Homosexuality in Britain (5th/6th century AC): Celts, Saxons, Picts and Scots

[lucre_noin]

I usually write a lot of arthurian stories but this time I'd love to document well myself about homosexuality and arthurian times.
The story is in 5th/6th century and the societies/cultures in the stories are: Celts, Picts, Scots, Saxons and Celts conquered by Romans. And, of course, one of the male characters is in love with another male character.

Comments

[transemacabre]

I strongly advise you to read books about this subject, as most websites are going to range from useless to outright misleading. Obviously, you're dealing with multiple problems when it comes to researching this topic, not the least of which is derth of documentary evidence, but also what evidence we do have may be rendered questionable or obsolete considering the prejudices of authors and the cultural differences between far-flung Celtic tribes.

As noted by others, we have testimony from the Greek and Latin writers of rampant homosexuality among the Celts, dating back to Aristotle who in his Politics notes that the Celts "have manifestly honored sexual intercourse among males."

Diodorus Siculus, a contemporary of Caesar and Augustus, traveled in Gaul and reported that "the Celts, although they have very beautiful women, abandon themselves in passion for other men; so that some of them sleep between two lovers on beds of animal skins." Strabo, who died in the second decade AD, tells us of "the young men in Gaul who are shamelessly generous with their boyish charms." Athenaeus, who lived during the reigns of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus, concurs with Diodorus on the Celts' sleeping habits.

By the time your story is set, Britain's Celts had lived under Roman rule for several centuries, and the local cultures and religions were syncretized with Roman elements (ex: a native Celtic god was associated with, and took the name of, Mars Silvanus), and also there were Christians in Roman Britain as well. If you have specific questions, let me know and I will dig through my books and try to answer them as best I can (keeping in mind the limitations of the source material, of course).

As an aside, here's a list of authentic Roman British Celtic cognomen. I'm just putting this here because it drives me crazy in works of fiction when the author just sticks a few syllables together and decrees it "exotic enough" (not implying that's what you're doing, but this might be helpful nonetheless!). These names are all those of potters from Roman Britain in the first and second century AD, who's names are attested in their own stamps on their products.

Viroma
Esunertus
Mottius Bollus
Aesico
Aesuminus
Camulacus
Moricamulus
Malliacus
Matuacus
Vediacus
Litugenus
Matugenus
Cacumattus
Cintugnatus
Cunopectus
Setibogius
Amminus
Orbissa
Bonoxus
Tamesubugus

It should be noted that several of these names are derived from ancient Celtic gods; Aesico, Aesuminus, and Esunertus from the god Esus, and Moricamulus and Camulacus from the god Camulus. The Roman British from this period used Latin nomen and praenomen such as Quintus Valerius, that sort of thing. The Celts commonly took on the Latin praenomen and nomen of either the Roman citizen who freed them, or (commonly) the emperor who granted them citizenship. So we find Marcus Ulpius Januarius, attested 139 AD, a name that suggests he was named for Trajan, among many other examples.

[charlycrash]

Also, in people's full, full names you saw the sort of stuff like in my LJ name ("tribu Cantiaci domo Cantium").

[lucre_noin]

Do not worry, I'll only use Arthurian names XD but surely this will be useful for OC.

Thank you very much!

[sollersuk]

If you use Arthurian names, the manuscripts are all from the Middle Ages so the names are all in the Welsh form, from after the language shift around 600. We know the original forms of some names (Maelgwn was originaly Maglocunus) but even Roman names were altered (Constantine became Custennin).

[lucre_noin]

I will use the Mabinogion names for most of the characters and also for Malory, for commodity D:

[sollersuk]

Ah, then you're happy with anachronistic names. Even the Mabinogion forms are nearly 1,000 years later than the dates asked about.

[lucre_noin]

Yes : D
Mostly because I use some Italian translations because I write in Italian.

[sollersuk]

Well, okay, but it would feel to me as if someone writing about Romans in English were using French or Italian forms of the names. It rather takes away the point of doing research into the Late Antiquity period.

[lucre_noin]

That's the reason I did not research the words that existed in the 5th century (or their meaning- well, of course, I would never use words as radio, tomatoes because those were things that did not exist) but only the cultures : D

[transemacabre]

I have never come across anything about lesbians in Celtic cultures from this period, but if I do I will report back with my findings.

[profbutters]

Beware of anything written by Greeks or Romans (or anybody, really) about "barbarians." Men sleeping with men or boys is sometimes related as a slur, as is incest or bestiality: a way of justifying a sense of superiority. I should probably clarify here that *I* do not equate homosexuality with incest or bestiality; I'm saying that sometimes ancient writers do. Even contemporary sources can't necessarily be trusted. Suetonius says that Augustus slept with Julius Caesar and burnt his leg hair off with hot nuts to be more attractive to men, and then almost in the same breath relates a mythical story about "the God Augustus." Aristotle in particular doesn't scruple to write about things he knows nothing about in places he's never been.

Also, if you want to write about Celts or Picts, take into account that Celtic Christianity was to a certain extent its own thing, which caused trouble later on.