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{{Short description |Historic kingdom in Sub-Roman Britain}}
{{About|the kingdom in south-western Britain|the Brythonic colony of the same name in Brittany|Domnonée|the kingdom in northern Britain|Damnonii}}
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{{EngvarB|date= September 2013}}
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{{Infobox Celts of England
|Name = Dumnonia
|fullname = Dumnonia
|map_alt=Celtic tribes of southern Britain at the start of the Roman period
|name = Dumnonia
|caption = Celtic tribes of southern Britain immediately before the start of the Roman period 
|capital = ''[[Isca Dumnoniorum]]'' <small>([[Exeter]]) (before {{c.}} 400)</small><br>[[Tintagel]]
|location = [[Devon]] and [[Cornwall]], and parts of [[Somerset]] and [[Dorset]]
|rulers = [[Kings of Dumnonia]]
}}

'''Dumnonia''' ({{Langx|grc|Δαμνόνιον|Damnónion}}, in the [[adjective]] form)<ref>[[Geography (Ptolemy)|PG]] ii.3</ref> is the [[Latin]]ised name for a [[Celtic Britons|Brythonic]] kingdom that existed in [[Sub-Roman Britain]] between the late 4th and late 8th centuries CE in the more westerly parts of present-day [[South West England]]. It was centred in the area of modern [[Devon]], but also included modern [[Cornwall]] and part of [[Somerset]];<ref>{{Cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=kfv6HKXErqAC&q=Dumnonia&pg=PA178|title= Encyclopedia of European Peoples|last1= Waldman|first1= Carl|last2= Mason|first2= Catherine|date= 2006|publisher= Infobase Publishing|isbn= 9781438129181}}</ref> its eastern boundary was moved westward over time with the gradual expansion of the neighbouring [[Anglo-Saxon]] kingdom of [[Wessex]]. The spelling '''Damnonia''' is sometimes encountered, but that spelling is also used for the land of the [[Damnonii]], later part of the [[Kingdom of Strathclyde]], in present-day southern [[Scotland]].<ref name="Mackay">
{{cite web
 | url= http://www.drumchapelhistory.com/history/strathclyde/awp/geraint.htm
 | work= History of Drumchapel |title= Geraint, Son of Erbin
 | first1= Ian |last= Mackay<!--No, not the rock star.-->
 | date= 1999–2017
}}
</ref>
The form '''Domnonia''' also occurs. The name of the kingdom shares a linguistic relationship with the [[Bretons|Breton]] region of [[Domnonée]] ({{langx|br|Domnonea}}).

==Name==
{{History of Cornwall}}The kingdom is named after the [[Dumnonii]], a [[Celtic Britons|British]] [[Celt]]ic tribe living in the south-west at the time of the [[Roman Empire|Roman]] invasion of [[Roman Britain|Britain]], according to [[Ptolemy]]'s ''[[Geography (Ptolemy)|Geography]]''. Variants of the name ''Dumnonia'' include ''Domnonia'' and ''Damnonia'', the latter being used by [[Gildas]] in the 6th century as a [[pun]] on "damnation" to deprecate the area's contemporary ruler [[Constantine of Dumnonia|Constantine]].<ref name=koch>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=f899xH_quaMC&q=Dumnonia&pg=PA619 |editor-first=John T |editor-last=Koch |year=2006 |title=Celtic Culture: a historical encyclopaedia |volume=1 |location=Santa Barbara, CA |publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]] |pages=619–621|isbn=9781851094400 }}</ref> The name etymologically originates from [[Proto-Celtic language|Proto-Celtic]] ''*dubno-'' '(''adjective'') deep; (''noun'') world'. Groups with similar names existed in Scotland (''[[Damnonii]]'') and Ireland (''[[Fir Domnann]]'').<ref name=koch/> Later, the area became known to the English of neighbouring [[Wessex]] as the kingdom of [[Cornwall|West Wales]], and its inhabitants were also known to them as ''Defnas'' (i.e. men of Dumnonia). In [[Old Welsh|Welsh]], and similarly in the [[Southwestern Brythonic languages]], it was ''Dyfneint'' and this is the form which survives today in the name of the county of Devon (Modern {{langx|cy|Dyfnaint}}, {{langx|kw|Dewnans}}, {{langx|br|Devnent}}).

There is evidence, based on an entry in the ''[[Ravenna Cosmography]]'', that there may have been a sub-tribe in the western part of the territory known as the [[Cornovii (Cornwall)|Cornovii]] from whose name the first element of the present-day [[History of Cornwall#Toponymy|name of Cornwall]] is probably derived.<ref>Payton (2004), pp.&nbsp;50–51</ref>

Following a period of emigration from south-western Britain to north-western Gaul ([[Armorica]]) in the 5th and 6th centuries, a sister kingdom ([[Domnonée]] in modern [[French language|French]]), was established on the north-facing Atlantic coast of the continent in the region that was to become known as [[Brittany]]. Historian [[Barbara Yorke]] has speculated that the Dumnonii may have seen the end of the Roman empire as an opportunity to establish control in new areas.<ref>Yorke (1995), pp.&nbsp;18–19</ref>
Before the arrival of the Romans, the Dumnonii seem to have inhabited the south-west peninsula of Britain as far east as the [[River Parrett]] in Somerset and the [[River Axe (Lyme Bay)|River Axe]] in Dorset, judging by the coin distributions of the [[Dobunni]] and [[Durotriges]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jones| first1=Barri |author1-link=Barri Jones |last2=Mattingly |first2=David |author2-link=David Mattingly (author) |contribution=Britain Before the Conquest: Urbanization |title=An Atlas of Roman Britain |publisher=[[Wiley-Blackwell|Blackwell Publishers]] |location=Cambridge |orig-year=1990 |year=2007 |pages=47–55 |isbn=978-1-84217-067-0}}</ref> In the Roman period there was a provincial boundary between the area governed from Exeter and those governed from [[Dorchester, Dorset|Dorchester]] and [[Ilchester]].{{Fact or opinion|date=December 2019}} [[Julius Caesar]]'s ''[[Commentarii de Bello Gallico]]'', Book III notes the close trading and military relationship between the continental [[Veneti (Gaul)|Veneti]] of [[Armorica]] and the south-western insular British.

In the post Roman period the kingdom of Dumnonia covered Cornwall, Devon and parts of west Somerset. It had close cultural and religious links with Brittany, Wales and Ireland.<ref name=cannon/>

In [[Ptolemy]]'s [[Geography (Ptolemy)|Geography]], originally written in [[Ancient Greek|ancient greek]] but only preserved in [[Medieval Greek|medieval greek]] manuscripts, he records 4 towns belonging to the Δουμνόνιοι (''Doumnónioi''):

* Οὐολίβα: woliva or woliba (assuming ⟨Οὐ⟩ to represent the [[Semivowel|semivocalic]] [[voiced labial–velar approximant]] [w]. ⟨β⟩ may represent the [[Voiced bilabial plosive|voiced biblabial plosive]] [b] or the [[voiced bilabial fricative]] [β] depenting on stage of [[spirantisation]]; see [[greek phonology]]).
* Οὔξελλα: Oúxella
* Ταμάρη: Tamáre or Tamári (see [[iotacism]])
* [[Exeter|Ἴσκα]]: Íska

==Culture and industries==
[[File:Ogham.Inscriptions.Cornwall.jpg|upright=1.1|right|thumb|Map of inscription stones in Devon and Cornwall]]
The cultural connections of the pre-Roman Dumnonii, as expressed in their ceramics, are thought to have been with the peninsula of Armorica across the [[English Channel|Channel]], and with [[Wales]] and Ireland, rather than with the south-east of Britain.<ref>Yorke (1995), p.&nbsp;18</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Cunliffe |first=Barry |author-link=Barry Cunliffe |year=2005 |title=Iron Age Communities in Britain: an Account of England, Scotland and Wales from the Seventh Century BC Until the Roman Conquest |edition=4th |location=New York |publisher=Routledge |pages=201–206 |isbn=0-415-34779-3 }}</ref> The people of Dumnonia would have spoken a [[Southwestern Brittonic languages|Brythonic dialect]], the ancestor of modern [[Cornish language|Cornish]] and [[Breton language|Breton]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f899xH_quaMC&q=the+language+spoken+by+dumnonii&pg=PA1054|title=Celtic culture: a historical encyclopedia. Vol. 1-|last=Koch|first=John T.|year=2006|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=9781851094400}}</ref> Irish immigrants, the [[Déisi]], are evidenced by the inscribed stones they have left behind—sometimes written in [[Ogham]], sometimes in Latin, sometimes in both,<ref>Thomas (1994), p.&nbsp;6.</ref> confirmed and supplemented by [[Toponymy of England|place-name studies]].

Apart from [[fishing]] and [[agriculture]], the main economic resource of the Dumnonii was [[tin mining]], the tin having been exported since ancient times from the port of ''[[Ictis]]''<ref name=roman-britain/> ([[St Michael's Mount]] or [[Mount Batten]]). Tin working continued throughout Roman occupation and appears to have reached a peak during the 3rd century CE.<ref name="trevithick-society.org.uk">[http://www.trevithick-society.org.uk/industry/cornish_history.htm A history of Cornish mining] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090812235920/http://www.trevithick-society.org.uk/industry/cornish_history.htm |date=12 August 2009 }} [[Trevithick Society]].</ref> The area maintained trade links with [[Gaul]] and the [[Mediterranean]] after the Roman withdrawal, and it is likely that tin played an important part in this trade.<ref name=koch/> Post-Roman imported pottery has been excavated from many sites across the region. An apparent surge in late-5th-century Mediterranean imports is thought to be related to the trade in metals from Cornwall and Wales to the [[Byzantine Empire]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Thomas |first=Charles |author-link=Charles Thomas (historian) |year=1981 |title=Review of Pearce, 'The Kingdom of Dumnonia', 1978 |journal=Britannia |volume=12 |page=417 |jstor=526281 |doi=10.2307/526281|s2cid=163860852 }}{{registration required}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Bonifay|first1=Michel|title=Review Article Post-Roman imports in the British Isles: material and place|url=http://antiquity.ac.uk/reviews/bonifay.html|publisher=Antiquity|access-date=3 December 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Fulford|first1=Michael|title=Byzantium and Britain: a Mediterranean perspective on Post-Roman Mediterranean Imports in Western Britain and Ireland|url=http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-769-1/dissemination/pdf/vol33/33_001_006.pdf|publisher=Archaeology Service|access-date=3 December 2015}}</ref>

[[Christianity]] seems to have survived in Dumnonia after the [[End of Roman rule in Britain|Roman departure from Britain]], with a number of late Roman Christian cemeteries extending into the post-Roman period.<ref>Yorke (1995), p.&nbsp;17</ref> In the 5th and 6th centuries the area was allegedly evangelised by the children of [[Brychan]] and [[saint]]s from Ireland, like [[Saint Piran]]; and Wales, like [[Saint Petroc]] or [[Saint Keyne]]. There were important monasteries at [[Bodmin]] and [[Glastonbury Abbey|Glastonbury]]; and also [[Exeter]] where 5th-century burials discovered near the [[Exeter Cathedral|cathedral]] probably represent the cemetery of the foundation attended by [[Saint Boniface]] (although whether this was Saxon or Brythonic is somewhat controversial). Sporadically, Cornish [[bishop]]s are named in various records until they submitted to the [[See of Canterbury]] in the mid-9th century. [[Parish]] organisation was a later development of [[Norman Conquest|fully Normanised times]].<ref>Pearce (1978), chapter 3 "The Establishment of the Church".</ref>

==Settlements==
[[File:Somerset cadbury castle modified.jpg|thumb|[[Cadbury Castle, Somerset]], a possible early Dumnonian defensive site]]
Around 55 CE, the Romans established a legionary fortress at ''[[Isca Dumnoniorum]]'', modern Exeter, but west of Exeter the area remained largely un-Romanised.<ref name=roman-britain>{{cite web |url=http://www.roman-britain.org/tribes/dumnonii.htm |title=The Dumnonii |work=British Tribes |publisher=Roman-Britain.org |year=2011 |access-date=25 November 2007}}</ref> Most of Dumnonia is notable for its lack of a [[Roman villa|villa system]]{{efn|There are just four known villas west of the Parrett–Axe boundary, three in East Devon and an isolated and atypical one at [[Illogan#Antiquities|Magor]] in the far west of Cornwall.<ref>Pearce (1978), p.&nbsp;51.</ref>}} – though there were substantial numbers south of [[Bath, Somerset|Bath]] and around [[Ilchester]] –, and for its many settlements that have survived from the [[Romano-British]] period. As in other Brythonic areas, [[Iron Age]] [[hillfort]]s, such as [[Hembury]] and [[Cadbury Castle, Somerset|Cadbury Castle]], were refortified in post-Roman times for the use of chieftains or kings, and other high-status settlements such as [[Tintagel]] seem to have been reconstructed during the period. Local archaeology has revealed that the isolated enclosed farmsteads known locally as ''rounds'' seem to have survived the Roman departure from Britain; but they were subsequently replaced, in the 6th and 7th centuries, by unenclosed farms taking the [[British language (Celtic)|Brythonic]] [[toponym]]ic ''tre(f)-''.<ref>Pearce (1978), pp.&nbsp;49–50.</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Padel |first=O. J.| author-link=Oliver Padel|editor1-last=Kain |editor1-first=Roger |editor2-last=Ravenhill |editor2-first=William |year=1999 |title=Historical Atlas of South-West England |publisher= University of Exeter Press|isbn= 0-85989-434-7|pages=88–90}}</ref>

Exeter, called ''Caer Uisc'' in Brythonic, was later the site of an important Saxon [[Minster (church)|minster]], but was still partially inhabited by Dumnonian Britons until the 10th century when [[Æthelstan]] expelled them.<ref name=Snyder>{{cite book |last=Snyder |first=Christopher A. |author-link=Christopher Snyder (historian) |year=2003 |title=The Britons |publisher=[[Wiley-Blackwell|Blackwell]] |isbn=0-631-22260-X}}</ref> By the mid-9th century, the royal seat may have been relocated further west, during the [[Wessex|West Saxon]] advance, to ''Lis-Cerruyt'' (modern [[Liskeard]]). Cornish earls in the 10th century were said to have moved to [[Lostwithiel]] after Liskeard was seized.<ref>{{cite book |last=Whitaker |first=John |author-link=John Whitaker (historian) |year=1804 |title=The Ancient Cathedral of Cornwall, Historically Surveyed |location=London |page=48}}</ref> It has been suggested that the rulers of Dumnonia were itinerant, stopping at various royal residences, such as Tintagel and Cadbury Castle, at different times of the year, and possibly simultaneously holding lands in Brittany across the [[English Channel|Channel]]. There is textual and archaeological evidence that districts such as [[Triggshire|Trigg]] were used as marshalling points for "war hosts" from across the region.<ref>Thomas (1994), p.&nbsp;216.</ref>

==History and rulers==
{{See also|List of kings of Dumnonia}}
Although subjugated by about 78 CE, the local population could have retained strong local control, and Dumnonia may have been self-governed under Roman rule.<ref name=Snyder/> [[Geoffrey of Monmouth]] stated that the ruler of Dumnonia, perhaps about the period {{c.}} 290 – {{c.}} 305, was [[Caradocus]]. If not an entirely legendary figure, Caradocus would not have been a king in the true sense but may have held a powerful office within the Roman administration.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.britannia.com/bios/ebk/caraddm.html |title=Caradoc, 'King' of Dumnonia |publisher=Britannia |year=2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100131013501/http://www.britannia.com/bios/ebk/caraddm.html |archive-date=31 January 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The post-Roman history of Dumnonia comes from a variety of sources and is considered exceedingly difficult to interpret given that historical fact, legend and confused pseudo-history are compounded by a variety of sources in [[Middle Welsh]] and [[Latin]]. The main sources available for discussion of this period include [[Gildas]]'s ''[[De Excidio Britanniae]]'' and [[Nennius]]'s ''[[Historia Brittonum]]'', the ''[[Annales Cambriae]]'', ''[[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]]'', [[William of Malmesbury]]'s ''[[Gesta Regum Anglorum]]'' and ''De Antiquitate [[Glastonbury Abbey|Glastoniensis]] Ecclesiae'', along with texts from the ''[[Black Book of Carmarthen]]'' and the ''[[Red Book of Hergest]]'', and [[Bede]]'s ''[[Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum]]'' as well as "The Descent of the Men of the North" (''[[Bonedd Gwŷr y Gogledd]]'', in Peniarth MS 45 and elsewhere) and the ''[[Book of Baglan]]''.

===Conflict with the Saxons===
In 577 [[Ceawlin of Wessex]]'s victory at the [[Battle of Deorham]] caused the Britons of Dumnonia to be cut off by land from their Welsh allies, but since sea travel was not difficult this may not have been a severe loss.<ref name=cannon>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Cannon |first=J. A. |year=2015|edition=2nd |page=301|title=Kingdom of Dumnonia |encyclopedia=The Oxford Companion to British History |isbn=978-0-19-967783-2}}</ref> [[Clemen ap Bledric|Clemen]] is thought to have been king when the Britons fought the [[Clemen ap Bledric#Battle of Beandun|Battle of Beandun]] in 614. This is most likely to have been at [[Bindon, Axmouth|Bindon]] near [[Axmouth]] in Devon.<ref>Pearce (1978), p.&nbsp;57</ref> [[Bampton, Oxfordshire]] has also been proposed as the site, but the claim lacks evidence.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Crossley |first1=Alan |last2=Currie |first2=C. R. J. (eds.) |last3=Baggs |first3=A. P. |last4=Chance |first4=Eleanor |last5=Colvin |first5=Christina |last6=Day |first6=C. J. |last7=Selwyn |first7=Nesta |last8=Townley |first8=Simon C. |year=1996 |chapter=Bampton and Weald |title=A History of the County of Oxford, Volume 13: Bampton Hundred (Part One) |series=[[Victoria County History]] |isbn=978-0-19722-790-9 |pages=8–17}}</ref>

According to the ''[[Flores Historiarum]]'', attributed incorrectly to [[Matthew of Westminster]], the Britons were still in possession of Exeter in 632, when it was bravely defended against [[Penda]] of [[Mercia]] until relieved by [[Cadwallon ap Cadfan|Cadwallon]], who engaged and, according to Geoffrey of Monmouth, defeated the Mercians with "great slaughter to their troops".<ref>{{cite book |last=Jenkins |first=Alexander |year=1806 |title=The History and Description of the City of Exeter |location=Exeter |publisher=P. Hedgeland |page=11}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Giles |first=J.A. |author-link=John Allen Giles |year=1848|title=Six Old English Chronicles |place=London |publisher=[[Henry G. Bohn]] |page=284}}</ref> However, since the late 19th century [[Siege of Exeter (c. 630)|this siege]] has not been considered a historical fact.<ref>See, for example: {{cite book
|last=Freeman|first=Edward. A.|author-link=Edward Augustus Freeman
|title=Historic Towns: Exeter
|publisher=Longmans, Green, and Co|location=London
|year=1887
|page=15}}</ref>

Around 652 [[Cenwalh of Wessex]] made a breakthrough against the Dumnonian defensive lines at the battle of [[Bradford-upon-Avon]]. The [[Wessex|West Saxon]] victory at the [[Battle of Peonnum|Battle of ''Peonnum'']] (possibly modern [[Penselwood]] in east Somerset), around 658, resulted in the Saxons capturing "as far as the [[River Parrett|Parrett]]" and the eastern part of Dumnonia being permanently annexed by Wessex.

The entry for 661 in [[Æthelweard (historian)|Æthelweard]]'s translation of the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' into Latin, known as the ''Chronicon Æthelweardi'', describes [[Cenwalh of Wessex]] fighting a battle at ''Posentesburh''. Though it appears from the context that this is a battle against [[Wulfhere of Mercia]] (which he may have lost), if ''Posentesburh'' is identified with [[Posbury]], near [[Crediton]], Devon, then some conflict with the Britons can be postulated.<ref>[http://rae2007.cch.kcl.ac.uk/pase/apps/locations/index.html The PASE index:Chronicle text] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20130504211440/http://rae2007.cch.kcl.ac.uk/pase/apps/locations/index.html |date=4 May 2013 }}&nbsp;– search Posentesburh</ref> In [[Willibald]]'s ''Life of [[Saint Boniface]]'' the head of ''Examchester'' monastery, which can be identified with Exeter, Devon, has a Germanic name (Wulfhard) during the time Boniface studied there. Boniface self-identifies as Anglo-Saxon by birth (using ''Anglorum'' in his letter to the English people)<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/boniface-letters.asp |title=Medieval Sourcebook: The Correspondence of St. Boniface |publisher=[[Fordham University]]}}</ref> and therefore Exeter may have been under West Saxon control at this time, that is, the late 7th century. At this time Dumnonia was sufficiently part of the known world for [[Aldhelm]], later bishop of [[Sherborne]], to address a letter around 705, to its king [[Geraint of Dumnonia|Geraint]] regarding the date of Easter.<ref>{{cite book |last=Todd |first=Malcolm |author-link=Malcolm Todd (archaeologist) |title=The South West to AD 1000 |series=A Regional History of England |publisher=Longman|year=1987 |page=287 |isbn=0-582-49274-2}}</ref> In 682 Wessex forces "advanced as far as the sea", but it is unclear where this was. In 705 a [[Diocese of Salisbury|bishopric]] was set up in Sherborne for the Saxon area west of [[Selwood, Somerset|Selwood]].

In 710 Geraint was defeated in battle by [[King Ine]] of Wessex, but in 722 the ''Annales Cambriae'' claim a victory by the British in Cornwall at [[Battle of Hehil|''Hehil'']]. By about 755, the territory of the "''Defnas''" was coming under significant pressure from the Saxon army. The campaigns of [[Ecgberht, King of Wessex|Egbert of Wessex]] in Devon between 813 and 822 probably signalled the conquest of insular Dumnonia leaving a [[rump state]] in what is today called Cornwall,<ref>{{cite book |last=Major |first=Albany |year=1913 |title=Early Wars of Wessex |location=Cambridge |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |pages=92–98}}(reissued by Blandford Press, {{ISBN|0-7137-2068-9}})</ref> known at the time as ''Cerniu'', ''Cernyw'', or ''Kernow'', and to the Anglo-Saxons as Cornwall or "West Wales".

[[File:King-donierts-stone.jpg|thumb|right|[[King Doniert's Stone]] in Cornwall, believed to commemorate Donyarth, the last recorded king of the rump state of Dumnonia<ref>{{cite web|title=King Doniert's Stone|url=http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/king-donierts-stone/|publisher=English Heritage|access-date=5 September 2016}}</ref>]]
In 825 a battle was fought between the "''Welsh''", presumably those of Dumnonia, and the Anglo-Saxons. The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' states: "We fought the ''Wealas'' (Cornish) and the ''Defnas'' (Devonians) at ''Gafulforda''" (perhaps [[Gafulford|Galford]] in west Devon). However, there is no mention of who won or who lost. A further rebellion in 838, when the "West Welsh" were supported by [[Danes (Germanic tribe)|Danish]] forces, was crushed by Egbert at the [[battle of Hingston Down]].<ref>{{cite book| last=Higham| first=Robert| title=Making Anglo-Saxon Devon| publisher=The Mint Press| location=Exeter| year=2008| page=64| isbn=978-1-903356-57-9}}</ref>

The Cornish [[bishop of Bodmin]] acknowledged the authority of Canterbury in 870 and the last-known Cornish king, [[Donyarth]], died in 875. By the 880s Wessex had gained control of at least part of Cornwall, where [[Alfred the Great]] had estates.<ref>{{cite book |author=Asser |author-link=Asser |others=translated by Simon Keynes & Michael Lapidge |year=1983 |title=Alfred the Great&nbsp;– Asser's Life of King Alfred and other contemporary sources |location=London |publisher=[[Penguin Books]] |page=175}}; cf. ''ibid'', p. 89.</ref> In about 936, according to William of Malmesbury writing around 1120, [[Athelstan]] evicted the Britons from Exeter and the rest of Devon, and set the east bank of the [[River Tamar]] as Cornwall's border.<ref>Payton (2004), p.&nbsp;69.</ref>

Although the chronology of Wessex expansion into all of Dumnonia is unclear, Devon had long been absorbed into England by the reign of [[Edward the Confessor]].<ref>{{cite book |others=translated by [[Ann Williams (historian)|Ann Williams]] and G.H. Martin |year=2002 |title=Domesday Book&nbsp;– a complete translation |location=London |publisher=[[Penguin Books]] |pages=341–357}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |others=translated by [[Michael Swanton]] |year=2000 |title=The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles |edition=2nd |location=London |publisher=[[Phoenix Books|Phoenix Press]] |page=177}}</ref> The early-12th-century ''[[Gesta Herewardi]]'' gives the King of Cornwall just before the [[Norman Conquest]] as a man named Alef.<ref>Angevin Britain and Scandinavia, Volume 6, [[Henry Goddard Leach]], Harvard University Press, 1921</ref>

===Dumnonian continuity in Cornwall and Brittany===
Two waves of migrations took place to [[Armorica]] ([[Brittany]]) from Dumnonia. Some histories{{which|date=February 2023}} propose the theory that this may have resulted in rulers who exercised kingship in both Brittany and Dumnonia,<ref>{{Cite thesis |chapter=Chapter three: The Celtic Duchy |title=Modern Cornwall: The changing nature of peripherality |chapter-url=http://pearl.plymouth.ac.uk/pearl_jspui/bitstream/10026.1/778/4/254389.pdf |last=Payton |first=Philip John |author-link=Philip Payton |year=1989 |page=119 |publisher=[[University of Plymouth]] |access-date=27 February 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006082128/http://pearl.plymouth.ac.uk/pearl_jspui/bitstream/10026.1/778/4/254389.pdf |archive-date=6 October 2014 }}</ref> explaining those occurrences of the same names of rulers in both territories.<ref>{{cite book |last=Thomas |first=Charles |author-link=Charles Thomas (historian) |year=1986 |title=Celtic Britain |publisher=[[Thames & Hudson]] |location=London |isbn=0-500-02107-4 |page=66}}</ref> There are also numerous correspondences of [[Insular Celtic]] saints, and place names and a close linguistic relationship between [[Cornish language|Cornish]] (''Kernowek'') and [[Breton language|Breton]] (''Brezhoneg''). However, the Breton regions of ''Kernev''/[[Cornouaille]] (Cornwall) and [[Domnonée]] (Devon) have well-established histories including entirely separate rulers from Dumnonia in Britain (see [[Duchy of Brittany]]).

While Cornwall retained its language and culture, Devon's had significantly diminished by the arrival of the Saxon invaders in the 7th century, almost entirely due to the large-scale migration of Britons from greater Dumnonia to Armorica at the end of the Roman occupation. J.B. Gover{{efn|John Eric Bruce Gover (1894–1984), English scholar.}} wrote in 1931 that<blockquote>by the middle of the seventh century Devon was a sparsely settled Celtic kingdom due to large-scale emigration to Armorica a century and more earlier, and that once the resistance of its kings had been broken down no considerable native population remained to complicate the life of the new settlers.<ref>The Place-Names of Devon: J.E.B. Gover, A. Mawer & F.M. Stenton pub. 1931 Cambridge University Press</ref></blockquote>The relationship between the new Saxon overlords and the remaining indigenous Britons appears to have been peaceable and many Celtic place-names survive in the county, although not to the extent of that of the neighbouring sub-tribe, the [[Cornovii]], who became modern-day Cornwall.

The pre-medieval region of [[Cornouaille]] (Breton: ''Kernev'') in the Brittany region of the Armorican peninsula is assumed to owe its name to descendants originating in insular Cornwall.{{efn|The folklore of the association between the regions, kingdoms, and duchies of Cornwall and Brittany includes the figure Mark of Cornwall, whose territory included lands in both this region of the British Isles and Brittany on the continent, as portrayed in the 12th-century romance ''[[Tristan and Iseult]]''.}} The territories of the ancient Cornouaille region coincide mostly with the southern part of the French ''[[Departments of France|departement]]'' of the [[Finistère]],{{efn|''Finisterre'' is French for "Land's End."}} and some of its territorial lands are included in the ''departements'' of [[Côtes-d'Armor|Côtes d'Armor]] and [[Morbihan]]. At least part of the original territory associated with the pre-medieval Breton kingdom of ''[[Domnonée|Domnonea]]'', coincides with the modern French department of Côtes-d'Armor.{{efn|It is unlikely that the British realms of Cornwall and the continental realms in the Brittany region were continuous in government. In the post-Roman period, tribes from Britain migrated to Brittany and mixed with tribes already in the Armorican peninsula. As a result of these migrations, the Brittany region contained two separate geographic areas known as Dumnonée and Cornouaille. By the early 10th century these Breton regions were consolidated into the [[Duchy of Brittany]] and the continuity with Dumnonia at the governmental level ended, while the historical and cultural continuity remains through modern times.}}

There is debate about the location of Arthur's supposed great victory at the [[Battle of Badon|Battle of Mount Badon]], where the [[Celtic Britons|Britons]] fought off Anglo-Saxons. Most historians believe this battle, if it was historical, was fought outside the territory, at [[Bath, Somerset|Bath]], for instance. Geoffrey of Monmouth claimed that Arthur's final [[Battle of Camlann]] was fought in Cornwall: tradition points to [[Slaughterbridge]], near [[Camelford]], which itself has been claimed, without foundation, to be the location of [[Camelot]].

==See also==
*[[List of legendary rulers of Cornwall]], for the pseudo-historic kings and dukes of Cornwall mentioned by Geoffrey of Monmouth
*[[History of Devon]]
*[[History of Cornwall]]
*[[History of Brittany]]

==Footnotes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
*{{cite book |last=Payton |first=Philip |author-link=Philip Payton |title=Cornwall: A History |edition=2nd |year=2004 |publisher=Cornwall Editions Ltd |location=Fowey |isbn=1-904880-00-2}}
*{{cite book |last=Pearce |first=Susan M. |year=1978 |title=The Kingdom of Dumnonia: Studies in History and Tradition in South-Western Britain A.D. 350–1150 |location=Padstow |publisher=Lodenek Press |isbn=0-902899-68-6}}
*{{cite book |last=Thomas |first=Charles |author-link=Charles Thomas (historian) |year=1994 |title=And Shall These Mute Stones Speak? Post-Roman Inscriptions in Western Britain |location=Cardiff |publisher=[[University of Wales Press]] |isbn=0-7083-1160-1}}
*{{cite book |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=MKco_HXDTlYC&q=Dumnonia&pg=PA15 |last=Yorke |first=Barbara |author-link=Barbara Yorke |year=1995 |chapter=Period of Transition |title=Wessex in the early Middle Ages |publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group |isbn= 0-7185-1856-X|pages=15–19}}

{{Celts}}
{{Barbarian kingdoms}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Dumnonia| ]]
[[Category:States and territories established in the 4th century]]
[[Category:States and territories disestablished in the 8th century]]
[[Category:Former countries in the British Isles]]
[[Category:History of Cornwall]]
[[Category:History of Devon]]
[[Category:History of Somerset]]
[[Category:South West England]]
[[Category:Sub-Roman Britain]]
[[Category:West Country]]
[[Category:Barbarian kingdoms]]