This
was a Celtic
tribe that was located in Fife (now in
Scotland) and on both
banks of the Tay. The tribe's existence there was recorded between the first
and second centuries before perhaps merging into other, later tribal groupings.
They were bordered by the Taexali to the north, the
Caledonii to the west (perhaps
the original tribe of that name into which was lumped all the other western
tribes by
Roman
writers), the Epidii to the south-west, and the
Damnonii and
Votadini to the south.
The Venicones would seem to have been very successful until the Romans
showed up. They dominated a swathe of territory between Fife and the western
coast, probably conquering the Epidii either fully, or weakening them and
making them subject - this seems to be an easy assertion because the
Dal Riada Scots later gained
their foothold on the island of
Britain by taking
the (weakened) Epidii lands. Unfortunately for the Venicones, they occupied
the very region that the Romans needed to invade several times in order to
quell attacks by Britons in the east of the Highlands, including attacks by
the 'Pictish navy'. A legionary fortress was built at Inchtuthill, Tayside
(Pinnata Castra), which remained occupied during the late first century by
the Twentieth Legion Valeria. (See the map of most of
Europe's
tribes around the first centuries BC and AD to view the tribe's location
in relation to all other Celts via the map link, above.)
The Venicones name was pronounced 'wen-ichones', most likely
due to a shift in the language. In the case of this tribe, the original
name was 'venet' (the 't' becoming a 'ch') plus '-on' (definitive
article - as in 'the') plus the later addition of '-es' - another (possibly
unnecessary) plural suffix. The Romans would probably have mispronounced
it. They apparently added their plural suffix to the already-present
plural definitive article, giving us Venicones. The origin of the name
suggests (but does not prove) a link to the
Veneti
tribe of Armorica. Elements
may have fled Roman advances, arriving in northern Britain and also,
according to the geographer Ptolemy, settling in County Donegal in
Ireland as the
Venicnii.
Gwynedd
is said to have been founded by Britons from Manau Gododdin which was located
on both sides of the Firth of Forth and the River Forth. These Britons had
a fort believed to be at what is now Clackmannan ('Stone of Manau'), north
of the Forth. A second possible candidate for their fort could be above
Tillicoultry (Castle Craig, five kilometres to the north, but unfortunately
destroyed by a quarry). Another natural area for a citadel can be found at
Stirling (a few kilometres to the west). Bede mentions Stirling as urbs
Guidi, and this was adapted to provide the Firth of Forth with its early
Welsh name of merin Iodeo,
'the sea of Iudeu'. Unlike later British writers, Roman writers did not
describe this area as
Gododdin territory. To them it was the land of a Pictish (British) tribe
called the Venicones, and it was these people, perhaps tributary to the
Gododdin Britons, who founded Gwynedd, coming from a fort in Fife called
Manau, which was nominally under Gododdin overlordship, hence 'Manau
Gododdin'.
The region's most famous son is, of course, Cunedda Wledig, the chieftain
who, according to Welsh tradition, was invited to found Gwynedd on the
condition that he freed the region from Irish raiders. As he hailed from
Venicones territory, his traditional ancestry is shown in this list. Much
of the list dates from anything up to the tenth century, so its
believability beyond Tacitus ap Cein is highly doubtful and preceding names
are backed in lilac to reflect their legendary status. However, given that
the tribe may have fled the first century BC arrival of the Romans in
Armorica, the assumed dating for the first name in the list (apart from the
dubious addition of a British high king before him), that of Afallach, does
lend it something of an air of authenticity. It may be highly speculative to
suggest, but perhaps it was this chieftain who led the migration to Britain.
(Information by Edward Dawson, with additional information from The
La Tene Celtic Belgae Tribes in England: Y-Chromosome Haplogroup R-U152 -
Hypothesis C, David K. Faux, from A History of the English
Church and People, The Venerable Bede (Leo Sherley-Price translation -
revised by R E Latham), from Geography, Ptolemy, and from Life
of Agricola, Tacitus.. Other sources are listed in the 'Barbarian Europe'
section of the Sources page.)
The
fleet of
Roman
general Julius Caesar defeats the
Veneti
off the coast of what comes to be known as
Armorica. Elements of the
tribe may flee to Britain
and Ireland where they
form two tribes of Venicones, one in what becomes
Pictland and the other in
County Donegal, where both are attested by Ptolemy by AD 140.
fl c.45 BC
Afallach ap Lludd
'Son'. Possibly led the Venicones to Britain?
fl c.10 BC
Owain ap Afallach
Brother of Euddolen ap Afallach, ancestor of kings
of Powys.
fl c.AD 25
Prydein ap Owain
Son.
fl c.60
Dubwn ap Prydein
Son.
AD 80 - 81
The RomanGovernor of
Britain
leads two invading columns into Lowland Scotland, with (probably) the Twentieth
(previously based at Glevum in
Dobunni territory) and Ninth
Legions meeting up at Inveresk (near Edinburgh) in the territory of the
Votadini Britons. The
force sets up permanent garrisons in its wake. The following year, the
Forth-Clyde line is secured, perhaps slightly south of the later Antonine
Wall and edging into the territory of the Venicones.
The former site of the hill fort of Tillicoultry is one candidate
for the Venicones capital, although the Roman presence this far
north was so transitory (relatively speaking) that firm detail
about almost anything in Scotland is hard to come by
83 - 84
Within
the Caledonian heartland, firstly
north of the Firth of Forth (in AD 83) and then at Mons Graupius (or Mons
Grampius, in AD 84), the
Romans
under Governor Julius
Agricola win victories over what they call the 'Caledonides' led by Calgacus.
The first area of operations, north of the Firth of Forth, is probably against
the Venicones and their navy, the 'Pictish navy' which worries the Romans so
much. The idea is to pre-empt an intended attack by the Caledonians, but it
almost proves disastrous in the first year as the Ninth Legion is surprised
by a night assault and is only just rescued by the main force.
The Roman mention of a 'Pictish navy' is an oddity on its own because the
Celts
of Britain
are mostly afraid of the ocean and stay off it... with the exception of the
Belgae in general and the Continental
Veneti
in particular. So the Romans are forced to launch their expedition into
Caledonia to take out this potent weapon. After taking Fife as far as its
border at the north bank of the Tay, they settle back into a defensive
series of towers that leaves them in control of Fife. This is the territory
of the Venicones, which makes it very easy to suggest that the Venicones are
the tribe that has been operating the Pictish navy. The shift from Veneti to
Venicones is an easy one to make (although it is circumstantial, backed up
by no written evidence).
So what would the Romans do with the Venicones after conquering them? Some
would be killed, others enslaved, but the bulk of the population are turned
into yet another Roman client state, with its leadership consisting of
Romanised locals. The evidence for their Romanisation can clearly be seen
in the names of later descendants of Afallach ap Lludd (below).
fl c.95
Eufwn ap Dubwn
Son.
fl c.130
Anwrid ap Eufwn
Son.
140 - 143
The
Romans
move north to the Forth-Clyde line, roughly the southern
Pictish boundary, reoccupying
British
Lowland Scotland and beginning construction of the more basic Antonine Wall.
It is around this time that the geographer, Ptolemy, notes the tribes to the
north of the wall. Some of them receive their one and only mention in history
and it is thought that at least one or two tribes may have been created by
refugees fleeing the Roman invasion of the south. The Venicones are mentioned
as occupying the peninsula between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth.
fl c.165
(Gwr-)Dufn ap Anwrid
Son.
fl c.200
(Gwr-)Doli ap Dufn
Son.
fl c.235
(Gwr-)Cein ap Doli
Son.
fl c.270
Tacitus ap Cein / Tegid
Son.
fl c.305
Paternus Pasrut (of the Red Robe)
Son.
c.305
The Romanised Paternus Pasrut (or Padarn Beisrudd, a
possibly more accurate native version of his name) is, according to
tradition, a fairly high ranking Romano-British official or a frontier
chieftain who is placed in command of
Votadini troops in the
Clackmannanshire region of
Pictland. He is clearly one
of the Romanised locals who had been set up in positions of authority by the
Romans
following their first conquest of the region - a Romanised name and wearing
a red robe, official Roman attire. Perhaps this placement of Votadini troops
forms the grounds for the later establishment of Votadini overlordship of the
Manau Gododdin following the removal of Roman authority. It seems likely that
Paternus is succeeded in the position by his son.
Costume illustration of a Romanised British man
(left) and a Romanised British aristocrat, with each wearing
leather Gladiator sandals, one pair with a thong fitting and the
aristocrat with sandals with many straps (from Hope's Costume
of the Ancients).
fl c.340
Aeternus ap Padeyrn / Edern
Son. Traditional father of Cunedda.
c.390
After
fighting off raids by the northern Britons
(Picts), Cunedda and his
branch of Romanised Venicones are transferred from the Manau dependency
of the Guotodin
kingdom, traditionally by Magnus Maximus. They are moved to the former
territory of the
Deceangli in western
Wales to secure the region from
Irish raiders, and
it is here that they found the kingdom of
Gwynedd.
Some historians dispute the traditional view of Cunedda being moved by a
central
British
authority and instead claim that he sails down the Irish Sea and invades
North Wales of his own volition, forming a kingdom at a time when there is
no one left to stop him. However, the fact that his father had clearly been
a Romanised Celt who had held a position of authority is too important a
factor to miss (note the red robe of his grandfather, something that was
so notable and such a family high point that it had become a nickname).
Cunedda is clearly the son of an important figure in Roman Fife.
Cunedda Wledig's first name (perhaps more realistically shown as Cunetha)
is a fairly typical Brythonic play on words, taken from 'cuno' meaning dog
(ie. servant) and 'dda' meaning the god Da or Dagda, making him the 'servant
of Dagda'. The title 'wledig' is later
Welsh for 'prince'. His son,
Typaun, remains behind to assume whatever role it is that Cunedda is
relinquishing.
fl c.390
Cunedda Wledig
In Manau Guotodin.
Moved into Wales to found
Gwynedd.
fl c.420
Typaun ap Cunedda
In Manau Guotodin. Eldest son. Remained behind.
fl c.480s?
Marianus?
Kinsman of Cunedda.
Son or grandson of Typaun?
5th century
The otherwise unknown Marianus is possibly a kinsman of Cunedda, a descendant
of one of those whose family had remained behind in Manau Guotodin. Whether he
really exists or not, this is the last-known mention that the Venicones
receive as a distinguishably independent people. From this point forwards they
are lumped together with the general
Pictish population, as the
Britons north of
the Antonine Wall come to be known by those to the south.