The Celtic Period
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Before the Angles, Saxons and Vikings, Britain and Ireland were inhabited by people speaking Celtic languages. Since the Celts of Britain (Albion) and Ireland (Hibernia) were illiterate in pre-Roman days, it was ancient Greek and Roman authors who first recorded the names of their tribes. There were two primary cultural influences on the Celtic tribes. The Hallstatt Culture from the Austrian area from about 700 BC. It was superseded by the La Tène Culture from the Switzerland area around 450 BC. The Romans about 43 AD tended to turn tribes into civitates (body of citizens who constitute a state), with a Roman-style town as a civic centre. Often they used the tribal names for these civitates. Compare the names on the map on the left and the names on the map below.
Names of Celtic tribes are on this map.
Celtic tribes.jpg 		English civitates.jpg
Red marker indicates where Yarnall ancestors were located in the 1400s.

A tribal name could reflect the landscape, such as the Dumnonii and Dobunni (lowland people). The tribal name could boast of fighting prowess, for example the Ordovices (hammer-warriors) of Wales and the Catuvellauni (excelling in battle).

Other names may distinguish between arable farmers and pastoralists like the Silures (seeders) of south-east Wales and the Epidii (horse-breakers) of Kintyre.
After the Romans came into contact with Celtic tribes in Britain, their writings reveal warfare with specific tribes. By the time the inhabitants of the British Isles were producing literature of their own, five languages were spoken within the British islands (Latin, English, British, Irish and Pictish). The Irish spoke Gaelic, the more archaic form of Insular Celtic.
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