Dumnonii

Dumnonii
Geography
Capital	Isca Dumnoniorum (Exeter)
Location	Cornwall Devon
Rulers	None known

The Dumnonii or Dumnones were a British Celtic tribe who inhabited the farther parts of the South West peninsula of Britain, from the at least the Iron Age up to the early Saxon period.

Tribal nomenclature

William Camden, in his 1607 edition of “Britannia”, describes Cornwall and Devon as being two parts of the same ‘country’ which:

“was in ancient time inhabited by those Britains whom Solinus called Dunmonii, Ptolomee Damnonii, or (as we find in some other copies) more truly Danmonii. ... . But... the Country of this nation is at this day divided into two parts, known by later names of Cornwall and Denshire [Devonshire] ... The near or hithermore region of the Danmonians that I spake of is now commonly called Denshire, [or] by the Cornish-Britains ‘Dewnan’, and by the Welsh Britains ‘Duffneint’, that is, ‘low valleys’, for that the people dwell for the most part beneath in Vales; by the English Saxons [it is known as] ‘Deven-schire’, whereof grew the Latin name ‘Devonia’, and by that contraction which the vulgar people useth, ‘Denshire’.”

William Camden had learnt some Welsh during the course of his studies and it would appear that he is the origin of the interpretation of Dumnonii as meaning "deep valley dwellers" from his understanding of the Welsh of his time. An alternative derivation is from the Gaelic Domhnain which merely means "land" and leads to the meaning "people of the land", latinised as Dumnonii. Another tribe with a similar name but with no known links were the Fir Domnann in the province of Connacht.

The Roman name of the town of Exeter, Isca Dumnoniorum, contains the Celtic root *iska- "water" (cognate with Irish uisce (See Whisky)) for "Water of the Dumnonii". The Latin name suggests that the city was already a Celtic oppidum, or walled town, on the banks on the River Exe before the foundation of the Roman city, in c. 50. They would give their name to the English county of Devon, and their name is represented in Britain's two modern Brythonic languages as Dewnans in Cornish and Dyfnaint in Welsh. Amédée Thierry (Histoire des Gauloises, 1828), one of the inventors of the "historic race" of Gauls, could confidently equate them with the Cornish ("les Cornouailles").

Archaeology

The Dumnonii are thought to have occupied relatively isolated territory in Somerset, Devon and Cornwall and possibly part of Dorset. Their cultural connections, as expressed in their ceramics, were with the peninsula of Armorica across the Channel, rather than with the southeast of Britain. They do not seem to have been politically centralised: coins are relatively rare, none of them locally minted, and the structure, distribution and construction of Bronze Age and Iron Age hillforts, "rounds" and defensible farmsteads in the south west point to a number of smaller tribal groups living alongside each other.

Ptolemy's 2nd century Geography, places the Dumnonii to the west of the Durotriges, and names four of their towns: Isca Dumnoniorum (later Caeresk, now Exeter), Tamara (presumably on the River Tamar, possibly in the area of modern Plymouth), Uxella (perhaps on the River Axe) and Voliba (unidentified). The Ravenna Cosmography adds the names of two more settlements: Nemetostatio, a name relating to nemeton, signifying "sanctuary' or "sacred grove" (probably to be identified with North Tawton, Devon) and Durocornavium (unidentified, but possibly Tintagel or Carn Brea). The name Durocornavium implies the existence of a tribe called the Cornavii, perhaps the ancestors of the Cornish people (although some trace the Cornish to an unlikely hypothetical migration of the Cornovii of the West Midlands). See the article Cornovii (Cornish) for further information.

In the sub-Roman period a Brythonic kingdom called Dumnonia emerged, covering the entire peninsula, although it is believed by some to have effectively been a collection of sub-kingdoms.

Interestingly a kingdom of Domnonee (and of (Kernev/Cornouaille alongside) was established in the neighbouring province of Armorica across the English Channel, which has apparent links with the British population and suggests an ancient connection of peoples along the western Atlantic seaboard.

The Dumnonii would have spoken a Brythonic dialect ancestral to modern Cornish and Breton.

Victorian historians often referred to this tribe as the Damnonii, which is also the name of another Celtic people from lowland Scotland, although there are no known links between the two populations. Another tribe with a similar name but with no known links were the Fir Domnann in the province of Connacht.

The god worshiped by the Dumnonii was known as 'Dumnonos'

Roman Exeter

Main article: Isca Dumnoniorum

The Latin name for Exeter, Isca Dumnoniorum ("Isca of the Dumnones"), suggests that the city was of Celtic origin. This oppidum, (a Latin term meaning an important town), on the banks of the River Exe certainly existed prior to the foundation of the Roman city in about AD 50, however the name may have been suggested by a Celtic adviser to the Romans, rather than by the original inhabitants of the place.

An illustration of Exeter in 1563, entitled Civitas Exoniae (vulgo Excester) urbs primaria in comitatu Devoniae

Such early towns, or proto-cities, had been a feature of pre-Roman Gaul as described by Julius Caesar in his Commentarii de Bello Gallico ("Commentaries on the Gallic Wars") and it is possible that they existed in neighbouring Great Britain as well. Isca is derived from a Brythonic Celtic word for flowing water, which was given to the Exe and, elsewhere, to the River Usk on which Caerleon in Monmouthshire stands. The Romans gave the city the name Isca Dumnoniorum in order to distinguish it from Isca Augusta, modern Caerleon.

Significant parts of the Roman wall remain, though the present visible structure was largely built on the orders of Alfred the Great to protect the far west of his kingdom following the Viking occupation of 876. Most of its route can be traced on foot. There is a substantial Roman baths complex that was excavated in the 1970s, but because of its proximity to the cathedral, it has not been practicable to retain the excavation for public view. Exeter was also the southern starting point for the Fosse Way Roman road.

Dumnonian territory

Dumnonia is noteworthy for its many settlements that have survived from the Romano-British period as it also is for its lack of the villa-system. In the territory archaelogy has revealed instead the isolated enclosed farmsteads known locally as rounds. These seem to have survived the Roman abandon of Britain being replaced later on in the sixth to seventh centuries by the unenclosed farms taking the Brythonic toponymic tre-. As in most other Brythonic areas, Iron Age hillforts, such as Cadbury Castle, were refortified for the use chieftains or kings. Other high-status settlements such as Tintagel seem to have been consrtucted anew during the period. Post-Roman imported pottery has been excavated from many sites across the region and the apparant surge in late fifth-century Mediterranean and/or Byzantineimports is yet to be explained satisfactorily.

Dumnonian Brythonic Language- a likely forerunner of Cornish and Breton

The people of Dumnonia most probably spoke a Southwestern Brythonic dialect similar to the forerunner of modern Cornish and Breton. Irish immigrants, the Déisi, are evidenced by the Ogham-inscribed stones they have left behind, confirmed and supplemented by toponymical studies. There is some suggestion that Brythonic dialect and according to Tristram Risdon may have continued to be spoken in the South Hams, Devon as late as the 14th century.

Isca Dumnoniorum

Next to these, but more to the west, are the Dumnoni,¹ whose towns are: Voliba [14*45 52°00] Uxella [15*00 52°45] Tamara [15*00 52°15] Isca,² where is located Legio II Augusta³ [17*30 52°45]. Ptolemy's Geography of the Second Century

Isca Dumnoniorum is listed in two routes of the late-second century Antonine Itinerary, however, its inclusion in Iter XII seems to be an error. The remaining route, Iter XV, the last in the British section, is entitled "the route from Calleva to Isca Dumnoniorum", wherein Isca appears as the southern terminus and listed some 20 km from Muridunum (nr. Honiton, Devon).

Isca Dumnoniorum is also named in the Ravenna Cosmography of the seventh century, as the somewhat confused scribal entry of Scadu Namorum between two unknown entries, namely Melamoni and Termonin which may also be corruptions in themselves.

The Roman Legionary Fortress at Isca Dumnoniorum

The first Roman military building to be identified was the principia or regimental headquarters of a Neronian legionary fortress, built c55-60AD and below the monumental administrative buildings of the later Flavian period. This building lay at the centre of a 37 acre enclosure making it rather small for a legionary fortress- usually around 50 acres in area. It seems likely that the camp was never intended to house a full complement of the Legio II Augusta and that this reduction in the legionary complement may have been for two chief reasons. Firstly, the legion may have suffered the loss of more than a thousand men during its earlier campigns in southern Britain. Secondly, a number of cohorts were housed elsewhere, possibly at Corinium in Gloucestershire or maybe on the Continent. "It is probable that there was an auxiliary fort at Exeter itself, which remains to be found below the later legionary base."

Legio Secundae Augusta

For a long time the passage in Ptolemy which located the Legio II Augusta within the lands of the Dumnonii was believed to be wrong, in that the ancient author had mistakenly copied the data for Isca Silurum in South Wales, however, recent finds seem to confirm the presence of this unit during the early Neronian period.

"The legion's presence at Exeter is supported by the appearance of a stamped roofing-tile there, in a layer dated to the region of AD60."

A legionary bath-house was built inside the fortress sometime between 55-60 and underwent renovation shortly afterwards c60-65, but by c68 (perhaps even 66) the legion had beem transferred to a newer fortress at Gloucester- this saw the dismantling of the Isca fortress and the site was then abandoned.

Civitas Capital of the Dumnonii

Around 75AD work on the civitas forum and basilica had commenced on the site of the former principia and by the late-second century the civitas walls had beem completed at 3 metres thick and 6 metres high and enclosing the exact same area as the earlier fortress. By the late-fourth century the civitas was in decline, nevertheless

Dumnonian history and rulers: Roman to Dark Age periods

The following outline is an abridged account of the history of Dumnonian and later Cornish history as recorded in the Annales Cambriae et al [1] with additional information from Peter Salway . It should be borne in mind that the dates given are highly approximative and at times may even be contradictory due to the nature of the sources. The early Annales and Monmouth's Historia regum Britanniae cannot necessarily be taken at face value as far as history is concerned, especially in the case of the latter. Graham Webster also points out that with sub- and post-Romano-British history it is often difficult to separate historical fact from legend. The list of the Dumnonian kings is problematic in the least often confused with Arthurian legend and further complicated by strong and overlapping associations with the ruling houses of Wales and Brittany.

The British chieftains of the Dumnonii had ruled in the south-west until they were faced with the might of Rome c55AD when the Romans established a legionary fortress at Isca Dumnoniorum . Although conquest was in all effect complete by 78AD, it appears likely that the Dumnonii retained a great deal of local control, and may have been self-governed under Roman rule. A list of Kings of Dumnonia may be found in the Book of Baglan.

Rulers of the Roman period

The ruler of Dumnonia was Caradoc (Caratacus) the trusted advisor of Eudaf Hen of Gwent in the period c290–c305. Caradoc would not have been a king in the true sense but probably held a powerful office within the Roman administration of the mid-4th century. Caradoc is said to have been the trusted advisor of the supposed British High King (perhaps the Praeses of Britannia Prima) named Octavius the Old (Eudaf Hen). He appears to have become embroiled in many of the political intrigues of the period. It was Caradoc who persuaded Octavius to marry his only daughter to the then Senator, Magnus Maximus (Macsen Wledig) and leave him the British High-Kingdom. It is possible that the Caratacus Stone on Winsford Hill (Somerset) records one of his co-lateral descendants. The stone is inscribed

Carataci nepus-------- = (--------) "relative of Caradoc"

Caradoc had a son c310, Mauric/Meurig but who appears to have predeceased his father Caradoc. Caradoc was succeeded by his second son Donaut (Dynod) c305 and it was this son who left the kingdom to his own son-in-law, [Conan]].

The period 340–387 saw the rule of Conan Meriadoc who was also named as King of Brittany and who in turn left Dumnonia to his eldest son by Ursula. The next ruler recorded in the period c387–390 is Gadeon (Cadfan) his son whose half-brother Erbin ruled Brittany. In turn the kingdom passed down from father to son, this time to Guoremor/(Gwrfawr] or in Latin (Vorimorus) c390–400 and who was probably the first independent King of Dumnonia.

By the beginning of the fifth century Dumnonia has absorbed the former Celtic territory of the Durotriges in Dorset and the new century ushered in the next son in line to the throne Tutwal who may have married Gratianna, the youngest daughter of Maximus and reigned in the period c400-410.

The end of Roman rule to the West Saxon breakthrough of 577

The effective end of Roman rule in Britain saw the reign, c410-c435, of Conomor whose son Constantine Corneu (born c411) and ruling from c435–443, went on to split the inheritance of the kingdom between his two sons at his death. Constantine Corneu may mean "Constantine of Cornwall", and this has led some to specualte that one his sons may have been the legendary Uther Pendragon. This may also be down to confusion with Constantine's distant cousin and namesake, the King of Brittany and short lived Emperor of Britain and Gaul. Constantine Corneu and as his Kingdom was split between his two sons.

This split led in turn to a seventy year period c443–510 in which Cornubia appears to have been governed as a sub-kingdom by Erbin's younger brother, Merion. Erbin (Urban)ab Custennyn himself, abdicated in favour of Gerren before 480 which leaves a period of rule speculated at c443–480.

Between 443 and after 500 saw Merchion ab Custennyn come to the throne as King of Cornubia (Cerniw) and the line subsequently continued Cerniw. Contemporaneously, in the period c480–508 we find Gereint Llyngesog ab Erbin, first son who died at Portsmouth in c501. Gerren was succeeded by his son Dywel ab Erbin and who died c520. It is possible that one Dywel's sons may have been Saint Piran although it must be noted that during this period it is often difficult to separate historical fact from legend.

The period c508–530 brought in the reign of Cado ab Gerren who was styled Duke of Cornubia and King of Dumnonia. It is in this period that we also find mentioned Iestyn his brother, who entered the church along with another brother Selevan/ (Solomanus)/(Saint Selevan) and sister Saint Breage.

Between c530-560 Custennin ab Cado. i.e. Saint Constantine), ruled as High King until c540.and then entered a monastery. He was killed in 589. We also find, c560–598, Saint Gerrren (Gerren rac Dehau) ('for the South') Constantine's son who fought the Angles of Bernicia at Catreath.

In 577 disaster struck for the kingdom when the West Saxons broke through Dumnonian defences capturing Caer Baddan, Caer Ceri and Caer Gloui. Glastenning-possibly Glastonbury- and the heartland of eastern Dumnonia:were now under direct threat. It seems likely that these three cities had been receiving some form of military support from Glastenning and/or Dumnonia, and that they managed to hold onto the west Wansdyke territory for some time afterwards.

The period 577 to the fall of Dumnonia proper

From 598–613 Bledric ap Custennin http://www.britannia.com/bios/ebk/clemedm.html ruled until his death at the Battle of Bangor-is-Coed by Aethelfrith. By this time West Saxon pressure on the kingdom saw the Celtic British evermore on the retreat. During the period 597–611 the West Saxons under Ceolwulf forced the Dumnonians out of the West Wansdyke region of Caer Baddan in (Somerset). There appears to be the reign for approximately one year c613 of Clemen ap Bledric, Bledric's son, until 614 when Cynegils of the West Saxons took advantage of Bledric's death by invading Dumnonia. Having been sorely defeated at the Battle of Beandun,(Bindon),(Devon), Bledric's son, Clemen, was forced to retreat back to Caer Uisc, i.e. Exeter.

Around 630 Petroc Baladrddellt ap Clemen son of Clemen ruled without note until 652 when Cenwalh made a breakthrough against the Dumnonian defensive lines at the battle of Bradford-upon-Avon, subsequently some areas of Dorset and Somerset fell. More defeats followed in the period c658-post-661 when Petroc's son, Culmin ap Petroc lost the Battle of Peonna in 658. The West Saxons victory at the battle of Peonna (Penselwood (a densely forested area in eastern Somerset) resulted in the eastern half of Dumnonia being permanently captured by Wessex. The British territory of Glastenning (in modern Somerset) probably fell at the same time.

In 682 Dungarth ap Culmin ruled and more defeats followed from 681–685. The West Saxons conquered the remainder of Somerset as Centwine cleared the western coastal area as far as the Devon border. In a two pronged attack the territory of the "Defnas" (Dumnonia/Devon) was also taken by an army pressing along the English Channel coast from Dorset to Exeter.

For the Britons the situation was now becoming desparate c700–710 Gerontius)ap Dungarth was defeated by Ine of Wessex and killed- the subsequent period c710-715 saw the probable rule of Ithel ap Dungarth yet from 715 onwards the descent of the kings of Dumnonia becomes highly unreliable as the kingdom is slowly but streadily crushed by the might of Saxon kingdom of Wessex. By 800 the kingdom of Dumnonia was so compressed by the inroads made by Wessex that it effectively ceased to exist. The remaining British territory was known as the Kingdom of Cerniu/Cernyw/Kernow or Cornwall.

Cornish Dumnonia until the Norman Conquest

In 825 (adjusted date) 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". However, there is no mention of who won or who lost, whether the men of Cornwall and Devon were fighting each other or on the same side, and no mention of King Egbert. This is the earliest recording of the name “Devon”. From c865–875, Doniert or Dungarth, who was possibly a descendent of Gerren, ruled. His death is still a mystery, recorded as being “drowned”- certainly an unsual death for a king during this period. Dungarth held court at Lis-Cerruyt (Liskeard). He drowned during a hunting expedition in 876. Part of his memorial cross, the Doniert Stone, can be seen at St. Cleer. In 875 the selfsame Doniert was said to be the 'last king', and his drowning is recorded in the Annales Cambriae in 875.

Around 927 Huwell, perhaps Huwal of the West Welsh, is recorded as being king. In 927, according to William of Malmesbury, writing around 1120, says that 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 Athelstan set the border between England and Cornwall as the east bank of the River Tamar.

The last records are very sketchy indeed. In c930 Conan is named and in the period up to the first millenium, 1000, we find a petty king named Ricatus who seems to have held authority in the Land's End area only. In an undefined period up to the Norman Conquest of 1066 we find ruler Cadoc of Cornwall mentioned. In 1066 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.

References

• Ptolemy, Geography 2.2
• Amédée Thierry, L'Histoire des Gaulois pt iii, chapter II (in French)
• Marie-France Piguet, "Observation et histoire: Race chez Amédée Thierry et William F. Edwards" in L'Homme 153 (in French)
• The Towns of Roman Britain by John Wacher (II Ed., BCA, London, 1995) p335-343 et fig. 151
• The Roman Invasion of Britain by Graham Webster (London 1993) p159
• Roman Britain by Peter Salway (Oxford 1981) p98-

Annales Cambriae

• Phillimore, Egerton (ed.), 1888 'The Annales Cambriae and Old Welsh Genealogies from Harleian MS. 3859', Y Cymmrodor 9 (1888) p141-183.
• Remfry, P.M., Annales Cambriae. A Translation of Harleian 3859; PRO E.164/1; Cottonian Domitian, A 1; Exeter Cathedral Library MS. 3514 and MS Exchequer DB Neath, PRO E (ISBN 1-899376-81-X)
• Williams (ab Ithel), John, ed. (1860), Annales Cambriae (444 – 1288), London: Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts

See also

• Carn Brea
• Cornovii
• Cornwall
• Devon
• Kingdom of Dumnonia
• Wessex

External links

• Dumnonii at Roman-Britain.org
• Biographies of monarchs & other royalty from those little known kingdoms that existed in Britain during the Age of King Arthur at-
• http://www.britannia.com/bios/ebk/