m
112 CRANIA BRITANNICA. [Chap. V.
the same period must be ascribed coins wMch vie with those of Cunobelin in beauty, and equally
exhibit a Roman influence, which from the places where they are found to the south of the
Thames, must be ascribed to the maritime states of Caesar,—the Cantii, Atrebates, Regni and
Belgse of Ptolemy. On these coins is a similar formula, the legends being Eppillus Commii P.,
Vebic. Commii F. and Tino. Commii P. They claim to have been minted by the sons of
Commius*, a descendant possibly of that Commius the Atrebatian who had great influence in
B r i t a i u t , and may have perhaps founded the Atrebatian state there. The Vekicus of these
coins has been identified with the Bericus who fled to Claudius, a.d. 43 Í ; whilst Tino, may
be the prince named "Tim — " on the inscription of Ancyra. Coins, foimd chiefly in Esses,
with the legend of DuBNOVELLArNUS, are supposed to be those of the " Domnobellaünüs " of
the same inscription;—a regulus perhaps of the Trinobantes, of whom there is no other record.
Coins with the legend Bodtjoc have been ascribed to Boadicea, but they are found in Gloucestershire,
the district of the Dobimi or Boduni, and the name may be that of a king of this
tribe—Boduacus §. The Iceni, however, had a coinage, and in the eastern counties of England,
coins are found with distinctive types ||, some with the legend Abdedomaros, a prince, probably,
of this tribe, of whom there is no trace in history, unless in the jBdd Mawr of the Welsh
chronicles There ai-e also coins peculiar to Yorkshire, having the legends Voiisios, Dumno-
COTEROS and others, in which the names of princes of the Brigantes may perhaps be traced**.
It is tolerably clear that the use of letters on the coins commenced on the south-east coast, in
the same manner as money itself at an earlier period. It seems equally well ascertained that
such use of letters dates subsequently to the Roman invasion under Julius, that it gradually
spread northwards, and that the coins of the Iceni and Brigantes were among the latest to
receive inscriptions. No British coins with legends, which can be attributed to the Damnonü,
SUures, or other western tribes, have been found, which is so far in accordance with what
Solinus says of the disuse of money in this very part of Britain. With the conquests of Claudius
and his successors, the autonomous coinage of the Britons must have ceased; and, as Gildas
expresses it, the money of the now Roman island, whether of brass, silver or gold, was stamped
TOth the image of Csesar + t .
I n Ireland the trafile with the merchants who resorted to its ports íí> must have been by
barter. No Celtic coins are found in that island; clear proof of its comparative isolation in
early times, and of the probability that it was never conquered by Belgic tribes from Gaul.
his father, Tasdovan, was at Verulamium. To which of the nearly a century extends between the last mention of him and
two states the chief who ohtained the supremacy in these
struggles belonged is not certain, but it was probably the Catuellani,
who are at least named by Dion (lib. Ix. c. 20) as
dominant over the Dobuni. It has been sometimes conjectured
(Numismatic Chronicle, vol. vii. p. 81 ; vol. xiv. p. 82) that
the Tasciovanus of the coins is the Cassivellaunus of Csesar j
but for this to be so, the reigns of father and son niust have
extended over an entire century. (Csesar, B. G. lib. v. c. 12.
Dion Cass. lib. Ix. c. 20, 21.)
* Mr. Akerman (Coins of Hispania, Gallia and Britannia,
1846, p. 179) was the first to suggest the reading "Commii
filius" as to the coins of Vericus and Tincomius. See also his
paper, Arcbieologia, vol. xsxii. p. 177.
f Csesar, B. G. lib. iv. c. 21 ; " auctoritas."
i Dion Cass. lib. Ix. c. 19. If the Vericus of the coins be
the " Bericus" of Dion, the Commius of the coins, father of
Vericus, could hardly have been the Commius of Ceesar, as
the only one of Bericus. A coin supposed to have been struck
by Commius is engraved in the Num. Chron. vol. xviii. p. 44.
§ BODUOC occurs as a British name on a sepulchral stone at
Margam, Glamorgan. (Camden, vol. iii. p. 123, 131.) The
Latin form was probably Boduacus, which appears among the
names of Gauhsh chiefs on the arch at Orange. (Numismatic
Chronicle, vol. xv. p. 119.) In Csesar, we have Boduagnatus.
(B. G. lib. ii. e. 23.) In the Cymric Buddig=y\ctoTy.
II Especially those with the e])igraph Ecu or ECEN, &C.
C. R. Smith, Numismatic Chronicle, vol. xii. p. 98.
^ Numismatic Chronicle, vol. xviii. p. 155. We owe much
to the careful study which Mr. Evans for several years has
made of ancient British coins; and further elucidations of
history may be hoped for from this source.
** 75. vol. xvi. p. 83. For many other types, with and
without legends, the reader is referred to Mr. Evans's papers.
t t Excid. Brit. c. 5. ff Tacitus, Vit. Agric. c. 24.
CHAP, V.] HISTORICAL ETHNOLOGY OF BRITAIN.
ESLIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS, TEMPLES, MYTHOLOGY, ETC.
113
The reUgious institutions of Britain were the same as those of Gaul*. It was indeed
believed that they had originated in Britain, whither in Cassar's time the Gauls of the continent
resorted for a better knowledge of them. The priests and teachers-the Druids-were held m
great reverence, and were exempt from military service, with other privileges. They had
encroached largely on the civil power, administered the laws, decided controversies, both
public and private, and executed justice on murderers and criminals of aU kinds. The education
of the youth was in their hands ; as also the election of the chiefs when the government was not
hereditary. The royal power itself, as Dion Chrysostom says, was exercised only with their
concurrence; they in fact reigned, the kings being Uttle more than the ministers of thendecisionsf.
The prosecution of war was decided by them, and armies drawn up in battle array
were even prevented engaging by their interposition. They met in solemn session annually at a
consecrated place,—that for Gaul in the central territory of the Carnutes—for the settlement of
disputes, and doubtless for religious rites. Their authority was enforced by exclusion from the
sacrifices; the interdicted person lost every civil and social right, and was avoided by all as
impious and profane. In Gaul, and probably in Britain, the Druids were a hierarchy, presided
over by one of their number having supreme authority.
The Druids are described as consisting of Bards, Vates and Druids properly so called; by
which a strict gradation of rank seems implied in this singular system of priestcraft. The J3ards
composed in verse, which they sang to an instrument like the lyrej, the praises of their chiefs
and patrons, and denunciations of their enemies, celebrating the heroism of those who had
faUen in battle, or inciting the people to particular warlike enterprizes§. They were probably
likewise employed in singing sacred hymns at the sacrifices ; and in this respect there is nothing
which may not have applied to the bards of Gaul and Britain in the description of the insular
Hyperboreans byHecata;us, many of whom he says played on stringed instruments in the temple
and chanted hymns to the praise of Apollo \\.
The Vates or soothsayersIT presided over sacrifices which were otherwise unlawful**, and
foretold events from the inspection of human victims. They had other methods of divination,
* Tacitus, Ann. lib. xiv. c. 30 ; Vit. Agric. c. xi . ; " Eorum
(Gallorum) sacra deprehendas, superstitionum persuasione."
The Druidical institute is described by Ciesar, B. G. lib. vi.
c. 13-17 ; Diodorus, lib. v. c. 31 ; Strabo, hb. iv. c. 4. 5 4 ;
Valerius Maximus, lib. ii. c. 6. § 10 ; Mela, lib. iii. c. 2;
Dion Chrysostom, Orat. xlix.; and Ammianus, lib. xv. c. 9.
t Divitiacus, Druid of the Jidui, had clearly greater influence
in the state than the Vergoiret, or chief magistrate,
elected annually by the Druids. B. G. hb. i. c. 3, 16-20 ;
lib. vii. c. 32, 33.
t Probably the instrument called "chrotta Britanna," by
Venantina Fortunatus, in the sixth century, lib.-vii. c. 8,—the
old Welsh crmth.
§ Posidon. np. Athen. lib. iv. c. 13; vi. c. 12. Lncan,
lib. i. V. 447. Lilian, Var. Hist. lib. xii. 23. Appian, lib. iv.
12. Tacitus (Hist. lib. iv. c. 54) seems to preserve the substance
of one of these impassioned bardic compositions, which
he says, " superstitione vana Druidse canebant." He also gives
the gist of the denunciation of the British fatidica; before the
storming of Camalodunum :—" adesse exitium"—ruin seize
you, ruthless foes'. (Ann. hb. xiv. c. 32.) The word bard,
barditus, if used by the Germans in the time of Tacitus (Mor.
Germ. c. 3), must have been derived from Gaul. The word
is strictlv Celtic, as seen in Festus, s. v. " Bardus,—Gallicc
cantor." In the sixth century, the British king of Gwynned,
Maelgwn, seems to have had bards in his service altogether
like those of the Gauls described seven centuries before by Posidonius
(see Gildas, Epist. Increp. Maglocun. " Arrecto
aurium," &c.). The bards of the Welsh and Irish in mediseval
and later times were very similar.
II Diodorus, lib. ii. c. 47. .
^ In Strabo, the Druidical soothsayers are called Ovates; in
Ammianus, Euhages (Eubates?) ; in Pliny (lib.xxx. §4), Fates.
** In this the Celts agreed with the ancient Persians, among
whom the presence of one of the Magi was necessary to every .
sacrifice (Herod, lib. i. c. 132).