View source for Votadini

{{Short description|Celtic people of Iron Age Britain}}
{{EngvarB|date=October 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2023}}
[[File:Scotland.south.Ptolemy.map.jpg|right|280px|Peoples of northern Britain according to [[Ptolemy]]'s 2nd-century ''[[Ptolemy's Geography|Geography]]'']]

The '''Votadini''', also known as the ''Uotadini'', ''Wotādīni'', ''Votādīni'', or ''Otadini''<ref>[[Claudius Ptolemaeus]], ''[[Geographia (Ptolemy)|Geographia]]'' (c. 2nd century)</ref> were a [[Celtic Britons|Brittonic]] people of the [[British Iron Age|Iron Age]] in Great Britain. Their territory was in what is now south-east Scotland and north-east England, extending from the [[Firth of Forth]] and around modern [[Stirling]] to the [[River Tyne]], including at its peak what are now the [[Falkirk]], [[Lothian]] and [[Scottish Borders|Borders]] regions and [[Northumberland]]. This area was briefly part of the [[Roman province]] of ''[[Roman Britain|Britannia]]''. The earliest known capital of the Votadini appears to have been the [[Traprain Law]] [[hill fort]] in East Lothian, until that was abandoned in the early [[5th century]]. They afterwards moved to [[Din Eidyn]] ([[Edinburgh]]).

The name is recorded as ''Votadini'' in classical sources, and as ''Otodini'' on old maps of ancient [[Roman Britain]].<ref>[https://www.archiuk.com/archi/images/maps/herman_moll/roman_britain-old-map-1723-herman-moll-william_stukely.jpg] Map of Ancient Britain]</ref> Their descendants were the early medieval kingdom known in [[Old Welsh]] as '''''[[Gododdin|Guotodin]]''''', and in later Welsh as '''''Gododdin''''' {{IPA|cy|ɡoˈdoðin|}}.

One of the oldest known pieces of British literature is a poem called ''[[Y Gododdin]]'', written in Old Welsh, having previously been passed down via the oral traditions of the [[Common Brittonic|Brythonic]] speaking Britons. This poem celebrates the bravery of the soldiers from what was later referred to by the Britons as ''[[Yr Hen Ogledd]]'' – The Old North; a reference to the fact that this land was lost in battle to an invading force at [[Battle of Catraeth|Catraeth]] (modern day [[Catterick, North Yorkshire|Catterick]]).

==Prehistory==
The area was settled as early as 3000 BC, and offerings of that period imported from [[Cumbria]] and [[Wales]] left on the sacred hilltop at [[Cairnpapple Hill]], [[West Lothian]], show that by then there was a link with these areas. By around 1500 BC Traprain Law in [[East Lothian]] was already a place of burial, with evidence of occupation and signs of ramparts after 1000 BC. Excavation at [[Edinburgh Castle]] found late [[Bronze Age]] material from about 850 BC.

[[Britons (historical)|Brythonic]] [[Celt]]ic culture and language spread into the area at some time after the 8th century BC, possibly through cultural contact rather than mass invasion, and systems of kingdoms developed. Numerous hillforts and settlements support the image of quarrelsome tribes and petty kingdoms recorded by the Romans, though evidence that at times occupants neglected the defences might suggest that symbolic power was sometimes as significant as warfare.

==The Roman period==
In the 1st century AD the [[Ancient Rome|Romans]] recorded the Votadini as a [[British tribe]]. Between 138–162 they came under direct Roman military rule as occupants of the region between [[Hadrian's Wall|Hadrian's]] and the [[Antonine Wall]]s. Then when the Romans drew back to [[Hadrian's Wall]] the Votadini became a friendly [[buffer state]], getting the rewards of [[Roman client kingdoms in Britain|alliance with Rome]] without being under its rule, until about 400 when the Romans withdrew from southern Great Britain. Quantities of Roman goods found at [[Traprain Law]], East Lothian might suggest that this proved profitable, though this is open to speculation.

Since the 3rd century, ''Britannia'' had been divided into four provinces. In a late reorganisation a province called [[Valentia (Roman Britain)|Valentia]] was created, which may have been a new province, perhaps including the Votadini territory, but is more likely to have been one of the four existing provinces renamed.

Excavations in Votadini territory, especially around Traprain Law, have unearthed silver Roman items, including several Gallic Roman coins, indicating some level of trade with the continent. It is unknown, however, whether the other items were traded for, or given to them by the Romans as an appeasement.

==The post-Roman period==
After the Roman withdrawal in the early 5th century, the lands of the Votadini became part of the area known as the ''[[Hen Ogledd]]'' (the "Old North").

By about 470, a new kingdom of [[Gododdin]] had emerged covering most of the original Votadini territory, while the southern part between the [[River Tweed|Tweed]] and the [[River Tyne|Tyne]] formed its own separate kingdom called [[Bernicia|Brynaich]]. [[Cunedda]], legendary founder of the [[Kingdom of Gwynedd]] in north [[Wales]], is said to have been a Gododdin chieftain who migrated south-west about this time.

Both kingdoms warred with the [[Angles (tribe)|Angles]] of [[Bernicia]]; it is this warfare that is commemorated in [[Aneirin]]'s late 6th/early 7th century poem-cycle ''[[Y Gododdin]]''. However Gwynedd where Cunedda established a militaristic dynasty remained undefeated until the 13th century.

==See also==
*[[Dere Street]]
*[[History of Northumberland]]
*[[History of Scotland]]
*[[Yeavering Bell]]

==References==
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'''Cited references'''
{{reflist}}
'''General references'''
* Scotland Before History – Stuart Piggott, [[Edinburgh University Press]] 1982, {{ISBN|0-85224-348-0}}
* Scotland's Hidden History – Ian Armit, Tempus (in association with Historic Scotland) 1998, {{ISBN|0-7486-6067-4}}
* "Votadini and Traprain Law." ''- Caledonians, Picts and Romans''. Education Scotland. Web. 27 Oct. 2015.

{{refend}}

== External links ==
*[http://www.cyberscotia.com/ancient-lothian/index.html Ancient Lothian – Histories – the romano-british era] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120212014713/http://cyberscotia.com/ |date=12 February 2012 }} (use the search function for "Votadini" to find the article)
* The History Files: [http://www.historyfiles.co.uk/KingListsBritain/BritainGoutodin.htm Post-Roman Celtic Kingdoms: Goutodin]
*[https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/interactive/timelines/ BBC – History – The Gododdin 590]
*[https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/british_prehistory/iron_01.shtml BBC – History – Tribes of Britain]
*[http://www.isogg.org/britishcodnasources.htm A Very Rough Guide To the Main DNA Sources of the Counties of the British Isles] John Eckersley, Katherine Hope Borges, 12 June 2006. Retrieved 5 September 2006.
{{Iron Age tribes in Britain}}
{{Scotland during the Roman Empire}}

[[Category:Celtic Britons]]
[[Category:Scotland in the Roman era]]
[[Category:History of Northumberland]]
[[Category:Roman buffer states]]
[[Category:Tribes of ancient Scotland]]
[[Category:Historical Celtic peoples]]
[[Category:Tribes mentioned by Ptolemy]]
[[Category:Roman client kingdoms in Britain]]