Sub-Roman Britain (Cavalry etc)

[Robert Vermaat]

Am I barking up a wrong tree here but don't the names give an indication of a continued use of an old hierarchy? Vortigern/Riothamus/Vortiporix .... very reminiscent of Vorcingetorix Not very Romano titles.
Vortiporix is considered possibly Irish in form and belonging to a British residing Irish dynasty allowed to stay as a client kingdom during Roman (occupation?)times.

Indeed, which is why their names gave rise to 19th c. ideas about 'Celtic' parties versus 'Imperial' parties, based on names alone. Vortigern the Celt against Ambrosius the Defender of Rome. Without much evidence, of course.

However, there must be something in those names. I cannot believe that late 4th-c. Roman parents (if you believe Vortigern's ancenstry) should have named their son with a Brythonis name. That's how I came up with my pet theory about a Romano-Briton possibly named Vitalinus, who took the Brythonic name Vortigern upon accession. But with the idea that this apparently appealed to people he want to woo - Britons.

Yes, there seems to have been an increase in old names like Caradoc (Caratacus) or Teithfallt (Cassivellaunus). But Latin names continue to be in use well into the 5th century and after (like Condidan of Glevum, defeated at Dyrham in 572).

NB: these names are NOT TITLES. We see them being given to very ordinary people. They have meanings of course, but that does not make them titles. names like Stralin or Augustus were also artificial, taken 'upon accession', but only some later became titles.

Votecorix is the Irish form. Vortiporix is not the correct form: Gildas mentions Uortipore, while Vortipors’ own gravestonehas been found in Castell Dwyran, Carmarthenshire, bearing the inscription Memoria Voteporigis protectoris (‘in memory of Vortiporix’) in Latin script, and Votecorigas (‘of Votecorix’) in Ogham.
Although we know of heavy Irish settlement in Dyfed, the dynasty need not be Irish - Vortipor's name in early Welsh becomes Gwrthefyr, which is exactly the same as the early Welsh form of Vortimer, son of Vortigern. :mrgreen: Both are British.