Vanished Kingdoms: The Rise and Fall of States and Nations (132 page)

CHAPTER 1. TOLOSA

Bibliographical Note.
Until recently, the Visigoths have not been treated favourably by historians. The decline of the Roman Empire in the West was conventionally viewed from the imperial perspective and through Latin sources. And the transitional fifth century did not get much coverage. The
New Cambridge Medieval History
, vol. 1 (Cambridge, 2005), for example, does not address the period before AD 500. Two relevant collections of academic studies are available in English: P. Heather (ed.),
The Visigoths from the Migration Period to the Seventh Century: An Ethnographic Perspective
(Woodbridge, 1999), and A. Ferreiro (ed.),
The Visigoths: Studies in Culture and Society
(Leiden, 1999). A synthesis of the subject has recently been published in German: Gerd Kampers,
Geschichte der Westgoten
(Paderborn, 2008). A chapter on ‘The First Gothic Successor State’ is well hidden in Peter Heather’s
The Goths
(Oxford, 1996), pp. 181–215.

I

1
. See
www.lescommunes.com/communie-vouille-86294.html
(2009). See also
15e Centenaire de la Bataille de Vouillé, 507
–
2007
, foreword by Ségolène Royal (Poitiers, 2007), p. 29.
2
.
www.507vouillelabataille.com
(2008).

II

3
. After J. B. Bury,
The History of the Later Roman Empire, 395
–
800
(London, 1889), vol. 1, ch. 6.
4
. See H. Wolfram,
History of the Goths
(Berkeley, 1998); P. Heather, ‘The Fourth Century Goths’, in P. Heather and J. Matthews,
The Goths in the 4th Century
(London, 1991), pp. 51–94.
5
. Themistius,
Orations
, quoted by Heather, and Matthews,
The Goths in the 4th Century
, p. 47.
6
. Edward Gibbon,
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
, Everyman edn., 6 vols. (London, 1911), ch. 31.
7
. Marcel Brion,
Alaric the Goth
(London, 1932).
8
. Paulus Orosius (d. 418),
Historia Adversos Paganos
, quoted Gibbon,
Decline and Fall
, ch. 31.
9
. See R. Mathisen and H. Sivan, ‘Forging a New Identity: The Kingdom of Toulouse and the Frontiers of Visigothic Aquitaine, 418–507’, in Ferreiro,
The Visigoths
, pp. 1–62.
10
. Septimania, ‘the province of the Seven Cities’ on the Mediterranean coast, was made up of the modern districts of Béziers, Elne, Agde, Narbonne, Lodève, Maguelonne and Nîmes.
11
. See Mathisen and Sivan, ‘Forging a New Identity’.
12
. St Jerome (342–420), translator of the Latin Vulgate Bible. His Chronicle built on the earlier work of St Eusebius and became the basic source on the history of the early Christian Church. See also L. Valentin,
St Prosper d’Aquitaine
(Paris, 1900).
13
. E. A. Thompson,
The Huns
(Oxford, 1999); Christopher Kelly,
Attila the Hun: Barbarian Terror and the Fall of the Roman Empire
(London, 2008).
14
. Sidonius Apollinaris,
Letters
, trans. O. M. Dalton (Oxford, 1915).
15
. K. Zeumer (ed.),
Leges Visigothorum Antiquiores
(Hanover, 1894).
16
. Pablo C. Diaz, ‘Toulouse: The Shadow of the Roman Empire’, in Heather,
The Visigoths
, pp. 330 ff.
17
. See Ian Wood, in Kathleen Mitchell and Ian Wood (eds.),
The World of Gregory of Tours
(Leiden, 2002).
18
. T. Hodgkin,
Theodoric the Goth: The Barbarian Champion of Civilization
(London, 1923).
19
. See J. Gaudemet, ‘Bréviaire d’Alaric’, in Jean Leclant (ed.),
Dictionnaire de ll’antiquité
(Paris, 2005).
20
. See Edward James,
The Franks
(Oxford, 1998).
21
. Gregory of Tours,
Historia Francorum
, 2.35; Latin text at
www.thelatinlibrary.com/gregorytours/gregorytours2.shtml
; a translation is available at
www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/gregory-hist.html
.
22
. Ibid., 2.37.
23
. Ian Wood, in Rosamund McKitterick and Roland Quinault (eds.),
Gibbon and Empire
(Cambridge, 1997).
24
. Gibbon,
Decline and Fall
, ch. 38.
25
. See John Moorehead,
Justinian
(London, 1994).
26
. See B. Young, ‘The Missing Archaeology of the Visigoths’, in
The Battle of Vouillé: Symposium Commemorating the 1500th Anniversary
, University of Indiana at Urbana Champaign, 12 April 2007;
http://theheroicage.blogspot.com/2007_04_01_archive.html
.

III

27
. ‘La Bataille de Voulon’,
http://voulon.fr/histoire_42.htm
(2010).
28
.
www.jacobins.mairie-toulouse.fr/patrhist/edifices/menu/listeed_.htm
(2010);
www.visite.org/aquitaine/fr/patrimoine.php
(2010).
29
. A. Ferreiro,
The Visigoths in Gaul and Spain, ad 418–711: A Bibliography
(Leiden, 1998).
30
. ‘Clôitres et monastères disparus de Toulouse’,
http://pedagogie.ac-toulouse.fr/culture/religieux/clodaurade.htm
(2010).
31
.
www.corbieresweb.com/montagne-d-alaric
(2010).
32
. Henry Lincoln,
The Holy Place: Decoding the Mystery of Rennes-le-Château
(Moreton-in-Marsh, 2005);
www.rennes-le-chateau-archive.com/
(2010).
33
. Henri Boudet,
La Vraie Langue celtique et le cromlech de Rennes-les-Bains
(Carcassonne, 1886; Nîmes, 1999).
34
.
http://redpill.dailygrail.com/wiki/rennes_le_chateau
(2010);
http://dreamscape.com/morgana/metis.htm
(2010);
www.magie-arcadie.be/rennes-le-chateau.htm
(2010).
35
. Gérard de Sède,
L’Or de Rennes, ou La vie insolite de Bérenger Saunière
(Paris, 1967); Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln,
The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail
(London, 1982, 2005); R. Andrews and P. Schellenberger,
The Tomb of God
(London, 1996); Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince,
The Templar Revelation: Secret Guardians of the True Identity of Christ
(London, 1997, 2007); Christian Doumergue,
Rennes-le-Château, le grand héritage
(Nîmes, 1997); Dan Brown,
The Da Vinci Code: A Novel
(London, 2003).
36
. See Joseph O’Callaghan,
A History of Mediaeval Spain
(Ithaca, NY, 1975), ch. 1, ‘The Visigothic Kingdom’; Harold Livermore,
Twilight of the Goths: The Rise and Fall of the Kingdom of Toledo
,
575
–
711
(Bristol, 2006).
37
. D. A. Pharies,
A Brief History of the Spanish Language
(Chicago, 2007).
38
.
http://rickmk.com/rmk/pray/got-our.html
(2010).
39
. V. Kouznetsov,
Les Alains: cavaliers des steppes, seigneurs du Caucase
(Paris, 1997).
40
. August von Platen (1796–1835), ‘Das Grab in Busento’ (1820).

CHAPTER 2. ALT CLUD

Bibliographical Note
. There is no dedicated monograph in English on this subject, and only a handful of scattered academic articles such as Alan Macquarrie, ‘The Kings of Strathclyde’, in A. Grant and K. Stringer (eds.),
Mediaeval Scotland: Crown, Lordship and Community
(Edinburgh, 1993), pp. 1–20, or, for the later period, Davitt Broun, ‘The Welsh Identity of the Kingdom of Strathclyde, 900–1100’,
Innes Review
, 55 (2004), pp. 111–80. Growing piles of information, of variable reliablility, are available on a rising tide of internet sites, including
www.templum.freeserve.co.uk/history/strathclyde/localkings.htm
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/list_of_kings_of_strathclyde
. The background is beautifully presented by Alistair Moffat,
Before Scotland: The Story of Scotland before History
(London, 2005), especially ch. 7, ‘The Last of the British’.

I

1
. A panoramic view of the Rock can be seen at
www.flickr.com/photos/ccgd/5512793/
. Also
Dumbarton Rock
, photo by John Crae;
www.clydesite.co.uk/articles/upperriver.asp
.
2
. R. Jeffrey and I. Watson,
Doon the Watter: A Century of Holidays on the Clyde
, 2 vols. (Edinburgh, 1999).
3
. Iain McCrorie,
The Royal Road to the Isles
(Glasgow, 2001); F. M. Walker,
Song of the Clyde
:
A History of Clyde Shipbuilding
(Edinburgh, 2001); see also
www.shipsofcalmac.co.uk/history_timeline.asp
.
4
.
www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/folk-song-lyrics/roamin_in_the_gloamin_.htm
; see also Gordon Irving,
Great Scot: The Life Story of Sir Harry Lauder
(London, 1968).
5
. Quoted in
www.turningwood.fsnet.co.uk/dumbarton.html
(2004);
www.undiscovered-scotland.co.uk/dumbarton/dumbartoncastle
(2008); see also Iain MacIvor,
Dumbarton Castle
(Edinburgh, 2003).
6
. See Brian Lavery, ‘The British Government and the American Polaris Base on the Clyde’,
Journal of Martime Research
(Sep. 2001).
7
.
www.whiskymag.com/whisky/brand/ballantine_s
(2004);
www.ballantines.com
.
8
. Incorporated 1765, see
www.dunbartonnh.org
.

II

9
. T. Mommsen, ‘Petrarch’s Conception of the Dark Ages’,
Speculum
, 17/2 (1942), pp. 226–42.
10
. K. H. Schmidt, ‘Insular Celtic: P and Q Celtic’, in M. J. Ball and J. Fife (eds.),
The Celtic Languages
(London, 1993); Paul Russell,
An Introduction to the Celtic Languages
(London, 1995).
11
. W. F. Skene,
The Four Ancient Books of Wales
, 2 vols. (Edinburgh, 1868).
12
.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cumbric_language
(2008). Most recently, and after the completion of the present essay, a Cumbric Revival Community has been launched on the Internet at
www.cumbricrevival.com
.
13
. See Peter Brown,
The Rise of Western Christendom
(Oxford, 2003).
14
. Elizabeth Sutherland,
In Search of the Picts: A Celtic Dark Age Nation
(London, 1994).
15
. Possibly confused with another Alauna, south of Hadrian’s Wall, usually located at modern Maryport (Cumbria). See also I. A. Richmond, ‘Ancient Geographical Sources for Britain North of the Cheviot’, in his
Roman and Native in North Britain
(Edinburgh, 1958); G. W. S. Barrow, ‘The Tribes of North Britain Revisited’,
Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland
, 119 (1989), pp. 161–3.
16
. In July 2008, the Antonine Wall was adopted by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. See
www.antonineway.com
.
17
. See Michael Jones,
The End of Roman Britain
(Ithaca, NY, 1996).
18
. Peniarth MS 45, National Library of Wales: translated online at
http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/bonedd.html
(2010).
19
. ‘Yr Hen Ogledd’, in John Koch (ed.),
Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclo-pedia
(Oxford, 2006).
20
. C. T. Greenhead, quoted in Moffat,
Before Scotland
, p. 305.
21
. Old Kilpatrick, West Dunbartonshire, which is situated on the Clyde at the western end of the Antonine Wall. See
www.rcag.org.uk/parishes_st.patricks_oldkilpatrick.htm
.
22
. Macquarrie, ‘The Kings of Strathclyde’, p. 4, and A. Boyle, ‘The Birthplace of St. Patrick’,
Scottish Historical Review
, 60 (1981). Boyle’s identification of Fintry near Old Kilpatrick with the
Ventre
of Miurchu’s
Vita sancti Patricii
(seventh century) and with W. J. Watson’s
Venn tref
or ‘White House’ is rejected, somewhat unconvincingly, on the grounds that Kilpatrick is supposedly a Gaelic name of much later vintage; W. J. Watson,
The History of Celtic Place-names of Scotland
(Edinburgh, 1993). See J. B. Bury,
The Life of St Patrick and his Place in History
(London, 1905).
23
. St Patrick, ‘Letter to Coroticus’, in R. P. C. Hanson,
The Life and Writings of the Historical Saint Patrick
(New York, 1983), pp. 58–73.
24
. Daphne Brooke,
The Search for St Ninian
(Whithorn, 1993).
25
. Leslie Alcock, ‘A Multi-Disciplinary Chronology for Alt Clut, Castle Rock, Dumbarton’,
Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland
(1975–6), p. 105.
26
. See Kathleen Hughes, ‘The Welsh Latin Chronicles:
Annales Cambriae
and Related Texts’, in Hughes,
Celtic Britain in the Early Middle Ages: Studies in Scottish and Welsh Sources
(Woodbridge, 1980), pp. 67–85.
27
. Nennius,
Historia Brittonum
(‘A History of the Britons’), ed. D. Dumville (Cambridge, 1985).
28
. Moffat,
Before Scotland,
p. 320.
29
. Adamnan,
Life of St Columba
, ed. W. Reeves (Lampeter, 1988); Adamnan of Iona,
Life of St Columba
, trans. R. Sharpe (London, 1995).
30
.
http://www.clanarthur.com
(2008);
http://www.scottishweb.net/
…clans-clanmacarthur/ (2010).
31
. At Strathblane. In
Arthur and the Lost Kingdoms
(London, 1999), Alistair Moffat argues for King Arthur’s base to have been located at Roxburgh Castle in the Borders.
32
. John Bruce,
History of the Parish of West or Old Kilpatrick and of the Church and Certain Lands in the Parish of East or New Kilpatrick
(Glasgow, 1893); Joseph Irving,
History of Dumbartonshire
(Dumbarton, 1860).
33
. James Knight,
Glasgow and Strathclyde
(London, 1930). The references to Bruce, Irving, Knight and others are at
www.templum.freeserve.co.uk/history/strathclyde/arthur.htm
.
34
. The Life is by Jocelyn of Furness. See John Glass,
The Mission of St Mungo
(Twickenham, 2007).
35
. ‘The University of Glasgow Story’ at
www.universitystory.gla.ac.uk/coat-of-arms/
.
36
. See
www.catholicireland.net/church-a-bible/church/january-saints/1226-14-st-kentigern-or-mungo
. Many versions of the legend exist.
37
. Adamnan,
Life of St Columba
, ch. 8. See also ‘Rhydderch Hael’,
www.celtnet.org.uk/gods_rh/rhydderch.htm
.
38
. See M. Lapidge and D. Dumville,
Gildas: New Approaches
(Woodbridge, 1984).
39
. A. Marette-Crosby,
The Foundations of Christian England: Augustine of Canterbury and his Impact
(York, 1997).
40
. J. T. Koch (ed.),
The Gododdin of Aneirin: Text and Context from Dark-Age North Britain
(Cardiff, 1997), p. 52.
41
. Ibid., pp. 10–11.
42
. Ibid., pp. 12–13.
43
. From ‘The Stanzas of the Graves’, in
The Black Book of Carmarthen
,
http://www.celtic-twilight.com/camelot/poetry/yrhengerdd/englynion_y_beddau.htm
. (2008).
44
. Moffat,
Before Scotland
, p. 326.
45
. Bede,
Ecclesiastical History
, book 4, ch. 26.
46
. James Fraser,
The Pictish Conquest: The Battle of Dunnichen 685 and the Birth of Scotland
(Stroud, 2006).
47
. Moffat,
Before Scotland
, pp. 328–9.
48
. See W. D. Simpson,
The Early Christian Monuments at Aberlemno, Angus
(Edinburgh, 1969).
49
. P. C. Bartrum (trans.),
Early Welsh Genealogical Tracts
(Cardiff, 1966): also online at
http://kmatthews.org.uk/history/harleian_genealogies/5.html
.
50
. ‘Pittin the mither tongue online’,
www.scots-online.org
(2010).
51
. Macquarrie, ‘The Kings of Strathclyde’, p. 1.
52
. See John Bannerman,
Studies in the History of Dalriada
(Edinburgh, 1974).
53
. N. A. M. Rodgers,
The Safeguard of the Sea: A Naval History of Britain, 660–1649
(London, 1997), p. 5.
54
. From Bede, book 1, chs. 1, 12, quoted in Alcock, ‘A Multi-Disciplinary Chronology for Alt Clut’, pp. 104–5.
55
.
Brut y Tywysogion
(‘Chronicle of the Princes’), ed. Revd John Williams ab Ithel (London, 1860), pp. 6–7.
56
. Otherwise Teudibar map Beli, see
www.earlybritishkingdoms.com/lists/strathclyde.html
.
57
. N. Aitchison,
Scotland’s Stone of Destiny: Myth, History and Nationhood
(Stroud, 2000).
58
. Macquarrie, ‘The Kings of Strathclyde’, pp. 12, 18.
59
.
Brut y Tywysogion
, pp. 14–15;
Nennius: British History and the Welsh Annals
, ed. J. Morris (London, 1980), pp. 48, 89;
The Annales Cambriae: Texts A–C in Parallel
, ed. D. Dumville (Cambridge, 2002);
The Annals of Ulster
, quoted by Alcock, ‘A Multi-Disciplinary Chronology for Alt Clut’, p. 106.
60
. Text reconstructed by author.
61
. A. A. M. Duncan,
Scotland: The Making of the Kingdom
(Edinburgh, 1995), p. 90.
62
. Macquarrie, ‘The Kings of Strathclyde’, p. 12.
63
. Ibid., pp. 12–13.
64
. See John Davies,
A History of Wales
(London, 1993), pp. 62  ff.
65
. Norman Davies,
The Isles: A History
(London, 1999), pp. 216–17.
66
.
Brut y Tywysogion
, pp. 20–21.
67
. See Broun, ‘The Welsh Identity of the Kingdom of Strathclyde’.
68
. See e.g. Nicholas Aitchison,
Macbeth: Man and Myth
(Stroud, 1999).
69
.
The Chronicle of John of Worcester
, ed. R. Darlington and P. McGurk (Oxford, 1998).
70
. A. A. M. Duncan,
Kingship of the Scots, 842
–
1292
(Edinburgh, 2002), pp. 37–41.
71
. Cynthia Nevile,
Native Lordship in Mediaeval Scotland: The Earldoms of Strathearn and Lennox, 1140–1365
(Portland and Dublin, 2005).
72
. Michael, bishop of Glasgow. According to English sources, two earlier bishops of Glasgow were appointed by the archbishops of York. Bishop Magsuen (
fl
. 1055–60) may well have owed his see to the conquest of Earl Siward.
73
. A. Dooley and H. Roe,
Tales of the Elders of Ireland
(Oxford, 1998), p. 13.
74
. F. Mort,
Renfrewshire
(Cambridge, 1912).
75
. A. A. M. Duncan, ‘William, Son of Alan Wallace: The Documents’, in J. Cowan (ed.),
The Wallace Book
(Edinburgh, 2007), pp. 42–63.
76
. Fiona Watson, ‘Sir William Wallace: What We Do – and Don’t Know’, in Cowan,
The Wallace Book
, p. 27.
77
. J. C. Borland,
William Wallace: His Birthplace and Family Connections
(Kilmarnock, 1999).
78
. James A. Mackay,
William Wallace: Brave Heart
(Edinburgh, 1996).
79
. George Fraser Black,
The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History
(New York, 1946).
80
. See also M. Stead and A. Young,
In the Steps of William Wallace
(London, 2002).
81
. Alistair Moffat,
The Highland Clans
(London, 2010), p. 151.