The Sumortūnsǣte were an Anglo-Saxon tribe that lived in Somerset, probably around the town of Somerton from about 6th to 10th centuries AD. They had apparently established themselves after circa 577 as the Saxons smashed through the Romano-British state of Caer-Baddan (roughly speaking, the City of Bath and parts of the former Avon County Council)[1] and in to today's Somerset, but were officially noted in 845.[2] It is not known if they are related to the obscure Glestinga, who or what ever he/they were, who gave their name to the nearby town of Glastonbury and then the short lived sub-kingdom of Glastening in the area around the town of Glastonbury.[1] Somerset was a part of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex.[3][4][5]
Legend claims that Glastening (or Glastenning) refers to an old Welsh pedigree mentioned by William of Malmesbury possibly associated with Glastonbury.[6]
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The name derives from Old English Sumorsǣte, which is short for Sumortūnsǣte, meaning "the people living at or dependent upon Sumortūn"[7] ( whose name could mean 'The sea-lake enclosure' from the Old English sae, mere and tun[8] or Anglo-Saxon Sumer-tūn, meaning summer farmstead.[9]) or those living in the summer-lands.[10] The first known use of the name Somersæte was in 845, after the region fell to the Saxons.[2] It is not known if they are related to the Glestinga, who or what ever he/they were, who gave their name to the nearby town of Glastonbury. When King Alfred coined the future county motto 'Sumorsǣte ealle' in the 10th century, he referred to the people of Somerset se the 'Sumortūnsǣte'[3][4][5] not as the 'Glestinga' or Dumnonian Celts.
It is unclear but when the settlement is first recorded in the 7th and the early 8th centuries, it was called Glestingaburg.[11] The burg element is Anglo-Saxon and could refer either to a fortified place such as a burh or, more likely, a monastic enclosure, however the Glestinga element is obscure, and may derive from an Old English word or from a Saxon or Celtic personal name.[12]
Somerset's local Dumnonian language, which was spoken during this period that is thought to be Southwestern Brythonic,[13] and was replaced by Anglo-Saxon, but only one or two inscribed Brythonic stones survive in Somerset from this period. Somerset is called Gwlad yr Haf in Welsh, Gwlas an Hav in Cornish and Bro an Hañv in Breton, which all mean "Land of Summer", like the Saxon Sumortūnsǣte. This points to the tribe being of Saxon not Brythonic origin due to the differing names, albeit with the same meaning. Glestingaburg is also probably of Saxon not Brythonic root.
After the Romans left, Britain was invaded by Anglo-Saxon peoples, who had established control over much of what is now England by AD 600, but Luitcoyt (which was in Shropshire and southern Staffordshire), and Dumnonian-held Somerset (like Devon, Cornwall and most of Dorset) was still in Romano-British hands. The native British held back the Saxon advance in the southwest for some time longer, but by the early 8th century King Ine of Wessex had pushed the boundaries of the West Saxon kingdom far enough west to include Somerset.[14] The Saxon royal palace in Cheddar was used several times in the 10th century to host the Witenagemot.[15]
The earliest fortification of Taunton started for King Ine of Wessex and Æthelburg, in or about the year 710 AD. However, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle this was destroyed 12 years later.[16] Somerset, like Dorset to the south, held the West Saxon advance from Wiltshire/Hampshire back for over a century, remaining a frontier between the Saxons and the Romano-British Celts.[17] The Saxons conquered Bath following the Battle of Deorham in 577, and the border was probably established along the line of the Wansdyke to the north of the Mendip Hills. Then Cenwalh of Wessex broke through at Bradford-on-Avon in 652, and the Battle of Peonnum possibly at Penselwood in 658, advancing west through the Polden Hills to the River Parrett.[18]
Modern and Medieval historians have dubiously sought to associate various versions of the same Old Welsh pedigree with Glastonbury.[19] The earliest genealogy is a 10th-century text, the Harleian Genealogies, preserved in London, British Library, Harleian MS 3859, which ends with Glast and states unum sunt Glastenic qui uenerunt que uocatur Loytcoyt, or "one of those who came to Glastenning from the place called Luit-Coyt" (modern Lichfield).[19] Other versions are given in the later Achau Brenhinoedd a Thywysogion Cymru and William of Malmesbury's De antiquitate Glastonie ecclesie, where the pedigree is listed as brothers.[19] From the versions it not clear whether Glast was a personal name or a kindred group as Glastening, "descendants of Glasten", or an epithet Glas meaning "the Blue, Green or Grey".[6]
Whatever the facts were, its precise origins can only be guessed at now, but it is known that Glastening, probably based in or near Glatenbury [sic?] in Somerset, was an ally of Luit Coyt, Pengwern, etc., and would eventually be absorbed into the Saxon state of Wessex.[20][21][22] Modern and medieval historians have sought to associate various versions of the same Old Welsh pedigree with Glastonbury.[19] The earliest genealogy is from a 10th century manuscript contained in the British Library, London, Harleian MS 3859, which ends with Glast and states unum sunt Glastenic qui uenerunt que uocatur Loytcoyt, or "one of those who came to Glastenning from the place called Luit-Coyt" (Wall, near modern day Lichfield, Staffordshire).[23][19][24][25][26][27]
Other versions are given in the later Achau Brenhinoedd a Thywysogion Cymru and William of Malmesbury's De antiquitate Glastonie ecclesie, where the pedigree is listed as brothers.[19] From the versions it not clear whether Glast was a personal name or a kindred group as Glastening, "decendants of Glasten", or an epithet Glas meaning "the Blue, Green or Grey".
According to William of Malmesbury, 'Glast' was one of twelve brothers who migrated from the north to assume control of parts of Wales (the Britons still held much of the west of Britain) who were great-grandsons of Cunedda. He settled in Glastonbury with his livestock after finding it deserted. The 14th century codex from Oxford, Bodleian Library, Jesus College 20, actually gives Glas map Elno (or Elnaw) as the great-grandson of Cunedda.[19]
David Thornton finds "no strong evidence" for the association of the pedigree of the Glastening with Glastonbury other than the similarity of the names. He concludes that the Glastening had an association with Lichfield (problems of textual corruption making it difficult to be precise about the relationship) and that "their sojourn in Glastonbury, however, is the product of medieval pseudo-historical thought supported by the zealous ingenuity of subsequent scholars."[19]
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