| From: | The Powerhouse <P.C.Steele@*********.AC.UK> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Celtic history |
| Date: | Tue, 16 Nov 1993 15:50:34 GMT |
> forced the Celts north into Scotland and out onto Ireland where they remained
> relatively unchanged and unconquered.
Brian while I can't comment on the rest of your message I do think this part is
slightly incorrect.
The Celts when they first came to Britain had to contend with a much more
ancient people already living there. These people were probably some of
Britain's first inhabitants, similar peoples lived in Scotland and Ireland
(remember it was all land locked many, many years ago). The Celts being
technically superior and having greater numbers forced this native people
primarily from what is now England and Wales. Over the years that followed
I believe they may have also invaded Ireland, though don't quote me on this.
So you had 3 basic groups, the Celts lived in England/Wales, native barbarians
(also known as the Picts, the descendants of the original inhabitants) lived in
Scotland and a much invaded mixed Celtic/native group lived in Ireland.
Then came the Romans, they invaded England and Wales, after a few skirmishes
the Celtic people living in England and Wales ended up living alongside the
Romans. The Romans didn't stay though, they left leaving ruins, roads and
town names. The remaining English/Welsh were still the old Celts. About this
time the Angles and Saecsens (Saxons) started to invade, they succesfully took
over all the south coast and much of the east coast, they slowly pushed the
Celtic people to the north and west. This meant that Wales and Cornwall
became the last bastions of true Celtishness. Ireland and Scotland however,
both now had sufficently mixed populations of the original natives and Celtic
immigrants/invaders that they too became bastions for Celts, even though their
histories were different.
Later came the Vikings. they concentrated mainly on the east coast of England
and were largely succesful. By the time the Vikings had invaded the Angle-
Saxons (as they were now known) were largely in control of most of England,
it's worth noting that their language did not (to my knowledge) have Celtic
roots, so we began to see different languages spring up around the British
Isles, each denoting it's speakers as belonging to a different ethnic group.
Wales, Cornwall, Scotland and Ireland were relatively uneffected by the
Angle-Saxons themselves (apart from the secondary effect from a flood of Celts).
It's worth noting the reason for this, Wales, Scotland and Cornwall are all
areas containing lots of hills/mountains and little land suitable for arable
farming, England was the best option for that so most invaders stay in England.
Ok back to the Vikings, they took over much of eastern and north eastern
England though were attacked frequently by the Angle-Saxon (Christians), not
least for the Vkings pagan beliefs (Angle-Saxons had by and large been converted
to christianity in the early part of the millenium by monks, missionaries etc).
Now the big invasion took place. The Norman conquest. What was strange though
about the Normans is that they never tried to colonise Britain, all they seemed
to do was replace the ruling classes with their own. So by and large the
British people remaining unchanged.
So present day ignoring mass immigration in the 50's by commonwealth countries,
we have. England - Mixture of Angles/Saxons/Vikings/a sprinkling of Norman/
a sprinkling of Celts (the ones who didn't run). Scotland - largely native
Scottish and Celt. Ireland - native Irish but lots of Celts and lots of Celt
influence. Wales - mainly Celtic though they suffered in later centuries as
Angle-Saxons had to expand. Cornwall - not much Celt left, got mixed with
Angle-Saxon in later centuries.
It's worth noting though the different languages there is
English - a mix of Celtic, old Norwiegan, Latin.
Cornish - a derivative of Celtic
Welsh - a derivative of Celtic
Scots Gaelic - a derivative of Celtic and what ever used to be spoken in
Scotland
Irish Gaelic - again, a derivative of Celtic and what used to be spoken in
Ireland.
Ok, now the standard disclaimer. I admit I'm no history buff, alot of this is
what we were taught at school, but I was only 10 at the time. If any of my
facts are incorrect please let me know. If anyone can also tell me of a good
book on Celtic history please let me know, I'm planning a shadowrun with some
heavy Celtic infuences and I want some background.
Phill.
--
Phillip Steele - Email address P.C.Steele@***.ac.uk | An Uzi a day keeps the
Department Of Electrical & Electronic Engineering | politicians at bay O O
University Of Newcastle Upon Tyne, England | |
Land of the mad Geordies | The Powerhouse \_/
