3611
Online museum and repository for historical and ancestral knowledge.
The White Caterthun, hill-fort with massive stone ramparts in Angus, Scotland; believed to have been built and inhabited between the 1st and 4th centuries AD 🏴
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The Houelt Cross, found inside the monastery of Llantwit Major (Welsh: Llanilltud Fawr; “St. Illtud’s Great Church”), in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales; 9th century AD. 🏴
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The town of Jedburgh, in the Scottish Borders. 🏴🏴🏴 Pictures include the famous Abbey and Castle, both originally founded by king David I of Scotland (AD 1124-1153); the current ruins/buildings are later constructions.
Jedburgh has been identified by some as the Urbs Iudeu mentioned by Bede in his account of the AD 655 Battle of the Winwaed, a conflict between rival Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. Penda of Mercia —at the head of a huge army that included Welsh allies and also kings Aethelhere of East Anglia and Aethelwald of Deira—besieged Oswiu of Bernicia there. In a desperate situation, Oswiu offered his submission and a huge treasure to Penda if he’d spare him and grant him peace. Penda at length accepted and marched home, distributing the treasure among his Welsh allies. But Oswiu hastily assembled an army and went in pursuit, catching Penda unawares at the river Winwaed, somewhere in northern England. Before the encounter, the Welsh king of Gwynedd, Cadafael, son of Cynfeddw, abandoned Penda and marched home, earning the nickname Cadomedd (“battle-shirker”). Likewise, Aethelwald of Deira withdrew his forces and watched the battle from a distance. In the midst of heavy rain, Penda’s army was cut to pieces, with many drowning in the river. He himself was killed, as was Arthelhere of East Anglia and thirty of their top commanders. The battle was a turning point in England, as it marked the demise of Anglo-Saxon paganism; the pagan Penda having been defeated by a much smaller Christian army persuaded most people to embrace the new faith as that of a triumphant, more powerful God. Oswiu (who’d spent much of his life in Scotland and Ireland and spoke fluent Gaelic) became the most powerful king in all of Britain. His nephew Talorgan, son of Eanfrith, ruled as king of the Picts and helped Oswiu establish a degree of dominance over Scotland. Talorgan may have even helped Oswiu by sending a Pictish contingent to fight at Winwaed as well, though this is unknown. Oswiu also went on to destroy the Welsh kingdom of Pengwern in the English midlands, since it had helped Penda in the past, particularly in the killing of his brother king Oswald of Northumbria at the 642 Battle of Maserfield.
Many centuries later, the region of the Scottish Borders would be reconquered from the Northumbrians by the Kingdom of Scotland. The Scottish kings built up Jedburgh and even occasionally used it as a royal residence.
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https://www.irishcentral.com/culture/education/how-to-learn-irish-for-free
Читать полностью…
Resources for learning Scottish Gaelic: 🏴
https://learngaelic.net/lg-beginners/index.jsp
https://speakgaelic.scot
http://www.gaidhliggachlatha.com
Have fun and share!
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Genetic data suggests the Celts are very much still alive and present, not merely in the British Isles, but also on the European continent, particularly in France and Spain, and even in Portugal, Wallonia, Switzerland and Southwest Germany.
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8th century AD brooch from Bettystown, county Meath, Ireland. Known as the “Tara brooch”, it is regarded as the finest piece of insular metalwork ever produced. The brooch is made from gilt silver with enamel and amber fittings; some parts are also made of copper-alloy. It is now displayed at the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin. 🇮🇪
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Bronze wine flagons from the burial of a Gallic chieftain at Basse-Yutz, in the Moselle department of France; 5th century B.C. ⚜️🇫🇷 The vessels display some Etruscan influence in addition to the overall La Tène style, as well as animal motifs (wolves and ducks). They are inlaid with 120 pieces of red coral and glass and were coated with resin on the inside to make them watertight.
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Pictish symbol stone depicting a salmon and a bird (probably an eagle; broken off at top), from Achtercairn, in Wester Ross, Scotland; 7th century AD. 🏴
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Romanche valley, in the Dauphiné Alps of France; glacier-covered La Meije in the background. ⚜️🇫🇷
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Pre-Roman peoples of northern Italy and the Alps. 🇮🇹🇫🇷🇨🇭🇱🇮🇦🇹🇸🇮🇭🇷
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Modern reenactors as 14th century Breton knights. 🇫🇷 Location unknown, possibly Russia.
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The humiliation of the Roman army after the Battle of Burdigala; painting by Charles Gleyre. 🇨🇭⚜️🇫🇷⚔️🏳️
This scene played out in the year 107 B.C; half a century before Julius Caesar’s encounter with the Gallic Helvetii. It was in the context of the Cimbrian War, when Germanic tribes from the far north had invaded Gaul in search of a new homeland. The Roman Republic had —of course— chosen to intervene, which resulted in the destruction of two Roman armies by the migrants. Seeing an opportunity to obtain plunder, the Celtic Tigurini —a sept of the Helvetii of Switzerland— made an alliance with the Germans and began taking part in their raids. To protect its colonies in southern Gaul, Rome dispatched another large army led by consul Lucius Cassius Longinus, and assisted by colleagues L. Piso Caesonius, and Gaius Popilius Laenas.
The Romans encountered a part of the Germanic horde near Toulouse, defeating them in a minor encounter that boosted their confidence. They then advanced on Burdigala (Bordeaux, France), where their opponents had fortified their position and prepared for a siege. It was a trap. As Longinus and his army advanced on Burdigala to surround and assault it, they were ambushed by the Tigurini and the Volcae (another Gallic tribe from southern France), who’d concealed themselves just outside the town. The Roman army was routed with over 10,000 killed, including Longinus and Caesonius. The Celts followed up their victory to the Roman camp, where Laenas was forced to surrender himself and the rest of the battered army. The Tigurini chieftain Divico spared their lives, but had them disarmed, stripped, and made to “pass under the yoke”. This was a ritual humiliation where they marched between two columns of enemy soldiers forming a tunnel with their spears, forcing them to bow their heads low under the shafts. Rome never forgot this humiliation, and 49 years later, Caesar claimed Divico was present with the Helvetii in the campaign that led to their defeat at the Battle of Bibracte. Given that so much time had passed and Divico is conspicuously absent from Caesar’s narration of the drama leading up the the migration, this was probably not true.
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Small bronze statue of a Gallic warrior with characteristic swept back hair and drooping moustache, from Saint-Maur-en-Chausée, France; 1st century B.C. On display at Musée Départamental de l’Oise; Beauvais, France. ⚜️🇫🇷
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Gold finger-ring decorated in La Tène style with ram’s head and human head motifs; 4th century B.C. The ring was donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, USA, by private collectors from Germany. The specific provenance of the ring is unknown, though its is thought to have come from a grave of a Gallic chieftain somewhere in Southwestern Germany. 🇩🇪
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Stone carving on a lintel of Cong Abbey, in county Galway, Ireland. 🇮🇪 The carving is a portrait of High King of Ireland Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair (Anglicized: Rory O’Connor).
O’Connor was High King from 1166-1198, being the second of his line to hold the title. His father, Toirdelbach, had been the first king of Connacht in several centuries to achieve pre-eminence and gain the title of High King (1119-1156). What Ruaidrí’s reign is most remembered for was that the Normans invaded Ireland for the first time. They came at the behest of king Diarmaid mac Murchadha (Anglicized: Dermot McMurrough) of Leinster, whom O’Connor and his allies had ousted from Ireland. O’Connor’s response to the English invasions is considered to have been generally incompetent. He suffered an embarrassing defeat when he besieged them in Dublin in the year 1171, then submitted to king Henry II of England later that same year when the latter crossed over to exact obedience from the Norman barons who’d been carrying out the conquest. O’Connor was able to somewhat redeem himself three years later, when he teamed up with king Domnall Ua Briain (Anglicized: Donal O’Brien) of Thomond to inflict a devastating defeat on the Normans at the Battle of Thurles, thus crushing their attempt to conquer north Munster. But the following year, O’Connor accepted the Treaty of Windsor, again submitting to Henry II and agreeing to pay tribute, in exchange for England agreeing not to claim any Irish lands beyond the province of Leinster. Individual Norman barons did not respect the treaty and continued invading Irish lands and interfering in Irish affairs, leading to much back and forth bloodshed.
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Bronze pin/garment fastener with terminal in the shape of a human head, found among the ruins of the Gallic town of Manching, in Bavaria, Germany; 2nd or 1st century B.C. 🇩🇪
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Bronze age treasure hoard; 14.9 kilos of gold found at Caldas de Reis, in Galicia, Spain; 16th century B.C. 🇪🇸
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Iron scissors found at the ancient Gallic town of Manching, in Bavaria, Germany; 2nd century B.C. 🇩🇪
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Rannoch Moor looking toward Glen Etive and Glencoe, in Argyll, Scotland. 🏴
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Carved stone stele from Lombera, in Cantabria province, Spain; 1st century B.C. 🇪🇸
The reverse side of the stone displays a five-armed swastika, while the obverse shows a (solar?) symbol known today as a lábaro. Stones with lábaro carvings are known only from Cantabria, so the symbol has come to be associated with the province. It’s believed the name stems from a Celtic word meaning “speech” or “to speak” (i.e. like Old Irish labrad). It’s also thought that the symbol came to be displayed on standards of the Roman army made up of Cantabrian auxiliaries. Christian apologists Tertullian and Minucius Felix mentioned pagan Roman veneration of military standards, among which they list a type known as cantabra. Their descriptions imply that these were cross-shaped, and it has thus been conjectured that this refers to the X-like shape of the symbol found on the stones. A Roman legal treatise, the Codex Theodosianus, also mentions standards called labarum (whence we get the modern term “lábaro”) that were carried by standard-bearers known as cantabrarii. It’s likely that it was describing the same thing, labarum and cantabra being different terms for the same type of standard. Nonetheless, that the symbol found on the stones would have been the same one displayed on the standards, remains unproven.
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Seal impression of king Llewelyn the Great, son of Iorwerth of Gwynedd (1195-1240). 🏴 From a charter dated 25 November 1209, in which the king granted land to the monks of Strata Marcella in Powys, Wales. The king is shown as an armored knight charging into battle.
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View from the ascent to Pico Tres Mares; Palencia and Cantabria provinces, Spain. 🇪🇸
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Irish ring-pommel swords in the National Museum of Ireland, Dublin. 🇮🇪 The central piece is a replica of a sword from a private collection, dating to the 16th century. It is an Irish version of a German longsword. The other two would date to an earlier period, probably 14th century.
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The Corlea Trackway (Irish: Bóthar Chorr Liath; “Road of the Grey Crane/Heron”), in county Longford, Ireland. 🇮🇪 First image is a modern reconstruction.
Based on tree-ring studies of the wooden planks, it’s known that the Corlea Trackway was built around 148-147 B.C. The ancients bridged a large marsh with a wooden track made from large oak planks, 3 to 3.5 meters long, placed over two rails of (mostly) birchwood. The track was around 1km long, leading to an island in the middle of the bog, from where another track of similar size was built that would take the traveler to dry land. The trackway was remembered in the tale Tochmarc Étaíne, where we find the Irish king Eochu Airem (“Eochu the Plowman”) winning wagered games of fidchell (Celtic chess) against the otherworldly being Midir, and demanding that he carry out certain tasks to make good on their agreement. One such task was the building of a road across a bog, known as the Móin Lámraige.
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Iron weapons from the cremation burial of a Celtiberian warrior, found near San Miguel de Bernuy, in Segovia province, Spain; 4th century B.C. 🇪🇸 The finds included a shield-boss, Bernorio-Miraveche type dagger and sheath, javelin, spearhead, a piece of unknown purpose, and a brooch.
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River Cleddau; Pembrokeshire, Wales. 🏴
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The Migration of the Helvetian People.🇨🇭Art by Yukihiro Hirokawa.
The scene depicts the attempted mass migration of the Celtic Helvetii people of Switzerland. Their attempt to cross Roman occupied territory and the threat they posed to Roman allies in Gaul kicked off the Gallic Wars (58-50 B.C.) Accompanied by neighboring tribes such as the Tulingi, Rauraci, Latobrigi, and refugees from the central European Boii, the Helvetii sought a new and fertile homeland, aiming to settle in the Santoigne region of France. They were hindered by the Roman general and statesman Julius Caesar, at the head of a massive army of six legions. After being ambushed and beaten at the Battle of the Saône, the Helvetii fought a hard battle against the Romans at Bibracte. They outsmarted Caesar, first attacking his army head on, then retreating to their encampment where the pursuing Romans were outflanked by the Boii and Tulingi. Only by bringing up reinforcements was Caesar able to prevent a disaster and ensure victory, capturing the Gallic baggage train, as well as a son and a daughter of the late leader Orgetorix. The Romans had suffered such high casualties —killed and wounded— that they were unable to pursue the retreating Celts. The Helvetii and their allies eventually negotiated a surrender and agreed to return to Switzerland. The Rauraci were resettled among them, while the Boii were resettled in the town of Gorgobina, within the territory of the Roman-allied Haedui (in modern Burgundy). Ancient authors such as Livy, Orosius, and Strabo contradicted Caesar’s claims as to the overall number of Celts involved in the migration and battles, causing modern scholars to speculate that Caesar might have inflated the numbers for propaganda purposes.
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Winter scene in the Derryveagh Mountains of county Donegal, Ireland. 🇮🇪
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Digital facial reconstruction of king Robert I “the Bruce” of Scotland (AD 1306-1329). 🏴 Project by University of Liverpool and University of Glasgow. The reconstruction was carried out using the king’s skull, found at Dunfermline Abbey.
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