Chap. III
1. The original inhabitants of Britain, whether indigenous or foreign, are, like those of most other countries, unknown. The Jews alone, and by their means the contiguous nations, have the happiness of tracing their descent since the creation of the world from undoubted documents.
2. From the difference of personal appearance different conjectures have been drawn. The red hair and large limbs of the Caledonians proclaim their German origin; the painted faces and curled locks of the Silures, and their situation opposite to Spain, corroborate the assertion of Tacitus, that the ancient Iberians passed over and occupied this country and Ireland. Those who live nearest the Gauls resemble them, either from the strength of the original stock, or from the effects which the same positions of the heavens produce on the human body.
3. If I were inclined to indulge a conjecture, I might here mention that the Veneti373 in their commercial expeditions first introduced inhabitants and religion into this country. Writers are not wanting, who assert that Hercules came hither and established a sovereignty. But it is needless to dwell on such remote antiquities and idle tales.374
4. On the whole, however, it is probable that the Gauls occupied the contiguous regions. According to Tacitus, their sacred rites and superstitions may be traced; nor is the language very different; and lastly, the tradition of the druids, with the names of the states which still retain the same appellations as the people sprung from the cities of Gaul, who came hither and began to cultivate the country.375
5. According to Cæsar, the country was extremely populous, and contained numerous buildings, not dissimilar to those of the Gauls. It was rich in cattle.
6. The inhabitants of the southern part were the most civilized, and in their customs differed little from the Gauls. Those of the more distant parts did not raise corn; but lived on fruits and flesh. They were ignorant of the use of wool and garments, although in severe weather they covered themselves with the skins of sheep or deer. They were accustomed to bathe in the rivers.
7. All the Britons formerly stained their bodies of a blue colour, which according to Cæsar gave them a more terrible appearance in battle. They wore their hair long, and shaved all parts of the body except the head and the upper lip.
8. Ten or twelve Britons had their wives in common; and this custom particularly prevailed among brethren, and between fathers and sons; but the children were considered as belonging to him who had first taken the virgin to wife. The mothers suckled their own children, and did not employ maids and nurses.
9. According to Cæsar also they used brass money, and iron rings of a certain weight instead of coin.376
10. The Britons deemed it unlawful to eat hares,377 fowls, or geese; but they kept those animals for pleasure.
11. They had pearls, bits made of ivory, bracelets, vessels of amber and glass, agates, and, what surpasses all, great abundance of tin.
12. They navigated in barks, the keels and ribs of which were formed of light materials; the other parts were made of wicker and covered with the hides of oxen.378 During their voyages, as Solinus asserts, they abstain from food.379
13. Britain produces people and kings of people, as Pomponius Mela writes in his third book; but they are all uncivilized, and in proportion as they are more distant from the continent, are more ignorant of riches; their wealth consisting chiefly in cattle and land. They are addicted to litigation and war, and frequently attack each other, from a desire of command, and of enlarging their possessions. It is customary indeed for the Britons to wage war under the guidance of women, and not to regard the difference of sex in the distribution of power.
14. The Britons not only fought on foot and on horseback, but in chariots drawn by two horses, and armed in the Gallic manner. Those chariots, to the axle-trees of which scythes were fixed, were called covini, or wains.
15. Cæsar relates that they employed cavalry in their wars, which before the coming of the Romans were almost perpetual. All were skilled in war; each in proportion to his family and wealth supported a number of retainers, and this was the only species of honour with which they were acquainted.380
16. The principal strength of the Britons was in their infantry, who fought with darts, large swords, and short targets. According to Tacitus, their swords were blunt at the point.
17. Cæsar in his fourth book thus describes their mode of fighting in that species of chariots called essedæ.381 At first they drove through the army in all directions, hurling their darts; and by the terror of the horses, and the noise of the wheels, generally threw the ranks of the enemy into disorder. When they had penetrated between the troops of cavalry, they leaped from their chariots and waged unequal war on foot. Meanwhile the chariots were drawn up at a distance from the battle, and placed in such a position, that if pressed by the enemy, the warriors could effect a retreat to their own army. They thus displayed the rapid evolutions of cavalry, and the firmness of infantry, and were so expert by exercise, as to hold up the horses in steep descents, to check and turn them suddenly at full speed, to run along the pole, stand on the yoke, and then spring into the chariot.
18. The mode of fighting on horseback threatened equal danger to those who gave way, or those who pursued. They never engaged in close lines, but in scattered bodies, and with great intervals; they had their appointed stations, and relieved each other by turns; and fresh combatants succeeded those who were fatigued. The cavalry also used darts.
19. It is not easy to determine the form of government in Britain previous to the coming of the Romans. It is however certain that before their times there was no vestige of a monarchy, but rather of a democracy, unless perhaps it may seem to have resembled an aristocracy.382 The authority of the Druids in affairs of the greatest moment was considerable. Some chiefs are commemorated in their ancient records, yet these appear to have possessed no permanent power; but to have been created, like the Roman dictators, in times of imminent danger. Nor are instances wanting among them, as among other brave nations, when they chose even the leader of their adversaries to conduct their armies. He, therefore, who before was their enemy, afterwards fought on their side.
20. The Britons exceeded in stature both the Gauls and the Romans. Strabo affirms that he saw at Rome some British youths, who were considerably taller than the Romans.
21. The more wealthy inhabitants of South Britain were accustomed to ornament the middle finger of the left hand with a gold ring; but a gold collar383 round the neck was the distinguishing mark of eminence. Those of the northern regions, who were the indigenous inhabitants of the island from time immemorial, were almost wholly ignorant of the use of clothes, and surrounded their waists and necks, as Herodian reports, with iron rings, which they considered as ornaments and proofs of wealth. They carried a narrow shield, fitter for use than ornament, and a lance, with a sword pendant from their naked and painted bodies. They rejected or despised the breast-plate and helmet, because such armour impeded their passage through the marshes.
22. Among other particulars, this custom prevailed in Britain. They stopped travellers and merchants, and compelled them to relate what they had heard, or knew, worthy of notice. The common people usually surrounded foreign merchants in the towns, and obliged them to tell from whence they came, and what curious things they had observed. On such vague reports they often rashly acted, and thus were generally deceived; for many answered them agreeably to their desires with fictitious stories.384
23. Their interments were magnificent; and all things which they prized during life, even arms and animals, were thrown into the funeral pile. A heap of earth and turf formed the sepulchre.385
Footnotes
373 The Veneti, a tribe seated on the coast of Armorica or Bretagne, distinguished for their maritime power, and with whom Cæsar waged war. Their territory according to his description, was part of Celtic Gaul, and the present Vannes was their capital.
374 To these conjectures relative to the original inhabitants, and subsequent colonists of Britain, it may not be uninteresting to add the accounts preserved in the Welsh Triads.
The historical Triads record that the first colonists of Britain were Cymry, who originally came from Defrobani Gwlad Yr Hav, the summer land, or Tauric Chersonesus. There they have left many traces of their name preserved by ancient authors, among which we may instance the Cimmerian Bosphorus.
Subsequent colonists arrived from the neighbouring continent at various times. The Loegrwys (Loegrians) from Gascogne; the Brython from Lydaw (Britanny), who were descendants from the original stock of the Cymry. Two descents are also mentioned in Albin, or North Britain; one called the tribe of Celyddon, the other the primitive Gwyddelians. Another descent is said to have been made in the south, in Ynys-Wyth, or the Isle of Wight, by the men of Galedin (the Belgæ), when their native country was inundated. Another colony called the Corani came from the country of the Pwyl (Poland), and settled on the sea coast, about the river Humber. A descent in Albin, or North Britain, of a colony of Gwyddelian Ficti [Irish Picts], who are described as coming from the sea of Loclyn (the Baltic); and a partial settlement of the men of Loclyn (Scandinavians), who were expelled after remaining for three generations. The arrival of the Romans and Saxons is also mentioned, as well as some partial settlements of Gwyddelians from Ireland.
375 We discover a few cities in Gaul, bearing nearly the same appellations as those of Britain; and in both countries we find the Atrebates, the Morini, the Ædui, the Senones, the Menapii, and the Rhemi.
376 The natives of China and Japan follow a similar custom in regard to gold and silver, which are not coined, but pass according to weight.
377 It seems that they considered the appearance of a hare a fortunate omen; for the Roman historians observe that Boadicea, after haranguing her troops, let loose a hare which she had concealed in her garments.
378 This species of boat is still used on the Welsh rivers, and is called a coricle in English, and cwch in Welsh. It is so light that a man may carry one on his back.
379 Richard has mistaken the sense of Solinus, who, in describing the passage from Great Britain to Ireland, observes that from its shortness they abstained from food. “Navigantes escis abstinent, pro freti latitudine.” C. 25.
380 In all periods the Britons seem to have been divided into numerous petty communities or states, headed by chiefs, who are here dignified with the title of kings. From the jealousies and weakness attending such a state of society, the island first became a prey to the Romans, and afterwards to the Saxons; and when the Britons were confined to the mountains of Wales, the same causes hastened the annexation of their country to England.
381 In the early ages chariots were universally used in war. In the Scriptures they are frequently mentioned as forming the principal strength of an army; and the mode of fighting in chariots among the Greeks and Trojans, according to the description of Homer, was exactly similar to that of the Britons. The steeds of his heroes were
“Practised alike to stop, to turn, to chase,
To dare the shock, or urge the rapid race.”
His warriors sometimes drive through the ranks of the enemy, sometimes fight from their chariots, and sometimes alight and maintain the combat on foot, while their chariots retire to the rear.
“This counsel pleased, the godlike Hector sprung
Swift from his seat; his clanging armour rung.
The chief’s example follow’d by his train,
Each quits his car and issues on the plain;
By orders strict the charioteers enjoin’d
Compel the coursers to their ranks behind.”
The Britons, however, appear to have devised an improvement in this mode of warfare, which was unknown to the Greeks. Their chariots seem to have been of two kinds, the covini or wains, heavy and armed with scythes, to break the thickest order of the enemy; and the essedæ, a lighter kind, adapted probably to situations and circumstances in which the covini could not act, and occasionally performing the duties of cavalry. The essedæ, with the cavalry, were pushed forward to oppose the first landing of Cæsar; and Cassivellaunus afterwards left 4000 essedæ as a corps of observation to watch his movements.—Cæsar. Comment. lib. 5, sec. 15.
382 The government of the ancient Britons may be denominated patriarchal. Each community was governed by its elders; and every individual who could not prove his kindred to some community, through nine descents, and the same number of collateral affinities, was not considered as a freeman. Beyond this degree of kindred, they were formed into new communities. The elders of the different communities were subordinate to the elders of the tribes. But in times of public danger, as is recorded in the Triads, some chief of distinguished abilities was entrusted with the supreme authority over the tribes or communities, who united in common defence—Such were Caswallon (Cassivellaunus), Caradwg (Caractacus), and Owain, son of Macsen.
383 This torques, chain, or rather wreath, is frequently alluded to by the early British bards.
“Yet in the battle of Arderydd I wore the golden torques”
Merddin Avellanaw.
“Four and twenty sons I have had
Wearing the golden wreath, leaders of armies.”
Llywarch Hên.
“Of all who went to Cattraeth, wearing the golden torc or wreath.”
Aneurin.
The same bard states that in the battle of Cattraeth were three hundred and sixty who wore the golden torques.
We give a description of one of these ornaments found near the castle of Harlech, in Merionethshire, in 1692. “It is a wreathed bar of gold, or perhaps three or four rods jointly twisted, about four feet long, but naturally bending only one way, in the form of a hatband. It is hooked at both ends. It is of a round form, about an inch in circumference, and weighs eight ounces.”—Gibson’s Camden, p. 658.
Another mark of dignity was a string of amber beads worn round the head. To this Aneurin alludes—
“With wreaths of amber twined round his temples.”
These beads have been frequently found in tumuli, particularly in those on Salisbury Plain.—See Turner’s Vindication of the Welsh Bards.—Owen’s Elegies of Llywarch Hên.
384 This is Cæsar’s account of a Gallic custom; but it is applied, not without reason, to the Britons, and indeed is equally applicable to all uncivilized people.
385 As the classic authors have left us no description of the modes of interment among the Britons, Richard was induced, by the conformity of their manners and customs to those of the Gauls, to adopt the words used by Cæsar in his account of the Gallic funerals. Unfortunately the remains of the British bards afford little assistance in supplying this deficiency. It appears, however, that the Britons raised tumuli over their dead, and continued the practice till after the introduction of Christianity; and that their other modes of interment were the carned, or heap of stones; the cistvaen, or stone chest; and perhaps the cromlec, or hanging stone. From a curious fragment commemorating the graves of the British warriors, which is printed in the first volume of the Welch Archæology, we learn further, that they buried their dead on the top of hills and lofty cliffs, on declivities, in heaths and secluded valleys, on the banks and near the fords of rivers, and on the sea-shore “where the ninth wave breaks.” Allusions are also made to corresponding stones raised on these graves; and it is said, “the long graves in Gwanas, no one knows to whom they belong nor what is their history.”
As the modes of interment among all early nations were in many respects similar, there is perhaps no part of our national antiquities which has given scope to so much conjecture as this. The reader who is desirous of more particular information relative to this subject, may at least find amusement in consulting the works of Stukeley, Douglas’s Nenia Britannica, the Archæologia, and various accounts scattered in different periodical publications.