Dumnonia
Encyclopedia
Dumnonia is the Latinised name for the Brython
ic kingdom in sub-Roman Britain
between the late 4th and late 8th centuries, located in the farther parts of the south-west peninsula
of Great Britain
. It was centred in the area later known as Devon
, but also included parts of Somerset
and possibly Dorset
, its eastern boundary changing over time.
Some historians interpreted it as including Cornubia or Cornwall
, although the kingdom of Cornwall
was based on a sub-tribe, the Cornovii
, and appears to have been at least semi-independent at times, certainly retaining its independence after parts of Dumnonia came under Anglo-Saxon
control between the 7th and 10th centuries.
The kingdom is named after the Dumnonii
, a British
Celt
ic tribe living in the southwest when the Romans
arrived in Britain
, according to Ptolemy's Geography. Variants of the name Dumnonia include Domnonia and Damnonia, the latter being used by Gildas
in the 6th century as a pun
on "damnation" to deprecate the area's contemporary ruler Constantine. The name has etymological origins in the proto-Celtic root word *dubno-, meaning both "deep" and "world". Groups with similar names existed in Scotland (Damnonii
) and Ireland (Fir Domnann
). Later, the area became known to the English
of neighbouring Wessex
as the kingdom of West Wales
, and its inhabitants were also known to them as Defnas (i.e. men of Dumnonia). In Welsh, and similarly in the native Brythonic language, it was Dyfneint and this is the form which survives today in the name of the county of Devon (Modern Welsh
: Dyfnaint, Cornish
: Dewnans).
After emigration from southwestern Britain to northern Armorica
, a sister kingdom also called Domnonia
(Breton: Dumnonea, French: Domnonée) was established on the continental north Atlantic coast in what became known as Brittany
(Breton: Breizh, French Bretagne, "Britain"), the name of which derives from the French Grande-Bretagne coined to distinguish the island from Bretagne. The main period of emigration from Dumnonia to Armorica is believed to have been in the 5th and 6th centuries, and it is speculated that the Dumnonii saw the end of the Roman empire as an opportunity to establish control in new areas.
in Somerset and the River Axe in Dorset, judging by the coin distributions of the Dobunni
and Durotriges
. In the Roman period there was a provincial boundary between the area governed from Exeter and those governed from Dorchester and Ilchester
.
In the post Roman period the eastern boundary of Dumnonia is unclear. The boundary may have been formed by the West Wansdyke, Selwood Forest
and Bokerly Dyke. Thus Dumnonia would have included later Cornwall, Devon, most of Somerset and most of Dorset. If so Dumnonia would have included places such as Glastonbury
and South Cadbury
. With the expansion of Wessex, the boundary was gradually pushed westward, see below.
, and with Wales
and Ireland
, rather than with the southeast of Britain. The people of Dumnonia are likely to have spoken a Brythonic dialect similar to the ancestor of modern Cornish
and Breton
. Irish
immigrants, the Déisi, are evidenced by the Ogham
-inscribed stones: they have left behind, confirmed and supplemented by place-name studies. Apart from fishing and agriculture, the main economic resource of the Dumnonii was tin
mining, the tin having been exported since ancient times from the port of Ictis (St Michael's Mount
or Mount Batten
). Tin working continued throughout Roman occupation and appears to have reached a peak during the 3rd century AD. The area maintained trade links with Gaul
and the Mediterranean after the Roman withdrawal, and it is likely that tin played an important part in this trade. Post-Roman imported pottery has been excavated from many sites across the region. An apparent surge in late 5th century Mediterranean and/or Byzantine
imports is yet to be explained satisfactorily.
Christianity seems to have survived in Dumnonia after the Roman departure from Britain, with a number of late Roman Christian cemeteries extending into the post-Roman period. In the 5th and 6th centuries the area was allegedly evangelized by the children of Brychan
and saints from Ireland, like Saint Piran
; and Wales, like Saint Petroc
or Saint Keyne
. There were important monasteries at Bodmin
and Glastonbury
; and also Exeter
where 5th century burials discovered near the cathedral
probably represent the cemetery of the foundation attended by St. Boniface (although whether this was Saxon or Brythonic is somewhat controversial). Sporadically, Cornish bishops are named in various records until they submitted to the See of Canterbury in the mid-9th century. Parish
organisation was a later development of fully Normanised times.
, modern Exeter, but west of Exeter the area remained largely un-Romanized. Most of Dumnonia is notable for its lack of a villa system
though there were substantial numbers south of Bath and around Ilchester
, and for its many settlements that have survived from the Romano-British
period. As in other Brythonic areas, Iron Age
hillforts, such as Cadbury Castle
, were refortified in Post-Roman times for the use of chieftains or kings, and other high-status settlements such as Tintagel
seem to have been reconstructed during the period. Local archaeology has revealed that the isolated enclosed farmsteads known locally as rounds seem to have survived the Roman departure from Britain, but were subsequently replaced, in the 6th and 7th centuries, by unenclosed farms taking the Brythonic toponymic tre-.
Exeter, known to the British as Caer Uisc, was later the site of an important Saxon minster, but was still partially inhabited by Dumnonian Britons up until the 10th century when Athelstan expelled them. By the mid-9th century, the royal seat may have been relocated further west, during the West Saxon advance, to Lis-Cerruyt (modern Liskeard
). Cornish earls in the 10th century were said to have moved to Lostwithiel
after Liskeard was seized. It has been suggested that the rulers of Dumnonia were itinerant, stopping at various royal residences, such as Tintagel and Cadbury Castle
, at different times of the year, possibly simultaneously holding lands in Brittany across the Channel
. There is textual and archaeological evidence that districts such as Trigg
were used as martially points for 'war hosts' from across the region, likely to have also included troops from overseas evidenced by corresponding place names in Brittany—a recurring motif of Brythonic
Arthurian myth originating in this period, such as Tristan and Iseult
.
stated that the ruler of Dumnonia, perhaps about the period c290–c305, was Caradoc (Caractacus), who was said to have been the trusted advisor of Eudaf Hen (Octavius the Old). If not an entirely legendary figure, Caradoc would not have been a king in the true sense but may have held a powerful office within the Roman administration. It is possible that the "Caratacus Stone
" on Withypool Common
near Dulverton
, inscribed Carataci nepus--- ("relative of Caradoc"), records one of his co-lateral descendants.
After the Roman withdrawal, Dumnonia's domestic history is obscure, though its geographical position enabled it to survive for centuries. The post-Roman history of Dumnonia comes from a variety of sources and is considered exceedingly difficult to interpret given that historical fact, legend and confused pseudo-history are compounded by a variety of sources in Middle Welsh and Latin
. The main sources available for discussion of this period include Gildas
's De Excidio Britanniae and Nennius
's Historia Brittonum, the Annales Cambriae
, Anglo Saxon Chronicle, William of Malmesbury
's Gesta Regum Anglorum and De Antiquitate Glastoniensis
Ecclesiae, along with texts from the Black Book of Carmarthen
and the Red Book of Hergest
, and Bede
's Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum
as well as "The Descent of the Men of the North" (Bonedd Gwŷr y Gogledd
, in Peniarth MS 45 and elsewhere) and the Book of Baglan
.
is often said to have been a member of the royal house of Dumnonia, his traditional grandfather, Constantine, being identified with the Constantine denounced by Gildas as the "tyrant whelp of the filthy lioness of Damnonia". Geoffrey of Monmouth
said that Arthur was conceived at Tintagel Castle
. Erbin
and his son, Geraint
(or Gerren), appear in the Arthurian tale of Geraint and Enid as ruling "on the far side of Severn" (from Caerleon). There is debate about where Arthur's great victory at the Battle of Mount Badon
, where the Brythonic Dumnonians fought off Anglo-Saxons, took place. Most historians, however, believe this battle was fought elsewhere, such as at Bath. Geoffrey of Monmouth claimed that Arthur's final Battle of Camlann
, was fought in Cornwall; tradition points to Slaughter Bridge
near Camelford
.
's victory at Dyrham
in 577, but as sea travel was easier than travel by land, the blow may not have been severe; principal trade routes were apparently maintained via the sea ports of neighbouring Brittany
, since absorbed into France. Clemen
is thought to have been king when the Britons fought the Battle of Beandun (possibly Bindon near Axmouth
in Devon
) in 614. However, Bampton in Oxfordshire has also been identified as the site of the battle. The former battle site suggests that the Dumnonian army was invading Wessex
using the Roman road
eastward from Exeter to Dorchester and was intercepted by a West Saxon garrison marching south.
The Flores Historiarum
, attributed incorrectly to Matthew of Westminster
, states that the Britons were still in possession of Exeter in 632, when it was bravely defended against Penda of Mercia
until relieved by Cadwallon
, who engaged and defeated the Mercians with "great slaughter to their troops". However this is based on Geoffrey of Monmouth
's pseudo-history.
Around 652 Cenwalh of Wessex
made a breakthrough against the Dumnonian defensive lines at the battle of Bradford-upon-Avon. The West Saxon victory at the Battle of Peonnum
(possibly modern Penselwood
in east Somerset
), around 658, resulted in the Saxons capturing "as far as the Parrett" and the eastern part of Dumnonia being permanently annexed by Wessex. The Saxons may have expanded westward from eastern Somerset after a battle in 661 at Posentesburh, possibly Posbury
near Crediton in Devon. In 682 they "advanced as far as the sea", but it is unclear where this was. In 705 a bishopric was set up in Sherborne
for the Saxon area west of Selwood. In 710 a battle was fought between Geraint
of Dumnonia and King Ine of Wessex.
The Annales Cambriae
claim a heavy defeat of a Saxon force in Cornwall in 722. By about 755, the territory of the "Defnas" was coming under significant pressure from the Saxon army. The campaigns of Egbert of Wessex
in Devon between 813
and 822
probably signalled the conquest of insular Dumnonia leaving a rump state in what is today called Cornwall
. The Cornish bishop of Bodmin acknowledged the authority of Canterbury in 870 and the last known Cornish King, Dunyarth
, died in 875. The east bank of the Tamar was fixed by Æthelstan as the boundary between Cornwall and Devon in 936.
, to address a letter around 680, to its king Geraint
regarding the date of Easter
, and though Geraint was defeated by Ine of Wessex
around 710, the kingdom survived. However, by about 813, Dumnonia was so compressed by the inroads made by Wessex that it had effectively ceased to exist as such. The remaining British territory became known as Cerniu, Cernyw, or Kernow, and to the Anglo-Saxons as Cornwall or "West Wales".
Egbert of Wessex had further victories in the area in 813. In 822 a battle was fought between the "Welsh", presumably those of Cornwall, and the Anglo-Saxons. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle states:- "The Westwealas (Cornish) and the men of Defnas (Devon) fought at Gafulforda" (perhaps Galford
in west Devon). However, there is no mention of who won or who lost, or whether the men of Cornwall and Devon were fighting each other or on the same side. A further rebellion in 838, when the "West Welsh" were supported by Danish forces, was crushed by Egbert at Hingston Down, located either near Gunnislake
or alternatively near Moretonhampstead
. By the 880s Wessex had gained control of at least part of Cornwall, where Alfred the Great
had estates. In 927, according to William of Malmesbury writing around 1120, Athelstan evicted the Cornish from Exeter and perhaps the rest of Devon: "Exeter was cleansed of its defilement by wiping out that filthy race". In 936 he set the border between England and Cornwall as the east bank of the River Tamar
.
Although the chronology of Wessex expansion into all of Dumnonia is unclear, Devon had long been absorbed into England by the reign of Edward the Confessor
. In the period up to the Norman Conquest of 1066 there are references to a ruler Cadoc of Cornwall
. This last native Earl of Cornwall
was deposed by William the Conqueror, effectively bringing to a close the last vestiges of the Dumnonian kings in Britain. However, Cornwall showed a very different type of settlement pattern to that of Wessex and places continued, even after 1066, to be named in the Celtic Cornish tradition with Saxon architecture being uncommon in Cornwall. The earliest record for any Anglo Saxon place names west of the Tamar is around 1040.
The region of Cornouaille
(Br. Kernev) in modern France is assumed to owe its name to descendants originating in insular Cornwall—the medieval kingdom of Domnonea, cognate to ancient Dumnonia, has however been lost to modern departemente boundaries.
Brython
The Britons were the Celtic people culturally dominating Great Britain from the Iron Age through the Early Middle Ages. They spoke the Insular Celtic language known as British or Brythonic...
ic kingdom in sub-Roman Britain
Sub-Roman Britain
Sub-Roman Britain is a term derived from an archaeological label for the material culture of Britain in Late Antiquity: the term "Sub-Roman" was invented to describe the potsherds in sites of the 5th century and the 6th century, initially with an implication of decay of locally-made wares from a...
between the late 4th and late 8th centuries, located in the farther parts of the south-west peninsula
South West England
South West England is one of the regions of England defined by the Government of the United Kingdom for statistical and other purposes. It is the largest such region in area, covering and comprising Bristol, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Dorset, Wiltshire, Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. ...
of Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
. It was centred in the area later known as Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
, but also included parts of Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
and possibly Dorset
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
, its eastern boundary changing over time.
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
, although the kingdom of Cornwall
Kingdom of Cornwall
The Kingdom of Cornwall was an independent polity in southwest Britain during the Early Middle Ages, roughly coterminous with the modern English county of Cornwall. During the sub-Roman and early medieval periods Cornwall was evidently part of the kingdom of Dumnonia, which included most of the...
was based on a sub-tribe, the Cornovii
Cornovii (Cornish)
The Cornovii were a Celtic tribe who inhabited the far South West peninsula of Great Britain, during the Iron Age, Roman and post-Roman periods and gave their name to Cornwall or Kernow....
, and appears to have been at least semi-independent at times, certainly retaining its independence after parts of Dumnonia came under Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxon may refer to:* Anglo-Saxons, a group that invaded Britain** Old English, their language** Anglo-Saxon England, their history, one of various ships* White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, an ethnicity* Anglo-Saxon economy, modern macroeconomic term...
control between the 7th and 10th centuries.
Name
Dumnonii
The Dumnonii or Dumnones were a British Celtic tribe who inhabited Dumnonia, the area now known as Devon and Cornwall in the farther parts of the South West peninsula of Britain, from at least the Iron Age up to the early Saxon period...
, a British
Britons (historical)
The Britons were the Celtic people culturally dominating Great Britain from the Iron Age through the Early Middle Ages. They spoke the Insular Celtic language known as British or Brythonic...
Celt
Celt
The Celts were a diverse group of tribal societies in Iron Age and Roman-era Europe who spoke Celtic languages.The earliest archaeological culture commonly accepted as Celtic, or rather Proto-Celtic, was the central European Hallstatt culture , named for the rich grave finds in Hallstatt, Austria....
ic tribe living in the southwest when the Romans
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
arrived in Britain
Roman Britain
Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...
, according to Ptolemy's Geography. Variants of the name Dumnonia include Domnonia and Damnonia, the latter being used by Gildas
Gildas
Gildas was a 6th-century British cleric. He is one of the best-documented figures of the Christian church in the British Isles during this period. His renowned learning and literary style earned him the designation Gildas Sapiens...
in the 6th century as a pun
Pun
The pun, also called paronomasia, is a form of word play which suggests two or more meanings, by exploiting multiple meanings of words, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use and abuse of homophonic,...
on "damnation" to deprecate the area's contemporary ruler Constantine. The name has etymological origins in the proto-Celtic root word *dubno-, meaning both "deep" and "world". Groups with similar names existed in Scotland (Damnonii
Damnonii
The Damnonii were a people of the late 2nd century who lived in what is now southern Scotland. They are mentioned briefly in Ptolemy's Geography, where he uses both of the terms "Damnonii" and "Damnii" to describe them, and there is no other historical record of them. Their cultural and...
) and Ireland (Fir Domnann
Fir Domnann
The Fir Domnann were an ancient Irish people located in the west and north of Connacht, in Irrus Domnann, from which Erris in County Mayo now takes it's name. In Irish mythology they make up one third of the Fir Bolg. They are probably related to the British Dumnonii, and to the Irish Laigin...
). Later, the area became known to the English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
of neighbouring Wessex
Wessex
The Kingdom of Wessex or Kingdom of the West Saxons was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the West Saxons, in South West England, from the 6th century, until the emergence of a united English state in the 10th century, under the Wessex dynasty. It was to be an earldom after Canute the Great's conquest...
as the kingdom of West Wales
West Wales
West Wales is the western area of Wales.Some definitions of West Wales include only Pembrokeshire, Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire, an area which historically comprised the Welsh principality of Deheubarth., an area called "South West Wales" in the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics....
, and its inhabitants were also known to them as Defnas (i.e. men of Dumnonia). In Welsh, and similarly in the native Brythonic language, it was Dyfneint and this is the form which survives today in the name of the county of Devon (Modern Welsh
Welsh language
Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...
: Dyfnaint, Cornish
Cornish language
Cornish is a Brythonic Celtic language and a recognised minority language of the United Kingdom. Along with Welsh and Breton, it is directly descended from the ancient British language spoken throughout much of Britain before the English language came to dominate...
: Dewnans).
After emigration from southwestern Britain to northern Armorica
Armorica
Armorica or Aremorica is the name given in ancient times to the part of Gaul that includes the Brittany peninsula and the territory between the Seine and Loire rivers, extending inland to an indeterminate point and down the Atlantic coast...
, a sister kingdom also called Domnonia
Domnonia
Domnonée is the modern French version of the Latin name Dumnonia , which denoted a kingdom in northern Brittany founded by migrants from Dumnonia in Great Britain...
(Breton: Dumnonea, French: Domnonée) was established on the continental north Atlantic coast in what became known as Brittany
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
(Breton: Breizh, French Bretagne, "Britain"), the name of which derives from the French Grande-Bretagne coined to distinguish the island from Bretagne. The main period of emigration from Dumnonia to Armorica is believed to have been in the 5th and 6th centuries, and it is speculated that the Dumnonii saw the end of the Roman empire as an opportunity to establish control in new areas.
Extent
Before the arrival of the Romans, the Dumnonii seem to have inhabited the southwest peninsula of Britain as far east as the River ParrettRiver Parrett
The River Parrett flows through the counties of Dorset and Somerset in South West England, from its source in the Thorney Mills springs in the hills around Chedington in Dorset...
in Somerset and the River Axe in Dorset, judging by the coin distributions of the Dobunni
Dobunni
The Dobunni were one of the Celtic tribes living in the British Isles prior to the Roman invasion of Britain. There are seven known references to the tribe in Roman histories and inscriptions. The latter part of the name possibly derives from Bune, a cup or vessel...
and Durotriges
Durotriges
The Durotriges were one of the Celtic tribes living in Britain prior to the Roman invasion. The tribe lived in modern Dorset, south Wiltshire and south Somerset...
. In the Roman period there was a provincial boundary between the area governed from Exeter and those governed from Dorchester and Ilchester
Ilchester
Ilchester is a village and civil parish, situated on the River Yeo or Ivel, five miles north of Yeovil, in the English county of Somerset. The parish, which includes the village of Sock Dennis and the old parish of Northover, has a population of 2,021...
.
In the post Roman period the eastern boundary of Dumnonia is unclear. The boundary may have been formed by the West Wansdyke, Selwood Forest
Selwood Forest
Selwood Forest is an area of woodland on the borders between Somerset, Dorset and Wiltshire in south west England. In Anglo-Saxon times it was far more substantial and covered a much greater area forming a natural barrier between the Anglo-Saxons of Wessex and the Britons of Dumnonia and the Severn...
and Bokerly Dyke. Thus Dumnonia would have included later Cornwall, Devon, most of Somerset and most of Dorset. If so Dumnonia would have included places such as Glastonbury
Glastonbury
Glastonbury is a small town in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town, which is in the Mendip district, had a population of 8,784 in the 2001 census...
and South Cadbury
South Cadbury
South Cadbury is a village and civil parish in the South Somerset council area of the English county of Somerset. The parish includes the village of Sutton Montis...
. With the expansion of Wessex, the boundary was gradually pushed westward, see below.
Culture and industries
The cultural connections of the pre-Roman Dumnonii, as expressed in their ceramics, are thought to have been with the peninsula of Armorica across the ChannelEnglish Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
, and with Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
and Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, rather than with the southeast of Britain. The people of Dumnonia are likely to have spoken a Brythonic dialect similar to the ancestor of modern Cornish
Cornish language
Cornish is a Brythonic Celtic language and a recognised minority language of the United Kingdom. Along with Welsh and Breton, it is directly descended from the ancient British language spoken throughout much of Britain before the English language came to dominate...
and Breton
Breton language
Breton is a Celtic language spoken in Brittany , France. Breton is a Brythonic language, descended from the Celtic British language brought from Great Britain to Armorica by migrating Britons during the Early Middle Ages. Like the other Brythonic languages, Welsh and Cornish, it is classified as...
. Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
immigrants, the Déisi, are evidenced by the Ogham
Ogham
Ogham is an Early Medieval alphabet used primarily to write the Old Irish language, and occasionally the Brythonic language. Ogham is sometimes called the "Celtic Tree Alphabet", based on a High Medieval Bríatharogam tradition ascribing names of trees to the individual letters.There are roughly...
-inscribed stones: they have left behind, confirmed and supplemented by place-name studies. Apart from fishing and agriculture, the main economic resource of the Dumnonii was tin
Tin
Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn and atomic number 50. It is a main group metal in group 14 of the periodic table. Tin shows chemical similarity to both neighboring group 14 elements, germanium and lead and has two possible oxidation states, +2 and the slightly more stable +4...
mining, the tin having been exported since ancient times from the port of Ictis (St Michael's Mount
St Michael's Mount
St Michael's Mount is a tidal island located off the Mount's Bay coast of Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is a civil parish and is united with the town of Marazion by a man-made causeway of granite setts, passable between mid-tide and low water....
or Mount Batten
Mount Batten
Mount Batten is a 24-metre-tall outcrop of rock on a 600-metre peninsula in Plymouth Sound, Devon, England.After some redevelopment which started with the area coming under the control of the Plymouth Development Corporation for five years from 1993, the peninsula now has a marina and centre for...
). Tin working continued throughout Roman occupation and appears to have reached a peak during the 3rd century AD. The area maintained trade links with Gaul
Gaul
Gaul was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium, most of Switzerland, the western part of Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the left bank of the Rhine. The Gauls were the speakers of...
and the Mediterranean after the Roman withdrawal, and it is likely that tin played an important part in this trade. Post-Roman imported pottery has been excavated from many sites across the region. An apparent surge in late 5th century Mediterranean and/or Byzantine
Byzantine
Byzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...
imports is yet to be explained satisfactorily.
Christianity seems to have survived in Dumnonia after the Roman departure from Britain, with a number of late Roman Christian cemeteries extending into the post-Roman period. In the 5th and 6th centuries the area was allegedly evangelized by the children of Brychan
Brychan
Brychan Brycheiniog was a legendary 5th-century king of Brycheiniog in South Wales.-Life:Celtic hagiography tells us that Brychan was born in Ireland, the son of a Prince Anlach, son of Coronac, and his wife, Marchel, heiress of the Welsh kingdom of Garthmadrun , which the couple later inherited...
and saints from Ireland, like Saint Piran
Saint Piran
Saint Piran or Perran is an early 6th century Cornish abbot and saint, supposedly of Irish origin....
; and Wales, like Saint Petroc
Saint Petroc
Saint Petroc is a 6th century Celtic Christian saint. He was born in Wales but primarily ministered to the Britons of Dumnonia which included the modern counties of Devon , Cornwall , and parts of Somerset and Dorset...
or Saint Keyne
Saint Keyne
Saint Keyne or Cain was a late 5th century holy woman in the West Country, between Liskeard and Looe in SE Cornwall. She is not mentioned as being a saint in the official Catholic encyclopaedia - newadvent.org, so perhaps it's disputable if she is indeed a Catholic saint...
. There were important monasteries at Bodmin
Bodmin
Bodmin is a civil parish and major town in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated in the centre of the county southwest of Bodmin Moor.The extent of the civil parish corresponds fairly closely to that of the town so is mostly urban in character...
and Glastonbury
Glastonbury Abbey
Glastonbury Abbey was a monastery in Glastonbury, Somerset, England. The ruins are now a grade I listed building, and a Scheduled Ancient Monument and are open as a visitor attraction....
; and also Exeter
Exeter
Exeter is a historic city in Devon, England. It lies within the ceremonial county of Devon, of which it is the county town as well as the home of Devon County Council. Currently the administrative area has the status of a non-metropolitan district, and is therefore under the administration of the...
where 5th century burials discovered near the cathedral
Exeter Cathedral
Exeter Cathedral, the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter at Exeter, is an Anglican cathedral, and the seat of the Bishop of Exeter, in the city of Exeter, Devon in South West England....
probably represent the cemetery of the foundation attended by St. Boniface (although whether this was Saxon or Brythonic is somewhat controversial). Sporadically, Cornish bishops are named in various records until they submitted to the See of Canterbury in the mid-9th century. Parish
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
organisation was a later development of fully Normanised times.
Settlements
In pre-Roman times the Dumnonii had mostly a subsistence economy with no dominant elites, and many individual farms. Around AD 55, the Romans established a legionary fortress at Isca DumnoniorumIsca Dumnoniorum
Isca Dumnoniorum was a town in the Roman province of Britannia and the capital of Dumnonia in the sub-Roman period. Today it is known as Exeter, located in the English county of Devon.-Fortress:...
, modern Exeter, but west of Exeter the area remained largely un-Romanized. Most of Dumnonia is notable for its lack of a villa system
Roman villa
A Roman villa is a villa that was built or lived in during the Roman republic and the Roman Empire. A villa was originally a Roman country house built for the upper class...
though there were substantial numbers south of Bath and around Ilchester
Ilchester
Ilchester is a village and civil parish, situated on the River Yeo or Ivel, five miles north of Yeovil, in the English county of Somerset. The parish, which includes the village of Sock Dennis and the old parish of Northover, has a population of 2,021...
, and for its many settlements that have survived from the Romano-British
Romano-British
Romano-British culture describes the culture that arose in Britain under the Roman Empire following the Roman conquest of AD 43 and the creation of the province of Britannia. It arose as a fusion of the imported Roman culture with that of the indigenous Britons, a people of Celtic language and...
period. As in other Brythonic areas, Iron Age
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...
hillforts, such as Cadbury Castle
Cadbury Castle, Somerset
Cadbury Castle is an Iron Age hill fort in the civil parish of South Cadbury in the English county of Somerset. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and associated with King Arthur.-Background:...
, were refortified in Post-Roman times for the use of chieftains or kings, and other high-status settlements such as Tintagel
Tintagel
Tintagel is a civil parish and village situated on the Atlantic coast of Cornwall, United Kingdom. The population of the parish is 1,820 people, and the area of the parish is ....
seem to have been reconstructed during the period. Local archaeology has revealed that the isolated enclosed farmsteads known locally as rounds seem to have survived the Roman departure from Britain, but were subsequently replaced, in the 6th and 7th centuries, by unenclosed farms taking the Brythonic toponymic tre-.
Exeter, known to the British as Caer Uisc, was later the site of an important Saxon minster, but was still partially inhabited by Dumnonian Britons up until the 10th century when Athelstan expelled them. By the mid-9th century, the royal seat may have been relocated further west, during the West Saxon advance, to Lis-Cerruyt (modern Liskeard
Liskeard
Liskeard is an ancient stannary and market town and civil parish in south east Cornwall, England, United Kingdom.Liskeard is situated approximately 20 miles west of Plymouth, west of the River Tamar and the border with Devon, and 12 miles east of Bodmin...
). Cornish earls in the 10th century were said to have moved to Lostwithiel
Lostwithiel
Lostwithiel is a civil parish and small town in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom at the head of the estuary of the River Fowey. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 2,739...
after Liskeard was seized. It has been suggested that the rulers of Dumnonia were itinerant, stopping at various royal residences, such as Tintagel and Cadbury Castle
Cadbury Castle, Somerset
Cadbury Castle is an Iron Age hill fort in the civil parish of South Cadbury in the English county of Somerset. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and associated with King Arthur.-Background:...
, at different times of the year, possibly simultaneously holding lands in Brittany across the Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
. There is textual and archaeological evidence that districts such as Trigg
Trigg
-People:* Abram Trigg , U.S. Congressman from Virginia* Connally Findlay Trigg , soldier and politician* Connally Findlay Trigg , jurist* Cyril Trigg , footballer...
were used as martially points for 'war hosts' from across the region, likely to have also included troops from overseas evidenced by corresponding place names in Brittany—a recurring motif of Brythonic
Britons (historical)
The Britons were the Celtic people culturally dominating Great Britain from the Iron Age through the Early Middle Ages. They spoke the Insular Celtic language known as British or Brythonic...
Arthurian myth originating in this period, such as Tristan and Iseult
Tristan and Iseult
The legend of Tristan and Iseult is an influential romance and tragedy, retold in numerous sources with as many variations. The tragic story is of the adulterous love between the Cornish knight Tristan and the Irish princess Iseult...
.
History and rulers
Although subjugated by about AD 78, the local population could have retained strong local control, and Dumnonia may have been self-governed under Roman rule. Geoffrey of MonmouthGeoffrey of Monmouth
Geoffrey of Monmouth was a cleric and one of the major figures in the development of British historiography and the popularity of tales of King Arthur...
stated that the ruler of Dumnonia, perhaps about the period c290–c305, was Caradoc (Caractacus), who was said to have been the trusted advisor of Eudaf Hen (Octavius the Old). If not an entirely legendary figure, Caradoc would not have been a king in the true sense but may have held a powerful office within the Roman administration. It is possible that the "Caratacus Stone
Caratacus Stone
The Caratacus Stone is an inscribed stone on Exmoor in Somerset, thought to date from the 6th century. The inscription, written in Latin, reads , and is thought to have been built either as a memorial or as a boundary stone....
" on Withypool Common
Withypool
Withypool is a small village in Somerset, England, near the centre of Exmoor National Park and close to the border with Devon. The word Withy means Willow...
near Dulverton
Dulverton
Dulverton is a town and civil parish in the heart of West Somerset, England, near the border with Devon. The town has a population of 1,630. The parish includes the hamlets of Battleton and Ashwick which is located approximately north west of Dulverton...
, inscribed Carataci nepus--- ("relative of Caradoc"), records one of his co-lateral descendants.
After the Roman withdrawal, Dumnonia's domestic history is obscure, though its geographical position enabled it to survive for centuries. The post-Roman history of Dumnonia comes from a variety of sources and is considered exceedingly difficult to interpret given that historical fact, legend and confused pseudo-history are compounded by a variety of sources in Middle Welsh and Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
. The main sources available for discussion of this period include Gildas
Gildas
Gildas was a 6th-century British cleric. He is one of the best-documented figures of the Christian church in the British Isles during this period. His renowned learning and literary style earned him the designation Gildas Sapiens...
's De Excidio Britanniae and Nennius
Nennius
Nennius was a Welsh monk of the 9th century.He has traditionally been attributed with the authorship of the Historia Brittonum, based on the prologue affixed to that work, This attribution is widely considered a secondary tradition....
's Historia Brittonum, the Annales Cambriae
Annales Cambriae
Annales Cambriae, or The Annals of Wales, is the name given to a complex of Cambro-Latin chronicles deriving ultimately from a text compiled from diverse sources at St David's in Dyfed, Wales, not later than the 10th century...
, Anglo Saxon Chronicle, William of Malmesbury
William of Malmesbury
William of Malmesbury was the foremost English historian of the 12th century. C. Warren Hollister so ranks him among the most talented generation of writers of history since Bede, "a gifted historical scholar and an omnivorous reader, impressively well versed in the literature of classical,...
's Gesta Regum Anglorum and De Antiquitate Glastoniensis
Glastonbury Abbey
Glastonbury Abbey was a monastery in Glastonbury, Somerset, England. The ruins are now a grade I listed building, and a Scheduled Ancient Monument and are open as a visitor attraction....
Ecclesiae, along with texts from the Black Book of Carmarthen
Black Book of Carmarthen
The Black Book of Carmarthen is thought to be the earliest surviving manuscript written entirely or substantially in Welsh. Written in around 1250, the book's name comes from its association with the Priory of St. John the Evangelist and Teulyddog at Carmarthen, and is referred to as black due to...
and the Red Book of Hergest
Red Book of Hergest
The Red Book of Hergest is a large vellum manuscript written shortly after 1382, which ranks as one of the most important medieval manuscripts written in the Welsh language. It preserves a collection of Welsh prose and poetry, notably the tales of the Mabinogion, Gogynfeirdd poetry...
, and Bede
Bede
Bede , also referred to as Saint Bede or the Venerable Bede , was a monk at the Northumbrian monastery of Saint Peter at Monkwearmouth, today part of Sunderland, England, and of its companion monastery, Saint Paul's, in modern Jarrow , both in the Kingdom of Northumbria...
's Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum
Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum
The Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum is a work in Latin by Bede on the history of the Christian Churches in England, and of England generally; its main focus is on the conflict between Roman and Celtic Christianity.It is considered to be one of the most important original references on...
as well as "The Descent of the Men of the North" (Bonedd Gwŷr y Gogledd
Bonedd Gwŷr y Gogledd
Bonedd Gwŷr y Gogledd is a brief Middle Welsh tract which claims to give the pedigrees of twenty 6th-century rulers of the Hen Ogledd , the Brythonic-speaking parts of southern Scotland and northern England. It is attested in a number of manuscripts, the earliest being NLW, Peniarth MS 45, which...
, in Peniarth MS 45 and elsewhere) and the Book of Baglan
Book of Baglan
The Book of Baglan is a collection of old Welsh manuscripts, containing much genealogical data, compiled by John Williams from several sources between 1600 and 1607. It was transcribed from the original manuscript preserved in the public library at Cardiff, and edited by Joseph Bradney with...
.
Arthurian connections
King ArthurKing Arthur
King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...
is often said to have been a member of the royal house of Dumnonia, his traditional grandfather, Constantine, being identified with the Constantine denounced by Gildas as the "tyrant whelp of the filthy lioness of Damnonia". Geoffrey of Monmouth
Geoffrey of Monmouth
Geoffrey of Monmouth was a cleric and one of the major figures in the development of British historiography and the popularity of tales of King Arthur...
said that Arthur was conceived at Tintagel Castle
Tintagel Castle
Tintagel Castle is a medieval fortification located on the peninsula of Tintagel Island, adjacent to the village of Tintagel in Cornwall, United Kingdom. The site was possibly occupied in the Romano-British period, due to an array of artefacts dating to this period which have been found on the...
. Erbin
Erbin of Dumnonia
Erbin of Dumnonia was a 5th century King of Dumnonia and saint of Wales.-Monarch:Traditionally, Erbin was a King of Dumnonia, the son of Constantine Corneu and the father of Geraint...
and his son, Geraint
Geraint
Geraint is a character from Welsh folklore and Arthurian legend, a king of Dumnonia and a valiant warrior. He may have lived during or shortly prior to the reign of the historical Arthur, but some scholars doubt he ever existed...
(or Gerren), appear in the Arthurian tale of Geraint and Enid as ruling "on the far side of Severn" (from Caerleon). There is debate about where Arthur's great victory at the Battle of Mount Badon
Battle of Mons Badonicus
The Battle of Mons Badonicus was a battle between a force of Britons and an Anglo-Saxon army, probably sometime between 490 and 517 AD. Though it is believed to have been a major political and military event, there is no certainty about its date, location or the details of the fighting...
, where the Brythonic Dumnonians fought off Anglo-Saxons, took place. Most historians, however, believe this battle was fought elsewhere, such as at Bath. Geoffrey of Monmouth claimed that Arthur's final Battle of Camlann
Battle of Camlann
The Battle of Camlann is best known as the final battle of King Arthur, where he either died in battle, or was fatally wounded fighting his enemy Mordred.-Historicity:...
, was fought in Cornwall; tradition points to Slaughter Bridge
Slaughterbridge
Slaughterbridge, Treague and Camelford Station are three adjoining settlements in north Cornwall, United Kingdom. They straddle the boundary of Forrabury and Minster and Lanteglos by Camelford civil parishes just over a mile north-west of the market town of CamelfordThe settlements are on the...
near Camelford
Camelford
Camelford is a town and civil parish in north Cornwall, United Kingdom, situated in the River Camel valley northwest of Bodmin Moor. The town is approximately ten miles north of Bodmin and is governed by Camelford Town Council....
.
Conflict with the Saxons
The Britons in Dumnonia were cut off from their allies in Wales by Ceawlin of WessexCeawlin of Wessex
Ceawlin was a King of Wessex. He may have been the son of Cynric of Wessex and the grandson of Cerdic of Wessex, whom the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle represents as the leader of the first group of Saxons to come to the land which later became Wessex...
's victory at Dyrham
Battle of Deorham
The Battle of Deorham or Dyrham was fought in 577 between the West Saxons under Ceawlin and Cuthwine and the Britons of the West Country. The location, Deorham, is usually taken to refer to Dyrham in South Gloucestershire. The battle was a major victory for the West Saxons, who took three important...
in 577, but as sea travel was easier than travel by land, the blow may not have been severe; principal trade routes were apparently maintained via the sea ports of neighbouring Brittany
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
, since absorbed into France. Clemen
Clemen ap Bledric
Clemen ap Bledric was a 7th century King of Dumnonia .-Family, life and rule:...
is thought to have been king when the Britons fought the Battle of Beandun (possibly Bindon near Axmouth
Axmouth
Axmouth is a village and civil parish in the East Devon district of Devon, England, near the mouth of the River Axe. The village itself is about 1 km inland, although the parish extends to the sea. The village is near Seaton and Beer...
in Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
) in 614. However, Bampton in Oxfordshire has also been identified as the site of the battle. The former battle site suggests that the Dumnonian army was invading Wessex
Wessex
The Kingdom of Wessex or Kingdom of the West Saxons was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the West Saxons, in South West England, from the 6th century, until the emergence of a united English state in the 10th century, under the Wessex dynasty. It was to be an earldom after Canute the Great's conquest...
using the Roman road
Roman road
The Roman roads were a vital part of the development of the Roman state, from about 500 BC through the expansion during the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. Roman roads enabled the Romans to move armies and trade goods and to communicate. The Roman road system spanned more than 400,000 km...
eastward from Exeter to Dorchester and was intercepted by a West Saxon garrison marching south.
The Flores Historiarum
Flores Historiarum
The Flores Historiarum is a Latin chronicle dealing with English history from the creation to 1326 . It was compiled by various persons and quickly acquired contemporary popularity, for it was continued by many hands in many manuscript traditions...
, attributed incorrectly to Matthew of Westminster
Matthew of Westminster
Matthew of Westminster, long regarded as the author of the Flores Historiarum, is now thought never to have existed.The error was first discovered in 1826 by Francis Turner Palgrave, who said that Matthew was "a phantom who never existed," and later the truth of this statement was completely proved...
, states that the Britons were still in possession of Exeter in 632, when it was bravely defended against Penda of Mercia
Mercia
Mercia was one of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was centred on the valley of the River Trent and its tributaries in the region now known as the English Midlands...
until relieved by Cadwallon
Cadwallon ap Cadfan
Cadwallon ap Cadfan was the King of Gwynedd from around 625 until his death in battle. The son and successor of Cadfan ap Iago, he is best remembered as the King of the Britons who invaded and conquered Northumbria, defeating and killing its king, Edwin, prior to his own death in battle against...
, who engaged and defeated the Mercians with "great slaughter to their troops". However this is based on Geoffrey of Monmouth
Geoffrey of Monmouth
Geoffrey of Monmouth was a cleric and one of the major figures in the development of British historiography and the popularity of tales of King Arthur...
's pseudo-history.
Around 652 Cenwalh of Wessex
Cenwalh of Wessex
Cenwalh, also Cenwealh or Coenwalh, was King of Wessex from c. 643 to c. 645 and from c. 648 unto his death, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, in c. 672.-Penda and Anna:...
made a breakthrough against the Dumnonian defensive lines at the battle of Bradford-upon-Avon. The West Saxon victory at the Battle of Peonnum
Battle of Peonnum
The Battle of Peonnum was fought approximately AD 660 between the West Saxons under Cenwalh and the Britons of what is now Somerset. It was a decisive victory for the Saxons, who gained control of Somerset as far west as the River Parrett...
(possibly modern Penselwood
Penselwood
Penselwood is a village and civil parish in the English county of Somerset. It is located north east of Wincanton, south east of Bruton, west of Mere, and north west of Gillingham. The south-east of the parish borders Zeals and Stourhead in Wiltshire, and Bourton in Dorset...
in east Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
), around 658, resulted in the Saxons capturing "as far as the Parrett" and the eastern part of Dumnonia being permanently annexed by Wessex. The Saxons may have expanded westward from eastern Somerset after a battle in 661 at Posentesburh, possibly Posbury
Posbury
Posbury Hill Fort is an unexcavated Iron Age Hill fort, located three miles from Crediton, Devon. It consists today of an incomplete earthwork partly enclosing a hilltop 180 metres above sea level...
near Crediton in Devon. In 682 they "advanced as far as the sea", but it is unclear where this was. In 705 a bishopric was set up in Sherborne
Sherborne
Sherborne is a market town in northwest Dorset, England. It is sited on the River Yeo, on the edge of the Blackmore Vale, east of Yeovil. The A30 road, which connects London to Penzance, runs through the town. The population of the town is 9,350 . 27.1% of the population is aged 65 or...
for the Saxon area west of Selwood. In 710 a battle was fought between Geraint
Geraint of Dumnonia
Geraint was a King of Dumnonia who ruled in the early 8th century. During his reign, it is believed that Dumnonia came repeatedly into conflict with neighbouring Anglo-Saxon Wessex. Geraint was the last recorded king of a unified Dumnonia, and was called King of the Welsh by the Anglo-Saxon...
of Dumnonia and King Ine of Wessex.
The Annales Cambriae
Annales Cambriae
Annales Cambriae, or The Annals of Wales, is the name given to a complex of Cambro-Latin chronicles deriving ultimately from a text compiled from diverse sources at St David's in Dyfed, Wales, not later than the 10th century...
claim a heavy defeat of a Saxon force in Cornwall in 722. By about 755, the territory of the "Defnas" was coming under significant pressure from the Saxon army. The campaigns of Egbert of Wessex
Egbert of Wessex
Egbert was King of Wessex from 802 until his death in 839. His father was Ealhmund of Kent...
in Devon between 813
813
Year 813 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar."813" may also refer to a duology of novels by Maurice Leblanc, starring his gentleman thief Arsène Lupin.- Byzantine Empire :...
and 822
822
Year 822 was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar.- Byzantine Empire :* The civil war between Byzantine Emperor Michael II and the general Thomas the Slav continues...
probably signalled the conquest of insular Dumnonia leaving a rump state in what is today called Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
. The Cornish bishop of Bodmin acknowledged the authority of Canterbury in 870 and the last known Cornish King, Dunyarth
Donyarth
King Donyarth is thought to have been a 9th century King of Cornwall, now part of the United Kingdom.He is known solely from an inscription on King Doniert's Stone, a 9th century cross shaft which stands in St Cleer parish in Cornwall. His social status is not recorded there...
, died in 875. The east bank of the Tamar was fixed by Æthelstan as the boundary between Cornwall and Devon in 936.
Possible Dumnonian continuity in Cornwall and Brittany
Dumnonia was sufficiently part of the known world for Aldhelm, later bishop of SherborneSherborne
Sherborne is a market town in northwest Dorset, England. It is sited on the River Yeo, on the edge of the Blackmore Vale, east of Yeovil. The A30 road, which connects London to Penzance, runs through the town. The population of the town is 9,350 . 27.1% of the population is aged 65 or...
, to address a letter around 680, to its king Geraint
Geraint of Dumnonia
Geraint was a King of Dumnonia who ruled in the early 8th century. During his reign, it is believed that Dumnonia came repeatedly into conflict with neighbouring Anglo-Saxon Wessex. Geraint was the last recorded king of a unified Dumnonia, and was called King of the Welsh by the Anglo-Saxon...
regarding the date of Easter
Easter
Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...
, and though Geraint was defeated by Ine of Wessex
Ine of Wessex
Ine was King of Wessex from 688 to 726. He was unable to retain the territorial gains of his predecessor, Cædwalla, who had brought much of southern England under his control and expanded West Saxon territory substantially...
around 710, the kingdom survived. However, by about 813, Dumnonia was so compressed by the inroads made by Wessex that it had effectively ceased to exist as such. The remaining British territory became known as Cerniu, Cernyw, or Kernow, and to the Anglo-Saxons as Cornwall or "West Wales".
Egbert of Wessex had further victories in the area in 813. In 822 a battle was fought between the "Welsh", presumably those of Cornwall, and the Anglo-Saxons. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle states:- "The Westwealas (Cornish) and the men of Defnas (Devon) fought at Gafulforda" (perhaps Galford
Lew Trenchard
Lew Trenchard is a parish and village in west Devon, England. Most of the larger village of Lewdown is in the parish. In Domesday Book a manor of Lew is recorded in this area and two rivers have the same name: see River Lew. Trenchard comes from the lords of the manor in the 13th century...
in west Devon). However, there is no mention of who won or who lost, or whether the men of Cornwall and Devon were fighting each other or on the same side. A further rebellion in 838, when the "West Welsh" were supported by Danish forces, was crushed by Egbert at Hingston Down, located either near Gunnislake
Hingston Down
Hingston Down is a hill not far from Gunnislake in Cornwall in the United Kingdom.-History:This is possibly the Hingston Down mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle which says that in 835 Egbert king of the West Saxons defeated an army of Vikings and Cornish at Hengestdun = "Stallion Hill"...
or alternatively near Moretonhampstead
Hingston Down, Devon
Hingston Down is a hill spur approximately one mile east of Moretonhampstead and 10 miles west of Exeter in Devon. Some historians now claim that this was the site of the 838 battle between a Cornish/Danish alliance against the West Saxons rather than at the site at Hingston Down near Callington,...
. By the 880s Wessex had gained control of at least part of Cornwall, where Alfred the Great
Alfred the Great
Alfred the Great was King of Wessex from 871 to 899.Alfred is noted for his defence of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of southern England against the Vikings, becoming the only English monarch still to be accorded the epithet "the Great". Alfred was the first King of the West Saxons to style himself...
had estates. In 927, according to William of Malmesbury writing around 1120, Athelstan evicted the Cornish from Exeter and perhaps the rest of Devon: "Exeter was cleansed of its defilement by wiping out that filthy race". In 936 he set the border between England and Cornwall as the east bank of the River Tamar
River Tamar
The Tamar is a river in South West England, that forms most of the border between Devon and Cornwall . It is one of several British rivers whose ancient name is assumed to be derived from a prehistoric river word apparently meaning "dark flowing" and which it shares with the River Thames.The...
.
Although the chronology of Wessex expansion into all of Dumnonia is unclear, Devon had long been absorbed into England by the reign of Edward the Confessor
Edward the Confessor
Edward the Confessor also known as St. Edward the Confessor , son of Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy, was one of the last Anglo-Saxon kings of England and is usually regarded as the last king of the House of Wessex, ruling from 1042 to 1066....
. In the period up to the Norman Conquest of 1066 there are references to a ruler Cadoc of Cornwall
Cadoc of Cornwall
According to William of Worcester, writing in the fifteenth century, Cadoc was a survivor of the Cornish royal line at the time of the Norman Conquest of England in 1066 and was appointed as the first Earl of Cornwall by William the Conqueror....
. This last native Earl of Cornwall
Earl of Cornwall
The title of Earl of Cornwall was created several times in the Peerage of England before 1337, when it was superseded by the title Duke of Cornwall, which became attached to heirs-apparent to the throne.-Earl of Cornwall:...
was deposed by William the Conqueror, effectively bringing to a close the last vestiges of the Dumnonian kings in Britain. However, Cornwall showed a very different type of settlement pattern to that of Wessex and places continued, even after 1066, to be named in the Celtic Cornish tradition with Saxon architecture being uncommon in Cornwall. The earliest record for any Anglo Saxon place names west of the Tamar is around 1040.
The region of Cornouaille
Cornouaille
Cornouaille is a historic region in Brittany, in northwest France. The name is identical to the French name for the Duchy of Cornwall, since the area was settled by migrant princes from Cornwall...
(Br. Kernev) in modern France is assumed to owe its name to descendants originating in insular Cornwall—the medieval kingdom of Domnonea, cognate to ancient Dumnonia, has however been lost to modern departemente boundaries.
See also
- DumnoniiDumnoniiThe Dumnonii or Dumnones were a British Celtic tribe who inhabited Dumnonia, the area now known as Devon and Cornwall in the farther parts of the South West peninsula of Britain, from at least the Iron Age up to the early Saxon period...
- Kings of DumnoniaKings of DumnoniaThe kings of Dumnonia ruled the large Brythonic kingdom of Dumnonia in the south-west of Great Britain during the Sub-Roman and early medieval periods....
- Kingdom of CornwallKingdom of CornwallThe Kingdom of Cornwall was an independent polity in southwest Britain during the Early Middle Ages, roughly coterminous with the modern English county of Cornwall. During the sub-Roman and early medieval periods Cornwall was evidently part of the kingdom of Dumnonia, which included most of the...
- Legendary Dukes of CornwallLegendary Dukes of Cornwall"Duke of Cornwall" appears as a title in pseudo-historical authors as Nennius and Geoffrey of Monmouth. The list is extremely patchy, and not every succession was unbroken. Indeed, Geoffrey repeatedly introduces Dukes of Cornwall only to promote them to the Kingship of the Britons and thus put an...
, for the pseudo-historic rulers of Cornwall mentioned by Geoffrey of MonmouthGeoffrey of MonmouthGeoffrey of Monmouth was a cleric and one of the major figures in the development of British historiography and the popularity of tales of King Arthur... - History of CornwallHistory of CornwallThe history of Cornwall begins with the pre-Roman inhabitants, including speakers of a Celtic language that would develop into Brythonic and Cornish. Cornwall was part of the territory of the tribe of the Dumnonii. After a period of Roman rule, Cornwall reverted to rule by independent...
- History of BrittanyHistory of BrittanyThe history of Brittany may refer to the entire history of the Armorican peninsula or only to the creation and development of a specifically Brythonic culture and state in the Early Middle Ages and the subsequent history of that state....
- DomnoniaDomnoniaDomnonée is the modern French version of the Latin name Dumnonia , which denoted a kingdom in northern Brittany founded by migrants from Dumnonia in Great Britain...
- Domnonee
- CornouailleCornouailleCornouaille is a historic region in Brittany, in northwest France. The name is identical to the French name for the Duchy of Cornwall, since the area was settled by migrant princes from Cornwall...