Brigantes
Brigantes | |
---|---|
Geography | |
Capital | Isurium Brigantum (Aldborough) |
Location | Yorkshire - Lancashire - Northumberland - Durham |
Rulers | Cartimandua, Venutius, Vellocatus |
The Brigantes were
Within
Etymology
The name Brigantes (Βρίγαντες in
In modern Welsh the word braint means 'privilege, prestige' and comes from the same root *brigantī. Other related forms from the modern Celtic languages are: Welsh brenin 'king' (< *brigantīnos); Welsh/Cornish/Breton bri 'prestige, reputation, honour, dignity', Scottish Gaelic brìgh 'pith, power', Irish brí 'energy, significance',
There are several ancient settlements named .
In chronostratigraphy, the British sub-stage of the Carboniferous period, the Brigantian, derives its name from the Brigantes.[8]
History
There are no written records of the Brigantes before the Roman conquest of Britain; it is therefore hard to assess how long they had existed as a political entity prior to that. Most key archaeological sites in the region seem to show continued, undisturbed occupation from an early date, so their rise to power may have been gradual rather than a sudden, dramatic conquest, or it may be linked to the burning of the large hill fort at Castle Hill, Huddersfield, c. 430 BC.[9] Territorially the largest tribe in Britain, the Brigantes encompassed sub-tribes or septs such as the Gabrantovices on the Yorkshire Coast,[10] and the Textoverdi in the upper valley of the River South Tyne[11] near Hadrian's Wall. The names Portus Setantiorum and Coria Lopocarum suggest other groups, the Setantii and the Lopocares located on the Lancashire coast and the River Tyne respectively. A name Corionototae[12] is also recorded but since the name seems to derive from *Corion Toutas meaning "tribal army" or "people's army" it may have been a name for a military force or resistance against the Romans rather than any tribe or sub-tribe. The Carvetii who occupied what is now Cumbria may have been another sub-tribe, or they may have been separate from the Brigantes. This is often disputed as the Carvetii made up a separate civitas under Roman rule.
Roman era
During the Roman invasion, in 47 AD, the governor of Britain,
The extensive Iron Age fortifications at Stanwick in North Yorkshire were excavated in the 1950s by Mortimer Wheeler who concluded that Venutius probably had this site as his capital, but Durham University's later excavations from 1981 to 1986 led Colin Haselgrove and Percival Turnbull to suggest a slightly earlier dating with Stanwick a centre of power for Cartimandua instead.[17]
After the accession of Vespasian, Quintus Petillius Cerialis was appointed governor of Britain and the conquest of the Brigantes was begun.[18] It seems to have taken many decades to complete. Gnaeus Julius Agricola (governor 78–84) appears to have engaged in warfare in Brigantian territory.[19] The Roman poet Juvenal, writing in the early 2nd century, depicts a Roman father urging his son to win glory by destroying the forts of the Brigantes.[20] There appears to have been a rebellion in the north sometime in the early reign of Hadrian, but details are unclear. A rising of the Brigantes has often been posited as the explanation for the disappearance of the Ninth Legion, stationed at York. It is possible that one of the purposes of Hadrian's Wall (begun in 122) was to keep the Brigantes from making discourse with the tribes in what is now the lowlands of Scotland on the other side. The emperor Antoninus Pius (138–161) is said by Pausanias to have defeated them after they began an unprovoked war against Roman allies,[21] perhaps as part of the campaign that led to the building of the Antonine Wall (142–144).
Tacitus, in a speech put into the mouth of the
Settlements
Latin name
|
Modern name | Modern County |
---|---|---|
Epiacum |
Whitley Castle, Alston[23] | Northumberland |
Vinovium |
Binchester[23] | County Durham |
Caturactonium | Catterick[23] | North Yorkshire |
Calatum | Burrow, Lonsdale[23] |
Lancashire |
Isurium Brigantum | Aldborough[23] | North Yorkshire |
Rigodunum |
Unknown[a] | Greater Manchester |
Olicana or Olenacum |
Ilkley[b] | West Yorkshire |
Eboracum | City of York[23] | North Yorkshire |
Cambodunum |
Unknown[c] | West Yorkshire |
b Olenacum is traditionally thought to be
c Cambodunum is most likely the Slack Roman Fort[23] near Outlane, West Yorkshire
Other settlements known in Brigantian territory include:
- Wincobank, on the border of Sheffield
- Bremetenacum Veteranorum (Ribchester, Lancashire)
- Calcaria (Tadcaster, North Yorkshire) – mentioned in the Antonine Itinerary and the Ravenna Cosmography
- Carlisle, Cumbria) – probably a settlement of the Carvetii
- Coria (Corbridge, Northumberland) – perhaps a settlement of the Lopocares
Brigantes in Ireland
The Brigantes are attested in
In popular culture
- The 2010 film Ninth Legion, seen from the perspective of centurion Quintus Dias. Both the Ninth and Dias become embroiled in the machinations of Etain (Olga Kurylenko), a Brigantes warrior, acting as a scout, when she subsequently betrays them to the Picts.
- In the 1954 novel The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff, one of the main characters is Esca, the captured son of a chieftain of the Brigantes, who travels with the Roman soldier Marcus Aquila north of Hadrian's Wall to discover what happened to the Legio IX Hispana. The character was played by Christian Rodska in the 1977 BBC adaptation and Jamie Bell in the 2011 film adaptation The Eagle.
- In 2020, the English rugby league club, Wigan Warriors, referenced a Brigantian warrior in their new club logo claiming that the Brigantes "had roots and lineage in the town of Wigan".[27]
References
- ^ "Celtic Ireland in the Iron Age". WesleyJohnston.com. 24 October 2007.
- ^ Strabo, Geographia Book IV Chap. 6
- ^ "The Brigantes". Roman-Britain.co.uk. 24 October 2007.
- ^ "Brigantium". Terra.es. 24 October 2007. Archived from the original on 18 September 2008. Retrieved 25 October 2007.
- ^ "Brigetio (Szöny) Komárom". The Princeton encyclopedia. 1976.
- ^ "Vindelicia map". Europeana. 1830.
- ^ "Brigobanne Germany". The Princeton encyclopedia. 1976.
- ^ Harland, W.B. 1990 A Geologic Time Scale 1989, Cambridge University Press p43
- ^ William Jones Varley, Castle Hill, Almondbury; A Brief Guide to the Excavations 1939–1972 Tolson Memorial Museum (1973)
- ^ Ptolemy, Geographia II, 3, 4
- ^ B. Collingwood & R.P. Wright (eds.) The Roman Inscriptions of Britain (1965) Oxford
- ^ Mc Caul, John, Britanno-Roman Inscriptions with Critical Notes (1863)
- ^ Tacitus, Annals 12.32
- ^ Tacitus, Annals 12:36
- ^ Tacitus, Annals 12:40
- ^ Tacitus, Histories 3:45
- ^ Stanwick North Yorkshire, Part I : Recent Research and Previous Archaeological Investigations; Haselgrove, Turnbull, Fitts; Royal Archaeological Institute
- ^ Tacitus, Agricola 17
- ^ Tacitus, Agricola 20
- Satires14.196
- ^ Pausanias, Description of Greece 8.43.4
- ^ Tacitus, Agricola 31
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Geographical identifications as given in www.roman-britain.co.uk. "The Geography of Ptolemy". Retrieved 3 September 2023.
- ^ O'Rahilly, T. F. (1946), Early Irish History and Mythology, Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies
- ^ Koch, J.T., Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia Vol. I pp. 312-313
- ^ "The Why and How". Wigan Warriors Blog. 1 November 2020. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
Further reading
- Branigan, Keith (1980). Rome and the Brigantes: the impact of Rome on northern England. ISBN 0-906090-04-0.
- Hartley, Brian (1988). The Brigantes. Sutton. ISBN 0-86299-547-7.