The Element Encyclopedia of the Celts. Rodney Castleden

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СКАЧАТЬ was a strong ruler and under his leadership the old imposed alliance between the Catuvellauni and the Trinovantes was re-asserted. This expanded kingdom was undoubtedly the strongest political entity in Britain on the eve of the invasion by the emperor Claudius in AD 43, and the Roman historian Suetonius described Cunobelin as “King of Britain.”

      Cunobelin ruled the large joint kingdom from Camulodunum, near modern Colchester, which was previously the chief settlement of the Trinovantes. This move appears to have been made in order to tap into the European trading network more easily.

      Camulodunum was a large urban complex covering 12 square miles (30 square km) and marked out by flanking rivers and big earth ramparts. It was a major industrial focus that included a mint. At Gosbecks there was a massive concentration of expensive imported pottery in one area, which was probably Cunobelin’s palace. Nearby there was a royal burial ground.

      Cunobelin and his court were Romanized Celts. They were native Britons, but they were also keen to acquire all the luxury goods they could from Rome. They may have adopted Latin; some Latin graffiti have been found, though they could have been inscribed by Roman visitors. The Catuvellaunian aristocrats were in effect being bought or groomed by Rome in advance of the Claudian invasion. Having some client kings in Britain made invasion and annexation much easier.

      Strabo observed that certain British kings “procured the friendship of Caesar Augustus by sending embassies and paying court to him.”

      Cunobelin is the original of Shakespeare’s Cymbeline, and the only pre-Roman chief to be remembered in later times. Shakespeare’s portrayal of Cymbeline bears little relation to history, except for the idea that a client king was expected to pay annual tribute to Rome and that he found this hard to suffer:

       …Britain is

       A world by itself, and we will

       nothing pay

       For wearing our own noses.

      The Lexden Tumulus in Colchester may be the grave of Addedomarus or of Cunobelin. It is about the right date to be Cunobelin’s, and of the right status. It contained chain-mail armor, Roman bronzes, furniture, and 15 wine amphorae. The bronze ornaments in the grave date from the eve of the invasion by Claudius. One of the grave goods is a pendant made out of a silver coin with a fine portrait bust of the young Augustus on it (see Places: Lexden Tumulus).

      Cunobelin may have worn the pendant: he saw himself as the British Augustus. On his own coins he had the portrait of Augustus imitated and labelled CVNO.

      After Cunobelinus’s death, his two sons, Togodumnus and Caratacus, expanded Catuvellaunian power even more aggressively than their father. They seemed to be fearless of the Romans hesitating to invade on the other side of the Channel.

      CURSE TABLETS

      Romano-Celtic curses inscribed informally on sheets of lead are known by the Latin name defixiones, because of the form of words often used: somebody’s name followed by defictus est (“is cursed.”) They were deposited with other offerings in shrines. In effect the curse was offered up to the gods just like any other prayer.

      In 1930 only four curse tablets were known, but subsequent excavations, at places such as Bath, and Uley in Gloucestershire, have revealed many more of them. They are difficult to read because they have been hastily scratched.

      Curse tablets are of interest in their intensely personal character. A fine example was found at the Romano-Celtic sanctuary at Uley. It was written on both sides of a rectangular lead sheet 3.5 inches (9cm) across and then rolled up tightly, presumably so that no one except the god would be able to read it. When it was found, it had to be unrolled very carefully under laboratory conditions, to make sure that it did not break up. The conservation was successful, and this is how the inscription runs:

       A reminder to the God Mercury from Saturnina, a woman, concerning the linen cloth she has lost. Let him who has stolen it have no rest until he brings the aforesaid things to the aforesaid temple, whether this is a man or a woman, slave or free. She gives a third part to the aforesaid god on condition that he exacts those things which have been written above. A third part of what has been lost is given to the god Silvanus on condition that he exact this whether [the culprit?] is a man or woman, slave or free.

      This curse was left at the shrine, where a fine stone statue of Mercury presided; its head has survived. Where Saturnina wrote the name of the god Mercury, the name of another god, Mars-Silvanus, has been erased. The later reference to Silvanus confirms that the woman was depositing her curse with two gods, not just one, as an insurance. It also looks as if she had left a curse with Mercury before: this is “a reminder.” Whether Saturnina ever got her linen back we shall never know.

      Some tablets sound more legalistic. One from Bath reads: “I have given the goddess Sulis six silver pieces which I have lost. It is for the goddess to extract it from the debtors Senicianus, Saturninus, and Anniola. This document has been copied.”

      Some are difficult to translate because they have been written informally and ungrammatically, apparently in a rage. One of these, again from Bath, reads: “I curse whoever has stolen, whoever has robbed Deomorix from his house. Whoever is guilty may the god find him. Let him recover it with his blood and his life.” Deomorix was a Celt.

      A tablet from Moorgate in London was written in a towering rage: “I curse Tretia Maria and her life and mind and memory and liver and lungs all mixed up together, her words, thoughts and memory, thus may she be unable to speak of things concealed…”

      One from Harlow, addressed to Mercury, is not about theft—which most are—but about a love triangle: “I entrust to you my affair with Eterna and her own self, and may Timotneus feel no jealousy of me at risk of his life blood.”

      CYNLAS

      See Ewein Whitetooth.

DAVID

      David or Dewi of Menevia (St. David’s) was probably born in 523. He died in 589. He was the son of “Sanctus,” King of Cardigan, and Nonnita, daughter of Cynyr, “in the time of King Triphunus and his sons.” He was baptized by Ailbe and educated at Vetus Rubus (Henllwyn) under Illtud. After a time he established Vallis Rosina (Hodnant, now called Merry Vale). David was harassed by an Irish chief called Boya, who paraded naked women in front of his monks in order to tempt them. He established an austere monastic rule, living on vegetables and water, which earned him the nickname David Aquaticus. Gildas denounced his extremism.

      At the Synod of Brefi, in about 545, called to discuss Pelagianism, David addressed the assembly and his oratory persuaded them, much to the anger of Cadoc, who was then overseas. But this synod was a decisive victory for David. New monastic houses were founded all over the country and David was informally acclaimed archbishop or even “head” of all Britain.

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