The various Celtic peoples living across the European continent during the Iron Age experienced a cultural peak around the same time as the expansion of the Roman Empire. But what happened to them after the fall of Rome? Did they die out, or were they conquered by other invading groups? The fate of the Iron Age Celts was different in different parts of Europe. Many were subsumed into other ethnic groups through conquest and intermarriage. But in some pockets, such as Ireland and the French region of Brittany, Celtic language, religion, and culture persisted for centuries.
Who Were the Celts?
The terms “Celt” and “Celtic” refer to those peoples living in Europe during the Bronze Age and Iron Age outside of the cultural spheres of ancient Greece and Rome. However, the Celts had significant contact with the Greco-Roman world, but they were identified as “other,” called barbarus by the Romans. Archeological evidence suggests that Celtic peoples participated in networks of trade and exchange around the Mediterranean. They supplied materials like iron, salt, and slaves in exchange for wine, bronze, pottery, and luxury goods like coral and colored glass.
A variety of ethnic groups and tribes fall underneath the “Celtic” categorization, but they have been grouped together based on cultural, linguistic, and religious similarities. Some of the most well-known groups of Celts include the Gauls, the Galatians, the Britons, and the Celtiberians.
Conflict Between the Celts and the Romans
The relationship between the Celtic peoples and the Romans was fraught, characterized by conflict and conquest. The Roman expansion out from the Italian peninsula involved the conquest of lands inhabited by Celts, who fiercely defended their territories and rejected Roman advances.
Notable conflicts include the Battle of Allia in 390 BCE, which saw the Senonii tribe and their chieftain Brennus defeated the Romans; the Roman defeat of Celts and Samnites at Sentinum in 295 BCE; Celtic tribes joining with Hannibal against Rome during the Punic Wars; the Roman defeat of the Celts at Telamon in 225 BCE; Caesar’s conquest of Gaul in 58-51 BCE; the unsuccessful Gallic rebellion led by Vercingetorix against Caesar and his troops in 52 BCE; the invasion of Britain under Claudius in 43-47 CE; and the revolt of the Celtic Britons under Boudica against the Roman occupation in 60/61 CE.
These conflicts involved the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people over the course of several centuries. The Celtic peoples encountered by Roman forces across the continent and in the British Isles were not willing to submit to Roman control without a fight. Eventually, however, they were overrun by Rome’s more sophisticated military. After this conquest, the Celts were introduced to Roman customs and culture, and later to the culture of the Germanic peoples that swept across Europe. These forces combined led to the gradual phasing out of “Celtic” culture, with a unique blended culture emerging in the Middle Ages.
Roman Gaul
The Roman conquest of Gaul took place over a long period. The Roman Republic conquered Cisalpine Gaul (“this side of the Alps”), constituting what is now northern Italy, in the 200s BCE. Then, they conquered a group of southern Gauls in 121 BCE, establishing the province of Transalpine Gaul (“the far side of the Alps”).
Julius Caesar secured the governorship of Cisalpine Gaul after the end of his term as Consul. Upon the death of the governor of Transalpine Gaul, he obtained governorship over that province as well. Due to his proximity to Gaul, as well as the flight of the Celtic Helvetii tribe from those lands, Caesar saw an opportunity to expand and conquer Gaul. The Gallic Wars took place over the course of 58-51 BCE, during which Caesar and his forces encountered several different Celtic tribes. A rebellion mounted towards the end of these years under Vercingetorix, chieftain of the Arverni tribe. The rebellion ultimately failed, and Vercingetorix surrendered to Caesar.
Gaul was formally incorporated into the Roman provinces in 27 BCE under Augustus and was then ruled by Rome for nearly five hundred years. The Romans introduced Latin to the region, which eventually developed into the language of Old French. Roman Gaul was divided into the provinces of Gallia Aquitania, Gallia Belgica, and Gallia Lugdunensis. While some Gauls gained Roman citizenship shortly after the conquest, the remaining Gauls gained Roman citizenship in 212 CE.
In the 3rd and 4th centuries CE, pressure was placed on Gallic territories by invasions by Germanic tribes like the Franks and Goths. In the 5th century CE, particularly after all Roman troops withdrew from Gaul and the Western Roman Empire dissolved, Gaul became a disputed land between the Germanic tribes. After the Franks pushed the Visigoths out, the Merovingians seized almost total control over those lands. The Merovingian king Clovis I became one of the first Germanic kings to convert to Christianity, leading to the spread of Christianity across Western Europe. Over these centuries, and with the influx of Germanic tribes and new religious ideas, Celtic culture in the area faded out.
Roman Britain
Caesar initially attempted to launch an invasion of Britain in 55 BCE, but he was forced to abandon the project to deal with issues back on the mainland. His invasion was met with opposition by the Celtic Britons, but the presence of Roman troops caused unrest among the Britons and they could not organize a united force. The Romans were able to maintain political and trading relations with Celtic Britons living in the south of the island.
The next serious attempt at a Roman conquest of Britain occurred between 43-47 CE under the emperor Claudius. Claudius was moved to action by unrest caused by the activity of the Catuvellauni tribe, who conquered the territory of the Atrabates tribe, a Roman ally. Under the Roman general Aulus Plautius, Roman forces arrived and engaged in a series of battles with the Celtic Britons. Eventually, Plautius and Claudius forced the surrender of the Catuvellauni and eleven British kings. They then began to establish Roman settlements around Britain.
The famous revolt of Boudica and the Iceni tribe occurred from 60-61 CE. It was triggered by Rome seizing the entirety of the Iceni kingdom after Boudica’s husband, their king, died. To avenge him and her daughters, who should have inherited the kingdom, Boudica led a united group of Iceni and the Trinovantes against Rome. Her forces sacked several Roman settlements, including Camulodunum, Londinium, and Verulamium. Eventually, the Roman forces rallied and squashed Boudica’s rebellion, re-securing southern Britain and rebuilding Londinium. As the Romans established more settlements across Britain, a distinct Romano-British culture emerged, as did improved agricultural practices, urban planning, and industrial production.
The Roman occupation of Britain lasted until the Anglo-Saxon invasions in the 5th century CE. The Anglo-Saxons, composed of the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes, Germanic peoples from Western Europe, are believed to have begun their gradual conquest of Britain in around 410 CE. Historians generally refer to this gradual move as the “migration period,” which took place over the course of the 5th and 6th centuries CE. The late 6th century and early 7th century saw the emergence of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, and their rule in England lasted until the Norman conquest of 1066.
Much like the Franks, the Anglo-Saxons experienced a period of conversion to Christianity. They also experienced Viking invasions in the 9th century. This amalgamation of cultural influences, Germanic, Nore, Christian, and later, Norman, led to the dissolution of the Celtic culture as it was known in Britain. The Celts did, however, maintain control over Wales and Cornwall, until Cornwall was annexed in the 11th century.
Celts in Ireland
While Roman forces wreaked havoc in Britain, they never quite made it to Ireland. Popular scholarly opinion holds that Ireland had nothing of interest for Rome, though they did engage in some trade after the Roman conquest of Britain. The lack of Roman occupation in Ireland is often cited as the reason that Celtic culture survived for so long there and why most modern people think of Ireland when seeking the ancient Celts. What led to the decline of Celtic culture in Ireland was the introduction of Christianity, specifically Catholicism, in Ireland at the arrival of Saint Patrick.
Legend holds that, on the same night that the High King and the Druids in Ireland were celebrating a pagan festival at the Hill of Tara, Patrick lit the Paschal Fire for the Easter Vigil nearby. The act was in defiance of the king’s direct order that he be the only one to light a fire that evening. Though the king attempted to fight back against Patrick, he lost. The legend goes on to suggest that the king and Druids converted to Christianity, effectively ending the predominant practice of paganism in Ireland. Christian conversion led to the emergence of many monasteries across Ireland and a unique kind of Christian iconography and architecture highly influenced by the art of the Celtic past.
Celts Across the Continent
The Celtic peoples living across the European continent, concurrent with the Roman expansion and the subsequent rise of the Germanic tribes, likely suffered similar fates as those living in Gaul or Britain. It is generally accepted that by the 6th century, due to Romanization and the subsequent migration of the Germanic tribes across Europe, Celtic culture could only be identified in Ireland and certain pockets of Britain.
Migrations around Europe make it difficult to identify one predominant Germanic group. Nevertheless, it is safe to suggest that the movements of the Goths, the Visigoths, the Franks, the Vandals, and the Ostrogoths, plus nomadic Huns, effectively wiped out any remaining Celtic cultural practices on the continent over the course of the early Middle Ages.
