Taken from the book
"Celt, Druid and Culdee"
1973
by
the late Isabel Hill Elder
THE EARLY BRITONS
IT has been said that the only excuse for writing a book is that
one has something to say which has not been said before. That
this claim cannot be made on behalf of this little volume will be
very evident to the reader as he proceeds, since it is a
***compilation from a variety of sources,*** from which evidence
has been brought together, to support the belief that the
civilization of the early Britons was of a high standard, and
that they did not deserve that contempt with which they have been
treated by many historians, nor the odious names of 'savages' and
'barbarians' by the supercilious literati of Greece and Rome.
When evidence, admittedly fragmentary, of the real conditions in
these islands, from the earliest times, has been brought to light
throughout the centuries, it seems, almost invariably, to have
been rejected in favour of Roman teaching.
In his History of Scotland, the Rev. J. A. Wylie, LL.D., say:
'We have been taught to picture the earliest conditions of
our country as one of unbroken darkness. A calm
consideration of the time and circumstances of its first
peopling warrants a more cheerful view."
By examining the available evidence it may be possible to obtain
this more cheerful view, and to show that in the darkest eras of
our country the rites of public worship were publicly observed.
It is ever true to say that, 'The history of a nation is the
history of its religion, its attempts to seek after God.'
Wilford states that the **old Indians** were acquainted with the
**British Islands,** which their books described as the sacred
islands of the west, and called one them Britashtan, or the seat
or place of religious duty.
The popular idea that the ancestors of the British were painted
savages has no foundation in fact. It was a custom of the Picts
and other branches of the Celtic and Gothic nations to make
themselves look terrible in war, from whence came the Roman term
'savage'. The 'painting' was in reality tattooing, a practice
still cherished in all primitive crudities by the British sailor
or and soldier.
Far from these ancestral Britons having been mere painted
savages, roaming wild in the woods as we are imaginatively told
in most of the modern histories, they are now, on the contrary,
as disclosed by newly found historical facts given by Professor
Waddell, known to have been, from the very first grounding of
their galley keels upon these shores, over a millennium and a
half before the Christian era, a literate race, pioneers of
civilization. The universally held belief that the mixed race
has prevailed during many centuries; this belief, however, is
now fading out of the scientific mind and giving place to the
exact opposite. Britons, Celts, Gaels, Anglo-Saxons, Danes and
Normans when warring with each other were kinsmen shedding
kindred blood.
Professor Sayce, at a later date, in one of his lectures,
observes that he misses no opportunity of uprooting the notion
that the people who form the British nation are descended from
various races, all the branches that flowed into Britain being
branches of the selfsame stock. Not a single pure Saxon is to be
found in any village, town or city of Germany. Our Saxon
ancestors rested there for a time in their wandering to these
islands.
Dr. Latham says, "Throughout the whole length and breadth of
Germany there is not one village, hamlet or family which can show
definite signs of descent from the Continental ancestors of the
Angles of England."
It was against this, race, now in possession of the whole of
Southern Britain, that Caesar led his legions. The Belgae, the
Attrebates, the Parisii and the Britanni were all British tribes,
having kinsmen on the Continent, yet moving westward, who had
fought against Caesar in the Gallic wars.
It is noteworthy that during the occupation of Britain by the
Romans the inhabitants led a life as separate as possible from
their invaders and, according to Professor Huxley, when the
Romans withdrew from Britain in A.D.410 the population was as
substantially Celtic as they found it.
Huxley in 1870, in the earlier years of the Irish agitation,
applied the results of his studies to the political situation in
Ireland in the following words in one of his lectures:
"If what I have to say in a matter of science weighs with
any man who has political power I ask him to believe that
the arguments made about the difference between Anglo
Saxons and Celts are a mere sham and delusion."
The Welsh Triads and the 'Chronicum Regum Pictorum' as well as
the 'Psalter of Cashel' give us the chief early information about
the inhabitants of Scotland, and all agree as to the racial unity
of the peoples, much, however, as they fought each other.
This unity is recognized by Thierry Nicholas, Palgrave and Bruce
Hannay.
The Britons were renowned for their athletic form, for the great
strength of their bodies, and for swiftness foot. Clean-shaven,
save for long moustaches, with fair skins and fair hair, they
were a fine, manly race of great height (Strabo tells us that
British youths were six inches taller than the tallest man in
Rome) and powerfully built. They excelled in running, swimming,
wrestling, climbing and in all kinds of bodily exercise, were
patient in pain, toil and suffering, accustomed to fatigue,
to bearing hunger, cold and all manner of hardships. Bravery,
fidelity to their word, manly independence, love of their
national free institutions, and hatred of every pollution and
meanness were their noble characteristics.
Tacitus (the Roman historian - Keith Hunt) tells us the northern
Britons were well trained and armed for war. In the battlefield
they formed themselves into battalions; the soldiers were armed
with huge swords and small shields called 'short targets', they
had chariots and cavalry, and carried darts which they hurled in
showers on the enemy. Magnificent as horsemen, with their
chargers gaily caparisoned, they presented a splendid spectacle
when prepared for battle. The cumulative evidence is of a people
numerous, brave and energetic. Even Agricola could say that it
would be no disgrace to him, were he to fall in battle, to do so
among so brave a people. Farther south similar conditions
prevailed; the Romans, led by Plautius and Flavius Vespasian, the
future Emperor and his brother, assailed the British, and were
met with the british 'stupidity' knows when it is beaten.
The British have been from all time a people apart, characterized
by justice and a love of religion. Boadicea, in her oration as
queen by Dion Cassius, observes that though Britain had been for
centuries open to the Continent, yet its language, philosophy and
usages continued as great a mystery as ever to the Romans
themselves.
The monuments of the ancient Britons have long since vanished
(with the exception of Stonehenge and other places of Druidic
worship), yet Nennius, the British historian who was Abbot of
Bangor-on-Dee about A.D. 860, states that he drew the greater
part of his information from writings and the monuments of the
old British inhabitants. Our early historians were undoubtedly
acquainted with a book of annals written in the vernacular tongue
which was substantially the same as the Saxon Chronicle.
Nennius disclaims any special ability for the task of historian
set him by his superiors, but is filled with a keen desire to see
justice done to the memory of his countrymen, saying, 'I bore
about with me an inward wound, and I was indignant that the name
of my own people, formerly famous and distinguished, should sink
into oblivion and like smoke be dissipated....It is better to
drink a wholesome draught of truth from a humble vessel than
poison mixed with honey from a golden goblet.'
What were once considered exaggerated statements on the part of
Nennius, Geoffrey of Monmouth and other early historians, are now
discovered to be trust-worthy. In their day these writers were
regarded as historians of repute. Many of the ancient British
writers were professed genealogists, men appointed and patronized
by the princes of the country, who were prohibited from following
other professions. It was left a later age to throw doubt on
their veracity. Since it is the nature of truth to establish
itself it seems the reverse of scholarly to disregard the
evidence of ancient reports as embodied in the Welsh Triads and
the writings of early British historians.
Milton says, 'These old and inborn names of successive kings
never to have been real persons, or done in their lives at least
some part of what so long hath been remembered cannot be thought
without too strict incredulity.'
A great deal of history, so-called has come dow to us from Latin
sources, whose one object was, from the very first to make us
believe that we owe all to Rome, when, in fact, Rome owes a
great deal to us: so much error has been taught in our schools
concerning the ancient Britons that it is difficult for the
average student to realize that the British, before the arrival
of Julius Caesar, were, in all probability, among the most highly
educated people on the earth at that time and, as regards
scientific research, surpassed both the Greeks and the Romans - a
fact testified to by both Greek and Roman writers themselves.
In all the solid essentials of humanity our British ancestors
compare to great advantage with the best eras of Greece and Rome.
Lumisden has shown in his treatise on the 'Antiquities of Rome'
that many of the fine actions attributed by Roman historians to
their own ancestors are mere copies from the early history of
Greece.
It is unfortunate for posterity that the histories from which
modern historians have drawn their information were written by
hostile strangers. That they have been accepted all along the
centuries as true is a striking tribute to a people who, valiant
in war and fierce in the defence of their rights, think no evil
of their enemies. Truly has it been said that an essentially
British characteristic is the swift forgetfulness of injury.
(Source facts for this chapter by Isabel Hill Elder, were taken
from the following- Keith Hunt)
1 History of Scotland, Vol.I, p.31.
2 Asiatic Researches, Vol.3
3 Origin of Britons, Scots and Anglo-Saxons, p.14.4 Hibbert
Lectures (1887).
5 Ethnology of the British Islands, p.217.
6 Gilbert Stone, England, p.9.
7 Anthrop. Rev. 1870, Vol.8, p.197, Forefathers and Forerunners
of the British People.
8 Norman Conquest, p.20.
9 Pedigree of the English People.
10 Palgrave, English Commonwealth, Ch.I, p.85.
11 Hannay, European and other Race Origins, pp.365,470,371.
12 Pezron, Antiq, de la Nation et de la Langue Gaulaise.
13 Vita Agricolae, c.28.
14 Historiae Brittonum of Nennius, Harleian MS 3859 (British
Museum).
15 Vide Geoffrey of Monmouth, I, 1. See Cave Hist.Lit. II,18.
16 Nennius, Hist. of the Britons, trans. J. A. Giles, Prol. p.2.
17 Gir. Camb. Cambriae Descript., Cap. XVIII. Anglica Hibernica,
ed. Camden, p.890.
18 History of England, Vol. 8, p. i 1.
19 Strabo, I,IV, p.197. Mela Pom., III, 2,18. N.H., I, 30.
20 Antiq.of Rome, pp.6,7,8.
................
In the next chapter by Isabel Elder we shall see what the LAWS
and ROADS were like in Early Britain....more surprises and
revelations.
Early Britain
It was not what most think
From the book "Celt, Druid, and Culdee"
by
the late Isabel Hill Elder
LAWS AND ROADS
That Britain had an indigenous system of law centuries before the
Christian era is abundantly clear from ancient histories of our
islands.
The lawgiver, Molmutius, 450 B.C.(1) based his laws on the code
of Brutus, 1100 B.C. He was the son of Cloton, Duke of Cornwall
(which was and continued to be a royal dukedom) and is referred
to in ancient documents as Dyfn-val-meol-meod, and because of his
wisdom has been called the 'Solomon' of Britain. 'Centuries
before the Romans gained a footing in this country the
inhabitants were a polished and intellectual people, with a
system of jurisprudence of their own, superior even to the laws
of Rome, and the Romans acknowledged this.'(2)
We have it from the great law authorities and from the legal
writers, Fortescue and Coke, that the Brutus and Molmutine laws
have always been regarded as the foundation and bulwark of
British liberties, and are distinguished for their clearness,
brevity, justice and humanity.(3)
'The original laws of this land were composed of such elements as
Brutus first selected from the ancient Greek and Trojan
institutions.'(4)
A Trojan law mentioned by E.O.Gordon, decreed that the sceptre
might pass to a queen as well as to a king; this law was embodied
by King Molmutius in his code and remains an outstanding feature
of the rulership of these islands.(5)
The liberty of the subject, so marked a feature of British
government today, runs from those remote times like a gold thread
through all the laws and institutions in this country.
King Alfred, it is recorded, employed his scribe, Asser, a
learned Welsh monk from St. David's (whom he afterwards made
abbot of Amesbury and Bishop of Sherborne), to translate the
Molmutine laws from the Celtic tongue into Latin, in order
that he might incorporate them into his own Anglo-Saxon code.(6)
'The Manorial system had its beginning in Celtic Britain and was
so deeply rooted in the soil that when the Romans came they were
wise enough in their experience as colonists not to attempt the
redistribution of the old shires and hundreds.'(7)
King Alfred's ideas of rulership maintained the earlier and
sometimes unwritten laws of Britain in these words: 'A king's raw
material and instruments of rule are well-peopled land, and he
must also have men of prayer, men of war and men of work.'
From the earliest Code of Laws known as the Molmutine, the
following are appended as examples:
'There ate three tests of civil liberty; equality of rights;
equality of taxation; freedom to come and go.
'Three things are indispensable to a true union of nations;
sameness of laws, rights and language.
'There are three things free to all Britons; the forest, the
unworked mine, the right of hunting.
'There three property birthrights of every Briton; five British
acres of land for a home, the right of suffrage in the enacting
of the laws, the male at twenty-one, the female on her marriage.
'There are three things which every Briton may legally be
compelled to attend; the worship of God, military service, the
courts of law.
'There are three things free to every man, Briton or foreigner,
the refusal of which no law will justify; water from spring,
river or well; firing from a decayed tree, a block of stone not
in use.
'There are three classes which are exempt from bearing arms;
bards, judges, graduates in law or religion. These represent God
and His peace, and no weapon must ever be found in their hands.
'There are three persons who have a right of public maintenance;
the old, the babe, the foreigner who can not speak the British
tongue.'(8)
From time immemorial the laws and customs differed from those of
other nations, and that the Romans effected no change in this
respect is very plainly set forth by Henry de Bracton, a
thirteenth-century English judge of great experience. 'He was
thoroughly acquainted with the practice of the law. His "Note-
Book" is our earliest and most treasured of law reports.'(9)
Judge de Bracton states, 'Whereas in almost all countries they
use laws and written right, England alone uses within her
boundaries unwritten right and custom. In England, indeed, right
is derived from what is unwritten which usage has approved. There
are also in England several and divers customs according to the
diversity of places, for the English have many things by custom
which they have not by written law, as in divers countries,
cities, boroughs and vills where it will always have to be
enquired what is the custom of the place and in what manner they
who allege the custom observe the custom.'(10)
Another point on which Britain differs from other countries is
that she has ever maintained the Common Law which holds a person
under trial innocent until proved guilty, whereas the Continental
nations maintain the Civil Law which holds him guilty until
proved innocent.
Molmutius, the first king in these islands to wear a crown of
gold,(11) is said to have founded the city of Bristol, which he
called Caer Odor, 'the city of the Chasm'. His son Belinus, who
succeeded him, built a city where London now stands which he
called Caer Troia, and also the first Thames Embankment. He
constructed a sort of quay or port made of poles and planks, and
erected a water-gate. That age, the only gate admitting into
London on the south side, became Belinus Gate or Belins Gate.
(12)
Belinus lived to the age of eighty. When he died his body was
burned (they did not call it cremation in those days) and his
ashes were enclosed in a brazen urn, which was placed on top of
the gate; henceforth it was Belin's Gate and it requires no undue
stretch of imagination to see that Belin's Gate became
Billingsgate.
Bellingsgate enjoys the proud distinction of being the first Port
of London, the only Port of London at that time, and thus the men
of Billingsgate became the first Port of London Authority.
Cambria Formosa, daughter of Belinus, 373 B.C. greatly promoted
the building of cities. She is said to have taught the women of
Britain to sow flax and hemp and weave it into cloth. Her brother
Gwrgan first built the city of Cambridge which he called Caer
Gwrgan.(13)
In these early times Britain was a wealthy country, with fine
cities, a well organized national life, and an educated and
civilized people.
The so-called Roman roads in Britain were constructed centuries
BEFORE the Romans came to these islands. The dover to Holyhead
causeway, called Sarn Wydellin or Irish Road, later became
corrupted into Watling Street; the Sarn Ikin, later Icknield
street, led from London northwards through the eastern district,
and Sarn Achmaen from London to Menevia (St. David's).
These were causeways or raised roads (not mere trackways as
sometimes erroneously stated), except where raised road were
impossible, and this accounts for the term 'Holloway' in some
parts of the country.
Our roads were begun by Molmutius (c.450 B.C.) and completed by
his son Belinus. On their completion a law was enacted throwing
open these roads to all nations and foreigners: 'There are three
things free to a country and its borders; the roads, the rivers
and the places of worship. These are under the protection of God
and His peace.' In this law originated the term 'The King's
Highway.'(14)
Writers who maintain that the British roads were simply unmade
trackways seem unaware of the fact that the British were skilled
charioteer this fact, without other evidence, should go a long
way to prove that the roads of ancient Britain were hard and well
made. Charioteering is not brought to perfection on soft, boggy
trackways, nor are chariots built without wheelwrights and other
mechanics skilled in the working of iron and wood.
Only once before, in the war with Antiochus, 192 B.C., the Romans
met with similar chariots, but never in any European country. The
British chariot was built after the Eastern pattern, adorned with
carved figures and armed with hooks and scythes. British chariots
were prized possessions of the Romans.
Diodorus Siculus, 60 B.C., states, 'The Britons live in the same
manner that the ancients did; they fight in chariots as the
ancient heroes of Greece are said to have done in the Trojan
wars.....They are plain and upright in their dealings, and far
from the craft and subtlety of our countrymen.... The island is
very populous.... The Celts never shut the doors of their houses;
they invite strangers to their feasts, and when all is over ask
who they are and what is their business.(15)
Britain, long before the Roman invasion, was famous for its breed
of horses and the daring and accomplishment of its charioteers;
and after the arrival of the Romans the large space given by
their historians to the wars in Britain, demonstrate the interest
felt in them by the whole empire. Juvenal could suggest no news
which would have(16) been hailed by the Roman people with more
satisfaction than the fall of the British king Arviragus
(Caractacus), a direct descendant of King Molmutius.
'Hath our great enemy, Arviragus, the car-borne British
king, Dropped from his battle-throne?'
1. Ancient Laws of Cambria (British Museum, 5805, A.A. 4). Myv.
Arch., Vol. II, Brut Tysillo.
2. Yeatman, Early English History, p.9.
3. De Laudibus Legum Angliae. Coke Preface, third volume of
Pleadings. Fortescue Brit. Laws, published with notes by
Selden, Ch.17, pp.38,39.
4. Ibid.
5. Prehistoric London, p.115.
6. Summarized by Edmund Spenser, Faerie Queen, Bk.II, Stanza
XXXIX (ed. Morris).
7. A Manor through four Centuries, by A.R.Cook.
8. Triads of Dynvall Moelmud, ap. Walter p. 315 Myv Arch., Vol.
III. Ancient Laws of Cambria, ap. Palgrave and Lappenberg.
9. Gilbert Stone, England from Earliest Times, p.385.
10.Legibus et Consuet, pp.4,5.
11.Holinshed, Chronicles, Ch. XXII, p.117. Geoffrey of Monmouth,
Bk.II, Chap.XVII.
12.E. O. Gordon, Prehistoric London, p.146.
13.Lewis, Hist. of Britain, p.52. See Baker's MSS. in the
University Library, Cambridge,XXIV,249.
14.Ancient Laws of Cambriae (British Museum,A.A.4). Stukely,
Abury, p.42.
15.Dio.Sic., Bk.V,Chap.X. Senchus Mor., IV,237.
16.Juvenal lived through the reigns of Caligula, Claudius, Nero,
Vespasian, Domitian and Trojan, in whose reign he died at the
age of eighty.
............
TO BE CONTINUED
In the next chapter Isabel Hill Elder expounds on the Commerce
and Dress of the ancient British....more very revealing facts.
Early Britain
Some Surprises!
From the book "Celt, Druid and Culdee"
by
the late Isabel Hill Elder
COMMERCE AND DRESS
Tacitus (the Roman Historian - Keith Hunt) and Strabo describe
Londinium as famous for the vast number of merchants who resorted
to it for its widely extended commerce, for the abundance of
every species of commodity which it could supply, and they make
note of British merchants bringing to the Seine and the Rhine
shiploads of corn and cattle, iron and hides, and taking back
iron, ivory and brass ornaments.(1)
That Londinium was considered by the Romans as the metropolis of
Britain is further established by the fact that it was the
residence of the Vicar of Britain!(2) The abode of such an office
clearly marks London as having been a seat of justice, of
government and of the administration of the finances which
consequently contributed to its extent, its magnificence and its
wealth.(3) Britain was, in fact, from at least 900 B.C. to the
Roman invasion, the manufacturing centre of the world.
The Abbe de Fontenu proved that the Phoenicians, the name by
which the tribe of Asher was known after the Conquest of the
Phoenician territory, had an established trade with Britain
before the Trojan war, 1190 B.C.(4) Admiral Himilco of Carthage,
who visited Britain about the sixth century B.C. to explore 'the
outer parts of Europe', records that the Britons were 'a powerful
race, proud-spirited, effectively skilful in art, and constantly
busy with the cares of trade.(5)
Nor was Ireland less forward than Britain, for from the ancient
Greek records it would appear that trade routes both by sea and
land existed in these very early times, the latter route being
across Europe through the territories of the Scythians. A most
curious belief of the Greeks was that the inspiration which led
to the institution of the Olympic Games was derived from the
observance of ancient Irish festivities.(6)
The British farmer had a market for his produce beyond the shores
of Britain. We learn from Zosimus that in the reign of Julian,
A.D.363, eight hundred pinnaces were built in order to supply
Germany with corn from Britain.(7)
When the Romans invaded Britain in A.D. 43 they found the
inhabitants in possession of a gold coinage, wrought shields of
bronze(8) and enamelled ornaments.(9) Fine specimens of richly
enamelled horses' trappings may be seen in the British Museum,
and the bronze shield found in the Thames, near Battersea,
adorned with enamelled designs, Rice Holmes describes as 'the
noblest creation of late Celtic art.'(10)
The beautiful brooches discovered in different parts of these
islands clearly demonstrated that the Britons were skilful and
artistic metal workers, and in the centuries of Roman
domination(more like "occupation" than "domination" - Keith Hunt)
The Celtic patterns did not die out. A peculiarly Celtic type is
the 'dragon' brooch 'representing a conventionalized writhing
dragon often magnificently inlaid with enamel, and recalling in
its vigorous design and curvilinear motives all the essential
qualities of late Celtic art'. Thus the native tradition of metal
work continued under Roman rule to flourish and to produce types
which were not merely Roman but recognizably Celtic.(11) In a
further description Mr. Collingwood says. 'In the true Celtic
spirit the ornament on the trumpet head is often made with eyes
and nostrils to resemble the head of an animal, but however the
brooch is finished in detail it is always a masterpiece of both
design and manufacture.'(12)
Enamelling was an art unknown to the Greeks until they were
taught it by the Celts.(13)
Dr.Arthur Evans tells us that the Romans carried off some of the
Britons to Rome to teach them the art of enamelling as well as
that of glass-making.
Stukeley, giving an account of a glass urn discovered in the Isle
of Ely in the year 1757,observes the Britons were famous for
glass manufacture.(14)
The early Britons were workers in pottery, turnery, smeltings and
glasswork.(15) In the excavations at Glastonbury well-made
instruments of agriculture were found such as tools, files,
safety-pins and also the remains of wells and bridges.
The British tin mines were, from the earliest times, world
renowned. Diodorus Siculus states, 'These people obtain the tin
by skilfully working the soil which produces it.'(16)
Herodotus speaks of the British Isles under the general term
'Cassiterides or the Tin Islands.(17) Bede mentions copper,
iron, lead and silver. 'Gold, too, was mined on a small scale in
Wales, and on a large scale in Ireland where was situated in
early times the centre of the goldmining industry.' Bede mentions
also, as semi-precious, the jet for which Whitby is famous even
now.(18)
The lead mines of Britain were worked long before the Roman
occupation, and it is believed that during the partial domination
by Rome, the mining continued to be carried out by Celtic
workmen.(19)
Dr.John Phillips, the geologist, stated in 1855 that without due
consideration being given to the lead-mining industry, our ideas
'of the ancient British people would be altogether conjectural,
derogatory and erroneous'(20)
Derbyshire was the chief centre of lead-mining, and is so
mentioned in Domesday Book.
Eumemus, A.D.266, private secretary to Constantius Chlores,
states, Britain is full of skilled craftsmen.(21)
The coins of ancient Britain are worthy of more than passing
notice. (Yes, I have a personal friend here in Calgary, Alberta,
who is probably the world's foremost expert on Celtic coinage.
His Website is world famous if you are in that line of study, or
Celtic research in any way. His Website is: writer2001.com and
go to the link which he tells me you cannot miss - Keith Hunt).
Numismatists tell us that our ancient British types cannot amount
to many less than four hundred in number, of which possibly two
hundred may have inscriptions,(22) this variety is to be
accounted for by the fact that each tribe had its own stamped
currency in gold silver and bronze.(my friend John who I have
just talked to on the phone says the number 400 is now way out of
date. He tells me there were at least 1,000 coins that were
"struck" or "used" [some coming from the Europe Celts] in the
Britain - Keith Hunt).
Canon Lysons state, 'It is to be remembered that the earliest
British coins are not imitations of the Roman coinage, they much
resemble the coinage of Philip of Macedon, Alexander the Great,
and the Greek and Eastern mintage.(23)
Dr.Borlase in his Antiquities of Cornwall asserts that the wheel
under the horse seen on Cornish coins intimated the making of a
highway for carts, and that the wheel is common on the coins of
Cunobelinus, 14 B.C., on those of Cassebelinus, 51 B.C., and also
on the Cornish coins which from their character appear to be
older than the rest.
Sir John Evans devotes sixty-four pages of his standard work
"Ancient British Coins" to the coins of Cunobelinus and the
history of his reign.
That Cunobelinus, the Cymbeline of Shakespeare, was a man of
education and refinement is well borne out by his coins,
universally considered to be a true index and reflection of the
mind. Numismatists tell us that the Cunobelinus types are by no
means a Roman type and could hardly have been struck except by
express command.(24)
The coins of Arviragus, son of Cunobelinus, are, where they are
included, the gems of every collection. The horse, sometimes
thought to have been introduced as a national emblem by the
Saxons, is one of the most common types upon the coins of the
ancient Britons.
M. de la Saussaye, in describing the old coin assigned to the
British Druid Abaris, who visited Greece, mentioned by Hecataeus,
states, 'I have been induced to modify my assertion on more than
one point and I particularly recognize religious ideas peculiar
to the Celts expressed on their monetary uninscribed types.(24)
The palm trees on the coins of the Southern Belgae, who settled
in Kent, Sussex, Hants, Wits, Dorset and Devon proclaim the
Eastern origin of these people.
From them modern pictorial representation of our ancestors we are
expected to believe that their dress consisted of an animal skin
fastened round the waist, and that they wandered, thus scantily
clad, about their island home, living on nuts and berries.
Boadicea, Queen of the Iceni (the inhabitants of Norfolk and
Suffolk), was described by Dion Cassius as a woman of commanding
appearance. 'Her stature exceeded the ordinary height of women;
her aspect was calm and collected, but her voice had become deep
and pitiless. Her hair falling in long golden tresses as low as
her hips was collected round her forehead by a golden coronet;
she wore a "tartan" dress fitting closely to the bosom, but below
the waist expanding in loose folds, as a gown; over it was a
chlamys or military cloak. In her hand she bore a spear.'(26)
In these descriptions of native dress it is interesting to note
the early use of the tartan. A British hooded cloak was evidently
regarded by the Romans as a superior garment, for in
Diocletian's Edict of Prices issued in A.D.301, the price of the
British cloak was the highest on the list, with the exception of
the Gallic. If the price was high on account of the quality of
the wool, the statement of the epigrammatist, Martial, A.D.60, is
given as substantiating that among other attractions, Britain was
'for wool past compare.'(27)
Ireland kept pace with Britain in the farming for wool, both for
export and domestic use; the Irish cottiers were always warmly
clad in their own home spun.(28)
The Briton in battledress was an impressive figure being clad
precisely as were the men of Gaul; clean-shaven, save for long
moustaches, with fair skins, fair hair, gorgeously clad in
breeches, bright-colored tunics and woollen cloaks dyed crimson
and often a chequered pattern with torques, armlets and bracelets
of gold, shields of enamelled bronze, and swords of fine
workmanship, they presented a splendid spectacle when prepared
for battle.
The Britons appear to have been also importers of cloth.
According to one authority, Phoenician cloths of Beyrout were
largely worn by the inhabitants of ancient Britain. At Beyrout
our Patron Saint George held for a time an important post under
the Roman Government.(29)
A torque or gold collar was worn by the wealthier inhabitants and
worn also as a distinguishing sign of eminence.(30) Specimens of
these torques have been discovered from time to time, and may be
seen in various museums, notably Dublin National Museum, and in
private collections. A very good example acquired by the late
Duke of Westminster and deposited at Eaton Hall was found at Bryn
Sion Caerwys Mill; it is thirty-two inches long and weighs
twenty-four ounces.
1. Strabo, Geogr. III,175; IV,199.
2. A Roman office.
3. Amm. Marcell, Lib.15, Chaps.8,9.
4. Mem. de Littirature, tome VII, p.126.
5. Fragment preserved by Festus Avienus, Ora Maritama, V, 98-100.
6. C. F. Parker, On the Trail of Irish Identity. National
Message, March 8, 1939.
7. Zosimus, Lib. III, p.43 (Ed. Bas.).
8. Philostratus. A Greek sophist (third century) who resided at
Court of Julia Domna, describes the British process.
9. Gilbert Stone, England from Earliest Times, p.9
10.Anc. Brit., p.244..
11.R.C Collingwood, Roman Britain, p. 76.
12.Archaeology of Roman Britain, p.253.
13.J. Romilly Allen, Celtic Art, p.136.
14.Minutes of Antiq. Soc., March 1762.
15.Gallic Antiq.,p.64 (J. Smith).
16.Bk. V, Chap. X
17.Thalia, Section C, XV (Bel.ed).
18.Gilbert Stone, England from Earliest Times, p.15.
19.Gordon Home, Roman York, p.27
20.YorkPhilos. Soc., Vol.1, p.92
21.Panegyric Constanteus, C, 111.
22.J.Evens, Coins of the Anc.Brit., O, 171.
23.Our British Ancestors, p.41.
24.Coins of Cunobelinus and of the Ancient Britons, p.26
25.La Revue Numismatique, for 1842, p.165
26.Dion Cassius (Xiphilinus Excerpta), p.176, See Strabo,
Bk.1V, 3.
27.Martial, Lib, 1, ep. 2; and Lib.111, ep.20.
28.Stephen Gwynn, History of Ireland, p.330
29.Rev.Canon Parfitt, M.A., St. George of Merry England, 1917
30.Gibon's Camden, p.653. Hoare, Ancient Wilts,Vol.1,p.202
..............
The next chapter looks at the Roman Invasion, again, not as most
have thought or been taught.
Early Britain
Is not what most have been taught
From the book "Celt, Druid and Culdee"
by
the late Isabel Hill Elder
THE ROMAN INVASION
AT the time of the Roman invasion evidence of prosperity and
culture existed in Britain to arouse the envy of the Romans, and
it is a matter of history that the inhabitants led a life as
separate as possible from them.
It was only after ten years incessant warfare that the Romans in
A.D.43 succeeded in effecting a footing in Britain. This is not
reconcilable with the view that the Romans were invading the
territory of untrained, undisciplined savages. The resistance of
Britain was, in reality, against the whole of the north of
Europe, and was highly creditable to the brave defenders of their
country. In the immortal words of SHAKESPEARE in his "Cymbeline,"
'CAESAR MADE NOT HERE HIS BOAST OF CAME AND SAW AND
OVERCAME.'(1)
To estimate aright the military abilities of the
British general, Caswallon, and the resources of the people at
the period of the first collision of our island with the
Continent, it should be borne in mind that they were engaged
against, perhaps, the ablest general of antiquity. The DOUBLE
REPULSION of the JULIAN expedition, 55 and 54 B.C., remains
UNPARALLELED in British history.
In Britain there was one supreme Crown and three Coronets or
Princes' Crowns; there were numerous other 'kings' who never wore
crowns.
The sovereign who reigned in Britain at the time of the Claudian
invasion was Cunobelinus, or King Belinus, the CYMBELINE of
SHAKESPEARE. Cuno, Cun and Can have their equivalents in the
Saxon Cynig; in modern German, Konig, and in English, King.
Cunobelinus and his ancestors ha much intercourse with the
Romans; he is said to have spent he greater part of his boyhood
at the Court of the Romans.(2)
The Roman invasion of his reign was met by Cunobelinus and is
sons with a stubbornness of defence and bravery which earned for
them admiration of the enemy an aroused the wonder of all Europe.
Cunobelinus, after a reign of thirty years, abdicated in favour
of his third son, Caradoc (Caractacus), who now became Arviragus
or high king and by this title is most frequently referred to in
the British Chronicles.
Tacitus (the Roman historian of the time - Keith Hunt)reluctantly
tells us that: 'In Britain after the capture of Caractacus
(Arviragus) the Romans were frequently defeated and put to rout
by the single state of the Silures alone.'(3) The Silures, the
inhabitants of south-west Britain were noted for their military
prowess and culture.
It is evident from the partial story furnished by the invaders
themselves that the resistance offered by the Britons to their
invaders was a surprise for which they were ill-prepared, for
this resistance came not from hordes of savages but from a nation
whose leaders were well versed in military tactics. The Britons
were determined to defend their ancient laws and institutions at
all costs. They evinced profound homage for the memory of their
forefathers, and from their inborn love of liberty sprang the
undaunted energy with which they met the mercenary and implacable
plunderers of the world. By no people was every inch of the
country contested with more bravery and surrendered more
stubbornly than by these Britons; on terms, indeed, which
rendered every victory for the Romans little better than
defeat.(4) It is absurd to suppose that such a nation could be
barbarous.
If popular amusements are to be taken as the test the Romans were
themselves the MOST BARBAROUS of the nations of Europe. When the
brutal sports of the gladiators were proposed to be introduced at
Athens even the cynics cried out, 'We must first pull down the
statue to mercy which our forefathers erected fifteen hundred
years ago.'
A similar gulf separated the British from the Roman temper, and
the comparison of the latter people with regard to the former
should be received with the caution which we would exercise today
in receiving the accounts of hostile strangers.
All the evidence supplied by Caesar refutes the
notion of material barbarism. Agriculture was universal, corn
everywhere abundant, pasturage a distinct branch of national
wealth, and the population so numerous as to excite his
astonishment - 'hominum, multitudo infinito' - the surest and
most satisfactory proof of and social state and ample means of
sustenance.(5)
Having effected a landing (and the testimony of their own
historians is that never was a country more dearly purchased nor
held with greater difficulty) the Romans proceeded with their
policy of destruction for which they had become notorious on the
continent of Europe.
One notable instance has come down to us of the Roman spirit of
cruel indifference to human feelings and sufferings. The
immensely wealthy Prasutagus, King of the Iceni, apprehensive, in
the event of his death, of the Roman brutality likely to be
experienced by his queen, BOADICEA, and his two daughters, left
one half of his fortune to the Emperor Nero, endeavouring thus to
secure for them a measure of protection. When, however, his death
took place in A.D.60, the Roman 'praefect,' Caius Decius, seized
the royal hoard on the pretext that it came under the
denomination of public property. Resistance being made, the
legionaries stormed the palace and carried the treasures off to
the Castra.(6) The story of the barbarous treatment meted out to
its inmates need not be repeated here, nor of Boadicea, stung to
frenzy by these atrocities, bravely taking to the field in
defence of her family and her people, the Roman 'praefect'
having, in direct violation of the Claudian treaty, also
confiscated the estates of the Icenic nobility.
Seneca, the usurious, millionaire philosopher, advanced to the
Iceni, on the security of their public buildings, a sum of money
- about two million pounds sterling in modern currency,(Elder
was writing in 1973...so much more than 2 million in 2003 as I
present to you this chapter - Keith Hunt)at ruinous rate,(7) this
loan, suddenly and violently called in, was the indirect cause of
the Boadicean war. It was a disgrace for a Roman to lend to a
Roman for interest; they were permitted, however, to lend to a
foreigner. (sound like the romans had an OT law that Israel was
given by God through Moses - Keith Hunt).
The territories of the Iceni were rich in lead-mines, some of
which were known to have been worked in times of even greater
antiquity; the Romans seized these mines soon after their arrival
in Britain, thus cutting off an important source of the wealth of
the Icenic people and obliging them to borrow money from Seneca
for the maintenance of their state.(8)
Boadicea, before leading her people and the tribe of the
Trinobantes who joined them, to war, to redress her wrongs,
ascended the 'generals' tribunal and addressed her army of
120,000 in these words:
"I rule not like Nitocris, over beasts of burden, as are the
effeminate nations of the East, nor, like Semiramis, over
tradesmen and traffickers, nor like the man-woman, Nero, over
slaves and eunuchs - such is the precious knowledge such
foreigners introduced amongst us - but I rule over Britons,
little versed, indeed, in craft and diplomacy, but born and
trained to the game of war; men who in the cause of liberty stake
down their lives, the lives of their wives and children,
their lands and property - Queen of such a race, I implore your
aid for freedom, for victory over enemies infamous for the
wantonness of the wrong they inflict, for their perversion of
justice, for their insatiable greed; a people that revel in
unmanly pleasures, whose affections are more to be dreaded and
abhorred than their enmity. Never let a foreigner bear rule over
me or over my countrymen; never let slavery reign in this
island."(9)
(As I type and read these words, I have the hairs on the back of
my head stand up. They are words like a "Drake" or a "Nelson" or
a "Churchill" or even as George Bush the second, has used against
the Terrorists that took down the two Trade Towers in New York
city on September 11th 2001. No wonder the British have a
sculptured monument of Boadicea in her chariot to this very day
in London - Keith Hunt).
Boadicea's many SUCCESSFUL engagements with the Roman armies are
RECORDED in our histories, and when her DEATH took place in
Flintshire, after her eventual defeat, the Romans were IMPRESSED
with her EXTRAORDINARY MAGNIFICENCE of her obsequies. According
to Tacitus,(10) Boadicea died by poison; in the course of nature
according to the Greek historian Dion Cassius.
Boadicea's kinsman, Caradoc, on meeting the invading Romans,
displayed a like spirit of bravery and courage; perhaps indeed no
warrior of ancient times succeeded in WINNING so much ADMIRATION
from the enemy as this king of the south-western Britons, better
known by his Latinized name of CARACTACUS.
The Welsh or Cymry, as the eldest tribe, held three
priorities. Priority as the first colonizers of Britain;
priority of government and priority in matters of learning and
culture.(11) From this premier tribe was to be elected the
Pendragon, or military dictator with absolute power for the time
being in the case of national danger or foreign invasion.
Caractacus, third son of Cunobelinus, had now succeeded his
father as Pendragon under the title Arviragus, or 'high king'.
This Pendragon was proudly referred to by his fellow countrymen
as 'The Praiseworthy Opposer'. Arviragus had yet another name,
Gueirydd (Justiciary), from his office of administrator of
justice, and by this name is mentioned in the Welsh Chronicles.
These three titles by which this ancient king of renown was known
have been a source of confusion in the minds of historical
students and others, which would not exist if the custom of the
ancient Britons, that of using titular designations, were better
known. The case under consideration is a good example of this
custom; in elucidation the following may be noted: in seven
genealogical charts setting forth his pedigree, Arviragus is
shown to be the son of Cunobelinus and grandsire of Lucius (in
whose reign Christianity was established as the national
religion); in the pedigree according to the classics, i.e. Julius
Caesar, Tacitus, Suetonius, Dion Cassius and Orosius, Caractacus
is shown to be the son of Cunobelinus; in Rome Caractacus was
known also by his title, Arviragus, and is so referred to by the
poet Juvenal. In the pedigree according to Tysilio and in the
Welsh Chronicles, Caractacus appears under his title Gueirdd
(Justiciary), son of Cunobelinus and grandsire of Lucius.
Further, in the Triads, and some of the Welsh genealogies,
Caractacus appears as the son of Bran and grandsire of Lucius.
Bran, a contraction of Brenhan, i.e. 'King', is mentioned in the
Triads as 'Bran the Blessed' (the Blessed King). This was the
designation of Cunobelinus following his acceptance of
Christianity and his resignation of the crown in favour of his
third son, Caractacus. Bran the Blessed became Archdruid of
Siluria in order to devote the remainder of his life to
Christianity into which Druidism was beginning to merge.
Caradoc (Caractacus) was no rude savage fighting out of mere
animal instinct or in ignorance of the might of his adversary.
Familiar with the Latin language, this king was a true
representative of the higher classes of the Britons,'among whom a
as general taste for literature, a keen susceptibility to all
intellectual gratifications, a minute acquaintance with all the
principles and practice of their own national jurisprudence, and
a careful training in the schools of the rhetoricians, was very
generally diffused. Hence the rejoicing at Rome when this
military leader was BETRAYED and subsequently conducted through
the capital, amidst the excitement of three MILLION inhabitants
who thronged the line of procession to obtain a view of the
formidable captive.' The Senate was convened; the famous trial of
Caradoc followed, in which before the tribunal of the Emperor he
delivered himself thus :
"Had my government in Britain been directed solely with a view to
the preservation my hereditary domains, or the aggrandizement of
my own family, I might, long since, have entered this city an
ally, not a prisoner; nor would you have disdained for a friend,
a prince, descended from illustrious ancestors, and the dictator
of many nations. My present condition, stripped of its former
majesty, is as adverse to myself as it is a cause of triumph to
you. What then? I was lord of men, arms, horses, wealth.
What wonder if at your dictation I refuse to resign them! Does it
follow that because the Romans aspire to universal dominion every
nation is to accept the vassalage they would impose? I am now in
your power, BETRAYED, NOT conquered. Had I, like others, yielded
without resistance, where would have been the name of Caradoc
[Caractacus]? Where your glory? Oblivion would have buried both
in the same tomb. Bid me live. I shall survive for ever in
history, one example at least of Roman clemency."
(Wow....I get goose-lumps reading this. So mighty a warier was
this man, so amazed were the Roman Empire generals, leaders, and
people, by his many battle wins over the Roman armies, that
INDEED the Roman senate granted him and his family their lives -
Keith Hunt)
The preservation of Caradoc forms a solitary EXCEPTION in the
long catalogue of victims merciless policy of Imperial Rome. His
life was spared on condition that he never again bore arms
against Rome. After a residence of SEVEN years in FREE custody in
Rome he was permitted to return to Britain.
The British prince, Caradoc, in maintaining his descent from
illustrious ancestors, could bring from the clan records evidence
of his pedigree; in those remote times genealogies were guarded
with extreme care and recorded with exactitude by the heral-bard
of each clan.(12)
On the public reception of a child, at the age of fifteen, into
the clan, his genealogy was proclaimed and challengers of it
commanded to come forward.
Pedigree and inheritance were so identified in the ancient
British code that an heir even in the ninth descent could redeem
at a valuation by jury any portion of an estate with which his
forefathers had been compelled to part.(13)
All the family of Caradoc were attached to literary pursuits;
copies of the best Greek and Roman authors were circulated in
Siluria and deposited in the chief centres of druidic
learning.(14)
Caradoc's daughter, Claudia, who with other members of her family
remained in Rome as hostages during her father's captivity there,
wrote several volumes of hymns and odes.(15) Her praises were
sung by the poet Martial:
"Our Claudia named Rufina, sprung we know
From blue-eyed Britons; yet behold, she vies
In grace with all that Greece or Rome can show.
As bred and born beneath their glowing skies."
In a later epigram Martial writes:
"For mountains, bridges, rivers, churches and fair women,
Britain is past compare."(16)
Caradoc's sister, 'Pomponia Grecina', received her cognomen
through her acquaintance with Greek literature, while her aunt,
Blonwen, daughter of Cunobelinus, is believed to be the Imogen of
Shakespeare in his "Cymbeline." The great poet immortalized this
ancient British king in the lines:
"The lofty cedar, royal Cymbeline personates thee."(17)
The state of the country of the northern Britons is indicated by
the number of large cities beyond the Forth which Agricola
explored with his fleet. This could not mean cities which he had
erected, he having been only six years in the country, nor could
cities have arisen in that period, 'amplas civitates', as we
learn from his biographer, Tacitus.
In a general account of Britain, Ptolemy, in A.D. 110, enumerates
fifty-six cities; later, Marcianus enumerated fifty-nine.
It was not until the reign of Hadrian A.D. 120, that Britain was
INCORPORATED BY TREATY, NOT CONQUEST, with the Roman
dominions,(18) the Britons retained their kings, land, laws and
rights, and accepted a Roman nucleus of the army for the defence
of the realm. These local kings and princes of Britain were
obliged to become lieutenants of the Roman Emperor, just as the
heads of our countries are now styled lieutenants of the
Sovereign. They were bound to permit the construction of a Roman
'castra' garrisoned by Roman legionaries, with their usual staff
of engineers, in their chief city. On the ruins of British
buildings and monuments rose the Roman 'castras' and villas, the
remains of which are treasured by many in this country who
appear to be quite unaware of the earlier civilization. The
buildings erected by the Romans were foreign to British ideas and
never became an integral part of British life.
When Alaric and his Goths were engaged in the sack of Rome, the
Britons remembered their ancient independence and their brave
ancestors; and having armed themselves, they threw off the Roman
yoke, deposed the imperial magistrates and proclaimed their
insular independence. The Emperor Honorius sent letters addressed
to the civitates of Britain, clearing them from the
responsibility of being any part of the Roman world.(19)
The Romans came to a country which was in all its essentials
prosperous and free. They left it in many places devastated.
Roman policy is tersely summed up in the words of the Pictish
sovereign Galgacus, "To robbery, slaughter, plunder, the Romans
give the lying name of Empire; they make a solitude and call it
peace."(20)
The Roman imperial system had its strong points, but it had many
weak ones - the two main weak points were WAR and SLAVERY. With
the Romans war became the instrument of progress, but it was a
system fatal to real progress and to the domestic virtues. To
plough the soil and wait for the harvest seemed to them a
spiritless method of acquiring that which might more easily be
obtained, by conquest. Eloquence and the affairs of government as
well as the exciting and barbarous sports of the arena, were
esteemed and valued by Rome more than religion; hence her
basilicas and her amphitheatres were far more spacious and
magnificent than her temples.
(One may wonder how a relatively small in height people, as the
Italians are, could conquer so much of the world. The answer is
given by Tacitus, the Roman historian of the first century A.D. -
the most part of the Roman army was made up of hired Germanic
fighters, who were from ancient times well known for fierce
fighting - Keith Hunt)
The temper of the Britons may be judged by the evidence of the
important part a non-idolatrous religion exercised in their daily
lives; it has been said that the history of Britain is written in
her churches. This truism is applicable from the most remote
times, and from the nature of ancient worship it is possible to
discover the source of the uprightness, the independence and the
tolerance which characterized the early Britons.
These characteristics were noted by the Romans without their
effecting the least check on unprincipled avarice and ambition.
Salvian, A.D.430, does not hesitate to say that the barbarians
(so-called)led better lives than the Romans even of those who
were orthodox. 'Their modesty,' he says. 'purifies the earth all
stained by Roman debauchery.'(21) Amid the calamities and
sufferings of the first invasion of Rome by our Gothic ancestors
in A.D.402, St.Augustine of Hippo remarked upon the marvellous
forbearance of the soldiers of Alaric before the tombs of the
Christian martyrs; he even went so far as to speak of the mercy
and humility of these terrible victors.
To British genius alone we owe the foundation of our modern
civilization, including roads, laws, learning and a culture of
world-wide fame for more than two thousand years. From a more
accurate knowledge of British history we shall gain some notion
of that primeval liberty and self-government, common at first to
the early Britons and preserved today by the British people.
That the Britons adopted anything they thought good from the
Romans is perfectly true; they did not, however, abandon any of
their old essential laws and customs and still less their
religion. (Actually, if the truth be known, Christianity entered
Britain during the 30s A.D. not long after Jesus had died and
rose again from the dead. This truth is attested to in the
recorded history of the Roman Catholic Church. Such proof will
need wait for another study on that matter specifically - hence
Britain would indeed NOT give up its religion even when Rome
occupied parts of the British soil in the first centuries of the
present Christian age - Keith Hunt).
But it is untrue to say that the Britons had no previous
civilization of their own as it is to pretend that Roman laws and
customs permanently established themselves in Britain and
remained AFTER the legions were withdrawn. there is sufficient
EVIDENCE to PROVE that the ancestors of the British, centuries
before the Romans gained a footing in these islands, were a
POLISHED and INTELLECTUAL people, skilled in ARMS as well as
LEARNING, with a system of JURISPRUDENCE of their own SUPERIOR
even to the laws of Rome.(22)
To these early Britons we owe what we prize most - FREEDOM,
KNOWLEDGE, and a HIGHER SENSE of RIGHT and WRONG. This goodly
heritage comes to us NEITHER FROM the Roman conquest NOR through
Roman influence.
MONTALEMBERT declares:
"It is in England that the nobility of man's nature has developed
all its splendour and attained its highest level. It is there
that the generous passion of INDEPENDENCE, united with the genius
of ASSOCIATION and the constant practice of SELF-GOVERNMENT, have
produced those MIRACLES of fierce energy, of dauntless COURAGE
and obstinate HEROISM which have TRIUMPHED over seas and climate,
time and distance, nature and tyranny, exciting the perpetual
envy of all nations, and among the English themselves a proud
enthusiasm. It is not however, for the British to pride
themselves as a SUPERIOR race, but rather that they are a
MINISTERING people, and that through them should FLOW THE
BLESSINGS OF PEACE AND GOODWILL TO ALL THE NATIONS OF THE WORLD;
LOVING FREEDOM FOR ITSELF, and loving nothing without
FREEDOM.....Upon herself alone weighs the formidable
responsibility of her history."(23)
"Love thou thy land with love far brought
From out the storied Past, and used
Within the Present, but transfused
Thro' future time by power and thought
True love turned round on fix'd poles
Love, that endures not sordid ends
For English natures, freemen, friends,
Thy brothers, and immortal souls."
Tennyson
1. Act. V, Sc. i.
2. Ibid.
3. Annals, XII, 38,39.
4. Beale Post, Britannic Researches, p.74.
5. Rev. R.W.Morgan, St.Paul in Britain, p.79.
6. Tacitus, Annals, XIV, 31.
7. Dion Cassius (Xiphilinus Excepta).
8. Beale Poste, Britannic Researches, P.411.
9. Dion Cassius (Xiphilinus Excepta).
10.Annals, XIV,37.
11.Triads of the Cymry.
12.Anglica Hibernia, ed. Camden, p.890.
13.Richard of Cirencester, Bk. I, Chap. III, note.
14.Rev. R.W.Morgan, St.Paul in Britain, p.104.
15.Collier's Eccl. History, Bk. I.
16. Martial, IV, 13; XI, 54.1
17.Cymbeline, Act 5, Sc. I.
18.Spartian's Vita Hadrian, Chap. I.
19. Zosimus VI, pp.376,381. Also du Bos, Gibbon, Procopius
Gildas and Bede.
20.Tacitus, Vita Agricola, XXX.
21.On the government of God, Salvian.
22.John Pym Teatman, Early English History, p. 9.
23.Monks of the West, Vol.II, pp.366,367.
..................
END NOTE
The British and USA peoples are from the SAME STOCK, they are
BROTHERS of the same FAMILY. They speak the same language, have
the same heritage. The USA started with mainly immigrants from
Britain. They started their new country with 13 states, called
"New England." The SAME inborn nature as related above to the
early Britons, are found still today in the English peoples of
the British Commonwealth and the United States of America. The
world has INDEED been BLESSED in MANY ways by the British and
American people. It is true that the British and American people
have not been perfect in their dealing with some people over the
centuries past, but they have nevertheless, BLESSED MANY nations
of the world in so many way, and are still blessing them. As a
people from the ancient days of Brutus and his people ARRIVING in
the island kingdom of Britain and them Molmutius, and those who
came in waves of people into the island kingdom, the brother
peoples of Britain and the USA have never been held CAPTIVE, but
have only experienced FREEDOM. This freedom we have tried to give
to many other nations, and we still try to this very day. The
peoples of the English speaking Western world have not been power
hungry to conquer the world or rule it with dictatorial power of
military force, but they have only raised arms against evil done
to them, or in some cases (sometimes with not the best judgment)
have tried to help other nations in a military way when they were
being over-run with an evil power hungry force out to kill and
dominate.
The truth of who the Western world of the English speaking people
are, and from where they came so long ago, has been written by
many, in numerous books, over the last 200 years. For the origin
of the nations of this earth I recommend the following Website:
www.originofnations.org
Keith Hunt |
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