Caledonians
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The Caledonians (
The Caledonians, like many
Etymology
According to German linguist Stefan Zimmer, Caledonia is derived from the tribal name Caledones (a Latinization of a
History
In AD 83 or 84, the Caledonians, led by
In 122 AD construction began on Hadrian's Wall, creating a physical boundary between Roman controlled territory, and the land the Romans deemed as Caledonia.[5]
An effort by the Romans to invade and conquer Caledonia was likely made sometime during or shortly after 139 AD.[6] In 142 AD, construction began on the Antonine Wall roughly 100 km North of Hadrian's Wall in order to aid in the Roman push into Caledonian territory and to consolidate their conquest of southern Caledonian territory. The Romans later abandoned this wall (around 158) to return to Hadrian's Wall to the south.[7]
According to Malcolm Todd, the tribes of what is now Northern Britain and Scotland (probably including the Caledones) proved themselves to be "... too warlike to be easily contained...", leading to the extensive garrisons left by the Romans to contest the tribes.[8] Fraser and Mason argue that the Caledones likely did not directly attack or harass the Romans during this time, but may have had minor conflicts with other tribes.[9]
In AD 180 the Caledonians took part in an invasion of Britannia, breached Hadrian's Wall and were not brought under control for several years, eventually signing
In 197 AD
The governor who arrived to oversee the regaining of control over Britannia after Albinus' defeat, Virius Lupus, was obliged to buy peace from the Maeatae rather than fight them.
According to James Fraser and Roger Mason, by the end of the 2nd century, the majority of Northern tribes had been merged in the Roman consciousness into either the Caledones or the Maeatae, leaving just those two tribes as the representatives of the region.[13] The region itself had long been called Caledonia, and Malcolm Todd states that all residents were called Caledonians, regardless of tribal affiliations.[14]
The Caledonians are next mentioned in 209, when they are said to have surrendered to the emperor Septimius Severus after he personally led a military expedition north of Hadrian's Wall, in search of a glorious military victory. Herodian and Dio wrote only in passing of the campaign but describe the Caledonians ceding territory to Rome as being the result. Cassius Dio records that the Caledonians inflicted 50,000 Roman casualties due to attrition and unconventional tactics such as guerrilla warfare. Dr. Colin Martin has suggested that the Severan campaigns did not seek a battle but instead sought to destroy the fertile agricultural land of eastern Scotland and thereby bring about genocide of the Caledonians through starvation.[15]
By 210 however, the Caledonians had re-formed their alliance with the Maeatae and joined their fresh offensive. A punitive expedition led by Severus' son, Caracalla, was sent out with the purpose of slaughtering everyone it encountered from any of the northern tribes. David Shotter mentions Caracalla's dislike for the Caledonians and his wish to see them eradicated.[16] Severus meanwhile prepared for total conquest but was already ill; he died at Eboracum (modern day York) in Britannia in 211. Caracalla attempted to take over command but when his troops refused to recognise him as emperor, he made peace with the Caledonians and retreated south of Hadrian's Wall to press his claim for the imperial title. Sheppard Frere suggests that Caracalla briefly continued the campaign after his father's death rather than immediately leaving, citing an apparent delay in his arrival in Rome and indirect numismatic and epigraphic factors that suggest he may instead have fully concluded the war but that Dio's hostility towards his subject led him to record the campaign as ending in a truce. Malcolm Todd however considers there to be no evidence to support this. Peter Salway considers that the pressures on Caracalla were too high, and security of the Romans' northern frontier were secure enough to allow their departure.[17] Nonetheless the Caledonians did retake their territory and pushed the Romans back to Hadrian's Wall.
In any event, there is no further historical mention of the Caledonians for a century save for a c. AD 230 inscription from Colchester which records a dedication by a man calling himself the nephew (or grandson) of "Uepogenus, [a] Caledonian".[18] This may be because Severus' campaigns were so successful that the Caledonians were wiped out; however this is highly unlikely. In 305, Constantius Chlorus re-invaded the northern lands of Britain although the sources are vague over their claims of penetration into the far north and a great victory over the "Caledones and others" (Panegyrici Latini Vetares, VI (VII) vii 2). The event is notable in that it includes the first recorded use of the term 'Pict' to describe the tribes of the area.
Physical appearance
Tacitus in his Agricola, chapter XI (c. 98 AD) described the Caledonians as red haired and large limbed, which he considered features of Germanic origin: "The reddish (rutilae) hair and large limbs of the Caledonians proclaim a German origin". Jordanes in his Getica wrote something similar:
...The inhabitants of Caledonia have reddish hair and large loose-jointed bodies.[19]
Eumenius, the panegyrist of Constantine Chlorus, wrote that both the Picts and Caledonians were red haired (rutilantia).[20] Scholars such as William Forbes Skene noted that this description matches Tacitus' description of the Caledonians as red haired in his Agricola.[21]
James E. Fraser argues that Tacitus and other Romans were aware of methods of Caledonians dyeing their hair in order to achieve the stereotypical red colour, and that it was likely misinterpreted as an ethnic identifier.[22] Fraser also mentions that the pressure put on the Northern tribes, forcing them to move, may have led to the creation of identifiers specific to certain tribes, such as clothing or jewellery;[23] some of the earliest examples of such identifiers include armlets, earrings, and button covers, as well as decorated weaponry.[24]
Archaeology
There is little direct evidence of a Caledonian archaeological culture but it is possible to describe the settlements in their territory during their existence.
The majority of Caledonians north of the Firth of Forth would likely have lived in villages without fortifications in houses of timber or stone, while those living nearer to the Western coast would have more likely been using a form of dry stone.[25] According to Malcolm Todd, "...'substantial houses' of the North may be over-represented in the archaeological record, by reason of their ability to more successfully survive as recognisable structures."[26]
The
By the time of the Roman invasion there had been a move towards less heavily fortified but better sheltered farmsteads surrounded by earthwork enclosures. Individual family groups likely inhabited these new fortified farmsteads, linked together with their neighbours through intermarriage.
The reason for this change from hilltop fortresses to farms amongst the Caledonians and their neighbours is unknown. Barry Cunliffe considers that the importance of demonstrating an impressive residence became less significant by the second century because of falling competition for resources due to advances in food production or a population decline. Alternatively, finds of Roman material may mean that social display became more of a matter of personal adornment with imported exotica rather than building an impressive dwelling.
Anne Robertson suggests that the Roman objects and materials (including relative finery and currency) found within many Caledonian structures indicates a trade network between the two cultures from as early as the first century AD, continuing until at least the fourth century AD.[27]
See also
- Cruthin (In Ireland; possible descendants, predecessors or relatives of the Caledonians)
- Dicalydones
- The Mark of the Horse Lord
References
- ^ Encyclopaedia Romana. University of Chicago. accessed March 1, 2007
- ^ Watson 1926; Jackson 1955; Koch 1983; Smyth 1984; Forsyth 1997; Price 2000; Forsyth 2006; Woolf 2007; Fraser 2009
- ^ Zimmer, Stefan (2006) [2004]. "Some Names and Epithets in 'Culhwch ac Olwen'". Studi Celtici. 3. pp. 163–179 (pp. 1–4 in online copy).
- ISBN 9781851094455.
- OCLC 43376232.
- OCLC 212410636.
- OCLC 212410636.
- OCLC 212410636. For garrison information, see Todd, Malcolm (2007). A companion to Roman Britain. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub. pp. 138–139.OCLC 212410636.
- OCLC 319892107.
- OCLC 319892107.
- OCLC 319892107.
- S2CID 161815830.
- OCLC 319892107.
- OCLC 212410636.
- ^ "British Archaeology, no 6, July 1995: Features". Archived from the original on 15 January 2006. Retrieved 11 December 2005.
- OCLC 437061089.
- OCLC 52644638.
- ^ medievalscotland.org
- ^ "Jordanes - Latin & English - First half".
- ^ The early chronicles relating to Scotland being the Rhind lectures in archaeology for 1912 in connection with the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, published 1912 by J. Maclehose in Glasgow, p. 7.
- ^ Celtic Scotland: A History of Ancient Alban, William Forbes Skene, Forgotten Books, p. 94, footnote.
- OCLC 319892107.
- OCLC 319892107.
- JSTOR 10.3366/j.ctvxcrnd4.
- OCLC 212410636.
- OCLC 212410636.
- S2CID 162745606.
Bibliography
- ISBN 0-7134-8839-5
- ISBN 0-7102-1215-1
- Moffat, Alistair (2005) Before Scotland: The Story of Scotland Before History. London. Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0-500-05133-X
- Salway, P, Roman Britain, OUP, Oxford, 1986
- ISBN 0-00-686064-8