In the 5th century AD, Britain was the last
bastion of Celtic culture in Europe. But even this island stronghold would soon
be under threat, and the Britons of the Age of Arthur would soon find themselves swept
up in an era of chaos, invasion, heroism and loss. Welcome to our final video on the history
of the Ancient Celts, where we will cover the story of Sub-Roman Britain, and the Anglo-Saxon
invasions that followed. Do you think you are strong and wise enough
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link in the description! In 410AD, Alaric and his Goths became the
first foreign army to sack Rome since Brennus and the Senones Gauls did so 800 years earlier. That same year, the crippled Empire pulled
the last of their legions out of Britain, never to return, and for the first time in
400 years, all of Albion, for better or worse, was free. The centuries immediately after this departure
are known as “Sub-Roman Britain.” As the Romans took with them their habit of
thorough record keeping, this era is largely shrouded in mystery. One thing we know is that even after centuries
of Latin occupation, Celtic society was alive and well in Britain, enjoying a better fate
than its continental cousins. From Cornwall to the Forth-Clyde, the language
of Queen Boudicca survived as a variety of P-Celtic dialects broadly classified as “Common
Brythonic.” Meanwhile, the Q-Celtic tongue of Gaelic continued
to thrive in Ireland. Finally, in the Scottish Highlands, the Picts
howled their war cries with words that distantly related to the tongues to their South. It is also likely that in more urbanized areas,
a form of Latin was still in use as one of the many remnants of Britain's recent Imperial
past. Indeed, many Britons had grown exceedingly
accustomed to Roman comforts and those habits persisted even after Rome’s departure. But how ‘Roman’ was sub-Roman Britain? Robin Fleming, author of Britain after Rome,
poignantly describes this post-Imperial world to us: “In the year 420, there were still
people in Britain who had been born in a world shaped by the structure of Empire, people
whose early lives had been ordered by Rome’s material culture. There were those whose childhood dinners had
been served on pewter and glass, and middle aged men who had been raised in heated villas.” Britain had once been connected to a continent
spanning Empire whose infrastructure brought them the luxuries of Italy, Egypt and Syria,
allowing many Romanized Britons to enjoy an aristocratic station in countryside villas
and wealthy cities. But when Rome left, so too did the means to
make this way of life possible. Archaeological evidence suggests that in the
5th century, the old world order began rapidly collapsing, as former Roman cities either
drastically shrunk in size or became ghost towns, while the majority of the islands’
villas were abandoned. As Romanitas decayed, older Celtic traditions
emerged from its carcass. Some Britons seem to have moved back into
ancient Celtic hill forts, which had stood abandoned for centuries during Roman rule. This massive shift in standard of living probably
hit the south and east the hardest. The transition was probably easier for the
Britons of the north and the west, who had never been particularly Romanized. It also stands to reason that the Picts and
Gaels, who for the most part had always been on the outside looking in, experienced barely
any change to their daily lives in this era. However, we should be mindful of the possibility
that the Roman lifestyle did not vanish from Britain as quickly as previously thought. The archaeological record suggests that in
the 5th century, traders from as far away as Byzantium and North Africa still braved
the long journey, most likely due to the Islands’ valuable tin deposits. It therefore is likely that, for a time, some
Romano-Britons used this limited foreign trade to maintain a pale imitation of Roman life. Material culture was not the only aspect of
Celtic society undergoing a metamorphosis. In centuries past, Roman Britain had been
a land of many Gods. Native Celtic deities were worshipped alongside
Greco-Latin ones, while Gods from the furthest edge of the known world established mystery
cults in Britain. These included Isis, an Egyptian goddess,
and Mithras, an Iranian God who became popular among Romano-British soldiers. However, by far the most successful religion
the Romans introduced to Britain was that of the Levantine carpenter. Christianity arrived on the isle as early
as the 200sAD, and by the time Rome abandoned Britain, had become the dominant religion. While the cross spread rapidly through the
British isles, those who lived there never truly forgot their polytheist roots. Even under the pressure of increasing Christian
zealotry, pagan cults probably survived throughout and beyond the 5th century. There may even have been some Druidic circles
still practicing their occult rites in secluded groves, longing for a return of the old ways. Many Celts also incorporated the rituals of
their ancestors into their newly Christian lives. One example of this lies in Ireland, where
the Spring Goddess Brigid was rebranded as the exalted St. Brigid, patron of Ireland. Her feast day coincides with Imbolc, a pagan
festival celebrating the coming of Spring. Other pagan rites survived Christianization
as well, such as the balefires of Beltane and Samhain, where Brythonic and Gaelic peoples
alike would thin the lines between themselves and the otherworld, known either as Annwn
or Tír na nÓg: the land where the faerie folk dwelled. In the wake of Roman departure, Britain became
a patchwork of petty Kingdoms. Remarkably, many of these Kingdoms appear
to have been formed upon pre-Roman tribal lines, as ancient iron-age identities re-emerged. Most of these realms are poorly represented
in the historical record, but others, such as Powys, Dumnonia, Gwynedd and Strathclyde
are better attested to by virtue of having endured well into the middle ages, as opposed
to the ones extinguished much earlier on by a certain wave of Germanic migrations. Our main primary source on the wars of this
era come from an early 6th century monk known as Gildas. His work, titled De Excidio et Conquestu Britaaniae,
or “On the Ruin and Conquest of Britain”, tells a vivid story of chaos and invasions. De Excidio was not written by a trained historian,
but by a devout Christian clergyman writing a religious polemic. Nevertheless, since Gildas’ work is the
by far the most intact source from this era, historians still find themselves reliant on
the old monk’s writings. His recounting of the 5th century begins with
a scene of immediate havoc: “No sooner were the Romans gone, than the Picts and the Scots,
like worms which in the heat of mid-day came forth. inspired with the same avidity for blood.” At this time, the Picts and Scots were probably
still predominantly pagan, which would explain why Gildas speaks of them so scathingly. The monk’s story continues when the Romano-Christian
Britons, beset upon by the relentless raiding of their savage cousins, sent a plea to the
declining Roman Empire. “The barbarians drive us to the sea; the
sea throws us back on the barbarians: thus two modes of death await us, we are either
slain or drowned.” Of course, the Romans, only a few decades
away from the final collapse of their Empire, could offer no salvation. Gildas’ tells a visceral tale. But his narrative of a victimized Christian
people in the face of pagan barbarity most likely tilted. The Romano-Britons were probably just as warlike
as their Celtic cousins, all too willing to invade their neighbours, regardless of the
shared culture, language, or faith. With that said, there is some truth to the
monks’ tale. The Gaelic peoples seem to have established
colonial realms in the west coast of Britain from the late 4th century onwards. In most of these, they appear to have merged
into the culture of the local Brythonic peoples. But in the Kingdom of Dál Riata, founded
by the Scotii warriors of Ulster, they began a slow cultural assimilation of the local
Picts. Consequently, the modern nation of Scotland
derives its name from the Scotii tribe, and the Scottish Gaelic language still spoken
in the country today is a remnant of those Irish roots. However, it would be neither Pict nor Gael
that would be the ultimate game-changers of Sub-Roman Britain. What exactly defines an ‘Anglo-Saxon’
is a heated historiographic debate, but broadly speaking, they were a diverse amalgamation
of tribes from Scandinavian and North German coastline, primarily consisting of the Angles,
Saxons and Jutes. They were hardy warriors who spoke North Germanic
languages and worshipped a pagan pantheon similar to the one made famous by the Norse
Vikings centuries later. Amongst scholarly circles, the ‘whens’
‘hows’ and ‘whys’ of the Germanic migrations are topics of intense debate. According to Gildas, the burden of the Saxon
tide falls upon the historically dubious Romano-British king named Vortigern. His reign was a tumultuous one, faced with
hordes of marauding Pictish raiders, Vortigern was forced to turn to soldiers of fortune
from overseas. Accordingly, help came from the Germanic warriors
of the North sea, led by the Jutish brothers Hengist and Horsa. Gildas colours us with his opinion on this
hiring: “the British King and his councillors were so blinded, that as a protection to their
country, they sealed its doom by inviting wolves into the sheepfold: the fierce and
impious Saxons, a race hateful to both God and men.” Tradition has it that in the year 449, the
brothers defeated the Picts, then promptly betrayed their Romano-British hosts, conquering
a swath of south-eastern Britain that would become the Kingdom of Kent. More Germanic migrants would follow in the
brothers’ wake, and by 500, it seemed as if the western half of England was firmly
in Angle, Saxon, or Jutish hands. These territories became known to the Celtic
Britons as ‘Lloegyr’: the lost lands. It was likely around this time that some Britons
who lived on the islands’ southwest began taking to the seas in flight from the Germanic
invaders. They established themselves in the Armorican
peninsula, the first of several waves of settlers to arrive in the region. Thus the peninsula became known as Brittany,
after the Britons who settled it. Anecdotally, a region that had been Celtic-speaking
in ancient times, but was then thoroughly Latinized by the Roman Empire, was re-Celticized
by British refugees centuries later, and retains its Celtic language and identity to this day. The Saxons had established themselves in Britain,
but it appears that for a time, the natives were able to keep them contained by winning
a series of military victories, led, if the legend is to be believed, by a certain Dux
Bellorum named Arthur. Herein lies the great mystery. Was Arthur a real historical figure? If he did exist, it was not amongst the knights,
wizards, and castles of the high Medieval era, but the spears and hillforts of Sub-Roman
Britain. The name first appears in a 6th century compendium
of Welsh poems known as the Goddodin. Here, a Briton hero named Guaurdur was described
as “Not Arthur, amongst equals in might of feats.” This line implies that Arthur was a well-known
figure to the 6th century Celts, and was considered the benchmark for heroism in his age. Nennius, a Welsh monk writing in the 9th century,
attributed twelve great battles to the semi-mythical warlord, the most triumphant one occurring
in the early 500s AD at a place called Mynydd Baddon, generally considered to be modern
day Bath. Leading warriors’ from across the Brythonic
Kingdoms, the warlord of legend vanquished an army led by King Aelle of the South Saxons,
thereby breaking Germanic power in Britain, and delaying their advance for an entire generation. With that said, Nennius’ accounts should
be taken with a mountain of salt, as there is very little evidence that anyone named
Arthur fought in any of the battles mentioned. Gildas, writing far closer to the time period
in question, attributes Briton victory at Mynydd Badon not to Arthur, but to a Romanized
commander named Ambrosius Aurelianus. With that said, when myth and folklore are
stripped away, it does seem that with or without Arthurs’ help, the Britons were able to
fend off the Anglo-Saxons, albeit only temporarily. Within a few decades of Mynnydd Baddon, the
Anglo-Saxons had evidently recovered, with powerful Kingdoms established deep in Lloegyr,
straddling the borders of unconquered Celtic lands. The Angles and Saxons who lived in these Kingdoms
were no longer transient invaders, but had lived in Britain for generations, working
the same land their fathers and grandfathers had. In short, they were there to stay. Thus, in the second half of the 6th century,
the forebears of the English began to push westwards once more, marching boldly into
the lands of the men they called Wealas- foreigners. In 577 AD, one King Ceawlin of the nascent
Kingdom of Wessex met three British Kings: Conmail, Condidan, and Farinmail, in a battle
at Hinton Hill near the modern township of Dyrham. Saxons routed the Celtic warriors, and as
a result, Ceawlin was able to expand his territories right onto the Severn Estuary, severing the
land connection between the Britons of Cornwall and Wales. This invariably led to a cultural drift between
newly separated Celtic territories, resulting in the Common Brittonic spoken in those regions
evolving into the separate languages of Cornish and Welsh. A few decades after the triumph of Saxon Wessex,
the Angles of the North began a campaign of their own. King Æthelfrith of Bernicia carved a bloody
path of Conquest deep into northern Brythonic Kingdoms like Rheged, Elmet, and Goddodin,
and crushed the Gaelic King Áedán mac Gabráin of Dál Riata at the battle of Degsastan in
603AD, establishing the Angles as the most dominant people north of the Humber. It must be noted that, in the land conquered
by Germanic peoples, native Celtic culture was likely not entirely wiped away. The names of English Kingdoms like Bernicia
and Kent have Celtic origins, and some Briton blood likely ran through the veins of their
earliest Kings. The remains of brooch jewelry found in early
Saxon graves have shown that the early Germanic settlers borrowed from the artistic traditions
of the Britons. As for the Britons themselves, those who lived
in Lloegyr were slowly assimilated into Anglo-Saxon culture over many generations. The line between Saxon and Celt was often
more blurred than we think. Nevertheless, a frontier still existed between
communities who spoke old English, and communities that spoke Brittonic and Gaelic. By the dawn of the 7th century, this frontier
had become more or less entrenched, and would not move in any dramatic way for centuries. Be it by Roman or Germanic invaders, the Celts
had lost much over the last thousand years or so. One can only wonder if a Welsh bowman in the
6th century AD, looking across a dyke at a line of Saxon spears, would have been remotely
aware of the fact that his ancestors' culture had once spread across an entire continent,
a culture that was now confined to the westernmost edge of Britain. The days when Gallic hordes marched into the
heart of Greece or dueled Roman legions from Spain to Turkey were long gone. But, as territorially diminished as the Celts
were, they would not go quietly into the night. As late antiquity transitioned into the middle
ages, the stage was set for Europes’ most enigmatic people to make their mark upon the
Medieval world. In the east, the ancestral home of the Brythonic
peoples had fallen to Saxon invaders, but in the west, the heirs of Arthur would defy
the rule of the nascent English people for centuries yet. Thus, the history of Medieval Wales and her
sister states in Cornwall, Brittany, and Yr Hen Ogledd began. Meanwhile, with howling Picts and Northumbrians
on their doorstep, the Gaels of Dal Riata would write their own saga of blood and battle,
eventually giving rise to the Kingdom of Scotland. Finally, across the narrow sea, Ireland would
remain a relatively isolated land of internecine chieftains. But in time, the outside world would come
knocking on their door, in the form of Vikings, Normans, and beyond. Indeed, the story of the Celts is not yet
over. In fact, it has only just begun, and we will
continue telling it in the future, so make sure you are subscribed and have pressed the
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