Dumnonia
Dumnonia was a Celtic kingdom in the post-Roman Britain. Its location was located in the southwest of present-day England, encompassing the territory of the present county of Devon, as well as most of Somerset and possibly a part of Dorset. Its eastern boundary can not be determined with certainty. Constantin of Dumnonia, a king of the early 6th century, Cornwall brought as Unterkönigtum under the control of his empire. The kingdom existed as of the end of the 4th century to the early 9th century.
Name and language
The name of the Kingdom is the name of the Celtic tribe of Dumnonier (Lat. Dumnonii ) derived, who lived in this region before the conquest of Britain by the Romans.
Dumnonia, with its variants Damnonia and Domnonia, is the Latin name for the territory. From the Saxons of neighboring Wessex it was called the Kingdom of the West Welsh. On altwalisisch as well as in the original language it was known as British Dyfneint. This form has been received on behalf of the County of Devon, as well as in modern Welsh ( Dyfnaint ) and Cornish ( Dewans ).
The Dumnonier spoke a dialect of the Celtic, which may have been similar to the Altkornischen. The presence of settlers from Ireland is confirmed by finds of products bearing Ogham font stones.
History
During the Roman occupation of Britain Dumnonia was as civitas under Roman administration. The original capital will have been Exeter, known to the Romans as Isca Dumnoniorum and the British as Caeresk. Isca Dumnoniorum was the capital of the Roman civitas of Dumnonier. Since the Kingdom was during the dark centuries, the few inscriptions on stone gain in importance.
The real Kingdom of Dumnonia was formed during the late 4th century, in parallel with the disappearance of the Roman central power out; no later than the departure of the Romans from Britain in 410 Dumnonia was then completely independent. It is not certain whether Dumnonia was a united kingdom, or a merger of several small kingdoms. Cornwall seems in any case, a considerable degree of independence to have had, as it may based on the territory of a sub- tribe, namely the Cornovii.
The decline of the kingdom began when a large part of the dominion 652-685 fell to the West Saxons. Cornwall as part of the former empire was able to preserve its independence until the 9th century.
Already since the beginning of the 7th century, the confrontation with the Kingdom of Wessex had tightened. At least 658 lost Dumnonia the control of the area of Somerset, the north and east of the River Parrett was 710 and it lost the rest of Somerset. No later than 20 years later the rest of Devon had been lost to the Kingdom of Wessex. This is up to the 9th century protracted conflict, which ended with the rise Dumnonias in Wessex, led to a continuous movement of refugees from the southwest of present-day England to Brittany, where the toponyms Domnonée and Cornwall refer to this immigration. From Exter is reported, however, that the Celtic population equal to the 10th century lived next to the later immigrant Saxony. This state prepared only King Æthelstan of Wessex to an end. Part of Exeter retained until the 18th century, the name Little Britain. Æthelstan was also the ' on the River Tamar defined the western boundary of Wessex, making the inclusion Dumnonias was confirmed again in the kingdom of Wessex.
Dumnonia is exceptional because of its large number of settlements from Roman- British period. As in other British territories were Iron Age hill forts, an example is called Cadbury Castle, restored and secured in the course of the 5th century, and served as ruler seats. Others, however, such as Tintagel, were newly built. Imported post-Roman pottery was found during excavations in the region, an indication that Dumnonia maintained trade relations with the rest of Europe.
Ruler of Dumnonia
In the sources just ruler Dumnonias are called and are historically verifiable: