North British Warrior

[Alanus]

4. Well, that's why I said "possibly", since no one really knows. The Celtic style wasn't really "striped", but had more tartan or checkered pattersn but The men of Strathclyde and Gododdin lived north of Hadrian's Wall, in the area probably known as Valentia. Since Hadrian's Wall pretty much marked the extent of Roman influence, and given their close proximity to the Picts and Scotti of Dal Raida, it seems likely that the Men of the North retained more of their celtic heritage than, say, men from Dumnonia or Powys.

Nice picture. Very macho. What exactly is a "Celtic style" checkered pattern? Is it the identical tartaned tweeds found in the Hallstadt salt mines and China's Takla Macan desert? Apparently they were woven by the Tokarians and Saka (aka Sarmatians) These tweeds, made on similar looms, are still worn by the Chinese; and I have a great picture of colorful tartans hanging as votice rags at a sacred spring near Issyk Kul. They're Kyrgaz.

Did Hadrian's Wall mark the extent of Roman influence? Then why did Cunedda, a chieftain of the Votadini, have a greatgrandfather named Tacitus... and a grandfather named Paternus of the Red Cloak? Also, most current historians preclude Valentia as north of the wall. But true, the "average" man of the north probably considered himself a Celt, not a Roman.

5. Hehe, yes, and also the image from the Vergilis Romanus (the men seem to be wearing the same kind of footware). The riding boots notion comes from Geoffrey Ashe's description, though in truth I don't know how reliable that is. as for the caligae, I only said that b/c I didn't remember the name of the later footware.

I have two illustrations of Romano-Brythonic mosaics showing horsemen wearing high-ankled boots. Were they common? Were they an artistic exaggeration?

6. Wow, apparently I need spellcheck :oops: :lol: . Once again I'm drawing from the several illustrations and motifs from the Vergilis Romanus, as well as Gildas' description of Ambrosias being born "of the purple". Any dyes or fabric needed for these cloaks could have come from trade, especially with Byzantium.

The actual quote is "for their merit" the family of Ambrosius wore the purple. True, it did come from the murex snail, found in the eastern Med. But the reference was probably about Ambrosius Aurelianus, a praefect of Gaul prior to 350, possibly (or quite likely) the grandfather of Ambrosius. A praefect wore a purple robe falling to the knee, shorter than the Emperor's robe.

7. I admit, this comes mainly from all the illustrations I've seen, as well as the descriptions by Nennius and the Welsh Annals of Arthur bearing either the cross or the Virgin on his shield ("shoulders"). While I'm sure that the subordinates also had the crests of their lords on their shields, I don't know if they adopted the Roman symbols after the last cohorst left.

The Welsh Annals are spurious medieval additions to a late copy of Nennius (or Mark the Anchorite). The reference to the virgin and cross comes directly from the period of the Crusades, the 12th century. Personally, I think Arthur carried a bottle of Perrier Water and a Ham Sandwich. 8) Or was it a Ruben without the saurkraut?

8. I heard somewhere on another forum that you could chain or tie a lance to a mount to get the same impact as a couched lance, but I seriously doubt that. If there was a common way for cavalrymen to couch their lances without vaulting out of the saddle on impact, please let me know.

The standard method of holding a contus was two-handed, illustrated quite frequently in ancient graffitio. The saddles were substantial enough that the rider remained seated, even after running-through two men at once. This is mentioned in the Parthian wars, long before the period and better saddles of post-Roman Britain.

What we don't know about Men of the North is much more than what we do know. But it's a good rallying subject.