The Bretons are by nature conservative. They cling with almost equal
attachment to their local customs and their religious superstitions. It was
not till the 17th century that paganism was even nominally abolished in
some parts, and there is probably no district in Europe where the popular
Christianity has assimilated more from earlier creeds. Witchcraft and the
influence of fairies are still often believed in. The costume of both sexes
is very peculiar both in cut and colour, but varies considerably in
different districts. Bright red, violet and blue are much used, not only by
the women, but in the coats and waistcoats of the men. The reader will find
full illustrations of the different styles in Bouet's _Breiz-izel, ou vie
des Breions de l'Armorique_ (1844). The Celtic language is still spoken in
lower Brittany. Four dialects are pretty clearly marked (see the article
CELT: _Language_, "_Breton_," p. 328). Nowhere has the taste for marvellous
legends been kept so green as in Brittany; and an entire folk-literature
still flourishes there, as is manifested by the large number of folk-tales
and folk-songs which have been collected of late years.





Celts(Keltoi) was the name applied by ancient Greek writers, from the 5th century BC on, to a group of peoples who inhabited central and western Europe. 
The Romans called them Galli, or Gauls. (See European prehistory.) 
During the 1st millennium BC these peoples, who spoke Indo-European dialects later classified as Celtic languages, spread through much of Europe. 

From a heartland in central Europe, they settled the area of France (Gaul), penetrated northern Spain, and crossed to the British Isles probably in the 6th and 5th centuries BC. 

Moving south and southwest, they raided communities on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea in the 4th and 3d centuries BC. By the 1st century BC they were on the defensive, and most of them were gradually subjugated by the Romans advancing from the south, and the Germanic peoples coming down from the north. 

Thereafter Celtic culture was confined mainly to the "Atlantic fringe"--Ireland, Scotland, and Wales in the British Isles, and Brittany in France. 


HISTORY. 

The druids, who were the guardians of Celtic lore, did not encode their learning in written form, so few native historical accounts of the Celts exist from the period before the 5th century AD. 
Earlier accounts of the ancient Celts come from Roman and Greek writers, notably Julius Caesar, Strabo, and Diodorus, who probably based much of their Celtic ethnography on the now-lost writings of the Greek philosopher and historian Posidonius. These records are supplemented and corroborated by early Irish literature, including the epic tales of the Ulster cycle.

The Archaeological Record a great deal of information about the ancient Celts has been gathered by archaeologists from the physical remains of their settlements, cult sites, and burial places all across Europe. These remains are classified chronologically as belonging to two successive Iron Age cultures: Hallstatt (8th-5th century BC) and La Tene (5th-1st century BC), but their traditions can be traced back to the Late Bronze Age Urnfield culture of the 2d millennium BC. Elements of this culture go back further to the beginning of the Bronze Age in the Bell-Beaker culture (late 3d millennium BC), at which time the proto-Celts had already established themselves in much of their early historic territory. In the Bronze Age their material culture was very similar to that of the later Italic and Illyrian-speaking peoples, just as the Celtic language was closely related linguistically to Latin and other Italic dialects. Celtic ExpansionIn the 4th century BC the Celts began a series of migrations that increased the size of their territory and brought them into immediate contact with the Greco-Roman world. During the last phases of the Hallstatt Iron Age (6th century BC) they completed a process of experimentation with steel tools and weapons; in the early La Tene period these technical advances combined with an increase in rainfall to improve food production, which in turn led to a considerable increase in population. By about 390 BC the Celts started to push south and east into the Mediterranean lands and eastern Europe. 

The archaeological record shows them moving farther south in the Iberian peninsula, east into present-day Poland and Ukraine, and taking over Illyrian and Thracian lands in the Balkans. 

They advanced into northern Italy, founding settlements that became the cities of Milan, Turin, and Bologna. Roman historians tell of an invasion of "Gauls" at this time, formidable fighters who defeated Rome's army at the Allia River and plundered the city. These Cisalpine Celts remained a threat to Rome until their final defeat in 295 BC. Celtic tribes invaded Greece in 279 BC, penetrating as far south as Delphi before they were routed and driven back. 

Others migrated to central Anatolia, where the Seleucid king Antigonus I settled them (275) in an area that became known as Galatia; one of their hillforts, Angora, is today Ankara, the capital of Turkey. Many Celts were employed as mercenaries in the armies of the Hellenistic states. 

A Celtic shield has been unearthed in Egypt, and a representation of a plaid-wearing Celt in Morocco. 

The area occupied by the Celts was never in any sense an empire; it was simply the habitat of different politically independent tribes. 
The expansion had ceased by the 1st century BC, when Roman influence was becoming predominant. 

Pre-Roman Celtic Society. Celtic societies functioned as groups of autonomous units, each under a paramount chief. The people were organized into clans, which were subdivided into lineages (fine), stressing the paternal side of kinship reckoning. They were divided into three social classes: the royal clans, the warrior aristocracy, and the common people. Slaves comprised a small portion of the population. Persistent themes in Celtic culture included rural settlement, hospitality feasting, and fellowship drinking. 
Pork was a common item of diet, and plaid designs in clothing were favored. 
The weapon of choice was the sword. Archaeological finds corroborate classical authors who described the Celts as using chain-mail armor and a machine for reaping grain. Most tribes had one or two palisaded settlements, usually designated by the Latin term oppida (towns).
The druids underwent a training period lasting 20 years. They had priestly duties, but they also bore weapons and had specialties, such as religion, law, astronomy and calendrics, poetry, and music. 
Writing was known as early as the 3d century BC but was little used except for coinage and commemorative inscriptions. 
Calendrics exemplifies the learning of the Celts, who had inherited extensive knowledge about solar and lunar movements from their Neolithic predecessors in Atlantic Europe. The bronze Coligny Calendar, found near Lyon, France, was more accurate than the one used by the Romans. Calendars were critical for tracking the main Celtic festivals: February 1, May 1, August 1, and October 31/November 1 (the last of which survive today as Halloween and All Saints' Day).

Celtic deities reflect the common Indo-European pantheon with gods presiding over various functions, such as Taranis for the rain-giving sky, Lug for craftsmanship, and the three Matrons for motherhood (see mythology). The sacred groves of the druids mentioned by the Greek and Roman writers were rural rectangular precincts measuring about 100 m (328 ft) per side, delimited by v-shaped ditches, and often containing deep ritual shafts in which offerings were made. Human sacrifice was practiced; the Lindow man, a 2,200-year-old corpse discovered in an English peat bog is thought to have been a sacrificial victim. 

The Celts under Roman Rule. 
The Roman conquest of Gaul began with the annexation of the areas along the Mediterranean coast (Gallia Narbonensis) in 121 BC. Then, in the Gallic Wars of 58-51 BC, Julius Caesar, after defeating the Gallic chieftain Vercingetorix, extended Roman control over all the Celtic peoples between the Atlantic Ocean and the Rhine. In the 1st century AD the Romans also conquered the Celts in what is now England and Wales. 

The Celtic peoples of Scotland and Ireland remained independent for several more centuries. Those under Roman rule, especially on the European continent, were strongly influenced by Latin culture, although the Celtic languages continued to be used as a spoken medium down to the end of the Roman period. Christian Celtic Civilization. The free Celts in north Britain and Ireland maintained the old traditions except for the making of pottery. Those in southern Scotland were Brythonic speakers; the Picts or Kruithni lived in northeastern Scotland, and the Goedels (Gaels) in Ireland. The round wooden houses of the Iron Age continued to be built inside fortified enclosures called raths. 
Other settlements were established on artificial islands or crannogs constructed in the middle of lakes. 
The Ogham alphabet, probably derived from Latin script, was developed in Ireland in the 4th century AD. Ireland was Christianized in the 5th century, and Scotland mostly in the 6th century. The free Celts began to encroach on southern Britain after the withdrawal of the Romans. Ulii tribesmen (called Scoti) migrated from Ireland to Scotland, bringing with them their Gaelic language and their name. 
Other Irish raiders invaded Wales and Cornwall, driving the previous inhabitants across the English Channel to Brittany. Meanwhile England was being subjugated by the Angles, Jutes, and Saxons--Germanic invaders from beyond the North Sea. 


Between the 5th and the 8th centuries, Celtic Christianity in the British Isles brought forth a no reclusive form of monasticism that promoted the growth of markets, craft workshops, manuscript production, stone masonry architecture, and town life behind the stone walls of new settlements. 

In this context the old Celtic oral poetry and the traditional law codes were recorded in writing by monks who also produced Christian texts such as the Book of Durrow and the Book of Kells. From the 9th century on, Viking and Norman incursions began drawing these Celtic communities into the mainstream culture of medieval Christendom. 

The Celtic languages survived, however, and cultural revivals in the 19th and 20th centuries sparked a rebirth of Celtic literature in Wales, Ireland, and Brittany. Irish is one of the official languages of Ireland; in Wales, the Welsh language has equal status with English, and is spoken by about 20% of the population. The Celtic Renaissance Interest in the Celtic past was awakened in the 18th century by the work of James Macpherson of Scotland, whose translations of Gaelic poetry had a strong influence on the European romantic movement. This interest intensified in the 19th century, especially in Ireland, where the Irish Literary Renaissance was promoted by the founding of the Gaelic League in 1893. Later Irish-language authors include Brendan Behan, Liam O'Flaherty, and Sean O'Faolain. 

Celtic Mythology. 
The Celts originally inhabited an area in southern Germany and Bohemia. By the end of the 5th century BC they had expanded into the Iberian peninsula; in 390 BC they sacked Rome. In the east they went as far as Anatolia. In the west they migrated to Britain in the 5th century BC and Ireland in the 3d century BC. A great deal may be learned about the Celts from the archaeological materials left behind in the various countries where their culture dominated for several centuries. 

Most of the written documents of Celtic culture and religion are from Ireland and date from the 12th century AD, when they were written under Christian aegis. As in the other Indo-European cultures, a clear tripartite structure appears in Celtic societal organization. The principal divisions are the king, the warriors, and the cattle herders. 
The religious hierarchy is also tripartite, consisting of the priestly druids, who also served as administrators; the vatis or filidh, experts in magic and divination; and the bards, who are concerned with oral literature and prose poetry. As a culture the Celts display counteracting tendencies: they seem to be autonomous, anarchic, and concerned for local traditions, but a basic unitary character is manifested in their social organization and mythological histories. Lug, In ancient Irish mythology Lug was a major divinity, a member of the Tuatha De Danann, or "People of the Goddess Danu," who, after much fighting, displaced two earlier divine races, the Fir Bolg and the Fomoire. The other leading divinities of the Tuatha were the Dagda and Nuadu, who served as their chief. Like them, Lug was omni competent, and the myth that relates how he became a member of the Tuatha underscores this. When asked by the gatekeeper of the royal palace to identify himself, Lug replied that he was, among other things, a warrior, a harper, a poet, a sorcerer, and a carpenter. Hearing this list of accomplishments, Nuadu readily admitted him into the fellowship. Lug's chief weapons were the spear and the sling, with which he cast a stone into the single eye of the Fomoiran chief Balor, his grandfather, in the second battle of Mag Tuireadh and thus insured the triumph of the Tuatha. The Celtic pantheon is difficult to discern. The names of several hundred gods are known, but the majority appear to be local deities. During the Roman period, many Celtic deities were identified with Roman gods. One of the most important, called Lug in Ireland, was identified with Mercury. 

The Irish mythological cycle can be divided into four major divisions. 
The first is the historical-mythological cycle. Two important texts are part of this cycle: the Leabhar Gahbala (Book of Invasions), a mythological history of Ireland; and the Dinnshenchas (History of Places), a mythological geography of Ireland. 
The main theme in the historical-mythological cycle concerns the peopling of Ireland and the fortunes of the Tuatha De Danann (People of the Goddess Danann), who were the mythological ancestors of the Irish. 

The second division is the Ulster cycle. These myths are stories of the warriors of King Conchobar. The themes of those of honor and prestige revolve around heroic deeds and the hero Cuchulain (or Cuchulainn). 

The third division is that of Fenian. The Fenian cycle recounts the exploits of Finn mac Cumhail and his companions and deals with the cult and institution of warriors. 

The last division deals with the institution and founding of the great and lesser kings of Ireland. 

The latter two divisions fall most readily into the category of folk tales and will not be discussed here. 

In the historical-mythological cycle the story of the predecessors of the Irish settlement is told. 

The first group to come to Ireland is led by a woman, Cesair; the majority of her group is composed of women. This group arrives before the great flood, and all are destroyed in the flood except one, Fintan, who in the form of a salmon, eagle, or hawk witnesses all of the later settlements. Fintan is the patron of the traditional lore and storytelling. 

The next group is led by Partholan, but he and all of his people die in a plague. A third group is led by Nemed; after suffering many vicissitudes, this group divides into three parts and abandons Ireland. 

Two of these groups, the Fir Bolg (Bolg Men) and the Tuatha De Danann (People of the Goddess Danann), occupy the subsequent history. 
The Fir Bolg return to Ireland, which they divide into the five provinces of Ulster, Leinster, Munster, Connacht, and Meath; they also introduce kingship. When the Tuatha De Danann arrive, warfare ensues over possession of the land. One tradition states that after the First Battle of Mag Tuired, the Fir Bolg and Tuatha De Danann make peace and agree to live together in harmony. 
This outcome may reflect the classic Indo-European pattern, as analyzed by Dumezil. 

The Tuatha are described as demigods; they are beautiful people, possessed with skill in music and the arts. They are always spoken about within a context of fabulous magical powers and wonders, which define the essence of their manifestation. 

A central theme in the myth of the Tuatha is that of the Second Battle of Mag Tuired. During the First Battle of Mag Tuired the king of the Tuatha, Nuada, is wounded. Because he is now physically blemished, he can no longer serve as king. The kingship is then given to his adopted son, Bres. Bres's father is a king of the Fomoire, a group of people with whom Nemed and his people had fought in previous times. Bres's mother, Eriu, is, however, a Tuatha. The choice of Bres is apparently an attempt to accomplish an alliance between the Tuatha and the Fomoire. Bres, however, demands severe tribute from the Tuatha and persecutes them in many ways. 

A champion, Lug, arises from among the Tuatha; Lug is a master of all the arts of magic and warfare. Meanwhile Nuada, the blemished king, is restored to his kingship after he has been equipped with a silver arm. Nuada takes counsel with Lug, Dagda, the great god with the magic cauldron, and others concerning the preparations for warfare with the Fomoire. When the battle finally takes place, the Tuatha who are slain in the fighting are magically restored to life. Lug also uses magic to vanquish Balar "of the baleful eye." The Fomoire are routed. The life of the captured Bres is spared when he promises to advise on the proper times for sowing and reaping. 

Unlike similar battles in other Indo-European mythologies, the Second Battle of Mag Tuired does not end in a reconciliation and fusion of the two parties. The skills imparted by Bres, however, serve the same function of completing the functions needed in settled society. The Tuatha are themselves later defeated by the Sons of Mil, the immediate ancestors of the Irish people. The Tuatha are said now to live in the underground of Ireland, in the fairy regions, where the fairies are subject to them. An analogous mythological history is related in the Welsh cycle of The Four Branches of the Mabinogi. 

In the Ulster cycle the heroic accomplishments of Cuchulain are related. Cuchulain in some versions is said to be a foster child of Ulster, and in some respects his character is modeled on that of Lug of the historical-mythological cycle. He is described as a small black-browed man, beardless and full of gaiety. When he is in battle a remarkable change comes over him; he increases in size, and his body trembles and whirls about inside of his skin so that his frontal features are turned to the rear. He can draw one of his eyes back into his head, and his hair bristles on end, with a drop of blood on the end of each hair. When he is in a warrior frenzy he attacks anyone in the vicinity, friend and foe alike. 

The central story of the Ulster cycle is the Cattle-raid of Cuailnge (Tain Bo Cuailnge). Queen Medb of Connacht and her vanguard attempt to steal the great bull, Donn Cuailnge, owned by the men of Ulster. She desires this bull so that her possessions will equal those of her husband, King Ailill, who owns a great white-horned bull, Finnbennach. Through the structure of this story the exploits of Cuchulain and his companions, Conall Cernach and Loegaire Buadach, are related. In the warfare against Queen Medb, Cuchulain realizes that he is fighting against supernatural forces that have been organized against him. Before the last battle, the Great Carnage of Murthemne, Cuchulain realizes the contradictory workings of his geasa. The geasa is a kind of personal obligation or taboo that cannot be violated by the individual without suffering dire consequences. For example, the sorcerers of Queen Medb are cooking a dog when Cuchulain passes. One of his geasa obligates him to eat the food from any hearth that he passes; another of his geasa makes the meat of dog a forbidden food. When he eats the dog he feels some of his power leave him. In this manner he is depleted of his great powers and eventually is mortally wounded in battle. He is tied upright to a pillar so that he can die while standing. 

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DRUIDS

Druids among the ancient Celts, the druids were a class of priests and learned men. They formed an important part of every Celtic community in Ireland, Britain, and Gaul, and their leaders often rivaled kings and chiefs in prestige, if not power. They seem to have served as judges as well as priests, and their counsel was eagerly sought by all classes of society. 

Unfortunately, most knowledge about the druids is derived from Roman sources, for the druids themselves disdained writing and preferred to pass along their tradition orally. 

They were responsible for educating the sons of chiefs and generally served as the guardians of the sacred tradition. It is known that oak trees and mistletoe played an important part in the druidic rituals (the word druid itself may be related to daur, the Celtic word for oak tree), as did human sacrifice. Sacrificial victims were sometimes burned in large wicker baskets in order to ensure military success or the health of the chief. 

These acts, as well as the druids' fierce resistance to the spread of Latin culture, led to their suppression by Roman authorities in Britain and Gaul; in Ireland, which never came under Roman rule, druidism survived until AD c.500. 
Perhaps for this reason pre-Christian Irish mythology is better preserved than that of other ancient Celtic groups. 

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STONEHENGE


Earlier scholars frequently associated the druids with Stonehenge, but it is now known that Stonehenge was completed well over a millennium before the first Celts reached the British Isles (between 550-450 BC).'C. Scott Littleton' Stonehenge, the most famous prehistoric megalith (standing-stone monument) in Europe, lies 13 km (8 mi) north of Salisbury, England. 

Excavations and radiocarbon dating have revealed that Stonehenge had an exceptionally long history of use as a ceremonial or religious center or both. 

In period I (c.2800 BC), the site was enclosed by a circular ditch with an internal bank and an entrance on the northeast side. Inside the bank on the inner side of the ditch was a ring of 56 pits--named Aubrey holes for their 17th-century discoverer, John Aubrey--that later were used for the burial of cremated bodies. Outside the entrance, the builders erected the huge, upright Heelstone and a timber gate. 

In period II (c.2100 BC) people of the Beaker culture built an earthwork approach road, now called the Avenue, to the entrance of the bank and ditch. They also set up within the earlier ring a double circle of bluestone menhirs (large, rough-hewn standing stones), which came originally from the Preseli Mountains of southwestern Wales. Both the Avenue and the double circle were orientated toward the summer solstice sunrise. In period III (from c.2000 BC) builders erected in the center of the site a circle of 30 sarsen-stone uprights 30.5 m (100 ft) in diameter and capped by a continuous ring of sarsen lintels. This circle, in turn, encloses a horseshoe-shaped setting of five sarsen trilithons--formations in which two uprights support a lintel. 

All of the sarsen stones, which were transported about 30 km (20 mi) from the Marlborough Downs, were dressed to shape with stone hammers and jointed together. The precision with which this complex was laid out and the architectural refinements it displays are unparalleled in the other megalithic structures of northwestern Europe. Some of the bluestones were later reerected in the center in an oval structure that contained at least two miniature trilithons, and holes were dug for the rest to be set in two concentric circles (the so-called Y and Z holes) outside the sarsen circle. This plan was abandoned, however, and the bluestones were finally rearranged (c.1550 BC) in the circle and horseshoe whose remains survive today. In period IV (c.1100 BC) the Avenue was extended to the River Avon, 2 km (1.25 mi) from Stonehenge. Among the megalithic monuments of Europe, Stonehenge is unique because of its long period of use and the precision of its plan and its architectural details. 

The long-held thesis that Stonehenge was a Druid temple is untenable, because the Druids did not appear in Britain until a few hundred years before the Christian era. 

In recent years many attempts have been made to interpret Stonehenge as a prehistoric astronomical observatory, but the site is now so ruined, and so much restored, that any attempt to ascertain its original alignments must rely principally on guesswork. All that can be said with confidence is that from period II onward the structure's axis of symmetry pointed roughly in the direction of the sunrise at the summer solstice. 

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Lindow man was unearthed in 1984 in a peat bog near Manchester, England. The well-preserved corpse, approximately 2,200 years old, is remarkable because of the method of execution employed on him. Presumably a human sacrifice, he was first bludgeoned and garroted, then his throat was slit and he was dropped into a pool of water. The complexity of this ritual execution leads some archaeologists to believe that he was an important member of Celtic society, perhaps even a druid (see Celts).In his stomach was found a piece of burnt bannock cake, a traditional last meal for Celtic sacrificial victims. Lack of bodily scars (other than those incurred during the sacrifice) tend to indicate he was from a noble, rather than a warrior, class. Lindow man's death is thought to resemble the deaths of Tollund man and other bodies found in Scandinavian peat bogs. 
If both Lindow man and the Scandinavian corpses are the remains of Druids, then the Druids' dominance of European culture may have extended geographically farther than previously believed. 
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Pre-History 

 Hallstatt

 Hallstatt is the name used to designate the earliest phase of Iron Age culture in Europe, which lasted from the 8th century to the 5th century BC. This culture , associated with the early Celts, was first identified as a result of excavations (beginning in 1846) of ancient remains at Hallstatt, a village south of Bad Ischl in central Austria. 

The Hallstatt site contained salt mines and a cemetery of more than 2,000 burials, some dating from the late Bronze Age, but most from the early Iron Age. The later discovery of Hallstatt-like artifacts at other sites demonstrated the extent and development of the culture. Hallstatt artifacts are divided into three chronological phases. In Hallstatt I (c.800-630 BC) they follow the forms of the late Bronze Age Urnfield culture. This phase includes swords up to 1 m (3 ft) long made of iron and bronze, with winged shapes and ivory pommels, usually found in rich burials with horse harness and bronze disks. 

Figurines and pottery engravings such as those of the Sopron group in Hungary show horseback riders (both men and women), the earliest example of equestrianism west of the Eurasian steppe. The burial furnishings of chieftains in eastern Europe often feature four-wheeled wagons. Metal clasps (fibulae) in spiral forms and metal neck rings (torcs) are common. Pottery, like Urnfield forms but now painted red and black, is used to contain cremated remains. Mounds often cover the graves. Hillforts, common in all phases, show improved fortification in the second period. 


In Hallstatt II (c.630-480 BC) inhumation becomes more common than cremation. Wagon burials move progressively westward, to central Europe in Hallstatt IIa and farther west in Hallstatt IIb. Sites in the British Isles include forts and swords but lack wealth and wagons. In southwest Germany stone statues of the chiefs stood atop the burial mounds. The body of the Hallstatt IIa chief at Hochdorf near Stuttgart wore golden shoes and weapons and lay on a bronze couch. The Hallstatt IIb chieftainess at Vix in France had a wagon plus Greek cups, an Etruscan pitcher, and an enormous bronze wine-mixing crater. 


La Tene Period. 

About 500 BC many of these sites declined. In the following La Tene period, the main centers that profited from the Mediterranean trade, now mostly with the Etruscans, were located farther north. Richly furnished burials, usually in the form of inhumations under barrows, have been found in the highland areas containing metal ores and salt that extend in a crescent from the Champagne region of France through the Rhineland to Austria and Bohemia. 

These graves often contained imported Mediterranean items, two-wheeled chariots, and gold and bronze objects of local manufacture. New fashions emerged in weapons and ornaments, including torcs (neck rings), and a new art style using geometric motifs and plant elements derived from classical prototypes appeared; this new tradition is sometimes called Celtic art, because the La Tene culture is identified with the Celts. Few such burials were made after 400 BC. Later burial rites were more uniform; men were buried with their weapons, shield, spear, and sword, and women were buried with their ornaments, especially brooches, bracelets, and torcs. 

Contact with the Mediterranean region did not cease entirely, however; in the 3d century BC the first gold coins were struck, copying those of Philip II of Macedonia. Imported objects were no longer used as symbols of prestige, and the social nature of the contacts had clearly changed. The La Tene culture reached its final development in the 1st century BC before the Roman conquests, when the sites known to the Romans as oppida (towns) flourished from central France to Hungary. They were fortified sites, mainly on hilltops, although in Germany they were frequently in river valleys. Excavations at Stare Hradisko, Czech Republic, and at Manching, Germany, have shown that these were densely occupied towns, functioning as markets and centers of industrial production for such items as iron, bronze, glass, leather, wood, and pottery. Coins were minted, including small denominations for everyday transactions, and goods were again imported from the Mediterranean--especially wine in amphorae (pottery jars for bulk transport) and Italian bronze jugs. 

Evidence of political developments suggests that kings gave way to government by council and magistrates. Few of these Iron Age developments affected northern Europe, although some associated objects have been found there, such as the famous silver cauldron from Gundestrup, Denmark. A new form of ritual sacrifice and burial occurred in northern Europe; it is still poorly understood (see Lindow man; Tollund man). In Britain, Hallstatt and La Tene fashions in weapons and ornaments were copied, as was 

La Tene art in an insular version. In some areas local centers developed from long-established hillforts such as Maiden Castle; from about 50 BC in the southeast, however, new sites such as Colchester appeared. As on the continent, these oppida were local market and industrial centers. Extensive trade with the Romans also took place, with such items as grains, furs, and slaves exchanged for wine and other luxuries.  Urnfield culture was a Late Bronze Age culture of Europe distinguished by the rite of cremation burial in cemeteries, the ashes being interred in pottery urns. 

Ancestors of the Celts, the Urn fielders originated in eastern Europe, where their cemeteries in Hungary and Romania can be traced back to the early 2d millennium BC. By the 14th century BC the Urn fielders had spread across the Rhine, and by 750 BC they had reached southern France. Urnfield sites have also been found in northeastern Spain, northern Italy, Sicily, and the Lipari Islands. The Urn fielders built hill forts with timber-laced ramparts, and they probably traded with the classical world for wine. They are thought to have developed the sword from the rapiers they encountered through contacts with the east Mediterranean. 

Urnfield culture ended in the 7th century BC, when it was replaced by the iron-using culture of the Hallstatt Celts.  

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 CELTIC ART 

At the beginning of the La Tene period, the Celts created a distinctive art style characterized by abstract, sinuous, curvilinear designs, most of it in metalwork or ceramics. Stone and wooden sculpture also survives. Human and animal subjects were portrayed. La Tene art grew out of the native geometric themes of the Hallstatt Celts, exemplified by the Strettweg cult wagon. Within two generations the Celts had combined Hallstatt themes with Greek and Etruscan floral motifs and the animals and spirals of neighboring peoples to create flat engravings in their new style. Relief sculpture became more common in the Waldalgesheim and Plastic styles (4th and 3d centuries BC). Waldalgesheim--named for a site in the Rhineland--features low-relief curvilinear abstract vegetation; the later Plastic style is distinguished by disjunctive proportions, the use of high-relief cast ornament, and by a delight in complex three-dimensional explorations of form, interflowing from abstract to figurative. The Sword style of east-central Europe blends dragons or horses with vegetal designs on scabbards. In the immediate pre-Roman period the focus on the continent shifted to figurative art on coins. At the same time the Insular style emerged in the British Isles. Insular art arranges traditional sinuous Celtic motifs with basketry patterns in designs emphasizing overall symmetry divided by subtly balancing asymmetry. This can best be seen on symmetrical objects such as mirrors and shields. The art of the Christian period shows the influence of Roman provincial art and Anglo-Saxon designs. Decorated objects are mainly ecclesiastical, including metal reliquaries, communion chalices, stone crosses, and gospel books. 

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'Ralph M. Rowlett' Who were the Celts?

The Celts were a group of peoples that occupied lands stretching from the British Isles to Gallatia. The Celts had many dealings with other cultures that bordered the lands occupied by these peoples, and even though there is no written record of the Celts stemming from their own documents, we can piece together a fair picture of them from archeological evidence as well as historical accounts from other cultures. 
The first historical recorded encounter of a people displaying the cultural traits associated with the Celts comes from northern Italy around 400 BC, when a previously unknown group of barbarians came down from the Alps and displaced the Etruscans from the fertile Po valley, a displacement that helped to push the Etruscans from history's limelight. The next encounter with the Celts came with the still young Roman Empire, directly to the south of the Po. 
The Romans in fact had sent three envoys to the besieged Etruscans to study this new force. 


We know from Livy's The Early History of Rome that this first encounter with Rome was quite civilized: 

[The Celts told the Roman envoys that] this was indeed the first time they had heard of them, but they assumed the Romans must be a courageous people because it was to them that the [Etruscans] had turned to in their hour of need. And since the Romans had tried to help with an embassy and not with arms, they themselves would not reject the offer of peace, provided the [Etruscans] ceded part of their superfluous agricultural land; that was what they, the Celts, wanted.... If it were not given, they would launch an attack before the Romans' eyes, so that the Romans could report back how superior the Gauls were in battle to all others....The Romans then asked whether it was right to demand land from its owners on pain of war, indeed what were the Celts going in Etruria in the first place? The latter defiantly retorted that their right lay in their arms: To the brave belong all things. 

The Roman envoys then preceded to break their good faith and helped the Etruscans in their fight; in fact, one of the envoys, Quintas Fabius killed one of the Celtic tribal leaders. The Celts then sent their own envoys to Rome in protest and demand the Romans hand over all members of the Fabian family, to which all three of the original Roman envoys belonged, be given over to the Celts, a move completely in line with current Roman protocol. This of course presented problems for the Roman senate, since the Fabian family was quite powerful in Rome. Indeed, Livy says that: 
The party structure would allow no resolution to be made against such noblemen as justice would have required. The Senate... therefore passed examination of the Celts' request to the popular assembly, in which power and influence naturally counted for more. So it happened that those who ought to have been punished were instead appointed for the coming year military tribunes with consular powers (the highest that could be granted). 
The Celts saw this as a mortal insult and a host marched south to Rome. The Celts tore through the countryside and several battalions of Roman soldiers to lay siege to the Capitol of the Roman Empire. Seven months of siege led to negotiations whereby the Celts promised to leave their siege for a tribute of one thousand pounds of gold, which the historian Pliny tells was very difficult for the entire city to muster. When the gold was being weighed, the Romans claimed the Celts were cheating with faulty weights. It was then that the Celts' leader, Brennus, threw his sword into the balance and uttered the words vae victis "woe to the Defeated". Rome never withstood another more humiliating defeat and the Celts made an initial step of magnificent proportions into history. 


Other Roman historians tell us more of the Celts. Diodorus notes that: 

Their aspect is terrifying... They are very tall in stature, with rippling muscles under clear white skin. Their hair is blond, but not naturally so: they bleach it, to this day, artificially, washing it in lime and combing it back from their foreheads. They look like wood-demons, their hair thick and shaggy like a horse's mane. Some of them are clean-shaven, but others - especially those of high rank, shave their cheeks but leave a moustache that covers the whole mouth and, when they eat and drink, acts like a sieve, trapping particles of food...The way they dress is astonishing: they wear brightly colored and embroidered shirts, with trousers called bracae and cloaks fastened at the shoulder with a brooch, heavy in winter, light in summer. These cloaks are striped or checkered in design, with the separate checks close together and in various colors. 

[The Celts] wear bronze helmets with figures picked out on them, even horns, which made them look even taller than they already are...while others cover themselves with breast-armour made out of chains. But most content themselves with the weapons nature gave them: they go naked into battle...Weird, discordant horns were sounded, [they shouted in chorus with their] deep and harsh voices, they beat their swords rhythmically against their shields. 
Diodorus also describes how the Celts cut off their enemies' heads and nailed them over the doors of their huts, as Diodorus states: 

In exactly the same way as hunters do with their skulls of the animals they have slain...they preserved the heads of their most high-ranking victims in cedar oil, keeping them carefully in wooden boxes. 



Diodorus Siculus, History. 
 

What is a Celt and who are the Glasgow Celtics?
The people who made up the various tribes of concern were called Galli by the Romans and Galatai or Keltoi by the Greeks, terms meaning barbarian. It is from the Greek Keltoi that Celt is derived. Since no soft c exists in Greek, Celt and Celtic and all permutations should be pronounced with a hard k sound. 

It is interesting to note that when the British Empire was distinguishing itself as better and separate from the rest of humanity, it was decided that British Latin should have different pronunciation from other spoken Latin. Therefore, one of these distinguishing pronunciational differences was to make many of the previously hard k sounds move to a soft s sound, hence the Glasgow and Boston Celtics. It is the view of many today that this soft c pronunciation should be reserved for sports teams since there is obviously nothing to link them with the original noble savagery and furor associated with the Celts. 
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The Irish and the Scots Are From the Same Tribe

Ireland used to be divided up into five parts, the five fifths. There was a northern fifth, Ulster, a western fifth, Connaught, a southern fifth, Munster, an eastern fifth, Leinster and a middle fifth, Mide.

The Ulster Cycle is a set of stories which are grounded in the five fifths. Indeed, they are primarily concerned with Cú Chulainn, the Ulster hero and his king, Conor Mac Nessa in their wars against the king and queen of Connaught, Ailill and Maeve. These figures play a prominent role in the what may be the greatest story of the Ulster Cycle, the Táin Bó Cúailnge, The Cattle Raid of Cooley. 

Sometime after 300 AD, Ulster became steadily less important in status among the five farthings and the ruling family of Mide, the Uí Néill Sons of Niall started to take over large parts of Connaught and most of Ulster. A similar move was made in Muster by the ruling family of Munster, the Eoganachta family. Thus was Ireland divided almost entirely into two halves. 

The people of Ulster were pushed to a small coastal strip bordering the Irish Sea. The kingdom changed it's name to Dál Riata. Yet eventually Dál Riata fell under the rule and influence of the Uí Néill. This family, not content with the boundary presented by the sea, launched colonies across the Irish Sea into then Pictish Britain. Thus was Scotland founded, for it was these Uí Néill that the Romans called Scotti, not the original Picts. 

Indeed, it was this Irish Expansion which led to Christianity in Scotland in 563 AD. St. Columba, the patron saint of Scotland, was a member of a powerful family in Dál Riata and in order to keep his ties in Ireland he settled on an island that was close to both Scotland and Ireland, Iona. Of course, even more bizarre is the fact that St. Patrick, the man responsible for bringing Christianity to Ireland in the first place, was from Wales. 

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The Celtic peoples have been active in Europe since pre-Roman days. Every major Classical culture has had something to say about the Celts (usually bad), from the Romans to the Greeks, from the Egyptians to the Persians. As the Celtic culture is of such antiquity, and of such geographic breadth (from Spain to Turkey, and from Greece and Rome to Britain), there are many separate Celtic Mythologies and Religions. 
With the coming of Rome, much of the native Celtic religious system, headed by the Druids, was dissolved. 

The Druids, the intellectual class of the Celts tended to oppose the Romans, so the Romans had to remove the threat to their power, through whatever means possible. Many academics have long stated authoritatively that the Druids practiced human sacrifice. This, however, has the ring of slander to it. The academics cite passage after passage of texts that state this 'fact.' However, these documents in question were ALL written by the Greeks and Romans, enemies of the Celts. Nowhere in native Celtic tradition, is there any mention of human sacrifice, nor is there any archaeological evidence, which is odd since most of the academics who claim the Druids practiced human sacrifice have been archaeologists. 

P. B. Ellis has stated that the Romans invented story as a way to justify the destruction of the Druids, the intellectual class, and the group most opposed to the Romans. He also goes on to point out that the Greeks and the Romans sacrificed humans regularly not long before the conquest of the Celts. The Romans continued a form of human sacrifice (in the gladiatorial games) until the 6th century c.e. So it would seem that the Romans were condemning the Celts for a practice that they themselves enjoyed. 

With the advent of Christianity, the religion and the mythology of the Celts was no more. What little has survived of the religious practices of the Celts comes from four sources, two hostile, one neutral, one friendly. The two hostile sources are the Classical propaganda writers, who tended to emphasis the barbarity of Celtic practice, and the Christian writers, who tended to highlight the paganism of the Celts. The neutral source is archaeology. Through examining the actual remains left behind by the Celts one can catch a few glimpses of the Celts, as they were. The friendly source is the native tradition of the Celts themselves. Much of this was written down much later than the times written about and so has an influence of later times, but is still valuable. 

Although there is a lack of certain kinds of information, when it comes to the Celts, there is a remarkable amount other types. We hope with this section of Mythicos to highlight some of this remarkable information. 


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GALATIANS

The meaning of the term 'Galatian' in Hellenistic and Roman Asia Minor
A.D. Macro
Besides literary mention, Celtic presence and activity in and around Asia Minor during Hellenistic and Roman times is indicated on inscriptions and coins (1) by the ethnic on galates (and its derivatives), and (2) by names (personal, place, divine, and ethnic) which yield to Celtic linguistic analysis.

1. Whereas the name 'Galatia' was reserved to define first the Anatolian lands settled by Celtic tribes from the mid-third century B.C. and later the Roman province, the connotation of galates seems ambiguous: it can identify a Galatian Celt in particular or any Celt, whose place of origin was as near as Thrace or as far as Gaul. I will examine the literary and epigraphical career of the word galates, paying particular attention to its onomatopoeic associations, and marking any shift in connotation as Hellenistic gives way to Roman. 

2. From the epigraphical and numismatic record within and without Galatia, I shall choose for discussion a few instances where a demonstrably Celtic name has shown up in what seems to me an unusual or unexplained environment, whether of time or place, or in regard to the function assigned to the name.


The Galatians (from the Greek "Galatae" or "Gauls") were Celts who migrated southward across the Danubian plains through Illyricum and Pannonia to settle in central Asia minor (i.e. modern Turkey). Perhaps due to this migration through open country, they were known to fight in tighter formations than their western counterparts, which made them vulnerable in bad going.

The Galatian army list begins properly in 279 BC, when the Galatian host stopped its migration in northern Macedonia and debated whether to continue west or move south into Greece. A faction under the chieftain Brennus split off and headed south to sack the temple at Delphi before being driven back with heavy losses. The remnants rejoined the other division of Galatians under Leonorius and Luterius who had moved into Thrace. In 278 B.C., two groups of 20,000 Galatians crossed over into Asia Minor where they were engaged in service to King Nicomedes I of Bithynia, helping to suppress a rebellion by his younger brother. As a reward for their services, the Galatians received a large tract of land in central Asia minor (in modern Turkey) known henceforth as Galatia.

At this point, the Galatians consisted of three tribes centered around three towns: the Tolistboboii (Pessinus), the Tectosages (Ancyra, or modern Ankara) and the Trocmi (Tavium). Each tribe divided its territory into canton-like tetrarchies, ruled by a tetrarch supported by a judge and a general. Until the imposition of Roman-supported Kings, Galatia was ruled by a council of tetrarchs and by a 300 man Senate that met periodically at Drynemeton, near Ancyra.

Once firmly established, the Galatians commenced a series of marauding expeditions in all directions that made them the scourge of Asia Minor. Antiochus, the Macedonian successor king of Syria earned the title "Soter" (Savior) by repelling Galatian raiders. King Attlaus I of Pergaman (with Roman encouragement) was able to confine them to Galatia proper in a series of campaigns in 235-232 AD.

Thereafter, the warlike Galatians increasingly sought outlets through service as mercenaries. At Magnesia (180 BC) Galatians fought for King Antiochus of Syria against the Romans. Following the Roman victory, a Republican army under the Consul Manlius entered Galatia, defeating them in two battles (see Livy, XXXVIII, xvi. and I Mach., viii.). In 64 BC, the tetrarch Deiotarus fought for Rome against King Mithrades I of Pontus, and was rewarded by being named King of the Galatians by the Romans. Deiotarus later raised two imitation legions of Galatians who fought for Cicero in Roman service in Cilicia in 51 BC. In the Civil War, the Galatians supported Pompey with troops at the battle of Pharsala (48 BC).

Following Pompey's defeat, Mark Anthony placed the tetrarch Amyntas on the throne of Galatia, which by that time included not only Galatia proper, but also portions of Lyesonia, Pamphylia, Pisidia and Phyrgia (including the towns of Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe). A Galatian legion under command of the Roman Domitius was routed in battle against the army of Pharnaces of Pontus in the Alexandrian War (40 BC). A Galatian contingent joined Anthony at Actium (31 BC), but they changed sides at a critical point, offering their allegiance to Octavian (Augustus Caesar). As a reward, Amyntas continued as king of the Galatians until he was ambushed and killed in 25 BC. At that point, Galatia was officially absorbed as a Roman province


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CELTS IN BATTLE

Polybius, who lived between about 202 and 120 BC, gives a full account of how the Celts fought at the battle of Telamon in 225 BC; it is worth quoting at length because it highlights several recurring characteristics: 'The Celts had drawn up the Gaesatae from the Alps to face their enemies on the rear ... and behind them the Insubres .... The Insubres and the Boii wore trousers and light cloaks, but the Gaesatae in their overconfidence had thrown these aside and stood in front of the whole army naked, with nothing but their arms; for they thought that thus they would be more efficient, since some of the ground was overgrown with thorns which would catch on their clothes and impede the use of their weapons.' 

On the other hand the fine order and the noise of the Celtic host terrified the Romans; for there were countless trumpeters and horn blowers and since the whole army was shouting its war cries at the same time there was such a confused sound that the noise seemed to come not only from the trumpeters and the soldiers but also from the countryside which was joining in the echo. 

No less terrifying were the appearance and gestures of the naked warriors in front, all of whom were in the prime of life and of excellent physique. All the warriors in the front ranks were adorned with gold torcs and armlets. The Romans were particularly terrified by the sight of these men, but, led on by hope of gain, they were twice as keen to face the danger. '... to the Celts in the rear their trousers and cloaks afforded good protection, but to the naked men in front events turned out differently to what they had expected and caused them much discomfiture and distress. 

For since the Gallic shield cannot cover the whole body, because they were naked, the bigger they were, the more chance there was of missiles striking home. At length, unable to ward off the javelin throwers because of the distance and the number of javelins falling upon them, in despair and distress some rushed upon the enemy in wild rage and willingly gave up their lives; others, retreating step by step towards their comrades, threw them into confusion by their manifest show of cowardice.' 

The ancient writers dwelt upon the terrifying effect an army of Celts had on their opponents; their great stature, their wild cries, their gesticulations and prancings, the clashing of arms and blowing of trumpets - all combined to terrify and confuse the enemy. As long as these demonstrations of enthusiasm and bravado struck terror into the foe, the Celts would drive all before them. 'For they were always most formidable while they were fresh.' The whole race is war-mad, says Strabo, high-spirited and quick to fight, but otherwise straightforward and not at all of evil character. When the two armies were arrayed in line, the loud voice of the Celtic chief could sometimes be heard. 'For they were accustomed ... to come forward before the front line and challenge the bravest of the enemy drawn up opposite them to single combat, brandishing their weapons and terrifying the enemy. Whenever one accepts the challenge, they praise in song the manly virtues of their ancestors, proclaiming also their own brave deeds. At the same time they abuse and belittle their opponent, trying by their words to rob him of his boldness of spirit beforehand.' 

The story of how Marcus Claudius Marcellus killed a Gallic leader at Clastidium (222 BC) is typical of such encounters. Advancing with a smallish army, Marcellus met a combined force of Insubrian Gauls and Gaesatae at Clastidium. The Gallic army advanced with the usual rush and terrifying cries, and their king, Britomartus, picking out Marcellus by means of his badges of rank, made for him, shouting a challenge and brandishing his spear. Britomartus was an outstanding figure not only for his size but also for his adornments; for he was resplendent in bright colors and his armour shone with gold and silver. This armour, thought Marcellus, would be a fitting offering to the gods. He charged the Gaul, pierced his bright breastplate and cast him to the ground. It was an easy task to kill Britomartus and strip him of his armour. These spoils Marcellus offered to Jupiter. This is the only story of its kind in which the name of the Celtic chief is recorded. In their attempts to throw the enemy into confusion and terror, the Celts made great use of noise. They yelled their war cries as they advanced, howling and singing and brandishing their spears.
 
Livy, in two different contexts, distant in time and place, vividly depicts the noise accompanying their mad rush into battle. Describing the battle of the river Allia, he says: 'they are given to wild outbursts and they fill the air with hideous songs and varied shouts.' Of the Gauls in Asia he writes: 'their songs as they go into battle, their yells and leapings, and the dreadful noise of arms as they beat their shields in some ancestral custom - all this is done with one purpose, to terrify their enemies.' 

In sharp contrast to the wild onset of the Celts, which was evident also during their invasion of Greece, was the silent, orderly advance of the Greek army. When the Gauls defeated the Roman army at the river Allia, they marched on Rome. 'They arrived at the city and entered at first in fear lest there should be some treachery, but then, when they saw that the city was deserted, they moved forward with equal noise and impetuosity.' 

On another occasion the Romans experienced a new form of noisy warfare: 'for standing up in chariots and wagons, the armed enemies came at them with the great noise of hooves and wheels so that the unfamiliar din terrified the horses of the Romans.' There was also the noise of trumpets. 

At the battle of Telamon the number of trumpeters and horn blowers was incalculable. Diodorus Siculus says they had trumpets peculiar to barbarians: 'for when they blow upon them, they produce a harsh sound, suitable to the tumult of war.' The Gauls also had their shouts of victory and triumph. 'They shouted "Victory, Victory" in their customary fashion and raised their yell of triumph (Ululatus)', and at Alesia 'they encouraged their men with shouts of triumph (Clamore et Ululatu)'. There are several representations of Celtic trumpets on classical sculpture, most notably at Pergamon in Asia Minor, and on the triumphal arch at Orange in southern France, and a few fragments of actual trumpets have survived. 

The mouth of a trumpet shaped in the manner of a boar's head was found in 1816 at Deskford (Banffshire, Grampian); although the trumpet itself no longer survives, the mouth may be compared with the representations on the cauldron from Gundestrup in Denmark, where the sectional nature of the trumpet construction is clearly shown. The Deskford trumpet may originally have had ears and a mane rather like the Gundestrup examples; when first discovered, however, it retained a movable wooden 'tongue' which may have added vibration to the strident sounds blown from it. 

The Deskford piece is usually dated to the middle of the first century AD. Among the earlier representations of trumpets are those from the temple of Athena Polias Nikephoros at Pergamon in Asia Minor dating to about 181 BC and celebrating the victories of Attalus I over the Galatian tribes in the late third century BC. Trumpets, shields, standards, indeed all the trophies are set out in a great display of spoils of war on the triumphal arch at Orange. 

The large number of trumpets shown at Orange underlines the impression of great noise during battle given by the classical writers. As already mentioned, Polybius describes a contingent of Gaesatae (sometimes taken as mercenaries, now more often as spearmen, which took part in the battle of Telamon; they came from beyond the Alps to help the Gauls already in north Italy (for example the Boii and the Insubres).

 
The Celts of north Italy wore trousers and cloaks, but the Gaesatae fought naked. At the battle of Cannae (216 BC) Polybius describes the naked Celts and the Iberians with their short linen tunics with purple borders, and Livy speaks of the Gauls naked from the navel up and of the Iberians with dazzlingly white tunics bordered with purple. 

The Celts in Asia Minor seem to have preserved this custom, for they too are described as naked in battle with skin white because they were never exposed except in battle. Camillus, trying to raise the morale of the Romans after the siege of the Capitol, pointed to some naked Gauls and said: 'These are the men who rush against you in battle, who raise loud shouts, clash their arms and long swords, and toss their hair. Look at their lack of hardiness, their soft and flabby bodies, and go to it'. Dionysus of Halicarnassus expresses the same sentiments: 'Our enemies fight bare-headed, their breasts, sides thighs, legs are all bare, and they have no protection except from their shields; their weapons of defense are thin spears and long swords. What injury could their long hair, their fierce looks, the clashing of their arms and the brandishing of their arms do us? These are mere symbols of barbarian boastfulness.' 
 
CELTS THROUGH ROMAN EYES

To the Romans the Celts presented a terrifying sight because of their tall stature and their strange appearance. They were in many respects different from Mediterranean peoples. The Celts were by far the tallest race in the world, noticeable also for their white skin and fair hair. Although the Romans had heard about the barbarian Celts, they first encountered them as warriors, and it was in battle that their enormous size and strange appearance first struck them. The Celtic chiefs who advanced to challenge their opposing Roman leader to single combat were men of great physique, 'of stature greater than human'; the story of the fight between Britomartus and Marcellus can be compared to that between Goliath and David. The triumphal procession awarded to Marcellus was said to be most remarkable for the riches of the spoils and the gigantic size of the prisoners. 

Diodorus Siculus describes the Celts at some length: 'the Gauls are tall of body, with skin moist and white; their hair is blond not only by nature but also because they practice to increase artificially the peculiar nature of their coloring. Some of them shave off their beards but others let them grow moderately: the nobles shave their cheeks but let their moustaches grow freely so as to cover their mouths. Therefore, when they are eating, the moustaches become mixed in the food, and when they are drinking, the drink passes as if through a strainer.' They had unusual styles of hairdressing; they used to smear their hair with limewater and then pull it back to the top of their head and over the neck to produce something like a horse's mane. 

Tacitus tells of other similar treatments of hair found among the Germanic tribes. Thus the Suebi are distinguished from the other Germans by their particular hairstyle: 'they comb their hair sideways and tie it in a knot ... often on the very crown.' All this elaborate hairdressing was intended to give them greater height and to terrify their enemies in battle. Silius Italicus mentions a warrior who had offered his golden locks and the ruddy top-knot on the crown of his head to Mars if he were victorious. The color of the hair is usually referred to as fair, red or flaxen coloured and even ginger. 

The men of Britain were taller than those of Gaul, but their hair was not so fair, while the Germans differed only slightly from other Celts in that they were wilder, taller and had redder hair. There is a story that Caligula, anxious to make his triumph in Rome more spectacular, in view of the small number of prisoners for display, picked out some very tall Gauls and made them not only grow their hair longer but also dye it red. Strabo, quoting an earlier source, makes a curious statement: 'they try to avoid becoming stout and pot-bellied and any young man whose waist exceeds the measure of the normal girdle is fined.' But such a weight-watching approach is contradicted by others writers who tell of the Gauls gorging themselves with food and drinking wine excessively so that their bodies soon become corpulent and flabby. Consequently, when they exercised their bodies, they suffered quickly from exhaustion and breathlessness. In the minds of classical writers the women were not only like their men in stature, but they could also rival them in strength.
 
Ammianus Marcellinus described how difficult it would be for a band of foreigners to deal with a Celt if he called in the help of his wife. For she was stronger than he was and could rain blows and kicks upon the assailants equal in force to the shots of a catapult. Boudicca, queen of the Iceni, was said to be 'very tall and terrifying in appearance; her voice was very harsh and a great mass of red hair fell over her shoulders.' 

According to Diodorus Siculus, the Celts 'wear striking clothing, tunics dyed and embroidered in many colors, and trousers which they call Bracae; and they wear striped cloaks, fastened by a brooch, thick in winter and light in summer, worked in a variegated, closely set check pattern.' Strabo says that instead of the ordinary tunics they wore 'split tunics which have sleeves and reach down to their thighs. Their wool is rough and thin at the ends and from it they weave thick cloaks (SAGI) which they call Laenae.' 

The poet Propertius tells how the huge Celtic chief Virdomarus, skilled in hurling his javelins from his chariot and 'clothed in striped trousers', boasted of his descent from the Rhine God. Three pieces of clothing are thus mentioned: trousers, tunics and cloaks. The trousers would certainly be noticed by the toga-wearing Romans. Trousers were worn especially by the cavalrymen, and the Romans themselves adopted them from the mercenary Gallic cavalry they enlisted. The tunic was probably a simple garment like a shirt, made of linen and reaching down to the thighs. There was also the slightly different style mentioned by Strabo - with slits and sleeves. 

The Iberians were said to wear short tunics bordered with a purple stripe and dazzlingly white. The tunics were often dyed and embroidered and worn with a gold-plated or silver-plated belt. The cloaks were made of wool; they were heavy or light according to the season and were fastened at the shoulder by a brooch. A defeated Celtic barbarian is shown on a fragment of a monumental bronze statue from Volubilis in Roman Mauretania in north Africa; his Bracae have what Piggott has described as 'loud and disparate check patterns' and his cloak hangs loosely from his shoulders. Such an impression of woven designs is also given in a description of Queen Boudicca, who wore a tunic of many colors over which a thick cloak was fastened by a brooch. 

An outstanding characteristic of the Celtic people was their love of decoration and ornament. 'They collect a great quantity of gold and use it for decoration, not only the women but also the men. For they wear bracelets on the wrists and arms, necklaces of solid gold, rings of great worth and even gold corselets' (body armour for the upper part of the torso). The torc was one of the most important ornaments worn by the Celts. It was a neck ring made of a rod of metal (sometimes twisted), of bronze or gold according to the wealth and status of the wearer. The two ends of the torc almost met, but the metal was pliant, for it had to open sufficiently to let it on or off. (See also: TORQUE). As with clothes, so with adornments, each man wore what he could afford and what status demanded. It is obvious, however, that the Celts liked to attract attention with flamboyant clothes and rich, decorative accessories. The Roman soldiers were well aware of the splendid ornaments worn by their opponents and before one battle they were told by their generals that soldiers should not be adorned with gold and silver but should rely on their weapons and their courage. These ornaments were more truly booty than arms, shining brightly before the battle but ugly in the midst of blood and wounds. 

Athenaeus is the main authority on food; quoting Posidonius, he says: 'Their food consists of a small quantity of bread and a large amount of meat'; and quoting Phylarchus, 'Many loaves of bread are broken up and served lavishly on tables as well as pieces of meat taken from cauldrons. 'Bread, meat (boiled in a cauldron or roasted on a spit) and fish were the staple foods. Fish was eaten, sometimes baked with salt, vinegar and cumin'. 
By contrast the Caledonians and the Maeatae, according to Dio, never ate fish, though it was in plentiful supply. Strabo speaks of large quantities of food, milk and all kinds of meat, especially fresh and salted pork, and of the Britons, who, though they had milk in abundance, did not make cheese. A certain etiquette and precedence were observed at table, and good eating habits were even noted. Though they were accustomed to eat voraciously, raising up whole limbs in both hands and biting off the meat, they did it in a cleanly fashion. No one started to eat without looking first to see if the chief had touched what was set before him. In extending hospitality to strangers they did not ask them who they were and what they wanted until they had eaten. At more formal gatherings or celebrations they sat in a circle with the chief or hero in the centre, his attendants and warriors around and behind him, each with a position according to his status. 
Drink was served from earthenware or bronze jugs and the meat on plates of bronze or in baskets. When the joints of meat were served, the chief or hero took the thigh piece. But if someone else claimed it, they joined in single combat to the death. Frequently they used some chance circumstance to start an argument and then a fight during dinner. They indulged in sham fights and practice feints and they would end up either wounding or even killing their opponent. This love of quarrelling and fighting even at a table was made all the easier, says Polybius, because they usually ate too much and drank too much. 

The Celtic chiefs were accompanied in war and in piece by 'parasites' (the word means fellow diner and has no pejorative meaning), who sang their praises before the assembly; these entertainers were called bards. There are also descriptions of great banquets prepared by rich kings. The gestures of lordly prodigality and ostentation were typical of the autocratic tribal chief of the period. Louernius, king of the Arverni, in an attempt to win favor, is said to have ridden his chariot over a plain distributing gold and silver to all who followed him. He also gave a feast to all who wished to attend, in a vast enclosure, the sides of which were 1½ miles (2,4 km) long. He filled vats with liquor, prepared great quantities of food and ensured service without interruption for several days. 
A poet who arrived too late for the festivities composed a poem praising the king's greatness and lamenting the fact he had arrived too late. So charmed was the king by the song that he gave the poet a purse of gold and won for himself a further poetic effusion. One feature which has attracted frequent comment was the ability of the Celts to drink great quantities of liquor, though one should not take Plutarch seriously when he says that the Celts were so enthralled by the new pleasure of wine drinking that they seized their arms, took their families and set off for Italy! 

Athenaeus says: 'the drink of the wealthy is wine imported from Italy ... This is unmixed, but sometimes a little water is added. The lower classes drink a beer made from wheat and prepared with honey ... They drink from a common cup, a little at a time, not more than a mouthful, but they do it rather frequently.' The Cimbri were said to be demoralized by the delights of wine, but the Nervii, a Gallic tribe famed for their indomitable ferocity, would not allow wine and other luxuries to be imported because they believed that with them the men would become too soft and effeminate to endure hardship. 

To Polybius the Celts were merely a band of marauders who later became mercenaries ready to join whichever side suited them in the war between the Romans and the Carthaginians. They were brave and ostentatiously courageous but reckless, impetuous and easily disheartened. Hannibal was eager to make use of their enthusiasm before it wore off; but the Carthaginians and the Romans too were apprehensive of the Celts, for they saw in them a lack of fidelity and a mutual treachery. 

It is reported that Hannibal so distrusted his new allies that he had a number of wigs made for himself, suitable for men of all ages. He was sure that by changing his wigs constantly he would make it difficult for the fickle Celts to recognize and perhaps kill him. Some writers tend to dwell mainly on their lawlessness and savagery. Cicero, for example, makes great use of this to rail against them. 'They thought it right to sacrifice human beings to the immortal gods' and 'they find it necessary to propitiate the immortal gods and to defile their altars and temples with human victims.' Polybius and Livy concentrate on the outrages committed by the Gauls and on the barbarous character of the Galatians. 

There was always a tendency for Greek or Roman writers to emphasize characteristics which did not conform to their code of morality and perhaps give too much credence to the more dramatic traveler's tales. Strabo and Diodorus Siculus, while not ignoring the savagery of some Celtic practices, also describe some of the more pleasing traits of their character. 


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LANGUAGES



The Celtic languages members of the family of Indo-European languages, disappeared from continental Europe in the late 5th century, but they are still spoken by many people in the British Isles and in Brittany. 

Continental Celtic, or Gaulish, is preserved mainly in brief inscriptions. 
Insular Celtic is divided into two branches--Goidelic (also called Gaelic), including Irish, Scottish Gaelic, and Manx; and Brythonic (also called British), including Welsh, Cornish, and Breton. Manx and Cornish, once nearly extinct, experienced revivals in the 20th century. 

Among the phonological differences between Goidelic and Brythonic is the treatment of Indo-European k(w): Irish mac, "son," contrasts with Welsh map. These two branches, sometimes called q-Celtic and p-Celtic, underwent certain changes but with different results. Stress became fixed on the first syllable in Irish and on the penultimate syllable in Welsh. Indo-European final syllables were lost, leading to the disappearance of a case system in Welsh. Many words were further shortened through loss of certain interior vowels. 
A system of initial consonant mutations developed; for example, Old Irish cenn, "head," becomes a chenn in the phrase "his head. "Irish Old Irish preserves five cases of the noun, three genders, and three numbers. The verbal system has developed new forms for expressing past action, an s-subjunctive, and an f-future for weak verbs. Dual number, the special number designating two, is lost in Middle Irish (900-1200), along with neuter gender, as in Welsh. The use of pronouns inserted within verbs to serve as verbal objects gives way to the use of independent pronouns in Early Modern Irish (1200-1400). 
The verbal system is gradually simplified--analytic forms develop; many strong verbs are treated as weak; compound verbs become simple, and verbs conjugated with deponent endings adopt undeponent endings. 
Taught today in Irish schools, Modern Irish is spoken as a native language mainly on the western and southern coasts of Ireland and in a few inland communities. 
Scottish Gaelic and Manx Scottish Gaelic, which diverged significantly from Irish by the 16th century, today has roughly 80,000 speakers, excluding many Gaelic speakers in Nova Scotia, living mainly in the Highlands and Western Islands of Scotland. In the present tense a verbal noun construction replaces the old synthetic present, which itself acquires future meaning as the old future tense disappears. 
In general, the inflection of both the noun and verb is greatly simplified, as it is in Manx, the traditional language of the Isle of Man, first written down early in the 17th century and differing sharply from Irish in its treatment of intervocalic consonants. 
Both Manx and Scottish Gaelic have absorbed many Norse loanwords. Welsh, Cornish, and Breton. 

In Welsh, which has some 560,000 speakers in Wales, the verbal system was greatly simplified by the Middle Welsh period (12th to 14th and 15th centuries), although early texts show many features, such as certain verb endings, that may be compared with Old Irish. As in Scottish Gaelic, present-tense forms are used with future-tense meaning. 

Cornish, the old language of Cornwall, first recorded in the 10th-century Bodmin Gospels, differs phonologically from Welsh in several ways. For example, medial and final t and d become s or z; and the structure of the language is generally closer to that of Breton, four main dialects of which are still widely spoken in Brittany. 

Breton differs notably from Welsh in its use of the subjunctive as a future and its heavy borrowing of words from French. 



The Six Celtic Languages

There was a unifying language spoken by the Celts, called not surprisingly, old Celtic. Philogists have shown the descendence of Celtic from the original Ur-language and from the Indo-European language tradition. In fact, the form of old Celtic was the closest cousin to Italic, the precursor of Latin. 
The original wave of Celtic immigrants to the British Isles are called the q-Celts and spoke Goidelic. It is not known exactly when this immigration occurred but it may be placed sometime in the window of 2000 to 1200 BC. The label q-Celtic stems from the differences between this early Celtic tongue and Italic. Some of the differences between Italic and Celtic included that lack of a p in Celtic and an a in place of an the Italic o. 
At a later date, a second wave of immigrants took to the British Isles, a wave of Celts referred to as the p-Celts speaking Brythonic. Goidelic led to the formation of the three Gaelic languages spoken in Ireland, Man and later Scotland. Brythonic gave rise to two British Isles languages, Welsh and Cornish, as well as surviving on the Continent in the form of Breton, spoken in Brittany. 
The label q-Celtic stems from the differences between this early Celtic tongue and the latter formed p-Celtic. The differences between the two Celtic branches are simple in theoretical form. Take for example the word ekvos in Indo-European, meaning horse. In q-Celtic this was rendered as equos while in p-Celtic it became epos, the q sound being replaced with a p sound. Another example is the Latin qui who. In q-Celtic this rendered as cia while in p-Celtic it rendered as pwy. It should also be noted that there are still words common to the two Celtic subgroups. 
As an aside, take note that when the Irish expansion into Pictish Britain occurred (see below), several colonies were established in present day Wales. The local inhabitants called the Irish arrivals gwyddel savages from which comes geídil and goidel and thus the Goidelic tongue. 


The Celtic Languages are a branch of the ancestral European language group called Indo-European. Geographically and historically, the Celtic language subfamily is divided into a Continental group (now extinct) and an Insular group. Linguistically the Insular languages fall into two groups: the Brythonic (or British), including Breton, Cornish, and Welsh; and the Goidelic (or Gaelic), including Irish, Scottish Gaelic (or Erse), and Manx. Until the 5th century c.e. the Continental Celtic Languages, including Gaulish and Galatian were widely spoken across Europe. But now the only evidence for these languages are scarce inscriptions, and texts written about them. 
Only the Brythonic and Goidelic groups survive, limited to the British Isles, Brittany, and some North and South American communities. 


The major difference between Celtic languages and most of the rest of Indo-European languages is the loss of the 'p' sound. For example in Latin the word for pig is 'porcus' in Gaelic the word for pig is 'orc.' Between the two Insular Celtic branchs the differences are in the 'qu' sound. Goidelic preserves the sound but Brythonic transformed the sound into 'p.' For example the word for son in Gaelic is 'mac' or 'maq' wile in Welsh the word for son is 'map' or 'ap.' This is the origin of the terms 'P-Celtic' for Brythonic, and 'Q-Celtic' for Goidelic. 

Breton. The Breton language is spoken today in various dialects in Brittany; most Breton speakers also speak French. Developed between the 4th and 6th centuries by Welsh and Cornish exiles fleeing invaders, it differs from the Welsh and Cornish of their homelands in its use of nasals and loan-words from the French. 

Cornish. Once the language of Cornwall, Cornish has been extinct since the late 18th century, despite recent efforts to revive it. It survives only in a few proper names and certain words in the English dialect spoken in Cornwall. 

Welsh. Welsh, called Cymraeg or Cymric (from Cymru, "Wales") by its speakers, is the native language of Wales and the most flourishing of the Celtic languages. It is spoken in Wales (where the majority of its users also speak English) and in some communities in the U.S. and Argentina. Organizations such as the Society for the Welsh Language have saved the language from dying out and are working to assure its official status along with English. Several schools in Wales now use Welsh as the medium of instruction, and television and radio broadcasts are made in the language. Like Breton, Welsh has discarded case endings for nouns; verbs, however, are elaborately inflected. The alternation of consonants, called mutation, plays a role, as in all Celtic languages. Welsh spelling is phonemic, representing unambiguously the pertinent sounds. In most cases Welsh speakers will know how to pronounce a word they have never seen before. The letter w can represent either a consonant or a vowel, however, and y stands for two vowel sounds. The consonant f has the sound of English v;ff of f dd of th, as in then; and th of th, as in thin. Popular attempts to describe pronunciation of double l (ll) all fail. It is a voiceless lateral fricative, and facile comparison to English thl is invalid. Welsh words are accented on the next to last syllable and have a characteristic intonation. Scholars recognize three periods of Welsh: Old (800-1100), Middle (1100-1500), and Modern (from 1500). Old Welsh survives only in isolated words and names, plus a few lines of verse. Welsh has borrowed words throughout all these periods from Latin, Anglo-Saxon, Norman French, and extensively from English, but it still has a large native vocabulary of Celtic origin. Forty dialects have been identified in Wales. Standard Welsh has both a Northern and Southern variety. 


Ogham
Irish. 
Irish, or Irish Gaelic, is the oldest of the Goidelic group of Celtic languages. Ancient written examples exist in the ogham inscriptions, on about 370 gravestones scattered through south-western Ireland and Wales. Dating from the 5th to the 8th century, the inscriptions consist almost entirely of proper names. Irish can be grouped into four periods: Old (c. 800-1000), Early or Early Middle (1200-1500), Middle (1200-1500), and Modern (from 1500). Originally a highly inflected language, Irish retains essentially two noun cases, nominative and genitive, with the dative surviving in the singular of feminine nouns; the language has only two verb tenses in the indicative mood. It is chiefly spoken in the western and south-western parts of the Republic of Ireland, where it is an official language, and to some extent in Northern Ireland. In the past century, the number of Irish speaking persons has declined from 50 percent of the population of Ireland to less than 20 percent. 

Scottish Gaelic. 
A form of Gaelic was brought to Scotland by Irish invaders about the 5th century, where it replaced an older Brythonic language. By the 15th century, with the accretion of Norse and English loan-words, the Scottish branch differed significantly enough from the Irish to warrant definition as a separate language. The alphabet of Irish and Scottish Gaelic is identical, consisting of 18 letters. Scottish Gaelic employs four cases of nouns: nominative, genitive, dative, and vocative. Like Irish, the accent is on the initial syllable. Scottish Gaelic exists in two main dialects, Northern and Southern, roughly geographically determined by a line up the Firth of Lorne to the town of Ballachulish and then across to the Grampian Mountains, which it follows. The Southern dialect is more akin to Irish than is the Northern, and is more inflected. The main difference is the change of the C' sound, which is eu in Northern dialect and Ia in Southern. Thus, the word for "grass" is pronounced feur in Northern and fiar in Southern. Scottish Gaelic also has a few thousand speakers in Nova Scotia. 
Manx. The language of the Isle of Man is classed as a dialect of Scottish Gaelic, with strong Norse influence. It began to decline in the 19th century, and in the early 20th century it became virtually extinct. The first written records are of the 17th century, and Manx literature, apart from ballads and carols, is negligible. 

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BRITTANY 

prominent dates of the Breton history 

 

Before

???

Paleolithic Era  until to 5000BC


A population, without sparse doubt, resides the Armoric.


Mesolithic Age (5000-3500 BC )


The told race " of Téviec" resides the south coast. 

Neolithic Age (3500-1500 BC )


A new people appears in Armoric, come from the Mediterranean, without doubt by the Iberian peninsula.
They introduce a new religion and new funeral customs.
The civilization of megaliths: during 2 000 years, these monuments are going to cover the ground of the peninsula.
To 3000: construction of the tumulus of Saint Michel to Carnac. 
To 2000: construction of the tumulus of Kerméné, in Guidel (statue of the goddess - mother). Alignments of Carnac date this period.

(see Stonehenge)

Bronze Age (1500-625 BC )


The introduction of the metal opens the mining period. The tin, indispensable to the manufacture of the bronze, abounds in Armoric and in Great Britain: ships come, fort far, to seek it in these countries. Corbilo (Saint -Nazaire) is the main port where arrives the tin of the Cornwall and the neighbour region of Piriac.
Iberian boats insure some the transportation until the Mediterranean. 

(see Beaker Culture)

Iron Age (625-56 BC)


Since the year 1000 BC, Celts arrive in Occident and, little by little, demonstrate in Armoric.
However, 'Osismes' and 'Vénètes', that occupy the west and the south of the peninsula, not the East of the Armoric. That feebly undergone the Celt  influence. On the other hand, Celts would have better implanted to l1th century BC.

(More about these strange people...)

Roman Conquest (56-43 BC)


56: Revolt and naval defeat of the 'Vénètes'.
52: Armoricans participate in the revolt and to the defeat of Vercingétorix. Beginnings of the Gallo-Roman Armoric. In the island of Brittany
55: First expedition of Caesar.
43: Southern conquest of the island (Brittany).

(More about these poor Romans...)

1st century BC


In the island of Brittany
61: Revolt of the queen Boudicca.
84: Expedition of Agricola Pods some.


IInd-IIIrd-IVth centuries


First trace of some Christianity in Great Britain to the IIIrd century. The Heresy of Pélage.
257-273: the Armoricans participates in the Gallic Empire of Tétricus. They spreads there at the end of the IVth century.


Vth - VIth centuries


Briton emigration in Armoric
429 and 447: Saint Germain trip to Auxerre, and Saint Loup in Great Britain.
The invasion of the island by Saxons is already begun since Saint Germain, ancient Roman officer, contributes to make achieve on them the victory of the Alleluia. 
To 450: first trace of some Christianity in Armoric.
461: a bishop of Breton of Armoric, Mansuetus, assists the Council of Tours.
The emigration is therefore already important enough. It will continue all to the long of the Vth and VIth century. 
Breton escaping ahead the victorious Saxon installation. 


VIIth - VIIIth centuries


Period of independent principalities.
Reign then, 
in Cornouaille: Gradlon, Reith, Miliaw, Riwod, Budik; 
in Domnonée: Riwal, Deroch, lona, Conomor, Judual; 
in Bro-Werek: Warok 1st, Konoo, Warok II. 

IX century


The unity of Brittany.
818-822: Morvan Lez Breiz (Hip of Brittany) holds head to Louis the Debonair. 
822-825: Gwiomarc'h continues the work of Morvan.
825-841: Nominoë governs Brittany to the name of the Emperor. 
841: revolt of Nominoë.
845: History of Ballon. Charles the Bald is beaten by Nominoë. 
846: new victory of Nominoë. Charles the Bald recognises the independence of Brittany: Nominoë, king. 
7 March 851: Nominoë dies to Vendôme, then, that having conquered the Maine and the Anjou he walked in direction of the river Seine.
851-857: reign of Erispoë. He is recognised sovereign king by Charles the Bald. 
857: assassination of Erispoë.
863: treaty of Entrammes: Charles the Bald recognises to Brittany a part of the Anjou.
868: treaty of Compiègne: the Emperor abandons to Brittany the country of Avranches and the Cotentin.
868-888: dynastic quarrels between houses of Nantes and Rennes. 
875: Gurvan repels Norsemen under Rennes.
888: defeat of Norsemen to Questembert.
888-907: reign of Alain 1st the Great.


Xth century


After 907: Norsemen ravage Brittany.
To 931: John, abbot of Landévennec, returns Montreuil-sur-Mer to Brittany. He is followed by Alain Barbe Torte, who secures Nantes.
937: Alain  II Barbe Torte, duke of Brittany. Victory of Kerlouan on Norsemen. 
1st August 939: victory of Trans on Norsemen.
944: defeat of Dol.
952: death of the duke Alain II.
952-958: reign of the duke Drogon.
958-992: rivalry between houses of Nantes and Rennes. Conan 1st the Wrong, count of Rennes; Hoël, then Judicaël to Nantes.


XIth century


House of Rennes
992-1008: Geoffroi 1st, son of Conan the Wrong, duke of Brittany. 
1008-1040: Alain III.
1040-1066: Conan II. The Bretons participate in the conquest of England. 
House of Cornouaille
1066-1084: Hoël.


XIIth century


1084-1112: Alain IV Fergent. Guillaume Le Conquérant invades Brittany, but has to escape (1086).
1112-1148: Conan III.
1148-1156: quarrels of succession between Éon of Porhoët, Hoël and Conan. 
1156-1166: Conan IV the Small.
1158: Henry II Plantagenêt, king of England invades Brittany and submits it. Conan IV has to abdicate.
House of Plantagenêt
1166-1182: English domination. Henry II.
1182-1186: Geoffroi II son of Henry II, duke of Brittany.
1186-1203: Arthur I, son of Geoffroi II, duke of Brittany, under the regency of his mother Constance.


XIIIth century


April 1203: Arthur 1st is captive at the siege of Mirebeau, while he combated 'Jean Sans-Terre', his uncle,
to make cost his rights to the crown of England, he is assassinated in a dungeon of Rouen. 
1203-1213: Alix of Thouars, duchess of Brittany.
House of Dreux. 
1203-1341: The Ermine appears as the herald of Brittany. Period of prosperity. Five dukes : Pierre the lst; Jean the 1st; Jean the 2nd; Arthur the 2nd; Jean the 3rd.
House Capétienne
1213-1237: Peter 1st Mauclerc, spouse of Alix of Thouars, duke of Brittany, struggle against his feudal and against the clergy. Saint Louis invades Brittany, he is beaten.


XIVth century


1237-1286: John 1st the Redhead.
1286-1305: John II.
1305-1312: Arthur II.
1312-1341: John III Good.
1341-1364: war of succession of Brittany.
Two pretenders: John of Montfort, son of Arthur II and stepbrother of John III; Charles of Blois, husband of Jeanne of Penthièvre, granddaughter of Arthur II by his father Guy of Penthièvre, brother of John III. 1343: John of Montfort captured, is liberated little after. 
During his detention, his woman, Jeanne the Flame, defends victoriously Hennebont against Charles of Blois. 
An English army comes to the help of Montfort. A truce, signed at Malestroit for three years, is broken little after. 
1344: Charles of Blois, to the head of a French army, takes Quimper. 
1345: John of Montfort disembarks with an English army, he can not resume Quimper and dies little after. 
1346: Charles of Blois is beaten and captive fact to the Peter Derrien. 
26 March 1351: combat of the 'Trente' (30).
1352: victory of English at Mauron. Du Guesclin at the service of Charles of Blois. 
1363: John of Montfort, second of the name, disembarks in Brittany with an army. 
29 September 1364: John of Montfort, victor to Auray. Charles of Blois is killed. 
12 April 1365: John of Montfort is recognised duke of Brittany by the peace of Guérande (John IV). 
House of Montfort
1365-1399: reign of John IV the Conqueror. Under the French pressure, the duke has to exile 1373 to 1379.
He returns triumphantly in Brittany in 1379.


XVth century


1399-1442: reign of John V the Sage. War against English. Bretons, in 1405, send an army of help to their Welsh brothers, in struggle against English. Particularly favourable reign to arts. Notre-Dame of the Kreisker, Our  Lady of Folgoët, the church of 'Saint - du - Doigt' and many others are constructed in this period.
1442-1450: François 1st. New struggle with English. 
1450-1457:  Peter II the Simple.
1457-1458: Arthur III the Justicier.
1458-1488: François II. War against France (League of the 'Bien Public' against Louis XI). 
8 February 1486: States of Brittany recognise rights of Anne, daughter of François II to succeed  his father. French invasion.
28 July 1488: defeat of Saint -Aubin-de-Cormier.
10 August 1488: treaty 'du Verger'. The duke recognises to have the homage liege to the king of France and authorises the call of justice courses to the Parliament of Paris. 
9 September 1488: death of François II.
1488-1514: Anne, duchess. 
1491: she marries Charles Vlll, king of France. 
1498: death of Charles VIII.
1499: Anne marries Louis XII, king of France, in Nantes, the union remains personal. 

XVIth century


1514-1524: Claude of France, daughter of Anne of Brittany, duchess. 
1524-1532: François III, dolphin of France, duke of Brittany. 
1532: treaty of Union, end of the Breton independence. 4 August: States of Sluices vote clauses of the Union. September: edict of the Plessis-Macé, by which François 1st, king of France, ratifies clauses of the Union.
1588-1598: wars of the League in Brittany, revolt of Mercoeur. 

XVIIth - XVIIIth century


1675: told revolt of the 'Papier timbré'(Stamped Paper), to Rennes and in low Bretagne. Époque of Breton corsairs. 
1718: revolt of Pontkallek.
1758: English landing to Cancale and to Saint Cast.
1764-1774: affair of the Parliament of Brittany, in open rebellion against the royal power.
1789: 4 August abolition of privileges. In spite the very numerous mentions focused on notebooks of grievances requesting the maintenance of liberties conceded by the treaty of Union, these frankness are abolished.
1790: 6 September: suppression of the Parliament. The viscount of Botherel, proxy - syndic of States, pupil in vain a protest solemn. End of the autonomy of Brittany. 
1792-1793: royalist conspiracy of  the Rouërie (the Breton Association).
1793-1799: the chouannerie.
1795: landing and defeat of them emigrated to Quiberon. 

XIXth century


1804: conspiracy of Cadoudal.
1821: publication of the dictionary celto - Breton of   Le Gonidec. 
1839: publication of the Barzaz Breiz of The Villemarqué. These two last date mark the beginning of the Breton Rebirth.
1870: constitution of the Army of Brittany that is abandoned then without arms in the mud of the camp of Conlie by fear
that this is an army of chouans.
1898: foundation of the Breton Regional Union (Kevrenn Broadel Breiz). 


XXth century


1901: foundation of the Gorsedd of Bards.
1914-1918: Great War, 300 000 Breton killed.
1919: the marquis of the Estourbeillon, with the approval of the marshal Foch and bishops of Brittany, advertising, to the opportunity of the treaty of peace, the renewal of the treaty of Union of 1532 and the possibility for Brittany to express in international conferences.
1925: Creation of the modern flag the " Gwenn ha Du ", meaning White and Black.
1930: foundation of the Breton national Party.
1932: the Monument representing Duchess Anne kneeling to the king of France as token of submission, is blown up in Rennes, by the clandestine organisation " Gwenn ha Du ".
1940: proclamation, to Pontivy, a Breton national Council, decided to act in a separatist senses.
1940-1945: resistance of Brittany to the Nazi occupation. An advisory board of Brittany is constituted by the government Pétain. The Vichy Government cuts the "département de Loire Atlantique" off Brittany.
But Brittany signals by his heroism and his spirit of resistance.
1945-1965: considerable development of the folk movement: Celtic Circles, Kevrennou, Breton reviews.
1958: the French constitution rules out the Breton language, only the French can be used in France...
1961: agricultural social movements. The Movement of Organisation of Brittany (M.O.B. ) directs manifestations against the government.
1961-1981: social movements seen as crimes by the French authorities.
1998: you are reading this page...

XXIst century

2001 : ???