We must now take up again the tale of the bronze-using Q-speaking
Celts, the story of fresh Gaelic movements, but this time a story of
flight rather than of invasion. This was not a question only of Gaelic
lords, for the Alpine peasants, who doubtless spoke a Celtic dialect
and called themselves Celts, were also involved in this ruin. They fled
by divers routes to the north and the west. By the swords of Type G we
can trace their wanderings over Gaul, down the Rhone, the Loire and
the Seine. Others seem to have fled northwards to Schleswig, Jutland,
Sweden and even Finland, to escape their pursuers, while a large party
landed in England, mainly between the Thames and the Wash, and found
refuge with their relations who had settled on the open downs some
centuries before.
The former arrivals had been Nordic lords, with perhaps a few
half-breed retainers; the refugees were largely Alpine peasants,
unaccustomed to pastoral pursuits on the high downs, and more anxious
for water-meadows and arable patches by the margins of lakes and
rivers. Settlements were made by the banks of the Thames between London
and Richmond, and doubtless higher up the river. Lowlands were cleared
in Wessex in the Vale of Pewsey, such as the village at All Cannings,
and other settlements were made by lakes and marshes in South Wales.
In most parts of Gaul the Kimri followed the refugees, and drove them
from the valleys of the Rhone and the Loire into the hills. In the
Seine valley, however, the Sequani were left undisturbed and gave their
name to the river. Though no positive evidence has appeared, so far
as I know, there is reason for believing that many of these Gaelic
wanderers found refuge in south Brittany and La Vendée, and persisted
in their lake-dwelling culture. No pile-dwellings have been found in
these parts, so far as I am aware, yet I suspect their existence; but
perhaps the numerous islets in the Bay of Morbihan were a sufficiently
safe refuge for these poor folk.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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