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Alt Clut (fortress)
Dumbarton Castle ( gd, Dùn Breatainn, ; ) has the longest recorded history of any stronghold in Scotland. It sits on a volcanic plug of basalt known as Dumbarton Rock which is high and overlooks the Scottish town of Dumbarton. History Dumbarton Rock was formed between 330 and 340 million years ago, during the Early Carboniferous period, a time of widespread volcanic activity in the area where Glasgow is now situated; over time, the softer exterior of the volcano weathered away, leaving behind a volcanic plug of basalt. Iron Age At least as far back as the Iron Age, this has been the site of a strategically important settlement, as evidenced by archaeological finds. The people that came to reside there in the era of Roman Britain were known to have traded with the Romans. However the first written record about a settlement there was in a letter that Saint Patrick wrote to King Ceretic of Alt Clut in the late 5th century. Early Medieval era David Nash Ford has proposed that ...
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Dumbarton
Dumbarton (; also sco, Dumbairton; ) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. In 2006, it had an estimated population of 19,990. Dumbarton was the capital of the ancient Kingdom of Strathclyde, and later the county town of Dunbartonshire. Dumbarton Castle, on top of Dumbarton Rock, dominates the area. Dumbarton was a Royal burgh between 1222 and 1975. Dumbarton emerged from the 19th century as a centre for shipbuilding, glassmaking, and whisky production. However these industries have since declined, and Dumbarton today is increasingly a commuter town for Glasgow east-southeast of it. Dumbarton F.C. is the local football club. Dumbarton is home to BBC Scotland's drama studio. History Dumbarton history goes back at least as far as the Iron Age and probably much earlier. It has been suggested that in Ancient Rome, Roman times Dumbarton was the "place of importance" named as Alauna in ...
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Sub-Roman Britain
Sub-Roman Britain is the period of late antiquity in Great Britain between the end of Roman rule and the Anglo-Saxon settlement. The term was originally used to describe archaeological remains found in 5th- and 6th-century AD sites that hinted at the decay of locally made wares from a previous higher standard under the Roman Empire. It is now used to describe the period that commenced with the evacuation of Roman troops to Gaul by Constantine III in 407 and to have concluded with the Battle of Deorham in 577. Meaning of terms The period of sub-Roman Britain traditionally covers the history of the area which subsequently became England from the end of Roman imperial rule, traditionally dated to be in 410, to the arrival of Saint Augustine in 597. The date taken for the end of this period is arbitrary in that the sub-Roman culture continued in northern England until the merger of Rheged (the kingdom of the Brigantes) with Northumbria by dynastic marriage in 633, and longer i ...
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Picts
The Picts were a group of peoples who lived in what is now northern and eastern Scotland (north of the Firth of Forth) during Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. Where they lived and what their culture was like can be inferred from early medieval texts and Pictish stones. Their Latin name, , appears in written records from the 3rd to the 10th century. Early medieval sources report the existence of a distinct Pictish language, which today is believed to have been an Insular Celtic language, closely related to the Common Brittonic, Brittonic spoken by the Celtic Britons, Britons who lived to the south. Picts are assumed to have been the descendants of the Caledonians, Caledonii and other British Iron Age, Iron Age tribes that were mentioned by Roman historians or on the Ptolemy's world map, world map of Ptolemy. The Pictish kingdom, often called Pictland in modern sources, achieved a large degree of political unity in the late 7th and early 8th centuries through the expa ...
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John Leland (antiquary)
John Leland or Leyland (13 September,  – 18 April 1552) was an English poet and antiquary.Carley (2006), "Leland, John (''ca''. 1503–1552)" Leland has been described as "the father of English local history and bibliography". His ''Itinerary'' provided a unique source of observations and raw materials for many subsequent antiquaries, and introduced the county as the basic unit for studying the local history of England, an idea that has been influential ever since. Early life and education Most evidence for Leland's life and career comes from his own writings, especially his poetry. He was born in London on 13 September, most probably in about 1503, and had an older brother, also named John. Having lost both his parents at an early age, he and his brother were raised by Thomas Myles. Leland was educated at St Paul's School, London, under its first headmaster, William Lily. It was here that he already met some of his future benefactors, notably William Paget. Leland wa ...
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Brittany
Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period of Roman occupation. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duchy of Brittany, duchy before being Union of Brittany and France, united with the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a provinces of France, province governed as a separate nation under the crown. Brittany has also been referred to as Little Britain (as opposed to Great Britain, with which it shares an etymology). It is bordered by the English Channel to the north, Normandy to the northeast, eastern Pays de la Loire to the southeast, the Bay of Biscay to the south, and the Celtic Sea and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. Its land area is 34,023 km2 . Brittany is the site of some of the world's oldest standing architecture, ho ...
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Hoel
King Hoel ( br, Hoel I Mawr,  "Hoel the Great"; la, Hoelus, Hovelus, Hœlus), also known as Sir Howel, Saint Hywel and Hywel the Great, was a late 5th- and early 6th-centuryFord, David Nashat ''Early British Kingdoms''. 2001. Retrieved 1 December 2014. member of the ruling dynasty of Cornouaille. He may have ruled Cornouaille jointly after the restoration of his father, Budic II of Brittany, but he seems to have predeceased his father and left his young son, Tewdwr, as Budic's heir.Ford, David Nash"Tewdwr Mawr"at ''Early British Kingdoms''. 2001. Retrieved 1 December 2014. Hywel appears in Welsh mythology and the Matter of Britain as a "king of Brittany". A relative of Arthur, he was one of his most loyal allies (or, sometimes, knights) and was said to have helped him conquer "Gaul" (northern France). Life The historical Hywel was the son of Budic II, king of Cornouaille in northwest Brittany. For all or most of his childhood, a usurping cousin ruled in Budic's place an ...
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King Arthur
King Arthur ( cy, Brenin Arthur, kw, Arthur Gernow, br, Roue Arzhur) is a legendary king of Britain, and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In the earliest traditions, Arthur appears as a leader of the post-Roman Britons in battles against Saxon invaders of Britain in the late 5th and early 6th centuries. He appears in two early medieval historical sources, the ''Annales Cambriae'' and the ''Historia Brittonum'', but these date to 300 years after he is supposed to have lived, and most historians who study the period do not consider him a historical figure.Tom Shippey, "So Much Smoke", ''review'' of , ''London Review of Books'', 40:24:23 (20 December 2018) His name also occurs in early Welsh poetic sources such as ''Y Gododdin''. The character developed through Welsh mythology, appearing either as a great warrior defending Britain from human and supernatural enemies or as a magical figure of folklore, sometimes associated wi ...
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Thomas Grey (chronicler)
Sir Thomas Grey or Gray (d. before 22 October 1369) of Heaton Castle in the parish of Cornhill-on-Tweed, Northumberland, was the son of Sir Thomas Grey, an eminent soldier in the Anglo-Scottish wars in the reigns of Edward I and Edward II, and his wife, Agnes de Bayles. He was the author of the English chronicle, the ''Scalacronica''. Family Thomas Grey, author of the ''Scalacronica'', was the son of Sir Thomas Grey of Heaton (d. before 12 March 1344) and his wife Agnes de Bayles. Grey had four sisters, who according to Andy King married John de Eure, William de Felton, William Heron, and Gerard Salvayn. Grey's father served almost continuously during the Anglo-Scottish wars in the reigns of Edward I and Edward II. In May 1297 Grey's father was left for dead on the field when William Wallace attacked Lanark, but recovered, and was active in various campaigns in the ensuing years. In May 1303 the elder Grey was captured by the Scots at Melrose Abbey, and after his release was ...
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Scalacronica
The ''Scalacronica'' (1066–1363) is a chronicle written in Anglo-Norman French by Sir Thomas Grey of Heaton near Norham in Northumberland. It was started whilst he was imprisoned by the Scots in Edinburgh Castle, after being captured in an ambush in October 1355, and completed in England after his release. The chronicle documents the history of Britain until 1363, and is one of the few early chronicles written by a layman. Overview The only extant medieval manuscript of the ''Scalacronica'' is MS 133 held by Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, where it originally formed part of the bequest of Archbishop Matthew Parker, a former Master of the college and a collector of manuscripts. During the reign of King Henry VIII the antiquary John Leland prepared an abstract of the ''Scalacronica'' which he included in his ''Collectanea''. This abstract has proven useful as the original manuscript currently lacks part of the material for the years 1339 and 1356, and all the material from ...
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Merlin (wizard)
Merlin ( cy, Myrddin, kw, Marzhin, br, Merzhin) is a mythical figure prominently featured in the legend of King Arthur and best known as a mage, with several other main roles. His usual depiction, based on an amalgamation of historic and legendary figures, was introduced by the 12th-century British author Geoffrey of Monmouth. It is believed that Geoffrey combined earlier tales of Myrddin and Ambrosius, two legendary Briton prophets with no connection to Arthur, to form the composite figure called Merlinus Ambrosius ( cy, Myrddin Emrys, br, Merzhin Ambroaz). Geoffrey's rendering of the character became immediately popular, especially in Wales. Later writers in France and elsewhere expanded the account to produce a fuller image, creating one of the most important figures in the imagination and literature of the Middle Ages. Merlin's traditional biography casts him as an often-mad being born of a mortal woman, sired by an incubus, from whom he inherits his supernatural power ...
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Riderch I Of Alt Clut
Rhydderch Hael ( en, Rhydderch the Generous), Riderch I of Alt Clut, or Rhydderch of Strathclyde, ( ''fl.'' 580 – c. 614) was a ruler of Alt Clut, a Brittonic kingdom in the ''Hen Ogledd'' or "Old North" of Britain. He was one of the most famous kings in the ''Hen Ogledd'', and appears frequently in later medieval works in Welsh and Latin.MacQuarrie, pp.6–7.Clarkson, T. (2014), ''Strathclyde and the Anglo-Saxons in the Viking Age'', Birlinn, Edinburgh, p. 30 Historical / Semi-historical references Rhydderch appears in Adomnán's Vita Sancti Columbae, written around 700, where he sends a secret message to the saint asking him to prophesy the method of his death. The king is concerned if he should die by the hand of one of his enemies, but the saint tells him that he will die at home in his bed. The description of his death is assumed to be accurate, as Adomnán was writing at a time when Rhydderch's life was probably still relatively well known, and he would be unlike ...
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