Dumnonia

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For the Brythonic colony of the same name in Brittany see Domnonée

Dumnonia was a Brythonic kingdom of sub-Roman Britain, located in the south-west peninsula of modern England and covering Devon, most of Somerset and possibly part of Dorset, its eastern boundary being uncertain. Cornwall may or may not have been part of Dumnonia.

[edit] Name

The kingdom is named for the Dumnonii, a Celtic tribe who lived in the same area long before the Romans arrived in Britain. It is unclear whether it was a single united kingdom or simply a series of sub-kingdoms. Certainly Cornwall appears to have been at least semi-independent at times, possibly because it was based on the territory of a sub-tribe, the Cornovii.

Dumnonia is the Latin form of the name. Variants include Damnonia and Domnonia. It was known to the English of neighbouring Wessex as the kingdom of West Wales. In Welsh, and similarly in the native Brythonic language, it was Dyfneint and this is the form which survives today in the name of the county of Devon (Modern Welsh: Dyfnaint, Cornish: Dewnans).

[edit] Character

Dumnonia is noteworthy for its many settlements which have survived from Romano-British times. As in other Brythonic areas, Iron Age hillforts, such as Cadbury Castle, were refortified for the use of lords or kings. Other high-status settlements like Tintagel were built a-new. Post-Roman imported pottery has been excavated from many sites across the region.

The people of Dumnonia would have spoken a Brythonic dialect similar to the ancestor of modern Cornish. Irish immigrants are also in evidence from the Ogham inscribed stones they have left behind.

[edit] Christianity

Christianity also seems to have survived in Dumnonia from the Romano-British era, with a number of late Roman Christian cemeteries extending into the sub-Roman period. The religion was boosted by evangelists from Ireland, like Saint Piran, and Wales, like Saint Petroc or Saint Keyne. There were important monasteries at Bodmin and Glastonbury; and also Exeter where 5th century burials discovered near the cathedral probably represent the cemetery of the foundation attended by St. Boniface (although whether this was Anglo-Saxon or Brythonic is somewhat controversial).

[edit] Kings of Dumnonia

Main article: Kings of Dumnonia

There are odd records of several apparent kings of Dumnonia and several of these appear in a pedigree of the monarchs recorded in Old Welsh sources which may be reconstructed thus:

  • Cynfawr – whose name occurs on the famous Drustanus stone near Fowey in Cornwall.
  • Custennyn Gorneu – supposed grandfather of Arthur (see below)
  • Erbin – father of Geraint (see below)
  • Geraint – probably the man at the Battle of Llongborth
  • Cado – who appears in the Life of St Carannog

Traditionally, Cado’s son was Constantine of Dumnonia, the man reproached by the contemporary writer, Gildas, in the early 6th century. He may be the same as St. Constantine of Cornwall. A later King Geraint appears in the Life of St Teilo and may be the same man mentioned in the poem Y Gododdin at the Battle of Catraeth (Catterick) around 600. A third King Geraint corresponded with Saint Aldhelm and fought King Ine of Wessex in 710.

[edit] Arthurian connection

The renowned King Arthur is often said to have been a member of the Royal house of Dumnonia, his traditional grandfather, Constantine, being identified with Custennyn Gorneu above. Erbin and his son, Geraint, appear in the Arthurian tale of Geraint and Enid as ruling "on the far side of Severn" (from Caerleon). Gildas’ Constantine of Dumnonia appears in Arthurian legend as the great King’s successor, Constantine III of Britain.

It is claimed by some that Arthur's great victory at the Battle of Mount Badon, took place in Devon where the Brythonic Dumnonians fought off Anglo-Saxons. Most historians, however, believe this battle was fought elsewhere, near Bath for example. His final Battle of Camlann, is also said to have been fought at Slaughter Bridge near Camelford.

[edit] Territorial reduction

Conflict between Dumnonia and the Anglo-Saxons of Wessex began to increase in the 7th century. By 658, it lost the part of Somerset east and north of the River Parrett and the rest of the modern county fell in 710. Devon was overrun by the end of the century. The medieval Breton toponyms of Domnonée and Cornouaille/Kernev were probably founded by emigrants from Cornwall and Devon during this period.

William of Malmesbury reported that Brythons were living alongside Saxon people in Exeter during the 10th century, but King Athelstan put a stop to this. (A part of Exeter retained the title 'Little Britain' until the 18th century.) The same monarch set the modern eastern border of Cornwall in 927. However, the Brythons of the far west survived with at least some degree of independence as the Kingdom of Cornwall.

[edit] References

  • Christopher A. Snyder (2003), The Britons

[edit] See also

[edit] External links