3611
Online museum and repository for historical and ancestral knowledge.
Late 5th century B.C. cup decorated in La Tène style with gold overlay, from the burial of a Gallic chieftain near Schwarzenbach, in Saarland, Germany. 🇩🇪
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River Spey with Cairngorm mountains in the background; Badenoch and Strathspey, Scotland. 🏴
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Bronze torc decorated in La Tène style, discovered in the burial of a Gallic chieftain near Manre, in the Ardennes department of France; 2nd century B.C. ⚜️🇫🇷
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Pictish stone featuring musicians and a dog, from Tower of Lethendy near Blairgowrie, in Gowrie, Scotland; 8th century AD. 🏴
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La Tène style sword and scabbard found somewhere in Austria; 5th or 4th century B.C. 🇦🇹 From a private collection.
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Bronze ceremonial helmet decorated with three circular loops, found among the ruins of a Gallic sanctuary in Tintignac à Naves, in the Corrèze department of France; 2nd or 1st century B.C. ⚜️🇫🇷 Artist’s reconstruction shown on the right.
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Bronze mount for a shield-boss decorated in La Tène style with a triskele, found among the hoard of items buried at Tal-y-llyn, in Gwynedd, Wales; 1st century AD. 🏴
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View over the Kilmartin Glen from Dunadd hill-fort; Argyll, Scotland. 🏴
Dunadd was the residence of the Cenél nGabráin kings of Dál Riata. The stone in the foreground is just outside the enclosure of the fort and has several enigmatic carvings, including one in the shape of a foot. It’s widely thought that the carving was used in inauguration ceremonies for the kings of Dál Riata, who were expected to place their right foot in the hollow during the proceedings.
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Pictish stone discovered at St. Vigeans, in Angus, Scotland; 9th century AD. 🏴 The “Drosten Stone” is notable as one of four Pictish carvings that depict people using crossbows; it is thus surmised that the technology was in use among the Picts during that time. Also of note is an inscription on the stone: Drosten, i re Uoret ett Forcus. The most commonly accepted interpretation: “Tristan, in the time of Uurad and Fergus”.
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Gallowglass carry Gerald of Kildare off the battlefield; Ireland, 1582. 🇮🇪 Art by Seán O’Brógáin.
The scene depicts one of the last battles of the Second Desmond Rebellion (1579-1583), a rebellion started by the Anglo-Irish FitzGerald clans of Munster against the rapacity and aggression of the English crown. In one of the last encounters, the forces of Gerald FitzGerald, 14th Earl of Desmond, defeated those of Thomas Butler, 10th Earl of Ormond. FitzGerald had raided Earl Thomas’ territory and was pursued by English and Irish troops led by Ormond’s sons from Fethard to Knockgraffon in county Tipperary. There was a short battle there in which the English side was put to flight with heavy losses. The Earl of Desmond’s forces suffered a single death, that of Gerald (not the same person as the Earl of Desmond), a great grandson of “Silken” Thomas FitzGerald, 10th Earl of Kildare. It would be one of Gerald of Desmond’s last successes. By the following year his supporters had mostly either died or abandoned his cause. He was killed in November of 1583 by the Irish O’Moriarty clan near Tralee in county Kerry, ending the rebellion.
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Stone animal sculptures of the Hispanic Vettones people, known locally as “verracos” (Spanish: “Stud pigs”). 🇪🇸
(1) Madrigalejo, Extremadura, (2) Segura de Toro, Extremadura, (3) Guisando, Ávila, (4) Artistic representation of Vettones elders holding a meeting at the site of a sculpture. The custom of erecting verracos seems to have been particular to the Vettones; few such sculptures have been found in other parts of Iberia. Most of the sculptures actually represent bulls, although pigs and boars are not uncommon (hence the name). Their function and significance is unknown, though we can perhaps guess that a similar mindset existed in these people as we find reflected in the wider lore of Celtic Europe, which ascribed special, even mythical value to these animals. It brings to mind traditions such as that of the Donn Cuailnge (bull) of Irish lore and the Twrch Trwyth (boar) of Arthurian legend.
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Gold bracelets decorated in La Tène style, from the burial of a Celtic princess near Saarbrücken, in Saarland, Germany; 4th or 5th century B.C. 🇩🇪
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The Gallic votive pier at La Tène, on Lake Neuchâtel, Switzerland; art by André Houot. 🇨🇭
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The burning of Derry, year 1608; art by Seán Ó Brógáin. 🇮🇪
The Irish chieftain of Inishowen, Cahir O’Doherty, was forced into rebellion by English crown officials through oppression and unjust treatment. O’Doherty had supported England during the Irish rebellion known as the Nine Years’ War (1593-1603), but was still accused (falsely) of plotting a new revolt while English lords planted Ulster with colonists. The new governor of Derry, Sir George Paulet, even insulted O’Doherty and slapped him on the face on one occasion. When crown officials failed to properly give audience to O’Doherty’s self-advocacy, he rose in revolt and burned Derry to the ground, Paulet being killed there during the battle. The rebels also took Doe castle and destroyed the town of Kinard. O’Doherty’s rebellion was put down that same year when his castle was taken by English troops and he himself was killed by a musket shot at the Battle of Kilmacrennan. The last of his supporters were besieged in a castle at Tory Island and pardoned after surrendering. The English Lord Deputy at the time, Sir Arthur Chichester, later admitted that it was his own (and Paulet’s) harsh treatment of O’Doherty that had caused the rebellion.
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King Pelagius of Asturias; art by Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau. 🇪🇸
The primary sources indicate that Pelagius was of Visigothic ancestry, and that he was elected as leader (“princeps”) by the native Astures people of northern Spain. He thus founded the Kingdom of Asturias, after refusing to submit to the Muslim conquerors who’d destroyed the Visigothic Kingdom of Toledo, then destroying an army that was sent against him at the AD 722 Battle of Covadonga. Tradition holds that the remnants of the Muslim army who escaped were destroyed by a rockfall in the mountains of Cantabria while attempting to return homeward. Pelagius was left undisturbed to consolidate his kingdom, so that in subsequent generations the reconquista could be carried out in earnest.
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Bronze statuette of a stag found at a Gallic settlement near Saalfelden am Steinernen Meer, in Zell am See, Austria; 3rd or 2nd century B.C. 🇦🇹
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The river Boyne, in county Meath, Ireland. 🇮🇪
The river Boyne was recorded as Buvinda by the Greek geographer Ptolemy, likely reflecting a Celtic name that in Old Irish would be rendered Bó Fhinn, meaning “white cow”. The Boyne valley is replete with ritual assemblages from the remotest past —including Brú na Boinne and the Hill of Tara— and the river itself always teemed with myth and lore. One of the better known stories comes from the Dindsenchas or “Lore of Places”. It tells of Boann and her curiosity toward the sacred Well of Segais, also known as “Connla’s Well”, which harbored all the wisdom and knowledge in the world. The nine hazel trees of Crimhall the Sage surrounded it, dropping their nuts into the well, where they’d be eaten by Fintán, the famed Salmon of Knowledge. No one could visit the well save Boann’s husband Nechtán, but one day she defied this prohibition and visited the well, walking around it three times. The well then burst forth in a flood, drowning Boann and carving a valley all the way to the sea. The river Boyne was thus formed, taking it’s name from the unfortunate Boann. Later on, The Boyhood Deeds of Fionn tells of how the bard Finn Eces caught the elusive salmon Fintán in the river, and of how his pupil, the hero Fionn mac Cumhaill, obtained the mystical knowledge after accidentally consuming some of the fish while cooking it for him.
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The Kirkburn Sword, found in a Celtic warrior’s burial in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England; 3rd it 2nd century B.C. 🏴 Artistic reconstruction in second image and modern semi-replica in third.
The sword is considered a masterpiece and has been described as the finest iron age sword in all of Europe. The iron sword came with a composite iron and bronze scabbard, while the handle guard was made of horn. The entire assemblage was decorated in La Tène style and encrusted with red glass beads. Uniquely in the Celtic world, in this part of Britain swords were usually strapped around the warrior’s back to be drawn from behind, rather than the typical usage from the hip. The warrior buried at Kirkburn was accompanied by a pig (for feasting in the afterlife), and three javelins had been thrown or thrust into his chest at the moment of burial. This strange gesture might indicate that he’d died of natural causes and his people were trying to remedy that by giving him as close to a warrior’s death as possible.
East Yorkshire is notable in archaeology for its rich La Tène assemblages and chariot burials, often in square barrows, referred to as the Arras Culture. The people of the Arras Culture have been identified as Gallic colonists, and Romans sources even recorded the presence of the Parisi tribe there; apparently the same people who inhabited the Seine river area of France and gave their name to the current capital. It would seem that they’d been settled in Yorkshire by the native Britons of the area to serve as mercenaries specializing in chariot warfare and weapon-smithing.
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Gold ring decorated in La Tène style; 4th century B.C. From a private collection; found near Regensburg, in Bavaria, Germany. 🇩🇪
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Bronze horse-bit discovered in the mound burial of a Galatian chieftain at Hidirsihlar, in Bolu province, Turkey; 3rd century B.C. 🇹🇷
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Bronze knife found near Passau, in Bavaria, Germany; Urnfield Culture (13th-8th centuries B.C.) 🇩🇪
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Canaanite invasion of Europe; 228 B.C. 🇱🇧🇹🇳⚔️🇪🇸 Art by Radu Oltean.
The scene depicts the defeat and death of Phoenician general Hamilcar Barca at the hands of Iberians. The Phoenician city-state of Carthage invaded Iberia to gain access to its mineral wealth and recover from a disastrous defeat against the Roman Republic in the First Punic War (264-241 B.C). Carthage had been building an empire in the western Mediterranean and had already invaded Sardinia and Sicily, as well as built colonies on the Spanish coast such as Cádiz, Almuñécar, and Málaga. Hamilcar invaded Spain in 237 B.C; landing at Cádiz. He won two battles against the native Iberians thanks to the use of war elephants. In the first, the presence of Celts is noted by historian Diodorus Siculus, who says it was even a Celtic general named Istolatios who led the Iberians, being killed in the battle together with his brother. The second battle resulted in the capture and torture of an Iberian ruler named Indortes. Hamilcar augmented his army with native recruits, who were even sent to north Africa with his son Hasdrubal the Fair the next year to put down a Berber revolt. He then continued the conquest of southern Spain successfully for nine years, building a new colony at Akra Leuke (modern Alicante) and exploiting the mines of the Sierra Morena. In the year 228 B.C; Hamilcar besieged the Iberian city of Heliké. An Iberian warlord named Orissus came to relieve the city and fought a battle against the Phoenicians. The Spanish negated the advantage of the African war elephants by stampeding herds of bulls with torches tied to their horns against them. The elephants panicked and the Phoenician army was thrown into disorder, then set upon and cut to pieces. Hamilcar was chased down and drowned in a river by the natives. The conquest project would continue under Hamilcar’s sons Hasdrubal the Fair (who was assassinated in 221 B.C; by a Celtiberian slave) and Hannibal, until it was eventually defeated and completely undone by the Roman Republic in the Second Punic War (218-201 B.C).
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Aurora Borealis over the Loch of Skene, in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. 🏴 Photo by John Stoddard.
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Ruins of the hill-fort of Las Cogotas, in Ávila province, Spain. 🇪🇸
Las Cogotas was inhabited continually from the 12th to the 1st centuries B.C. Its massive walls enclosed a total of 14.5 hectares, with human habitation mainly being in the higher acropolis, while the outer enclosure seems to have been used mostly to corral livestock. It was one of the principal settlements of the Indo-European Vettones people of western Spain. They were descended from the very first Indo-Europeans to have entered the Iberian peninsula, coming from somewhere in Central Europe in the mid 3rd millenium B.C. The area where we later find the Vettones was the first area of settlement for these people, before they began propagating to other parts of the peninsula. Genetic studies on bone material have shown that their paternal lineages were the same as those of the Celts (R1b-P312>DF27). Their archaic Indo-European language survived up until Roman times, and is now documented as Lusitanian (the Vettones were one of the peoples inhabiting the wider region bearing the name Lusitania). Their culture was one of semi-nomadic livestock herders. It was a lifestyle that Indo-Europeans had brought from the Eurasian steppes, and the semi-arid savannas and oak woods of Iberia happened to be ideal for it. The culture of the Vettones came to be heavily influenced by that of the Celtiberians, whose forebears arrived in Iberia at around the same time when Las Cogotas was first built. In every respect, the archaeological “Cogotas II” culture is identical to that of the Celtiberians, having adopted the craftsmanship styles and even the crematory funeral rites of the Celts. By the 5th century B.C; Celtiberians had even settled in Lusitania to the south of the Vettones (recorded there as “Celtici”), and the two peoples would later participate together in the wars against the Roman conquerors.
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The Carse of Stirling; Stirling Castle and the Wallace Monument visible in the distance. 🏴 Painting by Kevin Leary.
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Aberlleiniog Castle; Isle of Anglesey, Wales. 🏴
Aberlleiniog was built by Norman (English) invaders in the 1080s AD, when king Gruffudd ap Cynan of Gwynedd was treacherously kidnapped and imprisoned by Hugh d’Avranches, 1st Earl of Chester. The original castle was a timber structure of motte-and-bailey type (image 4: artistic reconstruction); the stone ruins are of a newer castle that was built in the 17th century. Gruffudd escaped after several years in captivity, going to Ireland and then to the Hebrides Islands of Scotland. There, he obtained help from the famous Norse-Gaelic king of Dublin and the Isles, Godred Crovan, who outfitted him with a fleet of sixty ships. Gruffud returned thus to Wales in the year 1094, and recovered his kingdom. The Welsh and Norse-Gaels fought several skirmishes on Anglesey, taking Castell Aberlleiniog by assault in a battle in which 125 English defenders were killed, including the castle’s warden. Hugh’s nephew Robert de Tillieul —who was then ruling Gwynedd as his personal fief— was also killed outside his castle of Deganwy by a raiding force of three ships led by either Gruffudd or Godred. The king of England, William II Rufus, responded to the Welsh reconquest by leading two full scale invasions of Gwynedd in the years 1095 and 1097, seeking to drive out Gruffudd; both invasions failed. The Normans tried again the following year, and managed to drive Gruffudd back to Anglesey and again to Ireland after bribing some Viking mercenaries he’d hired so that they switched sides. However, the Normans experienced unusual bad luck, as a Norwegian fleet of six ships arrived in Anglesey, led by king Magnus III “Barefoot”. The Norwegians routed the English in a battle in which Hugh of Montgomery, 2nd Earl of Shrewsbury —who’d been involved in the kidnapping of Gruffudd over a decade earlier— was killed by an arrow shot by king Magnus himself. The Normans evacuated the island and Magnus considered it conquered for Norway. The following year, with the Norwegians having returned to Scandinavia, Gruffudd came back from Dublin and reclaimed Anglesey and the greater part of Gwynedd.
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Gallic settlement in southern Germany; La Tène era (5th to 1st centuries B.C.) 🇩🇪 Artist unknown.
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St. Andrews (Gaelic: Cill Rímhinn), in Fife province, Scotland. 🏴
Originally known as Cennrígmonaid (“End of the king’s moor”), St. Andrews was founded as a monastery at some point in the 8th century AD, probably by the Pictish king Nechtan III (ruled 706-724 & 726-728), or by his successor Óengus I (ruled 732-761). It was said that the relics of Scotland’s patron saint, Andrew the Apostle, had been brought to Scotland in the 4th century by a Greek monk known as St. Regulus, and that St. Andrews came to be their resting place. In the year AD 877 the third king of Scotland, Constantine I, —son of founder Kenneth MacAlpin— was killed nearby in a battle against Viking raiders. He had just completed overseeing the construction of a new church at St. Andrews when a Norse fleet arrived in the vicinity. Constantine seems to have hastily assembled a force to fight against them, but he was defeated, captured and killed.
By the late 9th century, St. Andrews had become the seat of a bishop, who was the ecclesiastical head of all Scotland. Essentially, St. Andrews had become to Scotland what Armagh was to Ireland and Canterbury to England. The first known Bishop of Alba was Cellach I, who was recorded holding a synod at Scone with king Constantine II in the year 906. There, they amended the ecclesiastical laws of Scotland, as well as the secular laws regarding the relationship between church and state, bringing them into conformity with Irish law. St. Andrews is also home to Scotland’s oldest university, the University of St. Andrews, founded in 1410 by Augustinian clergymen from France. The town is also known as the home of golf, since one of the earliest and the most prestigious golf links is located there (image 4). However, the sport predates the links (recorded as early as late 15th century in Scotland) and is probably not —contrary to popular belief— a Scottish invention.
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