I: Ex Sabrinae
Historia Brittonum
I
Ex Sabrinae
I
Ex Sabrinae
This AAR is a revival of my abandoned 1.0 campaign Saga’r Prydeinwyr. I had a lot of fun with that but ultimately work pressures and the nature of the game at that stage caused me to lose interest. I've found 2.0 far more enjoyable, so I thought I'd try another run.
Until the 3rd century BC, there was little to note about the Brittonic tribesmen known today as the Dobunnes. They were a middling power inhabiting the lower reaches of the Severn basin, living mainly off subsistence farming. They had no reputation as warmongers; indeed they were considered by early scholars to have been peaceable by comparison with their neighbours.
The tribes of pre-Roman Britain. Dobunnia is highlighted with a red circle.
What is known with certainty is that the ascendance of a new chieftain, a woman of the Divicus clan known as Cunovinna, new policies were instituted that transformed the tribe into a martial society, one of the most militaristic in Britain. This was characterised by two major reforms, which remained in place at the advent of history on those isles. Firstly, it was decreed that soldiers and men-at-arms were entitled to certain privileges not afforded to ordinary members of society. In return they were expected to fight with enthusiasm for the glory of their clans. Secondly, the generals of the tribe (who, by tradition, were the heads of their clans) were instructed to report directly to the tribal government in times of war, and were offered deference not just as clan chiefs but as military leaders.
The Dobunnian Model, the basis of tribal government beginning during Cunovinna's rule.
The new chieftain also ordered the importation of goods essential to the effective waging of war; woad, which warriors would paint themselves with to strike fear into the hearts of their enemies, and leather with which they bound shields to protect themselves from spears, swords, and slingers.
New trade routes were established with the Picts to the north and Gauls to the south.
Finally, the tribe’s metalworkers were ordered to issue coins, stamped with images emblematic of the tribe, with which soldiers were to be paid. A significant consequence of this reform was increased contact with the skilled metallurgists of mainland Europe, chiefly at this stage the Massiliotes of southern Gaul. The ideas and customs brought back to Britain would, in time, lead to the foundation of more formal structures of government.
The foundation of a Dobunnian currency was the first step on a long road to civilisation.
These reforms were initially met with confusion, with no clear objective driving them. The chieftain's intentions were illuminated by a later speech she made, known as the Proclamation of Stonehenge. Cunovinna had summoned the clans of Dobunnia to the monument, where she led them in a prayer and offering to the goddess Coventina. A delegation from the Coritani to the northeast also joined them, and the two tribes agreed terms of alliance that evening.
With the Blessing of Coventina, the Coritanian alliance was called unshakeable.
After the ceremony had ended, she told the assembled crowd that the gods had come to her in a dream, telling her that the tribe was fated to unite Britain under its rule. She relayed to them a rousing speech proclaiming the tribe’s greatness, and convened there with the heads of the clans. The precise exchange that followed is not known, but by the end of the meeting the tribe had declared their intention to make war with the Silures.
As their plans to rule Britain begin to crystallise, the Dobunni plot war against their neighbours.
The proclamation was met with controversy, attracting denunciations from Cunovinna’s political rivals. These, she tolerated, at one stage taking significant damage to her reputation to prevent open rebellion from a rival clan. She was less tolerant when the tribe’s druids forbade her from participating in rituals and ceremonies. She answered them by attending the next prayer in the company of armed retainers.
Political rivals were, ultimately, no threat to Cunovinna's legitimacy. The druids, however, could be.
Only a month after Stonehenge, Dobunnian warriors were marching west. Their destination was Burrium, Siluria's capital on the banks of the Usk. Siluria was smaller and weaker than Dobunnia, with no allies. The leaders of the tribe saw no reason, then, to involve the Coritani who would have demanded compensation.
Siluria's sole advantage was a handful of seaworthy vessels. The Dobunni marched to the harbour at Glevum, preventing the Siluri from boarding their ships.
Finding a consensus approach to uniting Britain would take far longer than initially thought. In that time, Cunovinna tragically lost her life during childbirth, and the tribe chose the Venutian clan chief Inammicus to succeed her. To secure his legitimacy as the new chieftain, he married one of Cunovinna’s cousins, Vinoma. This was met with hositility by Cunovinna’s widower Bolgios, who had contended at the time of her death that he should have succeeded her. The tribe was forced to concede a sizeable dowry to appease him.
Though Bolgios was no friend of the Venuti, there was no recorded hostility between Vinoma and Inammicus.
A year after debate began, the clans announced that Britain would be united by military strength and through conquest. At the same time, the Silurian capital fell under siege and terms of peace were negotiated. The clan leadership were compelled into exile, with their men told to swear allegiance to one of the Dobunnian clans. Political leaders not belonging to the noble class were executed at the gates of Burrium.
The political establishment of the Siluri was dismantled, never to be reinstated.
To facilitate an agreement in the peace negotiations, Inammicus had made a strategic decision that shaped the future of Dobunnian politics; although only true-blooded Dobunni would be allowed to style themselves as nobility, all subjects of the tribe would enjoy the same rights and privileges of citizenship. He made good on his word as soon as peace was secured, and to make his intent clear he also instructed the clans that Silures were to be treated with dignity, prohibiting their torture or slaughter under any circumstances.
The tribe decreed that the Demeti and Dobunni were one and the same.
Dobunnia on 14th November, 451 AUC (304 BC)
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