Sources
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
Bede
Gildas
Historia Brittonum
Confession of St Patrick
Articles
End of Roman rule
Tribal Militias
After Roman Rule
Post-Roman Britain
The Saxon Invasion
The Age of Saints
Pagan Religions in Britain
Nations
Evidence
The Picts
Ogham and the Irish in Britain
Scotti and Scots
'Teutonic' England
Books
Dark Age Books
Anglo-Saxon Books
Orkney Books
Pict Books
Viking Books
Early Welsh History

Who Are The Celtic Saints? by Kathleen Jones. Cutting through the mists of Celtic myth, this historical account introduces the saints as real men and women in the pursuit of holiness. The Celtic period began with Patrick's mission to Ireland in 435 and ended with the submission of the British church to Rome in 715. This book tells the stories of the various branches of the Celtic church during this period and includes biographies of the outstanding personalities of the era.
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On The Ruin of Britain (De Excidio Britanniae) by Gildas
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15. The Britons, impatient at the assaults of the Scots and Picts,
their hostilities and dreadful oppressions, send ambassadors to
Rome with letters, entreating in piteous terms the assistance of
an armed band to protect them, and offering loyal and ready
submission to the authority of Rome, if they only would expel their
foes. A legion is immediately sent, forgetting their past rebellion,
and provided sufficiently with arms. When they had crossed over
the sea and landed, they came at once to close conflict with their
cruel enemies, and slew great numbers of them. All of them were
driven beyond the borders, and the humiliated natives rescued
from the bloody slavery which awaited them. By the advice of their
protectors, they now built a wall across the island from one sea
to the other, which being manned with a proper force, might be a
terror to the foes whom it was intended to repel, and a protection
to their friends whom it covered. But this wall, being made of
turf instead of stone, was of no use to that foolish people, who
had no head to guide them.
16. The Roman legion had no sooner returned home in joy and
triumph, than their former foes, like hungry and ravening wolves,
rushing with greedy jaws upon the fold which is left without a
shepherd, and wafted both by the strength of oarsmen and the
blowing wind, break through the boundaries, and spread slaughter
on every side, and like mowers cutting down the ripe corn, they
cut up, tread under foot, and overrun the whole country.
17. And now again they send suppliant ambassadors, with their
garments rent and their heads covered with ashes, imploring
assistance from the Romans, and like timorous chickens, crowding
under the protecting wings of their parents, that their wretched
country might not altogether be destroyed, and that the Roman
name, which now was but an empty sound to fill the ear, might
not become a reproach even to distant nations. Upon this, the
Romans, moved with compassion, as far as human nature can be, at
the relations of such horrors, send forward, like eagles in their
flight, their unexpected bands of cavalry by land and mariners
by sea, and planting their terrible swords upon the shoulders of
their enemies, they mow them down like leaves which fall at the
destined period; and as a mountain-torrent swelled with numerous
streams, and bursting its banks with roaring noise, with foaming
crest and yeasty wave rising to the stars, by whose eddying
currents our eyes are as it were dazzled, does with one of its
billows overwhelm every obstacle in its way, so did our illustrious
defenders vigorously drive our enemies' band beyond the sea, if
any could so escape them; for it was beyond those same seas that
they transported, year after year, the plunder which they had
gained, no one daring to resist them.
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The Tribes of Britain
by David Miles. The diverse peoples of Britain and Ireland are revealed not only by physical characteristics but also through structures and settlements, place names and dialects. Using the latest genetic and archaeological research, the author shows how different peoples traded, settled and conquered, establishing the 'tribal' and regional roots still apparent today. Its vast scope considers the impact of prehistoric peoples and Celtic tribes, Romans and Vikings, Saxons and Normans, Jews and Huguenots, as well as the increasing population movements of the last century. Available from:
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