Dobunni

Dobunni
Territory of the Dobunni
Geography
Capital	Corinium Dobunnorum (Cirencester)
Location	West Oxfordshire Gloucestershire North Somerset Bristol South Herefordshire Warwickshire Wiltshire Worcester
Rulers	Anted[...], Eisu[...], Catti[...], Comux, Inam[...], Corio[...], Boduoc[avaros?]

The Dobunni were one of the Celtic tribes living in the British Isles prior to the Roman invasion of Britain.

Territory

The tribe lived in the part of southwestern Britain that today broadly coincides with the English counties of North Somerset, Bristol and Gloucestershire although at times their territory may have extended into parts of what are now Herefordshire, Oxfordshire, Wiltshire and Worcestershire. Their capital acquired the Roman name of Corinium Dobunnorum, which is today known as Cirencester.

Their Territory was bordered by the Cornovii and Corieltauvi to the North; the Catuvellauni to the East; the Atrebates and Belgae to the South; and the Silures and Ordovices to the West.

Dio Cassius refers to the tribe as "Bodunni", probably a misspelling of the Dobunni. Tributary to the Catuvellauni, they capitulated to the invading Romans when Caratacus and Togodumnus withdrew.^[1]

Characteristics

The Dobunni were a large group of farmers and craftsmen, living in small villages concentrated in fertile valleys.

Remnants of several fortified camps, otherwise known as hillforts, thought to have been occupied by the Dobunni can be seen in the Bristol area at Clifton Down, Burwalls and Stokeleigh - all overlooking the Avon Gorge - and at Kingsweston Down and Blaise Castle.

Unlike the Silures, their neighbours in what later became south east Wales, they were not a warlike people and submitted to the Romans even before they reached their lands. Afterwards they readily adopted the Romano-British lifestyle.

Sub-Roman Period

The tribal area of the Dobunni formed a Roman Civitas from 43 to approximately 409. After the collapse of the Roman Provincial Government, the core of this area retained a distinctive Celtic character and territorial identity until the Battle of Deorham in 577, when the Saxons made advances as far as the River Severn. These gains where reversed 50 years later when Penda of Mercia fought the West Saxons at the Battle of Cirencester, and the area came under the influence of Mercia as the sub-kingdom of the Hwicce. It has been suggested that the area retained a distinct identity as a Christian sub-kingdom, instead of being simply absorbed into Pagan Mercia, as a reward for an alliance against the West Saxons; and that this is evidence of a cultural continuity between the Dobunni Civitas and the Hwicce Kingdom.^[2]

Coinage

A Dobunni coin

The Dobunni were one of the few tribes known to issue coins before Roman arrival and the introduction and adoption of Roman currency. Numismatic evidence suggests that the Dobunni kings subdivided their land between a north and south zone, sometimes becoming unified in a single ruler.

See also

List of Celtic tribes

References

External links

• Dobunni at Romans in Britain
• Dobunni at Roman-Britain.org
• Tom Moore and Richard Reece, Dobunni, Glevensis 34 (2001).

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