Celtic England: Who Were the Britons of Ancient England? English History Explained

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When you think of Enghlish history, the Anglo-Saxon migration and invasion of England from mainland Europe is probably one of the first things that comes to mind. Long before the Anglo-Saxons in the 5th century AD however, ancient England was mainly comprised of Celtic Britons.

Yet who were these people that inhabited ancient England?

The Britons are thought to be descendants of Celtic tribes from ancient Spain who sailed to and settled large parts of the British Isles around 7,000 years ago. In England, around 64% of the population is thought to be descended from these ancient Celtic people, a far higher rate than any Anglo-Saxon root, with 73% of people in Scotland and 83% of people in Wales sharing the same Celtic descent, according to one Oxford study. As well as England, Britons lived in parts of southern ancient Scotland and ancient Wales for centuries, as this map from around the 6th century AD illustrates.

Over the centuries, the Britons maintained and developed strong trading links to the Celtic Gauls of Ancient Europe, who controlled most of modern-day France and Belgium amongst other territories, and shared many cultural traditions with each other.

Instead of thinking of the Britons as one kingdom, the Britons should be thought of as many groups of tribes who shared many cultural, social and political traits. Similar to other Celtic societies, the druids played an important religious and legal role in Briton. This Celtic priesthood is thought to have settled legal disputes, studied the stars, and officiated ritualistic ceremonies, potentially even overseeing human sacrifices. The Britons also minted their own coins, as they had a somewhat developed economic system for the time.

The Britons spoke the common Brittonic language, an ancient insular Celtic language. During the Roman period, starting around the 1st century AB, Brittonic took inspiration from Latin, particularly in relation to words for church and Christianity. In around the 6th century AD, the common Brittonic language had become split into early versions of languages such as Welsh, Cumbric, Cornish and Breton.

In the first century AD, much of Celtic Briton was conquered by the Roman Empire, giving birth to such hybrids as British Latin, but I will explore the Roman conquest of Briton in more detail in a future video. The Anglo-Saxon migration and invasion of ancient England beginning in the 5th century AD further eroded Celtic Briton, with this being followed by Viking and Norman invasions in future centuries.

By the 11th century AD, the Celtic Briton were largely fragmented into the Cornish, the Welsh, and the Cumbrians in the Hen Ogledd ("Old North") region of southern Scotland and northern England. Many Britons also left the mainland, and settled in places such as Brittany in France and Galicia in Spain, which is why these places have Celtic roots.

Sources:

Briton, The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica https://www.britannica.com/topic/Briton

Scotsman, We're nearly all Celts under the skin https://www.scotsman.com/arts-and-culture/were-nearly-all-celts-under-skin-2480644

Celtic Britons, Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_Britons

Creative Commons Imagery:

GPinkerton File:Anglo.Saxon.migration.5th.cen.jpg - Wikimedia Commons Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0

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