Cunobeline
Cunobeline or Cunobelin (
Etymology
His name is a compound composed of Common Brittonic *cuno- "dog" and *belino- "strong", meaning "Strong as a Dog", or "Strong Dog".[5][6]
History
From
Cunobelinus appears to have maintained quite good relations with the
Cunobelinus had three sons, Adminius, Togodumnus and Caratacus, and a brother, Epaticcus, known to history. Epaticcus expanded his influence into the territory of the Atrebates in the early 20s, taking the Atrebatan capital Calleva (Silchester) by about 25. He continued to expand his territory until his death in about 35, when Caratacus took over from him and the Atrebates recovered some of their territory.[citation needed]
Adminius, judging by his coins, had control of Kent by this time. Suetonius tells us that in about 40 he was banished from Britain by his father and sought refuge with the emperor Caligula. Caligula treated this as if the entire island had submitted to him and prepared an invasion of Britain. He abandoned it, however, in farcical circumstances by ordering his soldiers to attack the waves and gather seashells as the spoils of victory.[13]
Cunobelinus died about 40,
It is possible, based on epigraphic evidence, that Sallustius Lucullus, Roman governor of Britain in the late 1st century, was his grandson.[18]
Legend and literature
Cunobelinus's memory was preserved in British legend and beyond. In the early 9th century Historia Brittonum, Cunobeline appears as Bellinus son of Minocannus and is described as a British king in the time of Julius Caesar. The names of Cunobeline and his son Adminius probably became corrupt due to a series of scribal errors in the transmission of the name from Suetonius' Life of Caligula to Orosius's Historia adversus Paganos, the latter of which was a primary source for the author of the Historia Brittonum:
- Suetonius, Caligula, Ch.44 (early 2nd century): Adminio, Cynobellini Brittannorum regis filio.
- Orosius, Historia adversus Paganos, vii.5.5 (early 5th century): Minocynobellinum Britannorum regis filium.
- Historia Brittonum, §19 (early 9th century): Bellinus, filius Minocanni.
In the
A mid-10th century
In
Geoffrey's story was incorporated into Raphael Holinshed's Chronicles in 1577,[22] where it was found by William Shakespeare and used as the basis of his romance, Cymbeline. Beyond the name there is virtually nothing in common between the figure of Cymbeline and the historical Cunobelinus. The king, under the influence of his wicked second wife, forbids his daughter Imogen to marry Posthumus Leonatus, a low-born but worthy man, preferring that she marry his boorish stepson Cloten, leading to mistaken identity, jealousy caused by false accusations of infidelity and a war with Rome provoked by the withholding of tribute, again at the instigation of the queen. In the end peace between Britain and Rome is re-established, Cymbeline is reunited with his two sons, Guiderius and Arviragus, who were abducted in childhood by Belarius, a wrongly-banished nobleman. Imogen is reconciled with Posthumus. Cloten and his mother, the evil queen, get their just deserts.[23]
References
- ^ a b Malcolm Todd (2004), "Cunobelinus [Cymbeline] (d. c. AD 40), king in southern Britain". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved 28 December 2017.
- ^ Encyclopædia Britannica – Cunobelinus
- ^ Russell, M. (2017). Arthur and the Kings of Britain: The Historical Truth Behind the Myths. United Kingdom: Amberley Publishing.
- ^ Russell, M., Laycock, S. (2011). UnRoman Britain: Exposing the Great Myth of Britannia. United Kingdom: History Press.
- ^ Prósper, Blanca María, "The irreducible Gauls used to swear by Belenos. Or did they? Celtic religion, henbane and historical misapprehensions". In: Zeitschrift für Celtische Philologie 64, 2017, pp. 255-298 (p. 262).
- ^ Delamarre, Xavier. Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise, 2nd ed. Editions Errance, 2003, p. 72; 132.
- ^ a b John Creighton (2000), Coins and power in Late Iron Age Britain, Cambridge University Press; Philip de Jersey (1996), Celtic Coinage in Britain, Shire Archaeology
- ^ de Bernardo Stempel, P. "Die Sprache altbritannischer Munzlegenden", Zeitschrift fur celtische Philologie 44 (1991), pp. 36-55
- Dio Cassius(Roman History 60.21.4).
- ^ a b Graham Webster (1978), Boudica: the British Revolt Against Rome AD 60 p. 43
- ^ Keith Branigan (1987), The Catuvellauni, Alan Sutton Publishing Ltd, pp. 10–11
- ^ Strabo, Geography 4.5
- Dio Cassius, Roman History 59.25
- ^ Graham Webster, Boudica: The British Revolt Against Rome AD 60 (London: Routledge, 2003 [1978]), p. 51.
- ^ David Braund, Ruling Roman Britain: Kings, Queens, Governors and Emperors from Julius Caesar to Agricola (London: Routledge, 1996), p. 99.
- ISBN 1 897719 04 3)
- ^ Dio Cassius, Roman History 60.20
- ^ Miles Russell (2006), "Roman Britain's Lost Governor", Current Archaeology 204, pp. 630–635; Sallustius Lucullus at Roman=Britain.co.uk
- ^ a b Bartrum, Pete. A Welsh classical dictionary: people in history and legend up to about A.D. 1000, National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, 1993, pp. 12-13; 560-561.
- ^ Harleian Genealogies 16; The Heirs of Caratacus – Cunobelinus and his relatives in medieval Welsh genealogies
- ^ Geoffrey of Monmouth, Historia Regum Britanniae 4.11–12
- ^ Raphael Holinshed, Chronicles: History of England Vol 3 Ch. 18
- ^ William Shakespeare, Cymbeline
External links
- Catuvellauni at Roman-Britain.co.uk
- Catuvellauni at Romans in Britain
- William Smith (ed, 1870), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology [1]