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<!DOCTYPE html><html lang="en"><head><meta charset="utf-8" /><title>The Brythonic Celtic People - History of the Celts</title><meta name="description" content="The history of the Celtic peoples stretches back thousands of years, the Celts first appear in history in the pages of Herodotus." /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" /><meta name="theme-color" content="#960c17" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="assets/bootstrap-grid.min.css" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="assets/global.css" /></head><body><nav class="fixed-nav-bar" aria-label="fixed navigation bar"><div class="container"><div class="row"><div class="col-12"><i class="nav-s nav-s-smr"><a href="http://www.reddit.com/submit?url=&title=" aria-label="reddit" title="Submit to Reddit" onclick="window.open('http://www.reddit.com/submit?url=' + encodeURIComponent(document.URL) + '&title=' + encodeURIComponent(document.title)); return false;" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"></a></i><i class="nav-s nav-s-smt"><a href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?" aria-label="twitter" title="Tweet" onclick="window.open('https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=%20Check%20out%20this%20awesome%20website%20' + encodeURIComponent(document.title) + ':%20 ' + encodeURIComponent(document.URL)); return false;" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"></a></i><i class="nav-s nav-s-smf"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=&t=" aria-label="facebook" onclick="window.open('https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=' + encodeURIComponent(document.URL) + '&t=' + encodeURIComponent(document.URL)); return false;" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"></a></i><div id="menu" class="menu"><a class="burger show" href="#menu" aria-label="Show Link Menu"><i class="menu"> </i></a><a class="burger hide" href="#hidemenu" aria-label="Hide Menu"><i class="menu"> </i></a><ul class="menu-items"><li class="current"><a href="index.htm" aria-label="dynasties">DYNASTIES</a><ul class="dropdown"><li><a href="celts_1.html" aria-label="The Celts">The Celts</a></li><li><a href="saxon_21.htm">Saxon</a></li><li><a href="vikings_6.html">Viking</a></li><li><a href="normans_5.htm">Norman</a></li><li><a href="plantagenet_18.htm">Plantagenet</a></li><li><a href="plantagenet_49.html">Lancaster</a></li><li><a href="plantagenet_48.html">York</a></li><li><a href="tudor_21.htm">Tudor</a></li><li><a href="stuart_15.htm">Stuart</a></li><li><a href="hanover_11.html">Hanover</a></li><li><a href="saxe_coburg_gotha_5.html">Saxe-Coburg-Gotha</a></li><li><a href="windsor_30.htm">Windsor</a></li><li><a href="genealogical_tables.htm">Genealogical Tables</a></li></ul></li><li><a href="gwynedd.html" aria-label="Princes of wales">PRINCES OF WALES</a></li><li><a href="tower_index.html" aria-label="Tower of London">TOWER OF LONDON</a><ul class="dropdown"><li><a href="tower_london.htm">Middle Ages</a></li><li><a href="tower_london_2.htm">Tudor Era</a></li><li><a href="tower_london_3.htm">Stuart Era</a></li><li><a href="tower_london_6.html">Bloody Tower</a></li><li><a href="tower_london_7.html">White Tower</a></li><li><a href="tower_london_17.html">Chapel of St. John</a></li><li><a href="tower_london_8.html">Chapel of St. Peter</a></li><li><a href="tower_london_9.html">Medieval Palace</a></li><li><a href="tower_london_10.html">Beauchamp Tower</a></li><li><a href="tower_london_12.html">Byward Tower</a></li><li><a href="tower_london_11.html">Queen's House</a></li><li><a href="tower_london_13.html">Bowyer Tower</a></li><li><a href="tower_london_14.html">Bell Tower</a></li><li><a href="tower_london_15.html">Traitor's Gate</a></li><li><a href="tower_london_16.html">Salt Tower</a></li><li><a href="tower_london_18.html">Devereux Tower</a></li><li><a href="tower_london_4.htm">Recent History</a></li><li><a href="tower_london_5.html">Theft of the Jewels</a></li></ul></li><li><a href="crown_jewels.htm" aria-label="Crown Jewels">CROWN JEWELS</a><ul class="dropdown"><li><a href="crown_jewels.htm">The Regalia</a></li><li><a href="crown_jewels_2.htm">The Theft Of The Crown Jewels</a></li></ul></li><li><a href="royal_residences.html" aria-label="Royal Residences">ROYAL RESIDENCES</a></li><li><a href="battles.html" aria-label="Battles">HISTORIC BATTLES</a></li><li><a href="scottish_kings.htm" aria-label="Scottish Monarchs">SCOTTISH MONARCHS</a></li></ul></div></div></div></div></nav><section class="title-bar"><div class="container"><div class="row"><div class="col-12"><div class="page-title-container"><form action="/ssep/index.php" id="demo-2" method="post"><input type="search" aria-label="search" name="sr" placeholder="Search" /></form><h1>The Celts</h1></div></div></div></div></section><section class="content-bg"><div class="container"><div class="row"><div class="col-md-12 col-lg-12 col-xl-9"><div class="well"><div class="dynasties"><div class="row"><div class="col"><h2>The Celtic people</h2><p> The Celts arrived in Britain during a large migration of people from Europe westwards during the early Iron Age. A nation of fierce warriors, the tribes of the Brythonic Celts inhabited England, Wales and lowland Scotland during the Roman era and the post-Roman era. Their Religious practices revolved around offerings and sacrifices, sometimes human but more often involving the ritual slaughter of animals or the deposition of metalwork, especially war booty. The Celts of England spoke a language known as Brythonic Celtic which developed from Proto-Celtic, which was to evolve into modern Welsh in Wales and Cumbric in the Hen Ogledd or "Old North" of Britain, Cornish in Cornwall and Breton in Gaul. </p><p> The Roman Emperor Claudius invaded Britain in 43 AD and encountered resistance from the Celts under the leadership of Caractacus, king of the Catuvellauni tribe and later by Boudica, Queen of the Iceni of Norfolk. On the departure of the Roman legions and the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons under the brothers Hengist and Horsa in the fifth century, many of the Brythonic Celtic people were either absorbed into Anglo-Saxon culture, becoming "English" some retreated to the Celtic enclaves of Wales, Cornwall and southern Scotland, while some emigrated to Brittany. Celtic resistance to the invaders had collapsed by 580, the Welsh monk Gildas relates "the groans of the Britons", "The barbarians" he states, "drove them to the sea and the sea drove them back to the barbarians." </p></div></div><div class="row"><div class="col-md"><a href="celts_3.html">The Brythonic Celtic People</a></div><div class="col-md"><a href="celts_6.html">The Celtic Tribes</a></div><div class="col-md"><a href="celts_19.html">Iron Age Hillforts</a></div></div><div class="row"><div class="col-md"><a href="celts_8.html">Maiden Castle</a></div><div class="col-md"><a href="celts_22.html">The Brythonic Celtic Language</a></div><div class="col-md"><a href="celts_20.html">Lindow Man</a></div></div><div class="row"><div class="col-md"><a href="celts_21.html">The Religion of the Celts</a></div><div class="col-md"><a href="celts_14.html">The Roman Conquest of Britain</a></div><div class="col-md"><a href="celts_4.html">Caractacus</a></div></div><div class="row"><div class="col-md"><a href="celts_16.html">The Battle of Caer Caradoc</a></div><div class="col-md"><a href="celts_5.html">The Last Stand of the Druids</a></div><div class="col-md"><a href="celts_2.html">Boudicca, Queen of the Icceni</a></div></div><div class="row"><div class="col-md"><a href="celts_32.html">Battle of Watling Street</a></div><div class="col-md"><a href="celts_29.html">Roman Britain</a></div><div class="col-md"><a href="celts_28.html">Roman Verulamium</a></div></div><div class="row"><div class="col-md"><a href="celts_30.html">St. Alban</a></div><div class="col-md"><a href="celts_7.html">Hadrian's Wall</a></div><div class="col-md"><a href="celts_25.html">Cassivellaunus</a></div></div><div class="row"><div class="col-md"><a href="celts_31.html">Commius</a></div><div class="col-md"><a href="celts_27.html">Cunobeline</a></div><div class="col-md"><a href="celts_23.html">Vortigern</a></div></div><div class="row"><div class="col-md"><a href="celts_17.html">Ambrosius Aurelianus</a></div><div class="col-md"><a href="celts_24.html">Uther Pendragon</a></div><div class="col-md"><a href="celts_13.html">King Arthur</a></div></div><div class="row"><div class="col-md"><a href="celts_18.html">The Battle of Mount Badon</a></div><div class="col-md"><a href="celts_26.html">Coel Hen</a></div><div class="col-md"><a href="celts_9.html">The Kingdom of Rheged</a></div></div><div class="row"><div class="col-md"><a href="celts_10.html">Urien Rheged</a></div><div class="col-md"><a href="celts_11.html">Owain of Rheged</a></div><div class="col-md"><a href="celts_12.html">The Kingdom of Dumnonia</a></div></div><div class="row"><div class="col-md"><a href="celts_15.html">Cartimandua, Queen of the Brigantes</a></div><div class="col-md"><a href="picts.html">The Picts</a></div><div class="col-md"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="social"><ul id="sprite"><li id="sprite_s"><i class="sprite sprite-1"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=&t=" aria-label="facebook" onclick="window.open('https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=' + encodeURIComponent(document.URL) + '&t=' + encodeURIComponent(document.URL)); 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