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Peoples of Cisalpine Gaul 391-192 BC.

The Insubres were a Gaulish^{[citation needed]} population settled in Insubria, in what is now Lombardy [1]. They were the founders of Milan (Mediolanum). Though ethnically Celtic at the time of Roman conquest (at the beginning of the 2nd century BC), they were most likely the result of the fusion of pre-existing Ligurian, Celtic and "Italic" population^{[citation needed]} (such as the Golasecca culture [2]) strata with Gaulish tribes who had come from what is now southern France.

Classical sources[link]

The Insubres are mentioned by Cicero, Polybius, Livy, Pliny the Elder, Strabo and Caecilius Statius.

Ethnicity of the Insubres[link]

Approximate distribution of languages in Iron Age Italy during the 6th century BC.

Regarding the ethnic origin of the Insubres there are two main theses:

1.The first wants them a Celtic population, resulted from migrations happened in the 7th and 6th century BC of Gaulish Celtic tribes towards North-west Italy and their intermixing with the natives.

2.The second, and the most reliable being supported by archaeological findings and their analysis, wants them as part of the Celtic-Ligurian people.

The Roman historian, Livy, wrote about the Insubres. According to his writings all of Northern Italy (between the northern and western Alpine watershed, the rivers Adda and Oglio at the east and Emilian Apennine to south) suffered in the course of centuries of repeated invasions by Celtic tribes from the region of Gaul. He claimed that before the invasion of the 4th century BC there was a previous one, dated around the late 7th and early 6th century BC.

This hypothesis, however, besides being supported only by Livy among the ancient historians, doesn't get any confirmation in archaeological terms. If the hypothesis of the Celtic invasion during the 7th/6th century is true there would have to be significant changes in habits and customs of the Golasecca culture people around that period. The study of objects found in the funeral burials due to the Golasecca culture between the 10th and 4th century BC (date of the first established Celtic invasion of northern Italy), however, shows a gradual and slow cultural evolution without any radical change. There are effectively significant Celtic cultural elements from the areas north of the Alps, but there are also elements drawn from the Venetic, Halstatt and, mainly, Etruscan cultural districts which prove that celticization was the turnout of a cultural exchange, not of an invasion.

Finally, regarding their origin can be said that the Insubres, together with other peoples of the Culture of Golasecca, arrived in northern Italy in a period that goes from the 2nd millennium BC to the Bronze Age migrating from the south of modern France, occupying part of the Ligurian territory and then forming that stock of populations defined as Celtic-Ligurians.

Culture and society[link]

The Insubres culture followed then what was a slow and of its own evolution. Thanks to the cultural and commercial exchanges with neighboring areas, such as Etruria, Venetia and Transalpine Gaul, the Insubres knew progress and created a distinct society of their own. In the light of archaeological findings it can be also assumed that it was an oligarchic society, where power was in the hands of a few Lords.

History[link]

The Insubres, or rather the Gaul-Insubres, being at the time the Gaulish element at least culturally and politically dominant, fought the Roman advance into Northern Italy.

Together with the Boii, Lingones, Taurini, Gaesatae and other Gaulish groups, they were defeated in 224 or 225 BC by the Roman army led by consul Lucius Aemilius Papus at the Battle of Telamon. Two years later the Romans, backed by their Gaulish allies the Cenomani, reduced the only fortified place of the Insubres at Acerrae, and defeated them again at the Battle of Clastidium. After the defeat of the Gaesatae, they were compelled to accept the Roman occupation of Milan in 221 and forcible alliance with Rome, while the victors annexed much of their territory.

During the invasion of Hannibal of 218-217 BC, the Insubres rebelled in support of the Carthaginians. They supported the Carthaginians again in 200 BC, this time under Hamilcar. After several other clashes, they definitively allied with Rome in 194, maintaining some autonomy for their capital. In 89 BC they obtained Latin citizenship and, in 49 BC, Roman citizenship.

Romanization of the Insubres was probably quick, also due to the reported similarities of the Celtic and Latin languages; in a short span of time after the Roman conquest several literary figures emerged, like that of Caecilius Statius.

Insubria and Insubric language are named after the Insubres.

Notes[link]

See also[link]

• Ancient peoples of Italy
• Celts in the Alps and Po Valley
• Cisalpine Gaul
• Lepontii
• Prehistoric Italy

Bibliography[link]

• Ardovino A.G, Archeologi e storici sulla Lombardia preromana, tra equivoci e prospettive, dall’etnogenesi alla Wölkerwanderung al diffusionismo, in La protostoria in Lombardia, (Atti del 3° Convegno Archeologico Regionale Como 1999), Como 2001, pp. 77–96.
• ARSLAN E. A. 2004d, Dai Golasecchiani agli Insubri, in Celti dal cuore dell’Europa all’Insubria, Celti d’Insubria. Guerrieri del territorio di Varese, Catalogo della mostra (Varese, 28.11.2004-25.4.2005), pp. 18–25.
• Raffaele De Marinis (1991). "I Celti Golasecchiani". In Multiple Authors, I Celti, Bompiani.
• Raffaele De Marinis (1990). Liguri e Celto-Liguri, Officine grafiche Garzanti Milano, Garzanti-Scheiwiller
• Giangiulio M, Storiografie, ideologie, metodologie. Ancora sul transitus Gallorum in Italiam in Livio (V,34-35) e nella tradizione letteraria, in Rassegna Studi del Civico Museo Archeologico di Milano 63-64 1999, pp. 21–34.
• GRASSI M. T. 1995, La romanizzazione degli Insubri. Celti e Romani in Transpadana attraverso la documentazione storica e archeologica, Milano.
• GRASSI M. T. 1999, I Celti della Cisalpina Centrale: dall’ager Insubrium alla XI Regio Transpadana, in Insubri e Cenomani tra Sesia e Adige, Seminario di Studi (Milano 27-28.2.1998), “Rassegna di Studi del Civico Museo Archeologico e del Civico Gabinetto Numismatico di Milano”, LXIII-LXIV, pp. 101–108.
• Tibiletti Bruno, M. G. (1978). "Ligure, leponzio e gallico". In Popoli e civiltà dell'Italia antica vi, Lingue e dialetti, ed. A. L. Prosdocimi, 129–208. Rome: Biblioteca di Storia Patria.
• Tibiletti Bruno, M. G. (1981). "Le iscrizioni celtiche d'Italia". In I Celti d'Italia, ed. E. Campanile, 157–207. Pisa: Giardini.
• Whatmough, J. (1933). The Prae-Italic Dialects of Italy, vol. 2, "The Raetic, Lepontic, Gallic, East-Italic, Messapic and Sicel Inscriptions", Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press

The six Celtic nations, as recognised by the Celtic League:

  Ireland

  Scotland

  Isle of Man

  Wales

  Cornwall

  Brittany

The Celtic nations are territories in Northern and Western Europe in which that area's own Celtic languages and some cultural traits have survived.^[1]

The term "nation" is used in its original sense to mean a people who share a common traditional identity and culture and are identified with a traditional territory or region. It is not synonymous with "sovereign state".

The six territories recognised as Celtic nations are Brittany (Breizh), Cornwall (Kernow), Ireland (Éire), the Isle of Man (Mannin), Scotland (Alba), and Wales (Cymru).^[1][2] Each of these regions has a Celtic language that is either still spoken or was spoken into modern times.^[3] In addition, areas of north-western Spain, particularly Galicia, Cantabria and Asturias, are sometimes identified as Celtic, due to the unique culture of the region. Unlike the others, however, no Celtic language has been spoken there in modern times.^[4][5][6] Before the expansions of the Roman Republic and Germanic tribes, a significant part of Europe was Celtic.^[7]

Six Celtic nations[link]

Each of the six nations has its own Celtic language. In Wales, Scotland, Brittany, and Ireland, these have been spoken continuously through time, while Cornwall and the Isle of Man have languages that were spoken into modern times but later died as spoken community languages.^[8][9][10] In both of the latter regions, however, revitalization movements have led to the adoption of these languages by adults and produced a number of native speakers.^[11][12]

Ireland, Wales, Brittany and Scotland contain areas where a Celtic language is used on a daily basis – in Ireland the area is called the Gaeltacht, Y Fro Gymraeg in Wales, and in Brittany Breizh-Izel.^[13][14] Generally these communities are in the west of their countries and in upland or island areas. The term Gàidhealtachd historically distinguished the Gaelic-speaking areas of Scotland (the Highlands) from the Lowland Scots-speaking areas. More recently, this term has also been adopted as the Gaelic name of the Highland council area, which includes non-Gaelic speaking areas. Hence, more specific terms such as sgìre Ghàidhlig ("Gaelic-speaking area") are now used.

In Wales, the Welsh language is a core curriculum (compulsory) subject, which all pupils study.^[15] Additionally, 20% of school children in Wales go to Welsh medium schools, where "they are taught entirely in the Welsh language".^[16] In the Republic of Ireland, all school children study Irish as one of the three core subjects up until the end of secondary school and 7.4% of primary school education is through Irish medium education which is part of the Gaelscoil movement.^[16]

Parts of the northern Iberian Peninsula, in particular Asturias, Galicia and Northern Portugal, are sometimes counted among the modern Celtic nations. This is largely due to the region's unique culture, which is distinct from that in some other areas of Spain and Portugal. Notably, the region's music features extensive use of bagpipes, an instrument common in modern Celtic music. As such musicians from Galicia and Asturias have participated in Celtic music festivals such as the Breton Festival des Cornemuses. Northern Portugal, part of ancient Gallaecia (Galicia, Minho, Douro and Tras-os-Montes), also has traditions quite similar to Galicia. However, unlike the traditional six nations, no Celtic language has been spoken in northern Iberia since probably the Early Middle Ages.^[17][18]

The chart below shows the population of each Celtic nation and the number of people in each nation that can speak Celtic languages. The total number of people residing in the Celtic nations is 18,584,000 people and, of these, the total number of people who can speak the Celtic languages is approximately 2,882,100.

The Celtic nations (as defined by the Celtic League and other Celtic nationalists)

Nation	Celtic name	Language	People	Population	Competent speakers	Percentage of population
[19] Ireland	Éire	Irish (Gaeilge)	Irish (Éireannaigh)	6,260,000	Republic: 1,774,437[20] Northern: 167,000[21]	Republic: 41.4%[20] Northern: 10.4%[21]
Wales	Cymru	Welsh (Cymraeg)	Welsh (Cymry)	3,000,000	750,000+ total: — Wales: 611,000 [22] — England: 150,000 [23] — Argentina: 5,000 [24] — USA: 2,500 [25] — Canada: 2,200 [26]	21.7%[27]
Brittany	Breizh	Breton (Brezhoneg)	Bretons (Breizhiz)	4,300,000	206,000[28]	5%[28]
Scotland	Alba	Scottish Gaelic (Gàidhlig)	Scots (Albannaich)	5,000,000	92,400[29]	1.2%[30]
Cornwall	Kernow	Cornish (Kernowek)	Cornish (Kernowyon)	500,000	2,000[31]	0.1%[32][33]
Isle of Man	Mannin Ellan Vannin	Manx (Gaelg)	Manx (Manninee)	84,000	1,700[34]	2.2%[35]

Of the languages above, three belong to the Goidelic or Gaelic branch (Irish, Manx, Scottish Gaelic) and three to the Brythonic or Brittonic branch (Welsh, Cornish, Breton). Their names for each other in each language shows some of the similarities and differences:^{[citation needed]}

Celtic identity[link]

Pipers at the
Festival Interceltique de Lorient

Formal cooperation between the Celtic nations is active in many contexts, including politics, languages, culture, music and sports:

The Celtic League is an inter-Celtic political organisation, which campaigns for the political, language, cultural and social rights, affecting one or more of the Celtic nations.^[37]

Established in 1917, the Celtic Congress is a non-political organisation that seeks to promote Celtic culture and languages and to maintain intellectual contact and close cooperation between Celtic peoples.^[38]

Festivals celebrating the culture of the Celtic nations include the Festival Interceltique de Lorient (Brittany), the Pan Celtic Festival (Ireland), the National Celtic Festival (Portarlington, Australia), the Celtic Media Festival (showcasing film and television from the Celtic nations), and the Eisteddfod (Wales).^{[6][39][40][41]}

Inter-Celtic music festivals include Celtic Connections (Glasgow), and the Hebridean Celtic Festival (Stornoway).^[42][43] Due to immigration, a dialect of Scottish Gaelic (Canadian Gaelic) is spoken by some on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, while a Welsh-speaking minority exists in the Chubut Province of Argentina. Hence, for certain purposes, such as the Festival Interceltique de Lorient– Galicia, Asturias and Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia are considered three of the nine Celtic nations.^[6]

Competitions are held between the Celtic nations in sports such as rugby union (Magners League – formerly known as the Celtic League) and athletics (Celtic Cup).^[44][45]

The Republic of Ireland enjoyed a period of rapid economic growth between 1995–2007, leading to the use of the phrase Celtic Tiger to describe the country.^[46][47] Aspirations for Scotland to achieve a similar economic performance to that of Ireland's led the Scotland First Minister Alex Salmond to set out his vision of a Celtic Lion economy for Scotland, in 2007.^[48]

Terminology[link]

The term "Celtic nations" derives from the linguistics studies of the 16th century scholar George Buchanan and the polymath Edward Lhuyd.^[49] As Assistant Keeper and then Keeper of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (1691–1709), Lhuyd travelled extensively in Great Britain, Ireland and Brittany in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Noting the similarity between the languages of Brittany, Cornwall and Wales, which he called "P-Celtic" or Brythonic, the languages of Ireland, the Isle of Mann and Scotland, which he called "Q-Celtic" or Goidelic, and between the two groups, Lhuyd published Archaeologia Britannica: an Account of the Languages, Histories and Customs of Great Britain, from Travels through Wales, Cornwall, Bas-Bretagne, Ireland and Scotland in 1707. His Archaeologia Britannica concluded that all six languages derived from the same root. Lhuyd theorised that the root language descended from the languages spoken by the Iron Age tribes of Gaul, whom Greek and Roman writers called Celtic.^[50] Having defined the languages of those areas as Celtic, the people living in them and speaking those languages became known as Celtic too. There is some dispute as to whether Lhuyd's theory is correct. Nevertheless, the term "Celtic" to describe the languages and peoples of Brittany, Cornwall and Wales, Ireland, the Isle of Mann and Scotland was accepted from the 18th century and is widely used today.^[49]

These areas of Europe are sometimes referred to as the "Celt belt" or "Celtic fringe" because of their location generally on the western edges of the continent, and of the states they inhabit (e.g. Brittany is in the northwest of France, Cornwall is in the south west of Great Britain, Wales in western Great Britain and the Gaelic-speaking parts of Ireland and Scotland are in the west of those countries).^[51][52] Additionally, this region is known as the "Celtic Crescent" because of the near crescent shaped position of the nations in Europe.^[53]

Territories of the ancient Celts[link]

The Celts in Europe, past and present:

  areas where Celtic languages are widely spoken

  the six most commonly recognised 'Celtic nations'

  maximum Celtic expansion, by the 3rd century BC

  core Hallstatt territory, by the 6th century BC

During the European Iron Age, the ancient Celts extended their territory to most of Western and Central Europe and part of Eastern Europe and central Anatolia.

The Continental Celtic languages were extinct by the Early Middle Ages, and the continental "Celtic cultural traits", such as an oral traditions and practices like the visiting of sacred wells and springs, largely disappeared or, in some cases, were translated and Christianized, as Christianity fought against "paganism".

Since they no longer have a living Celtic language, they are not included as 'Celtic nations'. Nonetheless, some of these countries have movements claiming a "Celtic identity"

Iberian Peninsula[link]

Iberian Peninsula at about 200 BC [1].

The Iberian Peninsula was an area heavily influenced by Celtic culture, particularly the ancient region of Gallaecia (the modern Spanish / N. Portuguese regions of Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, León, Minho, Douro, Tras-os-Montes / N. Portugal) and Old Castile. Some of the Celtic tribes recorded in these regions by the Romans were the Gallaeci, the Bracari, the Astures, the Cantabri, the Celtici, the Celtiberi. The Lusitanians might also have been Celtic - certainly their culture was Celtic dominant. Modern-day Galicians, Asturians, Cantabrians and northern Portuguese (in the Minho, Douro and Tras-os-Montes regions), claim a Celtic heritage or identity. Although the Celtic cultural traces are as difficult to analyse as in the other former Celtic countries of Europe, because of the extinction of Iberian Celtic languages in Roman times, Celtic heritage is attested in toponymics and language substratum, ancient texts, folklore and music.^[5][54] A final, late Celtic influence is also attributed to the fifth century Romano-Briton colony of Britonia in Galicia.

Tenth century Middle Irish mythical history Lebor Gabála Érenn (Irish: Leabhar Gabhála Éireann) credited Gallaecia as the point from where the Gallaic Celts sailed to conquer Ireland.

England[link]

Principal sites in Roman Britain, with indication of the Celtic tribes.

In Celtic languages, England is usually referred to as "Saxon-land" (Sasana, Pow Sows, Bro-Saoz etc.), and in Welsh as Lloegr (though the Welsh translation of English (language) also refers to the Saxon route: Saesneg, with the English people being referred to as "Saeson", or "Saes" in the singular). The mildly derogatory Scottish term Sassenach derives from this source. This is because the Celtic peoples of what is now England succumbed to the invading Saxons and were either driven out of their lands, killed or assimilated into the culture of Englalond. However, spoken Cumbric survived until the 12th century, Cornish until the 18th century, and Welsh within the Welsh Marches, notably in Archenfield, now part of Herefordshire, until the 19th century. Both Cumbria and Cornwall were traditionally Brythonic in culture and are considered so by many in England; Anglo-Saxon settlement in these areas was historically small. Cornwall existed as an independent state for some time after the foundation of England, and Cumbria originally retained a great deal of autonomy within the Kingdom of Northumbria. The unification of the Anglian kingdom of Northumbria with the Cumbric kingdom of Cumbria came about due to a political marriage between the Northumbrian King Oswiu and Queen Riemmelth. Though the Anglian settlement in Cumbria was as a whole minor, they settled in the Eden valley and along the north and south coasts. The placename Inglewood attests to the Anglian presence, even if it is, by and large, minor.

Movements of population between different parts of Great Britain over the last two centuries, with industrial development and changes in living patterns such as the growth of second home ownership, have greatly modified the demographics of these areas, including the Isles of Scilly off the coast of Cornwall, although Cornwall in particular retains unique cultural features, and a Cornish self-government movement is well established.^[55]

Remnants of Brythonic and Cumbric placenames are sometimes seen throughout spots in England but are more common in the West than the East, mainly in the traditionally Celtic areas of Cornwall and Cumbria. Elements such as caer 'fort' as in the Cumbrian city of Carlisle, pen 'hill' as in the Cumbrian town of Penrith and craig 'crag, rock' as in High Crag. The name 'Cumbria' is derived from the same root as Cymru, the Welsh name for Wales, meaning 'the land of comrades'. There is a current attempt to revive Cumbric and about 50 words of a reconstructed, hypothetical "Cumbric" exist.

Formerly Gaulish regions[link]

Repartition of Gaul ca. 54 BC

Most French people identify with the ancient Gauls and are well aware that they were a people that spoke Celtic languages and lived Celtic ways of life.^[56] Nowadays, the popular nickname Gaulois, "Gaulish people", is very often used to mean 'stock French people' to make the difference with the descendants of foreigners in France.

The French- and Arpitan-speaking Aosta Valley region in Italy also presents a casual claim of Celtic heritage.^[57] The Northern League autonomist party often exalts what it claims are the Celtic roots of all Northern Italy or Padania.^[58] Reportedly, Friuli also has an ephemeral claim to Celticity.^[59]

Walloons occasionally characterise themselves as "Celts", mainly in opposition to the "Teutonic" Flemish and "Latin" French identities.^[60] Others think they are Belgian, that is to say Germano-Celtic people different of the Gaulish-Celtic French.^[60]

The ethnonym "Walloon" derives from a Germanic word meaning "foreign", cognate with the words "Welsh" and "Vlach". The name of Belgium, home country of the Walloon people, is cognate with the Celtic tribal names Belgae and (possibly) the Irish legendary Fir Bolg.

Central and Eastern European regions[link]

Celtic tribes inhabited land in what is now southern Germany and Austria.^[61] Many scholars have associated the earliest Celtic peoples with the Hallstatt culture.^[62] Boii, Scordisci^[63] and the Vindelici^[64] are some of the tribes that inhabited Central Europe, including what is now Slovakia, Serbia, Croatia, Poland and the Czech Republic as well as Germany and Austria. The Boii gave their name to Bohemia.^[65] The Boii founded a city on the site of modern Prague, and some of its ruins are now a tourist attraction.^[66] There are claims among modern Czechs that the Czech people are as much descendants of the Boii as they are from the later Slavic invaders (as well as the historical Germanic peoples of Czech lands). This claim may not only be political: according to a 2000 study by Semino, 35.6% of Czechoslovak males have y-chromosome haplogroup R1b,^[67] which is common among Celts but rare among Slavs. Celts also founded Singidunum near present-day Belgrade, though the Celtic presence in modern day Serbian regions is limited to the far north (mainly including the historically at least partially Hungarian Vojvodina). The modern-day capital of Turkey, Ankara, was once the center of the Celtic culture in Central Anatolia, giving the name to the region—Galatia. The La Tène culture—named for a region in modern Switzerland—succeeded the Halstatt era in much of central Europe.^[68]

Celtic diaspora[link]

In other regions, people with a heritage from one of the Celtic nations also associate with the Celtic identity. In these areas, Celtic traditions and languages are significant components of local culture. These include the Permanent North American Gaeltacht in Tamworth, Ontario, Canada which is the only Irish Gaeltacht outside of Ireland, the Chubut valley of Patagonia with Welsh-speaking Argentines (known as Y Wladfa), Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, with Gaelic-speaking Canadians and southeast Newfoundland with Irish-speaking Canadians. Also at one point in the 1900s there were well over 12,000 Gaelic Scots from the Isle of Lewis living in the Eastern Townships of Quebec, Canada, with place names that still exist today recalling those inhabitants.

Large swathes of the United States of America were subject to migration from Celtic peoples, or people from Celtic nations. Irish-speaking Irish Catholics congregated particularly in the East Coast cities of New York, Boston, and Philadelphia, while Scots and Ulster-Scots were particularly prominent in the Southern United States, including Appalachia.

A legend that became popular during the Elizabethan period claims that a Welsh prince named Madoc established a colony in North America in the late 12th century. The story continues that the settlers merged with local Indian tribes, who preserved the Welsh language and the Christian religion for hundreds of years.^[69] However, there is no contemporary evidence that Prince Madoc existed. An area of Pennsylvania known as the Welsh Tract was settled by Welsh Quakers, where the names of several towns still bear Welsh names, such as Bryn Mawr, Upper & Lower Gwynedd Townships and Bala Cynwyd. In the 19th century, Welsh settlers arrived in the Chubut River valley of Patagonia, Argentina and established a colony called "Y Wladfa"/"Colonia Galesa". Today, the Welsh language and Welsh tea houses are common in several towns, many of which have Welsh names. Dolavon and Trelew are examples of Welsh towns.

In his autobiography, the South African poet Roy Campbell recalled his youth in the Dargle Valley, near the city of Pietermaritzburg, where people spoke only Gaelic and Zulu.

In New Zealand, the southern regions of Otago and Southland were settled by the Free Church of Scotland. Many of the place names in these two regions (such as the main cities of Dunedin and Invercargill and the major river, the Clutha) have Scottish Gaelic names,^[70] and Celtic culture is still prominent in this area.^[71][72][73]

In addition to these, a number of people from Canada, the USA, Australia, South Africa and other parts of the former British Empire have formed various Celtic societies over the years.

See also[link]

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• National Geographic, "The Celtic Realm". March, 2006.

External links[link]

• Celtic League
• Celtic League International
• Celtic League - American Branch
• The Celtic Realm
• Celtic-World.Net, - Various information on Celtic culture and music
• National Geographic Map: The Celtic RealmPDF (306 KB)
• Simon James Ancient Celts Page
• an article on Celtic Realms by Jim Gilchrist of The Scotsman
• The Celtic Nations Association

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