We're going to examine some stories telling us about the lives of the Celtic speakers in eastern England, from around the 4th century, when the Anglo-Saxons were first beginning to arrive, all the way to the 11th century, hundreds of years after the Anglo-Saxons arrival.

The subject of a Celtic England is often controversial, and marked down by centuries of a total denial of the presence of Britons in England practically anytime after the 6th century. But today, we will examine plenty of evidence to counter that, from Britons in the Swamps of the Fens, to Welsh kings in the East, Celtic-named kings such as Cerdic and Caedwalla in the south, alongside Celtic Christians in the north. We will examine the troublesome Brythonic marauders that plagued eastern England in the 11th century, and the servile population from Wales that lived in Kent, Wessex, and 10th century Cambridgeshire.

"Wales" derives from the Old English word "wealas", meaning "foreigners" or "outsiders," a term used by invading Anglo-Saxons to describe the native Romano-British Celtic population. It stems from the Proto-Germanic walhaz, originally identifying people from the Roman Empire, specifically the Volcae tribe, eventually evolving to mean any non-Germanic speaker in Britain.

note; Boii - Volcae/Belgea - Catti/Cassi-Volcae/Volcus - Cativolcus King of Ebourones [2].

The King of Denmark is overthrown forcing his son Havelok to flee the country to England landing near Grimsby, a truly horrifying fate, Havelock lived as a fisherman for many years until eventually becoming employed as a cook by the local King Alsi, (Aella) who we are told was a Briton, ruling Lincolnshire. Havelock was apparently berated by his fellow servants, who supposedly gave him a nickname "cwran" meaning "cook" in Brythonic, although as far as we know this isn't an actual word in this language, and is probably a mistranslation ("Ceginwr" is "Cook" in Welsh).

In time Havelok returned to Denmark to claim his rightful in heritance. [10][11].

King Alsi a Brythonic King with a  Saxon name, ruling over a large part of Eastern England, and employing Brythonic speaking servants.

Haveloc appears to be a Brythonic name, not Danish [11] its oldest form Habloc seen in the town seal of Grimsby, Habloc found in Welsh Chronicles such as the "Brut y Tywysogion" the old Norman French version of this story used "Avloc and "Aveloc" could easily have derived this name from Brythonic, a likely pre-existing Brythonic story [11][4].

Archaeology as proved that some Britons with no Anglo Saxon ancestry were buried with grave good typically only given to high status people, such as the Brythonic burial in Kent [5]. suggesting that some local warlords or rulers took up Saxon culture.

In fact the most significant Anglo-Saxon Dynasty, Wessex who would go on to found the kingdom of England, was began by a man with a Celtic name "Cerdic" likely an old form of Ceredic, described as a Celtic name by an 8th Century Monk, Bede, Ceredic and Cadwallon as "Cerdic" and "Caedwalla", the names he gives to two early Kings of Wessex [12].

The story of Saint Guthlac apears to describe the presence of Brythonic speakers in Eastern England in the 8th Century, the "Lay of Havelok" describes a Brythonic King who adopted Anglo-Saxon culture.

Chaucer, the "Man of Law's Tale" in the "Canterbury Tales" an interesting passage reads "In all that land no Christian dared assemble, they had fled from that country because of pagans that had conquered all about the coast by land and sea, To Wales fled the Christianity of the old Britons dwelling in this isle, this was their refuge at this time" [6] a retelling of a tale first told by the Monk Gildas or that told by Bede, describing what happened to the Britons when the Anglo-Saxons arrived at least some of them but not the whole [7][3]. "But yet the Christian Britons were not so completely exiled, there were some that, in secret, honoured Christ and deceived the heathens and near the Kings Castle there dwelt three such Christians", The Castle was supposed to be somewhere on the River Humber, (Northumbria)[4]. Chaucer got this story from a Monk Nicholas Trevet, who in turn claimed, he got it from the Ancient Chronicles of the Saxons. [4].

AD 500, Monk Gildas, claims, that the Britons have vanished from England.

AD 800, Britons recorded attacking Saint Guthlac in the Fenlands.

11th Century, Chronicler from the town of Slepe, now known as St Ives,  recorded in the year 1002 that the bones of the Cornish St Ivo were discovered near the town and were transported to the nearby monastery at Ramsey. Written by Ramsey Monks AD 1090 "The Savage and un-tameable Britons were ravaging far and wide in the province of Huntingdon, the country folk of Slepe took their property to the church of St Ivo for protection, upon hearing of this, the Britons hastened to the church, broke down its doors and began carrying off everything inside, one of the Britons coveted the two church bells hanging high, climbed up to get them and fell to his death, the other Britons fled without their bounty, The Chronicler of Ramsey described this as a punishment from God for the Britons, being Christian themselves and attempting to rob a church.

This is a record of Britons roaming around Huntingdon near the Fens sometime between 1002 and as late as 1090 about 6-700 years after the Anglo-Saxons first began to arrive, there must have been a significant number as they were supposedly raiding far and wide, this may have started during the period of rebellion of Hereward the Wake, who fought against the Invading Normans around Ely in the 1060's and 70's during a time of instability [4]. and earlier during Viking raids.

King Aethelred signed a treaty with the Vikings. Sometime around 991 to 994, that stipulated that neither side could "antagonise the thieves foes or the Wealas" found in each other's territory, demonstrating that the Brythonic bandits, such as the ones who raided the Ramsey Monastery, were clearly a problem around the Fens by as late as the 10th and 11th Century [4].

Monks at Royston provide two stories relating to the Britons in the 11th Century, Around the Village of Therfield near the Fens, Cambridshire, The monks of Ramsey own land, The Chronicles of the Early 11th Century, The local Bishop purchased some land from a Dane installed by Cnut (ruled 1016 - 1035) who was extremely unpopular with the local Britons and in fear for his life, who fled to London and sold his land to the Bishop for a very reasonable price, returning to Denmark [4].

"The Guild of the Thanes at Grantebrygce" (Cambridge) met to agree on payments of "Wergild" a compensation to the family of someone who had passed away, as follows; "If any of the guild slay a man he must compensate for his violence, if the slain man be a "Twelfhynde"(Aristocrat) let each of the guild give half a mark for his aid. if the slain man be a Ceorl (Free Peasant), two oras. if he be a Wylisc (Briton). one ora. Wylisc, Wealas, Wealh, Walh. (a Britons life was valued 1/4 of an Aristocrat).

note; This proves Briton's lived at least in Cambridgeshire by the 10th Century, despite the claims of Gildas.

note; The Anglo-Saxon language and culture spread through a theory known as the "Prestige Model"

[1] Hollinshead Chronicles

[2] L A Waddell

[3] Davies, John. (2007). A History of Wales. London: Penguin, pp.64-67, 44-45, 48, 37.

[4] Gray, A. (1911). On the late survival of a Celtic population in East Anglia. Proceedings of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society, 15(1).

[5] Gretzinger, J., et al. (2022). The Anglo-Saxon migration and the formation of the early English gene pool. Nature, 610, pp.1–8. doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05....

[6] Harvard University (2023). The Man of Law’s Tale. Harvard’s Geoffrey Chaucer Website. https://chaucer.fas.harvard.edu/pages....

[7] Higham, N. and Ryan, M.J. (2013). The Anglo-Saxon World. Yale University Press, pp.95–103, 29–30.

[10] Skeat, W. W. (1868). The Lay of Havelok the Dane. Early English Text Society.

[11] Skeat, W. W. (1902). The Lay of Havelok the Dane (Introduction). Oxford: Clarendon Press.

[12] Stellar, A.M. (1907). Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of England. London: George Bell and Sons

[13] Charles W. Whistler, M.R.C.S. Havelok The Dane  A Legend of Old Grimsby and Lincoln.

[14] History of Lincolnshire after 1066.

[15] The Prestige Model