2016, Volume 13, Issue 1
|
Andrew Breeze Legionum Urbs and the British Martyrs Aaron and Julius
Voprosy onomastiki, 2016, Volume 13, Issue 1, pp. 30–42 (in English) Received 5 February 2016 Abstract: The article focuses on the localization of the martyrdom of the British saints Aaron and Julius, known of solely from Gildas, writing in the early 530s. His remarks were taken up by Bede (d. 737), so that the two saints have never been forgotten, their cult surviving to this day. The author provides a detailed survey of discussion of Aaron and Julius over the centuries, and argues that their martyrdom was neither at Caerleon (in south-east Wales) nor Chester (in north-west England), as suggested by numerous scholars, but at Leicester, another major city of Roman Britain. Working from epigraphic sources and taking into account ancient models of naming, the author attempts a reinterpretation of Legionum urbs in the original texts by emending it to Legorum urbs “city of the Legores,” the Celtic people of the Leicester region. The latter, by the time of Gildas, was occupied by the Angles, while the city itself was abandoned, which may explain Gildas’s remarks, otherwise unclear if one identifies Legionum urbs with Caerleon or Chester. The author adduces both historical and linguistic arguments for his proposal and shows that it sheds new light on the history of early British Christianity. Key words: Latin language, Aaron, Julius, Christian saints, early British Christianity, Roman Britain, Gildas, Bede, Caerleon, Chester, Leicester, place-names, toponymy, textual criticism References Alcock, J. (1980). The People. In P. A. Clayton (Ed.), A Companion to Roman Britain (pp. 69–99). Oxford: Phaidon. Alcock, L. (1971). Arthur’s Britain. London: Allen Lane. Baring-Gould, S., & Fisher, J. (1907-1913). The Lives of the British Saints. London: Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion. Bowen, E. G. (1954). The Settlements of the Celtic Saints in Wales. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. Carrera, A., & Carrera, M. J. (Eds.). (2009). Philip Perry’s Sketch of the Ancient British History. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars. Chadwick, N. K. (1954). Intellectual Contacts Between Britain and Gaul in the Fifth Century. In N. K. Chadwick (Ed.), Studies in Early British History (pp. 189–263). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Charles-Edwards, T. M. (2013). Wales and the Britons 350–1064. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Colgrave, B., & Mynors, R. A. B. (Eds.). (1969). Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Collingwood, R. G., & Myres, J. N. L. (1937). Roman Britain and the English Settlements (2nd ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press. Collingwood, R. G., & Wright, R. P. (1965). The Roman Inscriptions of Britain: Inscriptions on Stone. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Crépin, A., & Lapidge, M. (Eds.). (2005). Histoire ecclésiastique du peuple anglais. Paris: Sources chrétiennes. Dark, K. R. (2000). Britain and the End of the Roman Empire. Stroud: Tempus. Davies, W. (1979). The Llandaff Charters. Aberystwyth: National Library of Wales. Davies, W. H. (1968). The Church in Wales. In M. W. Barley & R. P. C. Hanson (Eds.), Christianity in Britain 300–700 (pp. 131–150). Leicester: Leicester University Press. Doble, G. H. (1971). Lives of the Welsh Saints. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. Dumville, D. N. (1984). The Chronology of De Excidio Britanniae, Book I. In M. Lapidge & D. Dumville (Eds.), Gildas: New Approaches (pp. 61–84). Woodbridge: Boydell. Edwards, N. (2013). A Corpus of Early Medieval Inscribed Stones and Stone Sculpture in Wales: North Wales. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. Eilert, E. (1960). The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-Names (4th ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press. Evans, J. G. (Ed.). (1893). The Text of the Book of Llan Dâv. Oxford: privately published. Evans, T. (1740). Drych y Prif Oesoedd [A Mirror of Early Times] (2nd ed.). Y Mwythig [Shrewsbury]: Thomas Durston. Field, P. J. C. (1998). Gildas and the City of the Legions. Unpublished paper. Fox, A. (1946). Early Christian Period: Settlement Sites. In V. E. Nash-Williams (Ed.), A Hundred Years of Welsh Archaeology (pp. 105–122). Gloucester: Cambrian Archaeological Association. Frere, F. F. (1970). Ratae. In N. G. L. Hammond & H. H. Scullard (Eds.), The Oxford Classical Dictionary (p. 909). Oxford: Clarendon Press. Fros, H., & Sowa, F. (Eds.). (1975). Twoje Imię [Your Name]. Kraków: Wydawnictwo Apostolstwa Modlitwy. García, M. (2013). Gildas on the“Grievous Divorce from the Barbarians. Early Medieval Europe, 21(3), 243–253. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/emed.12017 Gelling, M. (1978). Signposts to the Past. London: Batsford. George, K. (2009). Gildas’s “De Excidio Britonum” and the Early British Church. Woodbridge: Boydell. Gougaud, L. (1932). Christianity in Celtic Lands. London: Sidgwick. GPC — Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru: A Dictionary of the Welsh Language. (1950–2002). Caerdydd: Gwasg Prifysgol Cymru. Haddan, A. W., & Stubbs, W. (Eds.). (1869–1878). Councils and Ecclesiastical Documents Relating to Great Britain and Ireland (Vols. 1–3). Oxford: Clarendon Press. Halsall, G. (2013). Worlds of Arthur: Facts and Fictions of the Dark Ages. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Hanson, R. P. C. (1968). Saint Patrick. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Hirsch-Davies, J. E. de (1912). A Popular History of the Church in Wales. London: Pitman. Houlder, C. (1974). Wales: An Archaeological Guide. London: Faber. Hughes, J. (1670). Allwedd neu Agoriad Paradwys i’r Cymry [A Key or Opening to Paradise for the Welsh]. Luyck [Liège]. Irby-Massie, G. (1999). Military Religion in Roman Britain. Leiden: Brill. Ireland, S. (1996). Roman Britain: A Sourcebook (2nd ed.). London: Routledge. Isaac, G. R. (2007). Armes Prydain Fawr and St David. In J. W. Evans & J. M. Wooding (Eds.), St David of Wales (pp. 161–181). Woodbridge: Boydell. Jackson, K. H. (1953). Language and History in Early Britain. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Jankulak, K. (2010). Writers of Wales: Geoffrey of Monmouth. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. Jones, G. R. J. (1972). Post-Roman Wales. In H. P. R. Finberg (Ed.), The Agrarian History of England and Wales: AD 43–1042 (pp. 279–382). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Leland, J. (1774). De Rebus Britannicis Collectanea (2nd ed.). Londini: Benjamin White. Levison, W. (1946). England and the Continent in the Eighth Century. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Lewis, H. (Ed.). (1942). Brut Dingestow. Caerdydd: Gwasg Prifysgol Cymru. Lloyd, J. E. (1911). A History of Wales. London: Longmans. Mayr-Harting, H. (1972). The Coming of Christianity to Anglo-Saxon England. London: Batsford. MBDA — Map of Britain in the Dark Ages (2nd ed.). (1966). Southampton: Ordnance Survey. Moorman, J. R. H. (1973). A History of the Church in England (3rd ed.). London: Adam and Charles Black. Pevsner, N. (1960). The Buildings of England: Leicestershire and Rutland. Harmondsworth: Penguin. Plummer, C. (Ed.). (1896). Venerabilis Bedae Historia Ecclesiastica. Oxonii: E Typographeo Clarendoniano. Rivet, A. L. F. (1958). Town and Country in Roman Britain. London: Hutchinson. Rivet, A. L. F., & Smith, C. (1979). The Place-Names of Roman Britain. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Salway, P. (1981). Roman Britain. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Schustereder, S. J. (2015). Strategies of Identity Construction. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. Sims-Williams, P. (2011). Irish Influence on Medieval Welsh Literature. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Soulsby, I. (1983). The Towns of Medieval Wales. Chichester: Phillimore. Stephens, G. R. (1985). Caerleon and the Martyrdom of SS Aaron and Julius. Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies, 32, 326–335. Stokes, W., & Strachan, J. (Eds.). (1901–1903). Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Thomas, C. (1970). Britain and Ireland in Early Christian Times. London: Thames and Hudson. Thomas, C. (1971). The Early Christian Archaeology of North Britain. London: Oxford University Press. Thomas, C. (1981). Christianity in Roman Britain. Berkeley: University of California Press. Thorpe, L. (Tr.). (1966). The History of the Kings of Britain. Harmondsworth: Penguin. Victory, S. (1977). The Celtic Church in Wales. London: SPCK. Wacher, J. (1974). The Towns of Roman Britain. London: Batsford. WAEW — Davies, J., et al. (Eds.). (2008). The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. Watts, V. (Ed.). (2004). The Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Williams, A. H. (1941). An Introduction to the History of Wales: Prehistoric Times to 1063. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. Williams, H. (Ed.). (1899–1901). Gildae de Excidio Britanniae. London: David Nutt. Williams, H. (1912). Christianity in Early Britain. Oxford: Clarendon Press. |
 |
