Britonia (which became Bretoña in Galician and Spanish) is the name of a

Romano-British The Romano-British culture arose in Britain under the Roman Empire following the Roman conquest in AD 43 and the creation of the province of Britannia. It arose as a fusion of the imported Roman culture with that of the indigenous Britons, ...

settlement on the northern coast of the Iberian peninsula at the time of the Anglo-Saxon invasion of Britain. The area is roughly that of the northern parts of the modern provinces of

A Coruña A Coruña (; ; also informally called just Coruña; historical English: Corunna or The Groyne) is a city and municipality in Galicia, Spain. It is Galicia's second largest city, behind Vigo. The city is the provincial capital of the province ...

and

Lugo Lugo (, ) is a city in northwestern Spain in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia. It is the capital of the Lugo (province), province of Lugo. The municipality had a population of 100,060 in 2024, ...

in the autonomous community of Galicia,

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

History

Britonia was established in the Germanic

Kingdom of the Suebi The Kingdom of the Suebi (), also called the Kingdom of Galicia () or Suebi Kingdom of Galicia (), was a Germanic peoples, Germanic Migration Period, post-Roman kingdom that was one of the first to separate from the Roman Empire. Based in the fo ...

, in

Gallaecia Gallaecia, also known as Hispania Gallaecia, was the name of a Roman province in the north-west of Hispania, approximately present-day Galicia, northern Portugal, Asturias and Leon and the later Kingdom of Gallaecia. The Roman cities inclu ...

, northwestern

Hispania Hispania was the Ancient Rome, Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula. Under the Roman Republic, Hispania was divided into two Roman province, provinces: Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior. During the Principate, Hispania Ulterior was divide ...

, in the late 5th and early 6th centuries AD by

Romano-Britons The Romano-British culture arose in Britain under the Roman Empire following the Roman conquest in AD 43 and the creation of the province of Britannia. It arose as a fusion of the imported Roman culture with that of the indigenous Britons, ...

. Britonia is therefore similar to

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

, in

Gaul Gaul () was a region of Western Europe first clearly described by the Roman people, Romans, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and parts of Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, and Northern Italy. It covered an area of . Ac ...

(present-day

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

), by being settled by expatriate Britons at roughly the same time. However, unlike in Brittany, the Celts settling in the Iberian Britonia were soon assimilated and completely lost their original language. The Britons may have occupied a pre-existing hill fort or castro. Gallaecia had earlier been inhabited by the

Gallaeci The Gallaeci (also Callaeci or Callaici; ) were a Celtic tribal complex who inhabited Gallaecia, the north-western corner of Iberia, a region roughly corresponding to what is now the Norte Region in northern Portugal, and the Spanish regions ...

peoples, before the arrival of the Germanic Suebi. Modern place-names that reflect this history include the villages of Bretoña in the province of

and Bretonia in the province of

Pontevedra Pontevedra (, ) is a city in the autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, in northwestern Spain. It is the capital of both the ''Pontevedra (comarca), Comarca'' and Province of Pontevedra, and the capital of the Rías Baixas. It is als ...

Ecclesiastical history

What little is known of Britonia is deduced from its religious history - which is a very uncertain guide as to how long it retained a Celtic linguistic and cultural character. The British settlements were recognised at the First Council of Lugo in 569 and a separate bishopric established, on territory split off from the then Metropolitan Archdiocese of Lugo. Maeloc was nominated Bishop of Britonia and signed the ''acta'' at the Second Council of Braga in 572. The establishment of the episcopal see of the Britons in Gallaecia was more probably not because of a migration, but only because a group of Christians, led by their bishop, must have taken refuge in a place near the coast of Lugo, where they would establish and organize a personal episcopal see, which later reached a territorial demarcation.Ramón Yzquierdo Perrín, Universidade da Coruña, I Congreso do Patrimonio da Diocesis de Mondoñedo, 2000 For this reason the diocese was mentioned in the "Suevo Parish" as ''Ad sedem Britonorum ecclesiae quae sunt intro Britones una cum Monasterio Maximi et quae sunt in Asturiis.'' Established in Britonia, the capital of the diocese, regardless of its origin and provenance, its bishops appear in conciliar documents from the 6th century on. For example, Mailoc is among those who participated in the II ''Bracarense'' Council held in the year 572, and as its headquarters "was erected shortly before ... Mailoc signed last as least ancient". His successors attended other councils in Toledo and

Braga Braga (; ) is a cities of Portugal, city and a Municipalities of Portugal, municipality, capital of the northwestern Portugal, Portuguese Braga (district), district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality ...

: Errnerico participated in the III of Toledo signing, in 589, as bishop ''Laniobrense''; Metopio attended the next one in 633; at VII, Sonna, who was already consecrated in 646 and who sent the priest Materico to the following council, in 653. In 675 Bishop Bela participated in the III ''Bracarense'' Council and then the title of Britonian appears for the last time, since Brandila and Suniagisido, who attended the XIII and XVI Councils of Toledo in the years 683 and 693, sign as ''Laniobrense'' bishops.(...)" The British Celtic settlements were quickly integrated and their adherence to Celtic rite lasted only until the Fourth Council of Toledo in 633 decreed the now so-called Visigothic or Mozarabic rite as the standard liturgy of

. The diocese was suppressed in 716. The line of (errant?) bishops of Britonia nevertheless existed at least until 830, when the area was attacked by the

Vikings Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

; it may have continued as late as the Council of Oviedo in 900. It was finally restored as or merged into the Diocese of Mondoñedo-Ferrol in 866, being assigned territories split off from the Diocese of Oviedo and from the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Lugo (since 1071 a suffragan of

Santiago de Compostela Santiago de Compostela, simply Santiago, or Compostela, in the province of Province of A Coruña, A Coruña, is the capital of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, in northwestern Spain. The city ...

Resident Bishops of Bretoña

Known bishops of the ''ecclesia Brittaniensis'' include: * Maeloc ( Second Council of Braga, 572 – death ?) * Metopius ( Fourth Council of Toledo, 633) * Sonna ( Seventh Council of Toledo, 646 – 653?) *

Susa Susa ( ) was an ancient city in the lower Zagros Mountains about east of the Tigris, between the Karkheh River, Karkheh and Dez River, Dez Rivers in Iran. One of the most important cities of the Ancient Near East, Susa served as the capital o ...

( Eighth Council of Toledo, 653 – ?675) * Bela ( Third Council of Braga, 675–?) "Bishop Maeloc is the only Britonian prelate who has a Celtic name (= "great"). The other known bishops always bear Latin or Germanic names.(...)".

Titular see

No longer a residential bishopric, Britonia is today listed by the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

as a

titular see A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbi ...

. The diocese was nominally restored in 1969 as Latin

Titular bishopric A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbish ...

of Britonia (also Curiate Italian) / Britonien(sis) (Latin adjective). It has had the following incumbents, so far secular priests of the fitting Episcopal (lowest) rank: * Eugene O’Callaghan (28 November 1969 – resigned 26 January 1971), on emeritate as former Bishop of Clogher (

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

) (30 January 1943 – 28 November 1969), died 1973 * John Brewer (31 May 1971 – 22 May 1985), first as

Auxiliary Bishop An auxiliary bishop is a bishop assigned to assist the diocesan bishop in meeting the pastoral and administrative needs of the diocese. Auxiliary bishops can also be titular bishops of sees that no longer exist as territorial jurisdictions. ...

of Diocese of Shrewsbury (

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, UK) (31 May 1971 – 17 November 1983), then as

Coadjutor Bishop A coadjutor bishop (or bishop coadjutor) ("co-assister" in Latin) is a bishop in the Latin Catholic, Anglican and (historically) Eastern Orthodox churches whose main role is to assist the diocesan bishop in administering the diocese. The coa ...

of Lancaster (England) (17 November 1983 – 22 May 1985); later succeeded as Bishop of Lancaster (22 May 1985 – death 10 June 2000) * Edward Joseph O’Donnell (6 December 1983 – 8 November 1994) as Auxiliary Bishop of Archdiocese of Saint Louis (USA) (6 December 1983 – 8 November 1994); later Bishop of Lafayette in Louisiana (USA) (8 November 1994 – retired 8 November 2002); died 2009 * Paweł Cieślik (3 December 1994 – now), as former Auxiliary Bishop of Diocese of Koszalin–Kołobrzeg (

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

) (3 December 1994 – 19 September 2012) and as emeritate (3 December 1994 – now)

References

* Richards, Melville, "Mailoc", ''Habis'', III, 1972, p. 159. * Tovar, António, "Un obispo con nombre británico y los orígenes de la diócesis de Mondoñedo", ''Habis'', III, 1972, pp. 155–158. * Vives, J., ''Concilios visigóticos e hispano-romanos'', Madrid, 1963. * * Young, Simon,
The Forgotten Colony
, ''History Today'', L, Oct. 2000, pp. 5–6. * Young, Simon, ''Britonia: Camiños Novos'', Noia, 2002. . (in Galician)

External links