THE DUMNONII OF SOUTHWESTERN BRITAIN AT CARVORAN AND BIRDOSWALD

Sometimes during the course of one's research, the weirdest coincidences happen...

In 2019, while presenting an Arthurian paper in Split, Croatia, I for the first time publicly made my case for a theory published in THE BATTLE-LEADER OF THE NORTH.  The gist of the paper is that the famous Arthur may have had his power center at Birdoswald/Banna on Hadrian's Wall, and that the Artorius name itself may have come from the neighboring fort of Carvoran.  

Needless to say, anyone seeking to pry Arthur away from his traditional territory in Dumnonia, a region now composed of Cornwall, Devon and parts of Somerset, was going to meet with stiff resistance.  Yet my research on the Arthurian battle sites of the HISTORIA BRITTONUM and ANNALES CAMBRIAE had led me to the North, as opposed to the South.

Since 2019, I've been working feverishly in my total lack of spare time to ascertain whether the Northern theory was still valid or whether some other strand of Welsh tradition should be allowed to shift the focus to the South.  After being bogged down and derailed several times in that futile quest, I've only recently decided to stick to my original speculative framework for Arthur.

There is something interesting, though, that I may have forgotten to mention.  Building stones erected by members of the Dumnonii tribe of Southwest England have been found along the stretch of Hadrian's Wall between Birdoswald and Carvoran.

Now, it's difficult to know what, if anything, to make of this.  Did the Dumnonii on the Wall learn of the Artorius name from the people of Carvoran and somehow, for some reason, carry it back with them to their homeland?  Did they come to know about L. Artorius Castus? 

Of course, there is another possibility - and one I really don't want to mention.  But for the sake of intellectual honesty, I must.

These stones are dated to 369 (see below).  This was the era of the Ambrosii of Gaul, who come to feature in both Gildas and the HISTORIA BRITTONUM.  

What if these Dumnonii had been told of a L. Artorius Castus who had led three entire legions against armed tribes (my ARM.GENTES reading for the lacuna of the Castus stone)? What if the story of his exploits in the North and of the locations of his battles had been passed to these workers at Carvoran?

The story and the name then, over the next few centuries, became embedded in local Dumnonian tradition.  And - presto! - we end up with a Cornish Arthur by the time we get to Welsh medieval literature and the pseudo-history of Geoffrey of Monmouth.

Crazy idea?  Perhaps.  Probably.  

Still, the Carvoran garrison for centuries had been a Dalmatian unit.  Some of the people of this unit would either be Dalmatian or descended, at least in part, from earlier Dalmatians.  A Salona woman was buried at Carvoran and we know there were Artorii in Salona, Dalmatia.  Castus was buried not far south of Salona in Epetium.  If Castus had fought in the North, either under Ulpius Marcellus or, more likely, under Severus and Caracalla, he may have become quite famous both in Dalmatia (where he had connections, may have been born, and served his final post as procurator) and in Northern Britain.

So here we are once again... wondering whether the famous Arthur of legend may, in fact, be the ghost of L. Artorius Castus.

https://romaninscriptionsofbritain.org/inscriptions/1843

Site Hadrian’s Wall: Carvoran to Birdoswald (Northd.) sector

Find context Near Carvoran.

civitas

Dum(no)ni(orum)

Translation

The tribe of the Dumnonii (built this).

Commentary and notes

The tribe of Dumnonii had their centre at Exeter (Isca Dumnoniorum). This tribe did repair-work on Hadrian’s Wall, see also RIB 1844.

See RIB 1672 for dating this to a.d. 369.

https://romaninscriptionsofbritain.org/inscriptions/1844

Site Hadrian’s Wall: Carvoran to Birdoswald (Northd.) sector

Find context On the Wall a little east of Thirlwall Castle (sector 46-46a)

civitas

Dumnoni(orum)

Translation

The tribe of the Dumnonii (built this).

Commentary and notes

For a comparable stone of this tribe see RIB 1843. See RIB 1672 for dating this to a.d. 369.

NOTE:

The Durotriges tribe was also present on the Wall at this time.  The 369 A.D. dating of the Dumnonii stones is derived from the analysis of the Durotriges stone.  On that stone is the place-name Lindinis, a name identical to the British word that lies behind Arthur's Linnuis region in the HISTORIA BRITTONUM.  See Kenneth Jackson's treatment of Linnuis as deriving from from Br.-Lat. *Lindansis, *Lindinses, or *Lindinsia.

https://romaninscriptionsofbritain.org/inscriptions/1672

Site Hadrian’s Wall: Housesteads to Great Chesters sector

Find context At the foot of the crags north of the Wall at Cawfields

[L]endin(i)e(n)sis

Apparatus

2.  [l]endinie(n)si(vm), Stevens; l]endin(i)e(n)sis, R.P.W.

Translation

The canton of the Durotriges of Lendiniae (built this).

The Durotriges (Δουρότριγες,  ii 3, 29) were centred on Dorchester (Durnovaria) and Ilchester (probably Lindinis). Stevens, Som. ASP xcvi (1951), 188 equates Lindinis, Rav. 26 (Arch. xcviii 37), with Ilchester.

This inscription and RIB 1673 show that this tribe undertook some repair-work on Hadrian’s Wall; cf. RIB 1843, 1844, 1962. Stevens, Arch. J. xcvii (1940) 148, EHR lvi (1941), 359, suggests that these inscriptions indicate the help given by tribal communities and an individual (RIB 2053) in restoring Hadrian’s Wall in a.d. 369.