The Element Encyclopedia of the Celts. Rodney Castleden
to be worn by a mortal in battle; it would scarcely protect the wearer from a well-aimed sword blow. The Romans had an equivalent to this in their decorative parade helmets.
HENGIST AND HORSA
See Vortigern.
HUNTING
See Religion: Headhunting; Helis; Symbols: Dog, Stag.
HUSSA
See Urien.
ICENI
A British tribe living in East Anglia. Its tribal focus or capital was at Caistor St. Edmund, for which the Roman name was Venta Icenorum. In the 1930s, when it was partially excavated, the evidence showed that the Iceni had adopted very little Roman culture. They were few opulent houses and few substantial public buildings. The surrounding area had few Roman villas, they were few mosaics, and there were few oil amphorae. All this was interpreted as showing that the Iceni were poor and backward. We now see the same evidence as showing that the tribe was consciously retaining its Celtic identity and resisting a takeover by the Roman way of life—not a sign of poverty or backwardness at all.
The Iceni famously engaged in a revolt against Rome in AD 60–61, after their queen, Boudicca, suffered maltreatment by Roman soldiers.
ILLTUD
Illtud was a Breton, a cousin of King Arthur, and converted to the monastic life by Cadoc of Lancarfan. He may, as claimed, have been baptized by St. Germanus. He was ordained by St. Dubricius in the time when Merchiaun the Wild was King of Glamorgan.
Not long after his death he was described as “an exceptional teacher of the British, in the tradition of St. Germanus.” He is still remembered chiefly for his remarkable school at Llantwit Fawr in Glamorgan, where he taught some remarkable boys: David, Leonorus, Gildas, Samson, Paul Aurelian, and Maelgwn—all became saints except the last, who became the infamous King Maelgwn of Gwynedd.
The boys started at the age of five, learning the alphabet. There were no set fees: Illtud relied on customary “donations.”
Illtud’s teaching method was gentle and lenient. He did not believe it was sensible for growing boys to go in for excessive fasting. He also tried to dissuade the 15-year-old Paul Aurelian from going off to a desert hermitage, but in the end left the decision to the boy.
The monastery was Illtud’s own property, which his nephews expected to inherit. He died some time after 525.
JULIUS CAESAR
By no means a Celt himself, Gaius Julius Caesar earns his place here as a destroyer of Celts. He made a greater negative impact on the Celts than anyone else in history.
Caesar came from an old patrician family. In 85 BC, when he was only 16, his father died suddenly. Caesar was young to be head of the family, but he started at once working his way up the cursus honorum, the ladder of offices and appointments that would enhance his social status. In pursuing his political career and lobbying for offices, he ran up debts and was accused of corruption.
When he was appointed Governor of Cisalpine Gaul (northern Italy), with Transalpine Gaul (southern France) added later, he was glad to get out of Rome. He was deeply in debt: a great spur to military adventure.
From a variety of motives, including self-glorification and ultimate political triumph, Caesar worked his way through Gaul, attacking the Gallic tribes one by one and defeating them. Once he had conquered the tribes along the coast of the English Channel, the way was clear to cross and take Britain.
In 55 BC, Caesar blocked an attempt by two Germanic tribes to invade Gaul. Then, in late summer, he crossed the Channel into Britain. But his geographical and political knowledge of Britain was not good enough. He managed to establish a bridgehead on the coast in Sussex, but could not go further. He withdrew to Gaul for the winter.
In 54 BC he returned to Britain with a larger force and achieved more, setting up some alliances that would prove useful later. But there were poor harvests in Gaul, and a widespread revolt there forced Caesar to withdraw from Britain again.
What Caesar did, unintentionally, was to set down a challenge for future emperors who wanted to make a name for themselves. Could they succeed in conquering Britain, where great Caesar himself had failed?
In 52 BC there was a new and larger revolt in Gaul, led by Vercingetorix. This was well-coordinated and Caesar was defeated several times before the revolt was put down at the Battle of Alesia.
Plutarch claimed that in Caesar’s Gallic Wars one million Gauls had died and another million had been enslaved. Caesar had subjugated 300 tribes and destroyed 800 towns. The figures may have been exaggerated, but it is no exaggeration to see this as little short of a Celtic genocide.
KENTIGERN
St. Kentigern was the son of Owain, son of King Urien of Rheged. His mother was Thynoy.
Kentigern traveled to David at Menevia. He founded St. Asaph’s and was attacked by Maelgwn of Degannwy. He visited Europe and went to Rome seven times. It seems that he was Bishop of Senlis, near Paris, from 549–65.
While he was abroad, Riderch became King of Alclud (see Alcluith), and Kentigern returned to Glasgow. He taught that Woden was a mortal man, a Saxon king, not a god. He preached widely, visiting Pictland, and was visited by Columba of Iona, who gave him a staff, which is still preserved at Ripon. Kentigern died in around 603.
KYNGAR OF CONGRESBURY
See Docco.
LANGUAGE
The old languages still spoken in the Atlantic Celtic lands are related to one another, though they are not all as closely related as once believed. The current view among linguists is that historically there are two families of Celtic languages. The Q-Celtic family, known as Goidelic, has a western Gaelic branch from which Irish is descended and an eastern Gaelic branch from which Scottish Gaelic and Manx Gaelic are descended. Then there is a P-Celtic family, known as Brittonic, with a northern Brittonic branch from which Welsh developed and a southern Brittonic branch from which Cornish and Breton are descended. This division may help to explain