Early Britain—Roman BritainConybeare, John William Edward
History
Early Britain—Roman Britain
Conybeare, John William Edward
Great Britain -- History -- Roman period, 55 B.C.-449 A.D.
F. 7.--Such was the cycle of events both in Rome and in the Greek
commonwealths; though in the latter it ran its course within a few
generations, whilst amongst the law-abiding Romans it was a matter of
centuries. And the pages of Caesar bear abundant testimony to the fact
that in his day the Gallic tribes were all in the state of turmoil
which mostly attended the "_Regifugium_" period of development. Some
were still under their old Kings; some, like the Nervii, had developed
a Senatorial government; in some the Commons had set up "Tyrants" of
their own. It was this general unrest which contributed in no small
degree to the Roman conquest of Gaul. And the same state of things
seems to have been begun in Britain also. The earliest inscribed
British coins bear, some of them the names of Kings and Princes,
others those of peoples, others again designations which seem to point
to Tyrants. To the first class belong those of Commius, Tincommius,
Tasciovan, Cunobelin, etc.; to the second those of the Iceni and the
Cassi; to the last the northern mintage of Volisius, a potentate
of the Parisii, who calls himself Domnoverus, which, according to
Professor Rhys,[45] literally signifies "Demagogue."
SECTION G.
Clans at Julian invasion--Permanent natural
boundaries--Population--Celtic settlements--"Duns"--Maiden Castle.
G. 1.--The earliest of these inscribed coins, however, take us
no further back than the Julian invasion; and it is to Caesar's
Commentaries that we are indebted for the first recorded names of any
British tribes. It is no part of his design to give any regular list
of the clans or their territories; he merely makes incidental mention
of such as he had to do with. Thus we learn of the four nameless
clans who occupied Kent (a region which has kept its territorial
name unchanged from the days of Pytheas), and also of the Atrebates,
Cateuchlani, Trinobantes, Cenimagni, Segontiaci, Ancalites, Bibroci,
and Cassi.
G. 2.--To the localities held by these tribes Caesar bears no direct
evidence; but from his narrative, as well as from local remains and
later references, we know that the Trinobantes possessed Essex, and
the Cenimagni (i.e. "the Great Iceni" as they were still called,[46]
though their power was on the wane), East Anglia; while the
Cateuchlani, already beginning to be known as the Cassivellauni (or
Cattivellauni), presumably from their heroic chieftain Caswallon (or
Cadwallon),[47] corresponded roughly to the later South Mercians,
between the Thames and the Nene. The Segontiaci, Ancalites, Bibroci,
and Cassi were less considerable, and must evidently have been
situated on the marches between their larger neighbours. The name of
the Cassi may still, perhaps, cling to their old home, in the _Cashio_
Hundred and _Cassiobury_, near Watford; while conjecture finds traces
of the Ancalites in _Henley_, and of the Bibroci in _Bray_, on either
side of the Thames.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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