With regard to the Norse and Anglo-Saxons, it must be remembered that they were acually quite similar to start with. Their languages were still largely mutually intelligible, and they had similar names for the old gods, such as Odin and Woden, respecively. Culturally, they were similar too, having many traits in common. The main difference is that by the year 800, when the Viking incursions began, the Anglo-Saxons had been Christianised for nearly two centuries, while the Norse hadn’t. Almost everything we know about this period was written by monks, who obviously took a very dim view of the Vikings.
A hundred or so years later, when the modern English kingdom was formed (in 927), the two societies had essentially merged. Modern English regional differences, especially the still current north-south divide in dialect and culture, derive from these Norse and Anglo-Saxon influences.
To get back on topic, I don’t really think there is a “Matriarchal” Civilization. Civilizations are large and expansive, and females simply don’t have the capacity to grow or maintain them.
There have been Matriarchal tribes, perhaps, but as tends to be the case, they are easily conquered by tribes of warriors (men).
He is definitely wrong about Angles being in Britain before the Celts.
But in truth the Celts were never in Britain. What we call the British Celts were never called celts in ancient times. The Keltoi were tribes mentioned by the ancient authors who to the Greeks were those that sacked Athens, and orginated in the region later known as Germany - the La Tene and Halstatt cultures.
To the Romans the Keltoi were those tribes in the region of Masillia (later Marsailes).
The people of Britian were according the Caesar related to the Gallic tribes of Gaul, some were from Belgium the Belgae. THe tribe of Caractacus were the Belgae and had only been in Britain for 100 year at the time of Caesar…
Britain like all areas of Europe before Rome was an ever changing tapestry of tribal conflicts and variations of dialect.
When archaeologists talk about Celtic, they mostly mean a langauge family, as in the 17thC scholars started to peice together pre-Roman history and looking for ways to boost claims for Irish, Welsh and Scots independance tried to draw divisions between a “Celtic Shared Herirage” in contract to their rulers in London. What they did was ignore the nuance and interesting detail. IN simlar and paradoxical ways Germans and French in the last 60 years have also claimed Cetlic history as their own despite the huge differences in languages. The “ORIGINAL” Celts were from Germany - the La Tene and Halstatt cultures, and there is a clear material culture lineage of art and design which can be seen from archaeological evidence from Germany right across Europe into Britian. Triglyphs and antler designes on shileds and on the famous Gundestrup cauldron, circa 150 BC shows how celtic designed ware was widepsread.
In the same way that there were no celts in Britain there were also no Irish or Welsh until much later. Welsh is a Germanic word which dishinest or False. Americans still use the word Welsch, as in cheat on a deal.
It is very likely that the history of the people of Wales was tubulent and variable before Rome. But one thing is certain there were no Welsh there. The tribes at the time of Caesar were the Silures, Demetae, Decangli, and the Ordovices. THe rest of the Mainland had around 27 different tribal kingdoms of whom it is not known what they spoke. They are likely to have spoken dialects of several of the differnt types Celtic, though it is also thought that pre-celtic, Pictish was were also still spoken.
Original are not like a tree leading the the leaves on the modern day branches. When we look in to the past it si more and more complicated like the roots of that tree.
Humans tend to want simplicity and try to see themselves as coming from a single origin point because they desire to belong to something concrere. nothing could be further from reality. Origns are a network resembling roots and branches in a complex weave.
+++What do I mean by horizontal? Where roles in society are delinated by gender each gendered role has a dominant role is a specific field. For example women may have leadership and control over the hearth, matters pertaining to religion and healing; whist men would have control over issues such as tribe defence and hunting.+++
In many ancient societies, religious institutions were the ultimate authority in the state. If these are controlled by women, it is therefore a matriarchy. By the historical period, however, many of these religious institutions had been usurped by men. That’s the basic theory, anyway.
When society in general becomes more violent, and the technology catches up with this trend, such as the introduction of metal weapons, then yes, that’s what happens.
+++Original are not like a tree leading the the leaves on the modern day branches. When we look in to the past it si more and more complicated like the roots of that tree.
Humans tend to want simplicity and try to see themselves as coming from a single origin point because they desire to belong to something concrere. nothing could be further from reality. Origns are a network resembling roots and branches in a complex weave.+++
Celtic, as you say, is a modern linguistic term. The peoples it denotes, such as the Welsh and Irish, had no collective name for themselves, as far as we know. But it’s still a useful term, when discussing language and culture. And also, incidentally, the Druids, who existed in both Welsh and Irish culture, as well as Gaulish.
True. Definitely not English. Neither Welsh nor Irish either - they are both Germanic words.
There is basically no evidence for Druids except what Caesar said about them. Other wroters followed: Diodorus Siculus and Strabo Caesar’s experience of them was as the religious sect of a conquered Gallic nation. Once vanquished they fled to Ynys Mon where they were put to death.
It is assumed that there was a pan European Druidic religion, but this is more about filling up massive gaps in knowledge where no evidence exists. We cannot say if they were “Irish”, though the word exists in Gaelic Irish is not evidence for Druids of the same kind existing in Ireland at the time of Caesar.
One thing is for sure the clowns wearing white robes, that invade Stonehenge every year are complete fakes that have cobbled togther a few myths and nonsenses from fairytales and have a massive antiguity of about 150 year maximum.
Stonehenge was already long abandoned by Caesar’s time by the original religion that built is, the people having long been expelled from the region - probably by Druids from Begium!!!
What is likely is that Druidism was concerned with forest law, medicine, and possibly law givers but not much concerned with the astrological significance of Stonehenge.
True. Runes were of Norse origin, saxons and northmen.
The “Celts” were an oral culture whose laws and lore were remembered with verse.
Urwrongx1000 is generally misinformed.
Celts are people, not only a language. Irish, Scotts, West Germans, etc. they are type of racial grouping, based on Haplogroups and Phenotypical generalization.
You Europeans don’t have the same sense of group identifications as Americans do. Americans define race and identity by bloodline, not by language.
Urwrongx1000 is usuall wrong times 1000.
And you are correct Germanic is an Indo-European language as is are the Celtic languages, but they branch off at different times.
There is very little remaining connection between Norse and Celtic.
WHy not challenge hin to give a few word examples???
That would be funny.