Second 500 Years

      My Celtic ancestors spent their first 500 years living among their tribal groups (kin groups) which were geographically settled as distinct areas in their world. Little did they expect the changes that were to occur during the second 500 years. Starting around 55 B.C, events were to change dramatically when a fellow named Julius Caesar (100-44 B.C) began to express his interest in this spot of the world. He certainly followed the opinion of Virgal (regarded by the Romans of the day as their greatest poet) when stating that Jupiter himself decreed "I set upon the Romans bounds neither of space nor of time: I have bestowed on them empire without limit".

      Hum...an empire without limit it is? Well, some of the Celtic groups took a different opinion regarding this view, but Caesar was the first of many to write down what he observed among these tribes. His earliest writings had to deal with Gaul where he states: 

      "All Gaul is divided into three parts, one of which the Belgae inhabit, the Aquitani another, those who in their own language are called "Celts", in ours "Gauls" the third. All these differ from each other in language, customs and laws."

       This quote is the earliest written record I could find that the Celts (of Gaul) had their own distinct language, customs and laws. This quote is taken from the text by Ronald Mellor (p.114) which cover is show as follows.

Mellor, R. (ed.): The Historians Of Ancient Rome, Routledge, N.Y. & London, 1998. This was the first recognition of the "Continental"  Celts and their "Continental" language.

First 500 Years

      Five hundred years seems a good amount of time to get things worked out for the family. My Celtic ancestors needed to arrive (sea travel), select and settle, manage all things pertaining to survival, and to keep the home fires burning. Families grew, and fought, and loved all along the way. The Vale of Clwyd, and the Vale of Dee seemed to be their primary focus. During this time, two family groups matured into the Deceangli and the Cornovii as they were first identified by the writers of their history known as "The Romans".  The strategic land bridge that geographically provided the only road from the lowlands to the highlands, and the only way back again from the highlands to the lowlands (called transhumance), was shared between these family groups. It would seem that the best way to generate this tribal cooperation would be by marriage. (Not the Romeo and Juliet type, but more likely the fourth or fifth cousin type.)

      To bring the mental images back to mind are two figures shown in prior posts. The first is the drawing of the Celtic tribes and how they are related to the land bridge and, Old Oswestry hillfort. Note again Old Oswestry's position to the tribes and the land bridge.

      The second is my drawing of the satellite image showing the relationship of the western facing rectangular shaped structures to the entrance and exit of the hillfort. These are thought to be completed before 100 A.D. It is my concept that these structures were used for sheep shearing during seasonal activities of the two tribes working together. 

      Now the next 500 years, a different story yet to be told.

A Bit More About The Celts

      Understanding the lives of one's ancestors, and what they contributed to your own life, are several of the goals of genealogy. Who were they? Where did they live? How did they survive and past down that DNA stuff? Many, many other questions come to mind, but these past several post presents how the Celtic folks did a little of these activities. A few more Celtic books are listed in this post to give additional help to the ones who are of this Celtic descent. 

      Heroes of the dawn it is titled. Always liked stories about heroes growing up in my family. (John Paul Jones was one.) Anyway, Time Life editors put this book together written by Fergus Fleming, Shahrukh Husain, C. Scott Littleton, and Linda A. Malcor, 1996. Duncan Baird Publishers, London, published this text which centers on Celtic myths. Interesting thoughts about our Celtic ancestors.

      An atlas often comes in handy when you are trying to find out where you are going. This book by Angus Konstam gives exquisite examples of the history and art work of the early Celts. On the covers of both books (one above and this one) show the same figure which seems central to their content. [Gold medallion from Corel Stock Photo Library #356099] It is described in the first book as "A Celtic supernatural being holds aloft two humans in this panel from the outside of a silver plated cauldron found in a bog in Gundetrupp, Denmark."  Wow, how would you like your large kittles to boil things having this image carved on the side?

      Speaking of images, the following text gives this theme some thought.

      This book by E.T. Leeds, first published in 1933, gives 40 illustrations of Celtic art from the Bronze Age on down to 700 A.D. Several of the items were found in Denbighshire, Wales in the exact location of my own Celtic ancestors. (p. 5, a bronze hanging bowel) It seems we like to eat from the get go. The cover shown is that of Dover Publications, N.Y., 2002. It was originally published by Oxford University Press, London.

      The final reference is shown, again dealing only with Britain and Ireland.

            This book covers the years between 200 A.D. to 800 A.D. It is subtitled "The Myth of The Dark Ages". It is always good to shed some light on most subjects. It is written by Lloyd and Jennifer Laing and published by St. Martin's Press, N.Y., 1990.  They ask the reader to reconsider a number of traditional views about this period of time of Celtic history. The picture shows a detail of the base of the Ardagh Chalice, found 1868 in Ireland. [p. 45] Does not look like dark ages to me. Go Celtic Ancestors! 

More Celtic Books

      My Celtic ancestors have received an increase in interest in their origins and contributions to the Western world. There are certainly a fair number of books regarding this subject. The following post continues the references that address the Celtic world. This continues the posts that provide some of these books that might be of interest to those seeking their own Celtic roots. The following is a copy of my text The Celtic Empire by Peter Ellis.

        Ellis, P.B., The Celtic Empire, The First Millennium of Celtic History 1000 BC-51 AD, Carolina Academic Press, Durham, NC, 1990. Wow, you can say from the beginning. He has also published The Ancient World of the Celts with Barns & Noble Books, NY, 1998.

      Jean Markale contributes the text The Celts Uncovering the Mythic and Historic Origins of Western Culture. The cover of my copy is as follows.

      Markale, J., The Celts, Inner Tradition International, Rochester, VT, 1993. Mythic and historic origins, sounds intriguing. Just a few more texts are coming.

Additional Celtic Books

       Many of the previous posts reference a resource for the material presented in each post. These resources come from many different sources but, most have to do with the subject Celtic. The following information list the books utilized for the content of my tree climbing aimed toward those Celtic ancestors. Hopefully these listings with aide anyone who want to share these branches.

      The above figure shows the cover of my text by Dillion and Chadwick. It leans toward the Irish view, but represents another source for Celtic history. It has 64 pages of photographs which is my kind of book. The official reference is; Dillon, M., Chadwick, N.: The Celtic Realms, London, Castle Books, 2006.

     A more focused book deals with the Celts in Britain. It is by Lloyd Lang, and traces the history of the Celts and Celtic culture from the arrival of the first groups to the island.  It is; Laing, L.: Celtic Britain, Charles Scribner's & Sons, N.Y., 1979. It has a listing of many Celtic sites in Britain accessible to the public. More sources to come.
 

Celtic Text

       From the French word texere, meaning to weave, originates our English word text. Certainly, this text on the story of my Celtic ancestors does this in spades. It is the foremost source of information and authority I have run across in my Jones surname tree climbing during the past 62 years. It is edited by Miranda J. Green (an Honorary Research Fellow at the Center for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies, University of Wales), and with 40 other contributors weaves the story of Celtic existence. The official reference is, Green, M.J. (ed.): The Celtic World, London and N.Y., Routledge, 1995. It contains 839 pages in 12 parts. These parts are titled:

                                                                PART I: CELTIC ORIGINS  

                                                                PART II: WARRIORS AND WARFARE

                                                                PART III: SOCIETY AND SOCIAL LIFE

                                                                PART IV: SETTLEMENT AND ENVIRONMENT

                                                                PART: V: THE ECONOMY

                                                                PART VI: TECHNOLOGY AND CRAFTSMANSHIP

                                                                PART VII: THE ART OF THE CELTS

                                                                PART VIII: PAGAN CELTIC RELIGION

                                                                PART IX: THE CELTICS IN EUROPE

                                                                PART X: ON THE EDGE OF THE WESTERN

                                                                                WORLD

                                                                PART XI: CELTIC BRITAIN POST AD 400

                                                                PART XII: THE SURVIVAL OF THE CELTS

      a weave of Celtic history indeed. The cover of my copy follows.

Coming Home

      The last group of posts have presented a number of topics that have all related to my Celtic ancestors. When they started in the land that was to become Wales, and how they survived and passed that DNA to me, has been a central theme.  These posts have included a number of factors. Along the road of this historic travel, the movement of life between the highlands and lowlands of what is now Welsh boarder country, has been considered as a main seasonal activity of this Celtic group of folks. Wat's Dyke has been a geographic landmark from many writers that have viewed it being a product of Mercian folks around 750 A.D. After examination from a variety of angles (previous posts) it would seem that Wat's Dyke was named using the Anglo-Saxon word for "guard" and in my mind a hedge ditch was already in place providing a cattle and sheep fence to help control the large number of herds that were driven seasonally from the grazing land (summer home) to the winter survival areas (winter home) This hedge was needed so that the fields of barley corn could be protected. From Old Oswestry on the southern border of Wat's dyke, to Wrexham on the northern border, the cattle and sheep would need to be separated from one another.  The sheep being grouped and sheared in the western side of Old Oswestry Hillfort, and the cattle being driven to the slaughter and hide manufacturing locations that was to become Wrexham. The sheep would need their wool collected, cleaned, treated, and bundled for transport to Shrewsberry. Likewise, the cattle would need to be slaughtered, skinned, meat salted, hides processed, and all the leather products organized. Estimated to be around 4,000 to 5,000 sheep in the month of June, giving pack animals of half sacks loaded from the wool of 90 to 125 sheep. 

       Here is a drawing taken from Guile's book Life In A Medieval Village, p.66. This of course would be many, many years after the Celtic folks faced the same community activities, needing 180 sheep per day being sheared and the wool processed. The hedge (Wat's Dyke) would be a significant help keeping things from getting out of hand and messing up the corn fields. The sheep and cows coming home.

Customary Principles

       Societies share the concept of mutual agreements that help all to live together. My ancient Celtic families lived together sharing certain social norms that allowed daily life and their kin to carry on. The daily process of living and going on with life and family, meant a way to keep that DNA flowing. These customary ideas would form more formal agreements called laws, which were passed down from generation to generation orally. Finally, as folks survived in the highlands of what was to become Wales, they started to collect and write down these social concepts. As a group of laws they became known as "The Laws of Hywel Dda". The cover of my copy is shown below. First translated and published by Dafydd Jenkins 1986, it represents a summary of the customary principles of the folks from this ancient Celtic group.

      Now inside the very last pages of the book binder itself, it shows the following order of things as organized in their society around 950 A.D.

      Following the Smith (Blacksmith) came the order of animals that have been discussed in previous posts, i.e., horses, cows, and sheep. These animals are shown along with pigs, goats, and at the end of the line humans. The horse is valued at 60 pence (p.171), the cattle at 40 pence (p.175), the pig at 15 pence, and the lowly sheep at 4 pence (p.179). The cattle and sheep would be herded from the highlands to the lowlands at the appropriate time of the season. You would certainly need a way to get all these critters controlled on the way to market. A guard hedge and ditch along the length of the land bridge they would all cross might come in handy.

 

The Herds

       A number of animals of one kind kept together under human control is one definition of herd. Now what if there were more than one type of animal all together sharing the same spaces?  Sheep and goats have been the focus of my last number of posts, starting with Inigo Jones 15 December 2021. The following shows some of the critters that would have occupied the same grazing lands that the sheep of my Celtic ancestors herded, i.e., horses and cows.

       This figure is titled "ponies", but you get the idea. It is taken from the "Walkers Handbook" contained in the wonderful travel guide No Through Road published 1975. [Walker's Handbook #3, p.64] You can see that the size and color vary by breed. The next figure shows cows taken from the same reference p.62.

      This figure is titled "Cattle", and again shows the variation in size and colors. Group all these animals together in the highlands of Wales in fairly large numbers. How would you drive the animals to the winter resting flat lands on the Shropshire plans? All the herding would be through a fairly narrow land bridge shown in the last post.  Considering separating, checking health, milking, shearing, and all the usual activities to care for the family's very livelihood. Wow, what a deal!