Tag Archive | Wessex

A little about the Dobunni

Hello everyone.  As many of you heard, I am starting a new series besides the Peers of Beinan:  historical fiction stories for children about inspiring women in history.


The first volume of five stories will cover ancient and medieval British history with a target audience of age seven and up.


The first of these stories has no title yet, but is about Queen Boudicca and is told by a Dobunni woman by the name of Keita to her daughter Moira as she and her daughter make cheese, a food the Roman soldiers particularly disliked about the British diet.

Here is the little historical blurb about the Dobunni that will appear at the end of the story — along with bibliography (of course)


Did you know?

The Dobunni were dark haired, not light haired like most native British peoples, suggesting they came from ancient Spain.  The name is believed to mean “dark people.”  They differed culturally from their neighbors in many ways, including their preference for peace instead of war.  The Dobunni were brilliant crafts people, as well as farmers like their neighbors, who chose to accept Roman rule in 43 CE.  They maintained a sizable territory in southwest-central England, including the communities that became Bristol, Bath (known as Aqua Sulis by the Romans), and their capital of Cirencester in Gloucestershire. In the 5th/6th centuries the Dobunni were slaughtered in great numbers by the invading Saxons with many of the survivors fleeing to Wales.  Dobunni lands became part of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Mercia and Wessex, both which played key roles in creating the English national identity.


Read more about Queen Boudicca, the Iceni, Celtic Britain, and early medieval British history