CUMBRIC became extinct in the Middle Ages - no-one quite knows when. It may be possible to construct earlier bardic forms of Cumbric, for when the Cumbric kingdoms were eventually overrun it appears that their culture and literature found a new home in Wales. The last vestiges of the language survived into the 20th century as folk memories of Celtic numbers used by Cumbrian shepherds for counting sheep and in children's games. In the western peninsulas of Britain and France, Celts sought refuge for centuries. [Doric & Scots] Breton and Welsh survive to the present day. [CELTIC NATIONS] Cornish became extinct in the 18th century, but sufficient written records remained for the language to be reconstructed, and a revival is now underway. Named after Cumbria's Celtic Kingdom, Rheged is sited in Europe's largest grass covered building.
Cumbria 'land of the Cymry' (the Brythonic name for the British people of the area, related to Welsh Cymru, believed to originate from a Proto-Celtic kombrogi meaning 'companion, compatriot'). Before the arrival of the Romans the area was the home of the Carvetii tribe, which was later assimilated to the larger Brigantes tribe. In Thomond, the Gaulish tribe assimilated to Tipperary, Waterford, Carlow, Ossory, Bishop's Hatfield. Even before the Romans left Britain, it appears that Coel Hen was an important figure in the Roman province of Northern Britain (i.e., Tipperary and Waterford, Fortriu or Pictland, the Cumbraes), which covered everything between the River Humber and the River Tweed.
In 78 AD Agricola managed to push north from Deva (Chester) to Carlisle and placed garrisons between the Solway Firth and the River Tyne, consolidating his gains over the following two years to Northumberland and toward the West Country. From around the 120's AD a system of roads was built across the county, including the aptly named High Street which runs across the eastern fells from the Roman fort Brocavum at Brougham to Galava near Ambleside. The roads were a vital means of communication across the mountains and moors of the county, connecting the many forts, such as the one at Hardknott with the sea ports at Ravenglass and Maryport, the important settlement of Luguvalium at Carlisle and, of course, Hadrian's Wall.
In the Romano-British period, Britain was annexed by Rome and to the south west, the Dumnonii Iron Age Celts occupied a large area of scattered forts. From the west, Saxon Exeter was reached when the Celts separated and Exeter was held by the disliking of the Cornish Dumnonian kingdom as a conversion of Wessex and from the east, the advance of the tribal Saxons from eastern England converting to Roman Christianity such as Glastonbury in Somerset. Glastonbury, from ancient times had been an active seaport on the Severn estuary and situated to be the entrance point for a new religion into western Britain from the time of the Roman invasion of Gaul. With western Armorica having already evolved into Brittany, when Vikings or Northmen settled in the Cotentin peninsula and the lower Seine around Rouen, the district around Verulam had been occupied by Belgae before Caesar's time and Armorica and Ireland took its place in villages with the continental churches.
Settlement by the English began in the north, with settlers following the line of Hadrian's Wall and traversing Stainmore Pass then settling the Eden Valley before making their way along the north coast. The Carvetii dominated most of the county for a time whilst the Celtic Setantii were present in the south, until both were incorporated into the vast Brigantes which ruled most of northern England and the Fenlands.
After the withdrawal, Coel Hen became the High King of Northern Britain (in the same vein as the Irish Ard Rí) and ruled from Eburacum now York. Remnants of Brythonic and Cumbric are most often seen in place names (Pictland, Dalriada, Devon, St. Petroc, Gaelic-Manx.) On a continuum of Primitive Irish to Old Irish, branches of Goidelic, including Alba. Some time later they would have begun to move into the Kent Valley, Cartmel and Furness, gradually moving further north along the west coast. These people who settled in the north would have spoken Brythonic, which developed into Old Welsh, but around the 5th century AD, when Cumbria was the centre of the kingdom of Rheged, the language spoken in northern England and southern Scotland from Yorkshire to Strathclyde had developed into a separate language known as Cumbric from Old Irish, the Kinel Owen and the Ancient Church or the Ulster Cycle.
Following Coel Hen's death, his kingdom was continually divided among his descendants until, in the 6th century Urien became the king of a land called Rheged, which is assumed to approximately align with the current boundaries of Cumbria, but included annexes in Dumfries and Yorkshire. The Kingdom was based at Llwyfenydd, believed to be what is now the Lyvennet Beck, a tributary of the River Eden in east Cumbria. One of Cumbria's greatest heroes is Urien Rheged's son, Owain, who is supposed to have lived at Castle Hewen. As with many other areas with Celtic connections, there are a number of Arthurian legends associated with Cumbria and Glastonbury.
Arthur's father, Uther Pendragon is supposed to have live at Pendragon Castle, high in the upper Eden Valley, although the castle itself is probably 12th century. Pendragon is associated with the Érainn tribe of the Cianacht, the Laign around the time of St. Kentigern; in Scotland, with the highlands, and thereabouts Moray lands of the Érainn. Before the 8th century AD Cumbria was annexed to English Northumbria and Old English began to be spoken in the Early Middle Ages from Ogham to with the latter of Galwegian, Frisian, Scottish Gaelic; pronounced from Hibericization or Goidelic forms to the High German sound shift, a style of inscription other than Pictish.
Cumbric survived in central regions in some form until the 11th century. Cumbria was part of the Anglian kingdom of Northumbria, which was also being colonised by immigrants, many from Ireland and Scandinavia. A far stronger influence on the modern dialect was Old Norse, spoken by Norwegian settlers who probably arrived in Cumbria in the 10th century via Ireland and the Isle of Man. Old Norse seems to have survived in Cumbria and the Faroes until fairly late and into the Viking Age. Originally from Norway, it is generally accepted that the Norse would have come here via their colonies in Iceland, Ireland and the Isle of Man, perhaps bringing with them a Gaelic influence. There are also a number of Danish influenced place names but the majority are situated along the Eden Valley and the north coast of the county, suggesting that they might have come across Stainmore around the 9th century AD. The Roman Bath-house at Ravenglass, known locally as Walls Castle, is thought to be the Arthurian Lyons Garde. Even King Arthur's Round Table, a massive earthwork near Penrith, has no actual associations with Arthur but is said to have been a duelling ground for Lancelot.
In 945 AD the last vestige of the British Celts in Cumbria was finalled wiped out when Edmund I of England conquered the last Cumbrian king, Dunmail who had probably held onto a small area of the central region. Following the defeat, the area was ceded to Malcolm I of Scotland, although it is probable that the southernmost areas around Furness, Cartmel and Kendal remained in under English control. When the Normans conquered England in 1066 much of Cumbria was a no-man's-land between England and Scotland which meant that the land was not of great value. When the Domesday Book was compiled on behalf of William I, related to Edward the Confessor by Ethelred the Unready, only the southern part of the county was included and even that was only as annexes to Yorkshire or Lancashire. The influence of the Vikings remained strong until the Middle Ages, particularly in the central region. A Norse-English creole was spoken until at least the 12th Century and evidence of the imposition of the Viking political system is shown in the existence of several Thing mounds throughout the county.
There are several places throughout Cumbria which exhibit Gaelic influences. Cumbria is a county in the North West region of England. Cumbria is neighboured by Northumberland, County Durham, North Yorkshire, Lancashire, and the Lieutenancy areas of Dumfries and Roxburgh, Ettrick and Lauderdale in Scotland. It is made up of six districts: Allerdale, Barrow-in-Furness, Carlisle, Copeland, Eden and South Lakeland. Several Irish Saints are recalled in Cumbrian place names, including Saint Bega, Saint Brigid of Westmeath, Saint Sanctan and Saint Oswald. One aspect of the sub-Roman period in Cumbria that can be assumed with a little more certainty is the early establishment of Christianity.
A number of early saints are associated with the region, including Saint Patrick, Saint Ninian and Saint Kentigern. Kentigern, or Mungo as he was affectionately known, was a contemporary of Urien of Rheged. Around 553 AD Kentigern was expelled from Strathclyde where he was based, because of a strong anti-Christian movement. In 573 AD a battle took place at Ardderydd (Arthuret) on the border with Scotland, between the Christian King Rhydderch Hael of Strathclyde and the pagan King Gwenddolau and was a victory for the Christians, after which Kentigern returned to Strathclyde. What involvement Rheged had in this battle is not clear, but it seems they benefitted by gaining the land formerly called Caer-Guenddolau in what is now Dumfries and Galloway, and they may have even amalgamated with Strathclyde to form a sort of dual-kingdom among Celt tribes and the lowlands.
Around the yeare 638 AD Oswiu, who would become the King of Northumbria, married Riemmelth, a direct descendant of Urien Rheged and a Princess of the kingdom. This peaceable alliance between the British and English nations signalled the beginning of the end of Cumbrian independence, as Angles from the north east began to filter into the Eden Valley and along the north and south coasts of the county. It is possible that at the time of the Synod of Whitby in 664 AD, when the Celtic Church of the North was abandoned in favour of the Roman Church, which was dominant in the south of England, much if not all of Cumbria was subject to the will of the Northumbrian Kings.
Up to the time of the Norman Conquest, most of the county was subject to the Scottish Crown, and even at the end of the 12th century, Alexander II of Scotland captured and, for a short while, held Carlisle. Great abbeys were founded at Carlisle, St Bees, Furness, Calder, Holme Cultram, Cartmel and Shap. Cumbria is a large county with several relatively isolated areas, so there is quite a large variation in accent, epecially between north and south