forward the theory that St. Brigid was a priestess of the goddess who converted to Christianity. In most accounts of her life, her father is cited as a druid called Dubhthach.

Britain

The island of Britain was Celtic when it became known to the Mediterranean world in the fifth century b.c. Many archaeologists claim Celtic settlement in Britain as dating back to the Urnfield civilisation of the Bronze Age (ca. 1200–750 b.c.), which is often called “Proto-Celtic.” It has been argued that the first Celtic language spoken in Britain was Goidelic, regarded as the older form of Celtic. A speculated language shift took place around the sixth century b.c. It has been suggested that Albion was an early Celtic name for Britain, soon ousted by Britannia. In Old Irish, Albain was used as the name for the whole island before being confined to northern Britain (Scotland), where, in modern Gaelic, Alba is the name for Scotland and Albannaich the name for a Scotsman.

In spite of Caesar’s military expeditions in 55 b.c. and 54 b.c., Britain retained its independence to become a respected trading country. During the period of Cunobelinos (“Hound of Bel,” who was to become Shakespeare’s Cymbeline—a.d. 10–40), Britain was exporting wheat, cattle, gold, silver, iron, leather goods, hides, and hunting dogs to Europe. In fact Strabo argued that trade with Britain was producing more revenue for Rome than would accrue if the island were to be conquered by Rome and the treasury had to pay for a standing army and civil service to run the country. However, in a.d. 43 Rome did invade. It took forty years to create a fairly peaceful province in southern Britain. Northern Britain was a failure so far as military conquest went and the Romans contented themselves with walls (Hadrian and Antoninus) in attempts to hem in the Celtic tribes of the north.

When Rome finally pulled out of Britain in a.d. 410, a Celtic Britain emerged again. This would be comparable to India emerging again after nearly two centuries of English rule. While educated people spoke Latin as well as British Celtic, the vast majority of people were still Celtic-speaking.

Britain was now suffering attack from the Saxons, Angles, and Jutes from the Jutland peninsula. Domestic problems, however, caused a ruler, known to us as Vortigern (overlord or High King), to invite some Jutish mercenaries to help him. These mercenaries eventually turned on Vortigern and established their own kingdom