Britons

Britons is a historical term referring to the Celtic-speaking inhabitants of Great Britain from the Iron Age through the early medieval period. They lived in numerous tribes and later in various kingdom-shaped polities across what are today England, Wales, and southern Scotland. The Romans referred to them as the Britanni, and later medieval writers used terms such as Brython or Britons to distinguish them from incoming Germanic-speaking groups.

Language and identity

The Britons spoke Brittonic (Brythonic) languages, a branch of Insular Celtic. From these languages descend Welsh, Cornish, and Breton; other Brittonic varieties such as Cumbric are known only from place names and scant sources and eventually became extinct. The term Brython (Greek and Latin sources) and the later Welsh term Cymry, meaning “compatriots,” reflect a shared sense of regional identity among Brittonic-speaking communities.

History and society

Britons organized themselves in tribes and kingdoms, with hill forts and later urban centers in some areas. Roman conquest began in the 1st century CE, and a Romano-British culture developed, blending native traditions with Roman administration, towns, and Christianity. Following the Roman withdrawal in the 5th century, several Brittonic kingdoms persisted or emerged, notably in Wales (Gwynedd, Powys) and the southwest (Dumnonia). In the north, Brittonic-speaking communities continued in what became parts of Scotland and northern England, sometimes grouped under the umbrella of the kingdom of Strathclyde.

Legacy

The Britons contributed to the ethnogenesis of modern Welsh and Cornish identities, and to the Breton population in Brittany across the English Channel. The name Britain and the adjective British ultimately derive from the Latin Britannia, linked to the historical Britons. In contemporary usage, Britons is primarily a historical term rather than a contemporary ethnic designation.