Votadini
The Votadini, also known as the Uotadini, Wotādīni, Votādīni, or Otadini
The name is recorded as Votadini in classical sources, and as Otodini on old maps of ancient Roman Britain.[2] Their descendants were the early medieval kingdom known in Old Welsh as Guotodin, and in later Welsh as Gododdin [ɡoˈdoðin].
One of the oldest known pieces of British literature is a poem called ).
Prehistory
The area was settled as early as 3000 BC, and offerings of that period imported from Cumbria and Wales left on the sacred hilltop at Cairnpapple Hill, West Lothian, show that by then there was a link with these areas. By around 1500 BC Traprain Law in East Lothian was already a place of burial, with evidence of occupation and signs of ramparts after 1000 BC. Excavation at Edinburgh Castle found late Bronze Age material from about 850 BC.
The Roman period
In the 1st century the
Since the 3rd century, Britannia had been divided into four provinces. In a late reorganisation a province called Valentia was created, which may have been a new province, perhaps including the Votadini territory, but is more likely to have been one of the four existing provinces renamed.
Excavations in Votadini territory, especially around Traprain Law, have unearthed silver Roman items, including several Gallic Roman coins, indicating some level of trade with the continent. It is unknown, however, whether the other items were traded for, or given to them by the Romans as an appeasement.
The post-Roman period
After the Roman withdrawal in the early 5th century, the lands of the Votadini became part of the area known as the Hen Ogledd (the "Old North").
By about 470, a new kingdom of Gododdin had emerged covering most of the original Votadini territory, while the southern part between the Tweed and the Tyne formed its own separate kingdom called Brynaich. Cunedda, legendary founder of the Kingdom of Gwynedd in north Wales, is said to have been a Gododdin chieftain who migrated south-west about this time.
Both kingdoms warred with the Angles of Bernicia; it is this warfare that is commemorated in Aneirin's late 6th/early 7th century poem-cycle Y Gododdin. However Gwynedd where Cunedda established a militaristic dynasty remained undefeated until the 13th century.
Modern references
The name has been taken by the Votadini Motorcycle Club, based in the North East of England.[3]
See also
References
Cited references
- Geographia(c. 2nd century)
- ^ [1] Map of Ancient Britain]
- ^ Votadini MCC
General references
- Scotland Before History – Stuart Piggott, ISBN 0-85224-348-0
- Scotland's Hidden History – Ian Armit, Tempus (in association with Historic Scotland) 1998, ISBN 0-7486-6067-4
- "Votadini and Traprain Law." - Caledonians, Picts and Romans. Education Scotland. Web. 27 Oct. 2015.
External links
- Ancient Lothian – Histories – the romano-british era (use the search function for "Votadini" to find the article)
- The History Files: Post-Roman Celtic Kingdoms: Goutodin
- BBC – History – The Gododdin 590
- BBC – History – Tribes of Britain
- A Very Rough Guide To the Main DNA Sources of the Counties of the British Isles John Eckersley, Katherine Hope Borges, 12 June 2006. Retrieved 5 September 2006.