________, The Roman Frontier in Britain: Haidrian's Wall,
The Antonine Wall and Roman Policy in the North (Preston:
Carnegie, 1996)
Skene, William, The Four Ancient Books of Wales
(Edinburgh: Edmonston & Douglas, 1868)
__________, ed. Derek Bryce, Arthur and the Britons in Wales
and Scotland (Lampeter: Llanerch, 1988)
Smith, A.H., The Place Names of the West Riding of Yorkshire (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1961)
Stead, I.M., The Arras Culture (York: Yorkshire Philosophical Society, 1979)
Webster, Graham, Rome Against Caratacus: The Roman Campaigns in Britain AD 48-58 (London: Batsford, 1993)
Yorkshire Archeological Journal (Leeds: Yorkshire Archeological Society, 1869+)
Brigantia/Elmet-Related Websites
STICK IN WINWAED PAGES, TOO!
Barwick-in-Elmet Historical Society (including articles published in The Barwicker)
Tony Cox, "The Ancient Kingdom of Elmet", The Barwicker, no.39
Barwick-in-Elmet Historical Society Maps
"Gyrus", "The Goddess in Wharfedale"
Biographies of The Kings of Elmet
Edmund Bogg, The Old Kingdom of Elmet (1902) Preface
Ann Skea, "Regeneration in Remains of Elmet" (review of Ted Hughes book)
Phillip Spencer's Alien Encounter on Ilkley Moor (1987)
Thomas Langdale, A Topographical Dictionary of Yorkshire (1822)
Places
The carved altar assumed to represent Verbeia, along with another Romano-Celtic altar stone and several Saxon stone crosses, can be found on public view in the tower of All Saints' Parish Church, Church Street, Ilkley, West Yorkshire LS29 9DT, England. Tel.: +44 (0)1943-816035.
Various artefacts from the Roman fort of Olicana, along with other local Celtic pieces and displays on rock art can be found at the Manor House Art Gallery and Museum, Castle Yard, Ilkley, West Yorkshire LS29 9DT, England. Tel.: +44 (0)1943-600066.
Numerous examples of cup-and-ring marked stones, grooved stones, etc. can be found across Rombald's Moor (includes the famous Ilkley Moor), which is best accessed via the Cow and Calf Stones car park just South of Ben Rhydding on the Southeast tip of Ilkley. A lesser number survive on the Northwestern side of Ilkely on Middleton Moor.
A small collection of local Celtic-period artefacts can also be found in the Leeds City Museum, Municipal Buildings, Leeds LS1, England. Tel.: +44 (0)113-247-8275.
Appendix
Tactitus on Caratacus and Cartimandua
From The Annals, Book XII, A.D. 48-54
Full text of the Church and Brodribb translation (The Complete Works of Tacitus, Random House, 1942) is available online from The Internet Classics Archive at http://classics.mit.edu//Tacitus/annals.html, from the Great Books Index at http://books.mirror.org/gb.tacitus.html, from Bruce Butterfield at http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/txt/tacitus/index.htm or from J. Woods at http://www.radiks.net/jwoods/catalog/tacitus.annals.html
[12.31] Meanwhile, in Britain, Publius Ostorius, the propraetor, found himself confronted by disturbance. The enemy had burst into the territories of our allies with all the more fury, as they imagined that a new general would not march against them with winter beginning and with an army of which he knew nothing. Ostorius, well aware that first events are those which produce alarm or confidence, by a rapid movement of his light cohorts, cut down all who opposed him, pursued those who fled, and lest they should rally, and so an unquiet and treacherous peace might allow no rest to the general and his troops, he prepared to disar m all whom he suspected, and to occupy with encampments the whole country to the Avon and Severn. The Iceni, a powerful tribe, which war had not weakened, as they had voluntarily joined our alliance, were the first to resist. At their instigation the surrounding nations chose as a battlefield a spot walled in by a rude barrier, with a narrow approach, impenetrable to cavalry. Through these defences the Roman general, though he had with him only the allied troops, without the strength of the legions, attempted to break, and having assigned their positions to his cohorts, he equipped even his cavalry for the work of infantry. Then at a given signal they forced the barrier, routing the enemy who were entangled in their own defences. The rebels, conscious of their guilt, and finding escape barred, performed many noble feats. In this battle, Marius Ostorius, the general's son, won the reward for saving a citizen's life.
[12.32] The defeat of the Iceni quieted those who were hesitating between war and peace. Then the army was marched against the Cangi; their territory was ravaged, spoil taken everywhere without the enemy venturing on an engagement, or if they attempted to harass our march by stealthy attacks, their cunning was always punished. And now Ostorius had advanced within a little distance of the sea, facing the island Hibernia, when feuds broke out among the Brigantes and compelled the general's return, for it was his fixed purpose not to undertake any fresh enterprise till he had consolidated his previous success es. The Brigantes indeed, when a few who were beginning hostilities had been slain and the rest pardoned, settled down quietly; but on the Silures neither terror nor mercy had the least effect; they persisted in war and could be quelled only by legions encamped in their country. That this might be the more promptly effected, a colony of a strong body of veterans was established at Camulodunum on the conquered lands, as a defence against the rebels, and as a means of imbuing the allies with respect for our laws.
[12.33] The army then marched against the Silures, a naturally fierce people and now full of confidence in the might of Caractacus [sic], who by many an indecisive and many a successful battle had raised himself far above all the other generals of the Britons. Inferior in military strength, but deriving an advantage from the deceptiveness of the country, he at once shifted the war by a stratagem into the territory of the Ordovices, where, joined by all who dreaded peace with us, he resolved on a final struggle. He selected a position for the engagement in which advance and retreat alike would be difficult for our men and comparatively easy for his own, and then on some lofty hills, wherever their sides could be approached by a gentle slope, he piled up stones to serve as a rampart. A river too of varying depth was in his front, and his armed bands were drawn up before his defences.
[12.34] Then too the chieftains of the several tribes went from rank to rank, encouraging and confirming the spirit of their men by making light of their fears, kindling their hopes, and by every other warlike incitement. As for Caractacus, he flew hither and thither, protesting that that day and that battle would be the beginning of the recovery of their freedom, or of everlasting bondage. He appealed, by name, to their forefathers who had driven back the dictator Caesar, by whose valour they were free from the Roman axe and tribute, and still preserved inviolate the persons of their wives and of their children. While he was thus speaking, the host shouted applause; every warrior bound himself by his national oath not to shrink from weapons or wounds.
[12.35] Such enthusiasm confounded the Roman general. The river too in his face, the rampart they had added to it, the frowning hilltops, the stern resistance and masses of fighting men everywhere apparent, daunted him. But his soldiers insisted on battle, exclaiming that valour could overcome all things; and the prefects and tribunes, with similar language, stimulated the ardour of the troops. Ostorius having ascertained by a survey the inaccessible and the assailable points of the position, led on his furious men, and crossed the river without difficulty. When he reached the barrier, as long as it was a fight with missiles, the wounds and the slaughter fell chiefly on our soldiers; but when he had formed the military testudo, and the rude, ill-compacted fence of stones was torn down, and it was an equal hand-to-hand engagement, the barbarians retired to the heights. Yet even there, both light and heavy-armed soldiers rushed to the attack; the first harassed the foe with missiles, while the latter closed with them, and the opposing ranks of the Britons were broken, destitute as they were of the defence of breast-plates or helmets. When they faced the auxiliaries, they were felled by the swords and javelins of our legionaries; if they wheeled round, they were again met by the sabres and spears of the auxiliaries. It was a glorious victory; the wife and daughter of Caractacus were captured, and his brothers too w ere admitted to surrender.
[12.36] There is seldom safety for the unfortunate, and Caractacus, seeking the protection of Cartismandua [sic], queen of the Brigantes, was put in chains and delivered up to the conquerors, nine years after the beginning of the war in Britain. His fame had spread thence, and travelled to the neighbouring islands and provinces, and was actually celebrated in Italy. All were eager to see the great man, who for so many years had defied our power. Even at Rome the name of Caractacus was no obscure one; and the emperor, while he exalted his own glory, enhanced the renown of the vanquished. The people were summoned as to a grand spectacle; the praetorian cohorts were drawn up under arms in the plain in front of their camp; then came a procession of the royal vassals, and the ornaments and neck-chains and the spoils which the king had won in wars with other tribes, were displayed. Next were to be seen his brothers, his wife and daughter; last of all, Caractacus himself. All the rest stooped in their fear to abject supplication; not so the king, who neither by humble look nor speech sought compassion.
[12.37] When he was set before the emperor's tribunal, he spoke as follows: "Had my moderation in prosperity been equal to my noble birth and fortune, I should have entered this city as your friend rather than as your captive; and you would not have disdained to receive, under a treaty of peace, a king descended from illustrious ancestors and ruling many nations. My present lot is as glorious to you as it is degrading to myself. I had men and horses, arms and wealth. What wonder if I parted with them reluctantly? If you Romans choose to lord it over the world, does it follow that the world is to accept slavery? Were I to have been at once delivered up as a prisoner, neither my fall nor your triumph would have become famous. My punishment would be followed by oblivion, whereas, if you save my life, I shall be an everlasting memorial of your clemency." Upon this the emperor granted pardon to Caractacus, to his wife, and to his brothers. Released from their bonds, they did homage also to Agrippina who sat near, conspicuous on another throne, in the same language of praise and gratitude. It was indeed a novelty, quite alien to ancient manners, for a woman to sit in front of Roman standards. In fact, Agrippina boasted that she was herself a partner in the empire which her ancestors had won.
[12.38] The Senate was then assembled, and speeches were delivered full of pompous eulogy on the capture of Caractacus. It was as glorious, they said, as the display of Syphax by Scipio, or of Perses by Lucius Paulus, or indeed of any captive prince by any of our generals to the people of Rome. Triumphal distinctions were voted to Ostorius, who thus far had been successful, but soon afterwards met with reverses; either because, when Caractacus was out of the way, our discipline was relaxed under an impression that the war was ended, or because the enemy, out of compassion for so great a king, was more ardent in his thirst for vengeance. Instantly they rushed from all parts on the camp-prefect, and legionary cohorts left to establish fortified positions among the Silures, and had not speedy succour arrived from towns and fortresses in the neighbourhood, our forces would then have been totally destroyed. Even as it was, the camp-prefect, with eight centurions, and the bravest of the soldiers, were slain; and shortly afterwards, a foraging party of our men, with some cavalry squadrons sent to their support, was utterly routed.
[12.39] Ostorius then deployed his light cohorts, but even thus he did not stop the flight, till our legions sustained the brunt of the battle. Their strength equalized the conflict, which after a while was in our favour. The enemy fled with trifling loss, as the day was on the decline. Now began a series of skirmishes, for the most part like raids, in woods and morasses, with encounters due to chance or to courage, to mere heedlessness or to calculation, to fury or to lust of plunder, under directions from the officers, or sometimes even without their knowledge. Conspicuous above all in stubborn resistance were the Silures, whose rage was fired by words rumoured to have been spoken by the Roman general, to the effect, that as the Sugambri had been formerly destroyed or transplanted into Gaul, so the name of the Silures ought to be blotted out. Accordingly they cut off two of our auxiliary cohorts, the rapacity of whose officers let them make incautious forays; and by liberal gifts of spoil and prisoners to the other tribes, they were luring them too into revolt, when Ostorius, worn out by the burden of his anxieties, died, to the joy of the enemy, who thought that a campaign at least, though not a single battle, had proved fatal to general whom none could despise.
[12.40] The emperor on hearing of the death of his representative appointed Aulus Didius in his place, that the province might not be left without a governor. Didius, though he quickly arrived, found matters far from prosperous, for the legion under the command of Manlius Valens had meanwhile been defeated, and the disaster had been exaggerated by the enemy to alarm the new general, while he again magnified it, that he might win the more glory by quelling the movement or have a fairer excuse if it lasted. This loss too had been inflicted on us by the Silures, and they were scouring the country far and wide, till Didius hurried up and dispersed them. After the capture of Caractacus, Venutius of the Brigantes, as I have already mentioned, was pre-eminent in military skill; he had long been loyal to Rome and had been defended by our arms while he was united in marriage to the queen Cartismandua. Subsequently a quarrel broke out between them, followed instantly by war, and he then assumed a hostile attitude also towards us. At first, however, they simply fought against each other, and Cartismandua by cunning stratagems captured the brothers and kinsfolk of Venutius. This enraged the enemy, who were stung with shame at the prospect of falling under the dominion of a woman. The flower of their youth, picked out for war, invaded her kingdom. This we had foreseen; some cohorts were sent to her aid and a sharp contest followed, which was at first doubtful but had a satisfactory termination.
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From The Histories, Book III, September - December, A.D. 69
Full text of the Church and Brodribb translation (The Complete Works of Tacitus, Random House, 1942) is available online from The Internet Classics Archive at http://classics.mit.edu//Tacitus/histories.html, from the Great Books Index at http://books.mirror.org/gb.tacitus.html, from Bruce Butterfield at http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/txt/tacitus/index.htm or from J. Woods at http://www.radiks.net/jwoods/catalog/tacitus.history.html
[3.44] A partiality long felt in Britain for Vespasian, who had there commanded the 2nd legion by the appointment of Claudius, and had served with distinction, attached that province to his cause, though not without some commotion among the other legions, in which were many centurions and soldiers promoted by Vitellius, who felt uneasy in exchanging for another ruler one whom they knew already.
[3.45] These dissensions, and the continual rumours of civil war, raised the courage of the Britons. They were led by one Venutius, who, besides being naturally high spirited, and hating the name of Rome, was fired by his private animosity against Queen Cartismandua [sic]. Cartismandua ruled the Brigantes in virtue of her illustrious birth; and she strengthened her throne, when, by the treacherous capture of king Caractacus [sic], she was regarded as having given its chief distinction to the triumph of Claudius Caesar. Then followed wealth and the self-indulgence of prosperity. Spurning her husband Venutius, she made Vellocatus, his armour-bearer, the partner of her bed and throne. By this enormity the power of her house was at once shaken to its base. On the side of the husband were the affections of the people, on that of the adulterer, the lust and savage temper of the Queen. Accordingly Venutius collected some auxiliaries, and, aided at the same time by a revolt of the Brigantes, brought Cartismandua into the utmost peril. She asked for some Roman troops, and our auxiliary infantry and cavalry, after fighting with various success, contrived to rescue the Queen from her peril. Venutius retained the kingdom, and we had the war on our hands.
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nennius 63
also check out cair loit coit - lincoln (trans below) or leeds (Bogg)?
63. Adda, son of Ida, reigned eight years; Ethelric, son of Adda, reigned four years. Theodoric, son of Ida, reigned seven years. Freothwulf reigned six years. In whose time the kingdom of Kent, by the mission of Gregory, received baptism Hussa reigned seven years. Against him fought four kings, Urien, and Ryderthen, and Gualllauc, and Morcant. Theodoric fought bravely, together with his sons, against that Urien. But at that time sometimes the enemy and sometimes our countrymen were defeated, and he shut them up three days and three nights in the island of Metcaut; and whilst he was on an expedition he was murdered, at the instance of Morcant, out of envy, because he possessed so much superiority over all the kings in military science. Eadfered Flesaurs reigned twelve years in Bernicia, and twelve others in Deira, and gave to his wife Bebba, the town of Dynguoaroy, which from her is called Bebbanburg. Edwin, son of Alla, reigned seventeen years, seized on Elmete, and Expelled Cerdic, its king. Eanfied, his daughter, received baptism, on the twelfth day after Pentecost, with all her followers, both men and women. The following Easter Edwin himself received baptism, and twelve thousand of his subjects with him. If any one wishes to know who baptized them, it was Rum Map Urbgen: he was engaged forty days in baptizing all classes of the Saxons, and by his preaching many believed on Christ.