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ok ok this is just to prove a point i made concerning the origin of the red head in england, ireland and scotland, those of you who arent all that interested go to post number 5 i think…the one about the vikings….others might like to read thru as much as poss to ensure i have put in unbiased professional views…but i love being right, and generally keep my gob shut unless i can prove what im saying ( take note) :wink:
Celtic Britain
Introduction to Celtic Devon
Republished from the Celtic Devon Dewnans web site, with permission.
All material copyright © 2004 Dewnans web site.Devon was the cornerstone of one of Britain’s most significant Celtic kingdoms (Dumnonia), and retains a significant heritage from those days. Devon’s people are predominantly of Celtic stock, with the Celtic language (which also resulted in Cornish) being spoken well into the Dark Ages, and is retained today in place names, dialect, as well as in customs and culture.
This is not to say that the Saxons, who ‘conquered’ Devon in the eight and ninth centuries (and who militarily conquered Cornwall in the ninth and tenth centuries), or the Normans who did the same to the whole of England in the eleventh century, are without merit or contribution. However the point of this introduction is to promote that part of Devon’s history which for some strange reason appears to have been repressed – that of Celtic Devon.
The Cornish Celtic name for Devon is Dewnans, [and this is becoming more acceptable to modern ears]. A possibly older name for Devon is Dyfneint (meaning ‘deep valley dwellers’). [This survives from Dumnonia’s few surviving records, and probably supplies the root form of Dewnans – Ed].
Devon was one of the last areas of what is now known as England to be conquered by the Anglo-Saxon invaders, and was not formally claimed by the Saxon Kingdom of Wessex until the early ninth century (AD 805 – only a couple of decades before Cornwall was ‘conquered’, although Cornwall retained some degree of independence thereafter). Even after this (as noted in Alfred the Great’s will in AD 900), Devon’s Celtic people were called Wealcynn (wealas being the Anglo-Saxon word for Celts, and literally translates as ‘foreigner’).
Perhaps it is surprising that this history of Celtic identity is not better known. How can this be so? A number of factors probably came into play. The Victorian era prized all things Teutonic because (for some reason) they equated it with civilised society. Even in the mid/late twentieth century schools teach a ‘unified’ English history with little focus on regional history. Devon’s own Celtic history has been overlooked and neglected. This story is not unique to Devon. History, language and culture have been suppressed in many parts of the Celtic world (Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and Brittany – to name a few). In Devon’s case its proximity to Cornwall, with its own rich Celtic ancestry, has probably also hindered recognition of Devon’s own history.
The question of Devon’s Celtic identity is not new. In 1870 Professor Thomas Huxley, President of both the Royal Society and of the Ethnological Society, and friend of Charles Darwin, stated that ‘(Devonians) are as little Anglo-Saxon as Northumbrians are Welsh’ by which he meant that Devonians are genetically descended from the Brythonic Celts, rather than the Germanic tribes of the Angles or Saxons who give the term ‘Anglo-Saxon’ (and the term England) its name.
The ‘pro-Teutonic’ prejudices of the Victorian era were Huxley’s target, and sadly his views were not universally accepted. The ramifications of this ‘Victorian prejudice’ continued well into the twentieth century, and distorted the real history. However the issue is now being revisited, and the truth is slowly emerging.
Recent genetic evidence (from the BBC ‘Blood of the Vikings’ series) has indicated that the Celtic peoples in South Western Britain not only survived, but that their gene pool is predominant in the current population.
Norwegian-based research indicates that Devon (and Cornwall) has a far greater proportion of black hair colour than other English counties, a tendency also seen in Ireland and Scotland. Perhaps this also provides evidence of a common Celtic background, and certainly supports the theory that the Tamar is no ‘racial’ boundary.
This introduction isn’t intended to be the full story, nor to be a formal academic document, but it may open a few eyes and encourage you to search further.find this web site and educate yourself on the history of hair colours and you will discover that red heads and gingers are not of english extraction, nor are they irish nor scottish because of their hair colour. it in fact came from the vikings and the saxons….exactly what i said…….
dont you just hate being proved wrong ? :wink:
‘The Celtic Peoples of Europe (1200 BC +)’
The earliest archaeological evidence associated with the Celts places them in what is now France and western Germany in the late Bronze Age around 1200 BC. The Celts, around 500 BC, are first recorded as controlling central Europe, beyond Spain near the source of the Danube. They were also referred to as Hyperboreans. They were said to have been a just, war-like power, but also drunken and combative. There are no surviving chronicles of their own, no architectural remains, and just a few examples of coins, weapons and jewellery.
The idea of the Celts as a tall, fair haired race is unlikely. To the Greeks and Romans, who were responsible for much of the historical record of the time, there were many types of ‘Fair’ and for the Celts this probably referred to ‘red, brown or golden hair’. Also there are accounts of the Celts bleaching their hair with lime.The Celts took control of areas peacefully if possible, by force if not, and introduced and mixed their beliefs, language and arts with that of the local inhabitants. The true Celts probably formed a ruling or noble class. Along with the Greeks, their allies, their sphere of influence was huge.
In 500 BC they took Spain from the Carthaginians. At the peak of their civilisation, around 400 BC, under a king named Livy Ambicatus, they controlled most of Europe including Britain and Ireland. They allied with Rome and took northern Italy from the Etruscans but, when the Romans betrayed them, immediately marched for Rome and, on July 30 390 BC, defeated the Roman Army. They held Rome for almost a year until the Romans paid compensation. A peace treaty between the Celts and Romans followed which lasted for nearly a century.
Around 300 BC, German tribes within the Celtic empire revolted. The Celtic tribes split and fought amongst themselves, with the German tribes and with Rome. Minor squabbles became major disputes and when the dust settled the only areas still under Celtic control were Gaul, Ireland and Britain.
With the Roman invasion of Gaul and Britain in the early Christian era, the remaining Celts were either absorbed into the new culture or pushed to the margins of the Roman territory. Their cultural influence remains strongest in these marginal lands.
mmmm how annoying more evidence to dispute the ignorance
now if i can just get some on the red hair i’ll be happy :wink:
Boudicca (AD 62)
Portrait of Boudicca © What do we really know of this great British Queen of ancient Britain? She was married to Prasutagus, and with him she ruled over the Iceni – the tribe occupying East Anglia – but under Roman authority. Like many other rulers in Britain at this time, Boudicca witnessed the suffering caused to her people by the heavy taxes, conscription and other indignities generated by the Roman Emperor Nero. The final outrage came when her husband Prasutagus died, and the Romans plundered her chief tribesmen and brutally annexed her dominions. This was too much for the Queen and she determined to take on Nero and his Legions. In this she was not alone, for tradition tells that all of south east Britain came to her side, ready to die for the Queen who was fierce enough to take on the Roman Empire. It’s noteworthy that tribes which remained loyal to the Romans, (like the Catuvellauni) were not spared Boudicca’s wrath.
Boudicca’s opportunity came when the Roman Governor General Seutonius Paulinus and his troops were stationed in Anglesey and North Wales. By the time Paulinus got back, the Roman municipalities of St Albans and Colchester had been burned to the ground by the Britons. Boudicca’s warriors were more than a little intimidating. They virtually routed the Ninth Legion that had been marching from Lincoln to help Paulinus, and without additional support from Rome there was little he could do against the determination of these people. Eventually they marched on London and it was here at last that Paulinus faced Boudicca and her army of Britons in the field. We don’t know where, (possibly the Midlands) but we do know that a desperate battle was fought, and although the Romans were the victors, they regained the province at great price.
Many thousands of Britons fell in battle and those who lived were hunted down by Roman soldiers. But it would seem that Boudicca’s actions had shocked the Roman world into adopting policies that were a little kinder. Some historians believe that the relative lack of Romano-British remains in Norfolk is testimony to the severity with which the Roman Empire crushed Boudicca and the Iceni peoples.
Finally, faced with defeat, the proud warrior Queen took her own life, by drinking from a poisoned chalice. This much is well known; the challenge is to separate fact from the many legends. For instance, is she really buried under Platform 10 at London’s King’s Cross Station? We’ll probably never know, because for centuries people have been claiming their own local sites as her final resting place
is she or isn’t she a red head ???
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The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites.GERMANICS INVADE BRITAIN – ANGLES AND SAXONS
Within fifty years Germanic tribes did indeed invade the island – the Angles and Saxons, from whom the modern term Anglo-Saxon originated. These original Angles and Saxons were predominantly Nordic tribesmen who came from the Germanic reservoir in northern Germania, Denmark and southern Scandinavia which had been established at the time of the first Indo-European invasions into Europe.
The Angles and the Saxons quickly dominated the Britons by force – although some British tribes, notably the Bretons, fled across the channel to France, where their name still exists as a geographical term (Brittany) and people from this region are still called Bretons.
In this fashion the Western Roman Empire was steadily broken up piecemeal by the Germanic/Gothic/Indo-European tribes.
Translate: Ger->Eng Eng->Ger #1
Euclides
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Reputation Power: 4Origin of Red Hair in the Scottish Highlands
Origin of Red Hair in the Scottish Highlandssource : lost
”The term Scottish Highlands refers to the the northern third of Scotland along with islands to the north. This region has the highest proportion of red hair in the world, around 11% by some accounts. Generally, red hair is most common in northwestern Europe, and especially in the British Isles. It is common in Denmark, Norway, northwestern Germany, and the Netherlands, but not in Sweden. There are claims that it is common in Finland and among Finnic peoples living near the Urals. In ancient times, a tribe called the Budinoi, in Russia were said to be redheads. Some geneticists claim that the red hair gene is 200,000 years old and comes from Neanderthals.
There are three different claims about the origins of red hair in the Scottish Highlands. One claim is that it was common among the Picts and has always been there.
Another claim is that it was brought by the Kelts. Yet another claim is that it was brought by the Vikings.At one time the area was settled by people with Mediterranean skulls. Then came tall brachycephalic Beaker Folk. Hallstatt Nordics from central Europe invaded the British Isles, but didn’t penetrate to northern Scotland, which remained Pictish. Celts often had red hair. However, Vikings and Germanics were often described as red-haired too. The Rus in Russia were described as redheads. They came from Sweden, where red hair is uncommon today.
Red hair is very common in the Orkney Islands, an area heavily settled by Vikings and which was even part of the Kingdom of Norway for centuries.
Recent genetic and racial studies claim to prove that red hair in the Scottish Highlands is of Viking origin.
Scottish Highlanders were described by Günther as being “relatively purely Nordic.” They are more dolichocephalic that many parts of Scandinavia. They are taller than almost any part of Scandinavia. However, they have fewer blonds and more redheads. Their cranial form is more Nordic than most Keltic skulls from Europe.
The evidence is mixed, but it seems that the red hair probably comes mostly from the Vikings. ”
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I REST MY CASE
I take it you are a Ginga then Sweetz? :wink:
pmsl sweets r ye bored lol………..my family has redheads runnin through it lol i never thought anything of it….. its the clancy irish strain of the family …….reckons the genes in our lot fight each other lol my dad woz italian n me mum woz irish lol……… but honestly its only recent times red heads seem to be taking a bashin……
hugssssssssss sweets nice to see ur around hun xxxx
@rubyred wrote:
clancy actually means red warrior…many clancys in dundee..
my grandsons name means redking and thats from the scots/viking.
good girl rubes me darling ! i like to hear from someone who truly knows the origin of red hair :wink: :P
@james Belfast wrote:
I take it you are a Ginga then Sweetz? :wink:
and proud baby !!!! xxx :wink: :P
nicked all ur siggys hope u dont mind xx
@rubyred wrote:
you been looking at me pubes again sweets..i told ya their ” strawberry blonde” :)
strawberry blonde ??? isn’t that more of a pink ?? :? :shock:
your pubes are copper rubes ..theres no shame in being different ( as i said to the one legged, one eyed, one armed knife thrower..) :wink:
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