Scoti or Scotti was the generic Latin name used by the Romans to describe those who sailed from Ireland to conduct raids on Roman Britain.[1] It was thus synonymous with the modern term Gaels. It is not believed that any Gaelic groups called themselves Scoti in ancient times, except when referring to themselves in Latin.[1]
In the 400s, these raiders established the kingdom of Dál Riata in the Highlands. As this kingdom expanded in size and influence, the name was applied to all its subjects – hence the modern terms Scot, Scottish and Scotland.
The origin of the word Scoti or Scotti is uncertain. Charles Oman derives it from the Gaelic word Scuit (a man cut-off), suggesting that a Scuit was not a general word for the Gael but a band of outcast raiders.[2] In the 19th century Aonghas MacCoinnich of Glasgow proposed that Scoti was derived from the Gaelic word Sgaothaich.[3]
Origins
The earliest accounts of the Scotti are from Roman sources, particularly Ammianus Marcellinus who describes their relentless raids on Roman Britain. The Scotti are confirmed by later sources to be the Gaelic speaking inhabitants of Ireland.
Map showing maximum historical extent of Gaelic language. Modern Gaelic-speaking areas are coloured green.
Language
The language of these people was Goidelic (also called Gaelic), which falls into the Q-Celtic family of the Celtic languages. The ancient peoples of Ireland were largely illiterate, except for a form of alphabet known as Ogham (as attributed to the Celtic god Ogma) which was only used for small inscriptions bearing names and serving as boundary markers and perhaps simply graffiti.
Gaelic Ogham stones have been found across Ireland and also in western Wales. One has even been found in the remains of sub-Roman Calleva Atrebatum.
Mythology and religion
The
triple spiral symbol is commonly associated with Gaelic pagan holy sites.
The religion of the Gaels, as with other Celts, can be described as polytheistic or pagan. They worshipped a variety of gods and goddesses, which generally have parallels in the pantheons of other Celts. The Gaels were also animists, believing that all aspects of the natural world contained spirits, and that these spirits could be communicated with.[4] Gaelic burial practices –which included burying food, weapons, and ornaments with the dead– suggest a belief in life after death.[5] Some have equated this afterlife with the realms known as Mag Mell and Tír na nÓg in Irish mythology.[6] The Gaels practised four religious festivals a year – Imbolc, Beltaine, Lughnasadh and Samhain. These festivals were equidistant from each other, and divided the year into four quarters. Rather than building temples, the Gaels often performed rituals in sacred groves known as nemetons.
The mythology of Ireland did not entirely survive the conversion to Christianity, but much of it was preserved, shorn of its religious meanings, in medieval Irish literature. This large body of work is typically divided into three overlapping cycles: the Mythological Cycle, the Ulster Cycle, and the Fenian Cycle. The first cycle is a pseudo-history of Ireland that describes four invasions (or migrations) by semi-divine peoples. Two of these groups, the Fomorians and Tuatha Dé Danann, are believed to represent the pre-Gaelic and Gaelic pantheons. The second cycle recounts the lives and deaths of Ulaid heroes such as Cúchulainn. The third cycle recounts the exploits of Fionn mac Cumhaill and his warriors the Fianna. There are also a number of stories that do not fit into these cycles – this includes the immrama and echtrai, which are tales of the 'otherworld' and the voyages to get there.
Agriculture and settlements
Money was non-existent in Gaelic society at this time; instead, livestock and fishing was the main currency and the main source of sustenance. Horticulture was practiced, and crops such as wheat, barley and oats were the most common. Gaels typically lived in small villages, hamlets and ringforts which rarely contained more than 10 to 12 dwellings. These settlements were built close to water supplies and on easily defendable sites such as hills. They tended to be defended by ditches, moats, stone fortification walls and/or earthen ramparts with timber palisades. Some also lived in fortified lake-dwellings known as crannógs. Houses were typically circular with conical thatched roofs and wattle and daub walls.
Clans
Ireland at this time was a tribal society, and was divided into common ancestry groups known as clans (from the Gaelic word clann meaning offspring). Each clan was a large group of related people, theoretically an extended family, supposedly descended from one progenitor and all owing allegiance to the patriarchal or matriarchal clan chief. Clans included those who were related by blood but also those who were adopted and fostered into the clan, as well as those who joined the clan for strategic reasons (such as safety or combining of resources). The power of clans fluctuated, and endemic warfare between clans was a constant affair. Ireland was divided into five different tribal provinces, each with its ritual center (a ringfort often used as a capital and meeting place). These were:
- Cúige Mumhan in the south, with its capital at Cashel
- Cúige Laighin in the east, with its capital at Dun Ailinne
- Cúige Uladh in the north, with its capital at Emain Macha
- Cúige Chonnacht in the west, with its capital at Cruachan
- Mide in the east-central area, with its capital at Tara
These gave rise to the modern provinces of Munster, Leinster, Ulster and Connacht, and also the counties of Meath and Westmeath.
Warfare
Main article:
Gaelic warfareAs shown by contemporary sources and Irish literature, clan warfare was commonplace in Gaelic lands. Young Gaelic males organised themselves into small, semi-independent warrior bands called Fianna, which engaged in constant training, hunting and raiding during the warmer months. Stories of the Fianna can be found in the Fenian Cycle of Irish mythology.
Warriors were sometimes rallied into battle accompanied by blowing horns and warpipes. The objective in clan wars was often the theft of enemy cattle (commonly referred to as a Táin Bó in Gaelic literature) rather than the destruction of a particular clan or its settlements. Guerrilla warfare was the norm, as the geography of Ireland and Scotland at this time consisted mostly of forests, swamps, glens, bogland and river-crossings. Gaelic warfare was centered around the horse and chariot, with cavalry and kern later being introduced. Weapons used were slings, javelins, spears, bows, darts, short swords and axes. Armour was rare as Gaelic warriors considered it cumbersome; instead, most fought semi-naked and carried only a scabbard and a round or oval shield. However, by the 400s, hard leather and even chainmail was worn. It also became common for warriors to wear tight trews, which may have been decorated with the colours or tartan of a particular clan.
Gaelic warriors (and Celtic warriors in general) had a reputation as head hunters. Ancient Romans and Greeks recorded the Celtic custom of decapitating their enemies and publicly displaying the severed heads (for example by hanging them from the necks of horses).[7] According to Paul Jacobsthal, "Amongst the Celts the human head was venerated above all else, since the head was to the Celt the soul, centre of the emotions, as well as of life itself".[8]
Social structure
Gaelic society was a caste society, that is, it was divided into inherited role-based classes. There were four general classes, from lowest to highest they were: slaves, peasants, warriors and finally the upper classes, which included chieftains, bards, seers and Druids. The bards were in charge of entertainment, acting as itinerant minstrels, telling stories, playing the harp and singing songs at the feasts held in the homes of tribal rulers for the pleasure of their guests. Druids were in charge of ceremonies and sacrifices as well as the keeping of secret knowledge about mythology and the cosmos.
Clothing
Irish Gaels depicted in a painting from the 1500s.
The common clothing of Gaels consisted of a léine (a knee-length shirt, sometimes dyed with saffron), a brat (a woolen cloak/mantle that may be decorated with tartan or other designs), a belt or brooch, and sometimes trews (a type of tight trousers). Additionally, various types of coats (such as the padded ionar), robes, boots and shoes were worn. There is also evidence of the belted plaid (the precursor to the modern kilt) being worn by the 1500s. Jewelry was uncommon as many had no means of obtaining them or reason for using them.
Both men and women grew their hair long and very often braided it. Other hairstyles that may have been popular include the mohawk (as worn by the Irish bog body known as Clonycavan man) and the glib (short all over except for a thick lock of hair towards the front of the head). Gaelic males above a certain age were expected to let their facial hair grow into a beard. It was often seen as dishonourable for a Gaelic man to have no facial hair.
Women
In Gaelic society, as in other Celtic societies,[note 1] women could possess a great deal of property and power. Some women even attained the status of queen, such as queens Medb and Macha of the Ulster Cycle. Gaelic women, like their Celtic cousins, are thought to have enjoyed a great deal of sexual freedom. Allusions in Irish literature and Roman comments on marital customs among the Brythons (described in Julius Caesar's De Bello Gallico) and Celtiberians (Strabo's History and Geography of Spain) mention Celtic polyandry (women having marital relationships simultaneously with several men). It is probable that such practices also held true in Ireland at this time.
Settlement in Britain
Satellite image showing the approximate area of Dál Riata (shaded).
The Gaels regularly raided Roman Britain in collusion with their allies the Attacotti and Picts, as well as some Saxon mercenaries. The Gaelic raiders were known to the Romans as the Scoti. Gaels from the kingdom of Dal Riata, in the most northeastern part of Ulster, migrated to the Inner Hebrides, the Islands of the Clyde and Argyll. There they expanded Dal Riata. Other important Scoti settlements in Britain during this time were by the Uí Liatháin (Nennius's Sons of Liathan) of Munster and the Laigin of Leinster, settling mainly in Wales (Gwynedd and Dyfed) and Cornwall, joined by some migration of the Déisi (unfree vassal peoples) of Munster, who established a line of local rulers in Wales lasting into the 10th century. Dal Riata remained a neighbour of the Picts, but after many centuries of warfare Dal Riata conquered their land during the reign of king Kenneth MacAlpin, merging the two territories and its peoples to form the Kingdom of Alba. Eventually this nation came to be known as Scotland, after the Gaelic Scoti who settled there.
Notes
- ^ Women are specifically mentioned in Celtic law, for example in the Irish Brehon Laws, Welsh law, and the Scottish Laws of the Bretts and Scotts. These laws cover topics such as the penalties for death and injury, disposition of property, and inheritance. In addition, women retained standing within their own kinship groups after marriage.
Citations
References
