Wroxeter Stone
The Wroxeter Stone, dated to c. 460-75 AD, was unearthed in 1967 at Wroxeter, England (earlier the Roman city of Viroconium Cornoviorum).[1] It bears an inscription in an Insular Celtic language, identified by the Celtic Inscribed Stones Project (CISP) at UCL as "partly-Latinized Primitive Irish".[2]
It was included in A History of Ireland in 100 Objects (# 21) under the name of the Cunorix Stone. It is in the care of English Heritage and in 2017 was not on public display. The inscription, probably on a re-used gravestone, is dated to 460-475 AD, and comes from a period several decades after the Romans abandoned Roman Britain, and Irish raiders had begun to make permanent settlements in South Wales and south-western Britain.[3]
Inscription[]
The text of the inscription reads:[1] CVNORIX | MACVSM/A | QVICO[L]I[N]E, traditionally rendered as: CVNORIX MACVS MAQVI COLINE which has been translated as Cunorix son of Maqui Coline, where Cunorix and Maqui Coline are personal names.[2]
The National Museum of Ireland render the inscription as: "Hound-king, son of the tribe of Holly".[3] "Cunorix" may relate to the etymology of the name of Cynric of Wessex, a 6th-century king.
Notes[]
- ^ a b Wright, R.P. and Jackson, K.H. (1968) `A Late Inscription from Wroxeter', The Antiquaries Journal, 48, part 2, pp. 296-300 doi:10.1017/S0003581500034934
- ^ a b CISP database, WRXTR/1, recovered 14 Sep 2014
- ^ a b "Cunorix Stone", A History of Ireland in 100 Objects
- 5th-century inscriptions
- 1967 in England
- Archaeology of England
- Archaeological sites in Shropshire
- Irish inscriptions
- Sub-Roman Britain
- Steles