istoryworld
Events relating to the celts
Over many centuries Indo-European tribes (Greeks, Germans, Balts, Italics, Celts) move into new territories throughout western Europe
The swirling decorative arts arts lines of Celtic metalwork at Hallstatt begin a tradition which lives on in illuminated manuscripts and stone Celtic crosses
The Celts, moving west from central Europe, settle in France and northern Spain
Celtic tribes , pushing south through the Alps, reach Rome and sack the city
The Celts move across the Channel into Britain, soon becoming the dominant ethnic group in the island
Julius Caesar makes the first of his two invasions of Celtic Britain
The Celtic leader Vercingetorix inflicts an unaccustomed defeat on Julius Caesar, at Gergovia, but is captured later in the year
Vercingetorix is a prize exhibit in Caesar's great triumph in Rome, but the Celtic chieftain is strangled once the procession is over
The death of Cymbeline is a prelude to the renewed Roman invasion of Celtic Britain
The Celtic chieftains of Britain adapt willingly to Roman customs and comforts
Roman legions begin to be withdrawn from Britain, leaving the Celtic population increasingly vulnerable
Angles, Saxons and other Germanic groups invade southern England and steadily push the Celts westwards
St Patrick creates a strong tradition of Celtic Christianity in Ireland, from his base in Armagh
St Finnian founds the first of Ireland's great Celtic monasteries, at Clonard
If there is any historical basis for the legendary King Arthur, it is as a Celtic chieftain resisting the Anglo-Saxons in the sixth century
St Columba establishes a monastery on the island of Iona, from which Celtic Christianity is carried to Scotland and northern England
St Columban founds a monastery at Bobbio, the furthest outpost of Celtic Christianity
The Book of Durrow, one of the earliest of the great Celtic manuscripts, is written and illuminated in Ireland
The king of Northumbria summons a synod at Whitby to hear the arguments of Roman and Celtic Christians, then opts for Rome
The Lindisfarne Gospels are written and illuminated by Celtic monks on the Scottish island of Lindisfarne
The Anglo-Saxons have a name for the Celts west of Offa's dyke - wealas or Welsh, meaning foreigners
Fingal, supposedly by the medieval Celtic poet Ossian, has a huge and fashionable success but is revealed to be a forgery by James Macpherson
The play Cathleen ni Houlihan, by W.B. Yeats and Lady Gregory, fosters Irish nationalism
The Irish painter Jack Yeats develops a romantic Expressionist style, with a new interest in Celtic myth