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122-403: The Region of León , Leonese region or Leonese Country ( Leonese : País Llionés , Spanish : región de León and Asturian : rexón de Llión ) is a historic territory defined by the 1833 Spanish administrative organisation . The Leonese region encompassed the provinces of Salamanca , Zamora , and León , now part of the modern Spanish autonomous community of Castile and León . As

244-649: A "Leonese language" descending from Latin and encompassing two groups: the Asturian dialects on one hand, and dialects spoken in the provinces of León and Zamora in Spain and a related dialect in Trás-os-Montes ( Portugal ), on the other hand. The Asturleonese dialect (considered part of the Leonese dialects) of Miranda do Douro ( Portugal ), Mirandese , is most certainly a dialect on its own, considering

366-728: A band of druids, who, with hands uplifted to the sky, poured forth terrible imprecations on the heads of the invaders. He says these "terrified our soldiers who had never seen such a thing before". The courage of the Romans, however, soon overcame such fears, according to the Roman historian; the Britons were put to flight, and the sacred groves of Mona were cut down. Tacitus is also the only primary source that gives accounts of druids in Britain, but portrays them negatively, as ignorant savages. In

488-600: A categorization subsequently adopted by Piggott, divided the Classical accounts of the druids into two groups, distinguished by their approach to the subject as well as their chronological contexts. She calls the first of these groups the "Posidonian" tradition after one of its primary exponents, Posidonious, and notes that it takes a largely critical attitude towards the Iron Age societies of Western Europe that emphasizes their "barbaric" qualities. The second of these two groups

610-406: A druid, for they were the intermediaries between the people and the divinities. He remarked upon the importance of prophets in druidic ritual: These men predict the future by observing the flight and calls of birds and by the sacrifice of holy animals: all orders of society are in their power ... and in very important matters they prepare a human victim, plunging a dagger into his chest; by observing

732-602: A government agency to promote minority languages and a nongovernmental agency in an advisory capacity in matters pertaining to minority languages. The Academy of the Asturian Language has sponsored linguistic and sociolinguistic research, which encompasses the non-Asturian dialects of Asturian-Leonese. Two congresses about Leonese have been held, at which the following measures were proposed to move towards language standardization: For about 15 years cultural associations have offered Leonese-language courses, sometimes with

854-547: A little piece of land. They are thought to have worshipped their gods in the forests. Celtic tribes that arrived in the Leonese Region were: To complete its conquest of Iberian Peninsula, Rome had to conquer the territories in the north that were still free. Galba 's forces campaigned in the area, carrying out a massacre in Ocellum ( Zamora ) in 150 BCE. They fought against Viriathus , who won several battles against

976-582: A narrow geographical sense, Leonese is distinct from the dialects grouped under the Asturian language . However, the division between Leonese and Asturian is due to the distinctly different identities of both areas, separated by a mighty mountain range, while the dialects have enough common traits to consider them part of a single language, Astur-Leonese or Asturian-Leonese. The principle isoglosses in this region do not divide Asturias and Leon, dialectal areas (western, central, eastern) are in fact shaped along

1098-519: A north-south axis (thus encompassing lands both north and south of the mountains , both in Asturias and in Castile and León ). In the west of Asturias and Leon, dialects of Asturo-Leonese begin to transition into the closely related Galician language , with the westernmost variants effectively constituting dialects of Galician. On the other hand, Menéndez Pidal and fellow scholars discussed

1220-553: A number of female druids, often sharing similar prominent cultural and religious roles with their male counterparts. The Irish have several words for female druids, such as bandruí ("woman-druid"), found in tales such as Táin Bó Cúailnge ; Bodhmall , featured in the Fenian Cycle , and one of Fionn mac Cumhaill 's childhood caretakers; and Tlachtga , daughter of the druid Mug Ruith who, according to Irish tradition,

1342-543: A prescribed number of years they commence a new life in a new body". In 1928, the folklorist Donald A. Mackenzie speculated that Buddhist missionaries had been sent by the Indian king Ashoka . Caesar noted the druidic doctrine that the original ancestor of the tribe was the god that he referred to as " Dispater ", which means "Father Dis". Diogenes Laertius , in the 3rd century CE, wrote that "Druids make their pronouncements by means of riddles and dark sayings, teaching that

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1464-480: A professor of archaeology at Cardiff University, has noted that Suetonius's army would have passed very near the site while travelling to deal with Boudicca , and postulates that the sacrifice may have been connected. A 1996 discovery of a skeleton that was buried with advanced medical and possibly divinatory equipment has, however, been nicknamed the " Druid of Colchester ". An excavated burial in Deal, Kent discovered

1586-462: A result of rural depopulation and loss of manpower. Nomadic pastoralism remains in some areas, large flocks, mainly of sheep, they travel hundreds of miles each year from the flat land to pasture land of mountains as in the Bierzo, Leon Cantabrian valleys. It is increasingly hard work with less manpower, having previously established a testimony of the first importance on the history and cultural roots of

1708-672: A slight population increase due to an exhaustive process of urbanization, but despite this, the area continues to suffer severe Leon depopulation. The phenomenon is also reflected in the number of municipalities with fewer than 100 inhabitants, which increased sevenfold between 1960 and 1986. Outside the provincial capital, notable for its population and cities such as San Andrés of Ponferrada in León, Rabanedo and Bejar in Salamanca. There are two cities with over 100,000 inhabitants, namely Salamanca (pop. 159,754) and Leon (pop. 135,059). Fields of

1830-897: A study of magic widely attributed to Aristotle . Both texts are now lost, but are quoted in the 2nd century CE work Vitae by Diogenes Laërtius . Some say that the study of philosophy originated with the barbarians. In that among the Persians there existed the Magi, and among the Babylonians or Assyrians the Chaldaei, among the Indians the Gymnosophistae, and among the Celts and Gauls men who were called druids and semnothei, as Aristotle relates in his book on magic, and Sotion in

1952-543: A text which laid the foundations for a castellanoleonés regionalism. The text was published in the Diario de León . During the Second Republic, especially in 1936, there was a big regional enabling activity to a region of eleven provinces, and even came to develop a basis for autonomous status. El Diario de Leon called for the formalization of this initiative and the establishment of an autonomous region with

2074-505: Is a set of vernacular Romance language varieties currently spoken in northern and western portions of the historical region of León in Spain (the modern provinces of León , Zamora , and Salamanca ), the village of Riudenore (in both Spain and Portugal ) and Guadramil in Portugal , sometimes considered another language. In the past, it was spoken in a wider area, including most of

2196-757: Is associated with the Hill of Ward , site of prominent festivals held in Tlachtga's honour during the Middle Ages . Biróg , another bandruí of the Tuatha Dé Danann , plays a key role in an Irish folktale where the Fomorian warrior Balor attempts to thwart a prophecy foretelling that he would be killed by his own grandson by imprisoning his only daughter Eithne in the tower of Tory Island , away from any contact with men. Bé Chuille (daughter of

2318-465: Is fading: " ... It is extended to the regions between the interior area and the Ribera del Órbigo ( Maragatería , Cepeda , Omaña ... ). In Zamora, the region of La Carballeda – with the subregion La Requejada – and Aliste , with at least a part of its adjacent lands ( Alba  [ es ] and Tábara ). This area is characterized by a blur and progressive disappearance, greater as we move to

2440-492: Is given legal cover by the Organic Law 5 / 1983 for "reasons of national interest", as required by Article 144 c) Spanish Constitution for the provinces who have not exercised their right time. At present, León is composed of the provinces of León , Zamora , and Salamanca , is now part of the autonomous community of Castile and León within the modern Kingdom of Spain . Political parties representing Leonesism ,

2562-488: Is no more than that which is due to a bóaire (an ordinary freeman). Another law-text, Uraicecht Becc ('small primer'), gives the druid a place among the dóer-nemed , or professional classes, which depend upon a patron for their status, along with wrights, blacksmiths, and entertainers, as opposed to the fili , who alone enjoyed free nemed -status. While druids featured prominently in many medieval Irish sources, they were far rarer in their Welsh counterparts. Unlike

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2684-864: Is regulated by the Academy of the Asturian Language (ALLA) and promoted by the Asturian Government and local legislation, the Leonese dialects are not officially promoted or regulated. In Leonese, any of five vowel phonemes, /a, e, i, o, u/ , may occur in stressed position. In the unstressed positions, the distinction between close and mid vowels is neutralized in favor of the archiphonemes /ɪ/ and /ʊ/ . Leonese has two genders (masculine and feminine) and two numbers (singular and plural ). The main masculine noun and adjective endings are -u for singular and -os for plural. Typical feminine endings are -a for singular and -as for plural. Masculine and feminine nouns ending in -e in

2806-530: Is termed the "Alexandrian" group, being centred on the scholastic traditions of Alexandria , Egypt ; she notes that it took a more sympathetic and idealized attitude toward these foreign peoples. Piggott drew parallels between this categorisation and the ideas of "hard primitivism" and "soft primitivism" identified by historians of ideas A. O. Lovejoy and Franz Boas . One school of thought has suggested that all of these accounts are inherently unreliable, and might be entirely fictional. They have suggested that

2928-625: Is the Nodicia de kesos , written between 974 and 980 AD, an inventory of cheeses owned by a monastery written in the margin of the reverse of a document written in Latin. During the 12th and 13th centuries, Leonese reached its territorial zenith as the administrative language of the Kingdom of León , a literary language ( Poema de Elena y María  [ es ] and the Libro de Alexandre ), in

3050-427: Is the case with other historical regions , and continuing with centuries of history, the inhabitants of the Leonese region are still called Leonese. Even today, according with official autonomous government, the historical territorial adjective is used in addition with the modern annexed territory, the rest of Old Castile , being "Castilians and Leonese". In 1983 the provincial government of León supported autonomy for

3172-643: Is the only ancient author drawing the association between oaks and druids and the intensifying modifier sense of the first element fits better with other similar compounds attested in Old Irish ( suí 'sage, wise man' < *su-wid-s 'good knower', duí 'idiot, fool' < *du-wid-s 'bad knower', ainb 'ignorant' < *an-wid-s 'not-knower'). The two elements go back to the Proto-Indo-European roots *deru- and *weid- "to see". Both Old Irish druí and Middle Welsh dryw could refer to

3294-573: The Case 89/1984 of 28 September on the merits of law 5, which reads as follows: and continues To coincide with that ruling, Leon came in various forms, some numbers, in favor of Leon single option, which some sources brought together a number close to 90,000 attendees, this being the largest rally in the city Democracy until after March 11. In a resolution adopted on 31 July 1981, the Diputación Provincial de Segovia decides to exercise

3416-556: The Historia Augusta , Alexander Severus received a prophecy about his death from a Gallic druidess ( druiada ). The work also has Aurelian questioning druidesses about the fate of his descendants, to which they answered in favor of Claudius II . Flavius Vopiscus is also quoted as recalling a prophecy received by Diocletian from a druidess of the Tungri . The earliest surviving literary evidence of druids emerges from

3538-702: The Celtic Church like the " Táin Bó Cúailnge " (12th century), but also in later Christian legends where they are largely portrayed as sorcerers who opposed the introduction of Christianity by missionaries. In the wake of the Celtic revival during the 18th and 19th centuries, fraternal and neopagan groups were founded based on ideas about the ancient druids, a movement known as Neo-Druidism . Many popular notions about druids, based on misconceptions of 18th-century scholars, have been largely superseded by more recent study. The English word druid derives from

3660-649: The Coligny calendar , with druidic culture. Nonetheless, some archaeologists have attempted to link certain discoveries with written accounts of the druids. The archaeologist Anne Ross linked what she believed to be evidence of human sacrifice in Celtic pagan society (such as the Lindow Man bog body) to the Greco-Roman accounts of human sacrifice being officiated-over by the druids. Miranda Aldhouse-Green –

3782-591: The Roman Empire " and one that required civilizing with Roman rule and values, thus justifying his wars of conquest. Sean Dunham suggested that Caesar had simply taken the Roman religious functions of senators and applied them to the druids. Daphne Nash believed it "not unlikely" that he "greatly exaggerates" both the centralized system of druidic leadership and its connection to Britain. Other historians have accepted that Caesar's account might be more accurate. Norman J. DeWitt surmised that Caesar's description of

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3904-498: The wren , possibly connected with an association of that bird with augury in Irish and Welsh tradition (see also Wren Day ). Sources by ancient and medieval writers provide an idea of the religious duties and social roles involved in being a druid. The Greco-Roman and the vernacular Irish sources agree that the druids played an important part in pagan Celtic society. In his description, Julius Caesar wrote that they were one of

4026-415: The " Deal Warrior "– a man who was buried at around 200–150 BCE with a sword and shield, and wearing an almost unique head-band, which is too thin to be part of a leather helmet. The crown is bronze with a broad band around the head, and a thin strip that crosses the top of the head horizontally. Since traces of hair were left on the metal, it must have been worn without any padding beneath it. The form of

4148-433: The 1980s and 1990s led to the closure of numerous mines, social impoverishment, with a sharp increase in unemployment and the start of a new migration to other Spanish regions. Throughout the 1990s increased the influx of tourists to the Leonese Region, driven mainly by the historical and cultural value of their cities and also by the natural beauty and landscape of its various regions. The World Heritage city of Salamanca and

4270-547: The 19th and 20th centuries, the region is ascribed to the provinces of León Palencia and Valladolid (from the Royal Decree of 30 November 1855). Valladolid and Palencia be ascribed to the region of Leon Franco until the early 1960s that are considered again in Old Castile. In June 1978, Castilla and Leon won the autonomic system (the end of 1977 it had obtained Catalonia) by Royal Decree Law 20/1978 of 13 June. In

4392-449: The 1st-century CE emperors Tiberius and Claudius , and had disappeared from the written record by the 2nd century. In about 750 AD, the word druid appears in a poem by Blathmac , who wrote about Jesus , saying that he was "better than a prophet, more knowledgeable than every druid, a king who was a bishop and a complete sage." The druids often appear in both the tales from Irish mythology first written down by monks and nuns of

4514-594: The 5th century by: When Moors arrived to the Iberian Peninsula, they defeated Don Rodrigo in the Battle of Guadalete. Muza conquered Salamanca in 712. His forces met with no resistance; only the towns of Benavente and Veldeiras did they clash with opposition. The Kingdom of León was an independent kingdom situated in the northwest region of the Iberian Peninsula . It was founded in 910 AD when

4636-561: The Bierzo region of Leon, the route Asturica assumed Augusta (Astorga) to Emerita Augusta (Mérida) and Hispalis (Sevilla). Centuries later, after the Spanish civil war, mining was one of the factors contributing to economic development in the region. However, the production of iron, tin and tungsten declined dramatically since the 1970s, while the anthracite coal mines and were maintained by domestic demand of coal for power stations. The economic restructuring that affected mining areas Leon during

4758-665: The Christian princes of Asturias along the northern coast of the peninsula shifted their main seat from Oviedo to the city of León . The Atlantic provinces became the Kingdom of Portugal in 1139, and the eastern, inland part of the kingdom was joined to the Kingdom of Castile by 1230. In 1188 the Kingdom of León developed the Cortes of León , one of the earliest Parliaments in Europe, and in 1202 asserted its fiscal authority for

4880-507: The East, of the features still clearly seen in the previous area. The gradual and negative character of this characteristic explains how vague the limits are". A "speaker of Leonese" is defined here as a person who knows (and can speak) a variety of Leonese. There is no linguistic census of the number of Leonese speakers in the provinces of León and Zamora, and estimates vary from 5,000 to 50,000. Two sociolinguistic studies, in northern Leon and

5002-572: The Gauls' teaching that the souls of men are immortal, and that after a fixed number of years they will enter into another body Caesar made similar observations: With regard to their actual course of studies, the main object of all education is, in their opinion, to imbue their scholars with a firm belief in the indestructibility of the human soul, which, according to their belief, merely passes at death from one tenement to another; for by such doctrine alone, they say, which robs death of all its terrors, can

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5124-513: The German tribes to the east of the Rhine . According to Caesar, many young men were trained to be druids, during which time they had to learn all the associated lore by heart. He also said that their main teaching was "the souls do not perish, but after death pass from one to another". They were concerned with "the stars and their movements, the size of the cosmos and the earth, the world of nature, and

5246-459: The Greco-Roman writers were accurate in their claims. J. Rives remarked that it was "ambiguous" whether druids ever performed such sacrifices, for the Romans and Greeks were known to project what they saw as barbarian traits onto foreign peoples including not only druids but Jews and Christians as well, thereby confirming their own "cultural superiority" in their own minds. Nora Chadwick , an expert in medieval Welsh and Irish literature who believed

5368-649: The Greek historian Strabo , who wrote that their island was forbidden to men, but the women came to the mainland to meet their husbands. Which deities they honored is unknown. According to Pomponius Mela, the Gallizenae acted as both councilors and practitioners of the healing arts: Sena, in the Britannic Sea, opposite the coast of the Osismi, is famous for its oracle of a Gaulish god, whose priestesses, living in

5490-482: The Irish Language defines a druí (which has numerous variant forms, including draoi ) as a magician, wizard, or diviner. In the literature, the druids cast spells and turn people into animals or stones, or curse peoples' crops to be blighted. When druids are portrayed in early Irish sagas and in saints' lives that are set in pre-Christian Ireland, they are usually given high social status. The evidence of

5612-513: The Irish texts, the Welsh term commonly seen as referring to the druids, dryw , was used to refer purely to prophets and not to sorcerers or pagan priests. Historian Ronald Hutton noted that there were two explanations for the use of the term in Wales: the first was that it was a survival from the pre-Christian era, when dryw had been ancient priests; the second was that the Welsh had borrowed

5734-535: The Latin word druidēs (plural), which was considered by ancient Roman writers to come from the native Gaulish word for these figures. Other Roman texts employ the form druidae , while the same term was used by Greek ethnographers as δρυΐδης ( druidēs ). Although no extant Romano-Celtic inscription is known to contain the form, the word is cognate with the later insular Celtic words: Old Irish druí 'druid, sorcerer'; Old Cornish druw ; and Middle Welsh dryw ' seer ; wren '. Based on all available forms,

5856-803: The Leonese Adelantamiento consisted of the territories between the Picos de Europa and the Duero river. The Leonese lands have been inhabited since the Upper Paleolithic . There is evidence of human presence in the north of the province of Leon, mainly in Laciana and Valdeón . From the Lower Paleolithic , there is evidence of human presence near Salamanca . The Epipaleolithic has yielded good archeological resources in

5978-626: The Leonese Region are arid and dry but very fertile, they dominate in dry farming. Even so, irrigation has become increasingly important in areas of the valleys of the Douro, the Pisuerga and Tormes. The most fertile area coincides with the Leon Valley Esla, Leon, and Tierra de Campos, a region lying between Zamora, Valladolid, Palencia and León. The major wine areas in the region are DOs Toro, D.O. Bierzo, D.O. Arribes D.O. Tierras de León. In

6100-507: The Leonese court, judiciary (with the translation of the Visigothic Liber Iudicum or Liber Iudiciorum into Leonese), administration, and organization. After the 1230 union of Leon and Castile, Leonese had greater written and institutional use, although at the end of the 13th century Castilian began to replace it as a written language. Leonese became an oral, rural language with little literary development. At

6222-587: The Leonese part of the Cantabrian Mountains . Megalithic remains in the province of Zamora and in the Maragatería may be 5000 years old. The Celts were the first major human group that came to the Leonese Region. They came from Central Europe through a series of invasions, beginning in 700 BC and ending by 500 BC. Celts were characterized as warlike, nature-loving, individualistic, and attached to legends and story-telling. They mingled with

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6344-450: The Leonese regionalist and nationalist movements, support the creation of an autonomous community separate from Castile . Leonesist parties gained 13.6% of votes cast in the León autonomic elections in 2007. There have also been initiatives approved by some Leonese city councils to establish a NUTS-2 (European Statistical Region) for León. Some nationalists have called for an independent country that would also encompass territories such as

6466-524: The Middle Ages, after Ireland and Wales were Christianized , druids appear in a number of written sources, mainly tales and stories such as Táin Bó Cúailnge , and in the hagiographies of various saints. These were all written by Christian monks. In Irish-language literature, druids ( draoithe , plural of draoi ) are sorcerers with supernatural powers, who are respected in society, particularly for their ability to do divination . Dictionary of

6588-740: The Portuguese District of Braganza as well as others in Spain, like Valdeorras (Galicia) and other parts of the provinces of Cantabria and Castile. The Leonese language is recognised by the Statute of Autonomy of the present-day autonomous community of Castile and León . The Provincial Government of León signed accords with language associations to promote Leonese. Leonese is taught in sixteen schools of León city and to adults in Mansilla de las Mulas , La Bañeza , Valencia de Don Juan , and Ponferrada . The City Council of León promotes

6710-488: The Roman army by uniting Vettones and Lusitanians . Viriathus was assassinated by Celtiberians paid by Rome. In this way, divisions among the Celts helped Rome to conquer all the territory. The Cantabri were the next people to lost its independence. Arreno, their leader, was crucified. Then Rome went north, conquering Lancia (this brought an end to the 20-year battle of the Esla ). The first Germanic invasions took place in

6832-516: The Romans and the Greeks. The earliest known references to the druids date to the 4th century BC. The oldest detailed description comes from Julius Caesar 's Commentarii de Bello Gallico (50s BCE). They were described by other Roman writers such as Cicero , Tacitus , and Pliny the Elder . Following the Roman invasion of Gaul , the druid orders were suppressed by the Roman government under

6954-499: The accuracy of his accounts by highlighting that while he may have embellished some of his accounts to justify Roman imperial conquest, it was "inherently unlikely" that he constructed a fictional class system for Gaul and Britain, particularly considering that he was accompanied by a number of other Roman senators who would have also been sending reports on the conquest to Rome, and who would have challenged his inclusion of serious falsifications. Other classical writers also commented on

7076-458: The area show an aging population with a low birth rate and a mortality that approaches the national average. Many of the people of the territory, who were devoted mainly to agriculture and livestock, were steadily abandoning the area, heading for urban areas, far better off. This situation was further aggravated by the end of civil war, with increasing rural migration. During the 1960s and 1980s, large urban centers and provincial capitals experienced

7198-406: The beginning of the 20th century, it survived in oral form only in mid-western León and western Zamora provinces. Its scientific study and a nascent cultural movement began in the province of Leon in 1906. During the 1950s and 60s, the number of Leonese speakers and the area in which it was spoken decreased. Although the Astur-Leonese linguistic domain covers most of the principality of Asturias,

7320-520: The centre of Romanization for the indigenous tribes). The city of Astorga was sacked by the Visigoths in the 5th century, and never regained its former prominence. The region remained unified until the eighth-century Islamic invasion. Around the 11th century, it began to be defined as Leonese territory roughly corresponding to the southern conventus . In medieval León, the Romance Galician , Asturian-Leonese , and Castilian languages evolved and spread south. The first known text in Asturian-Leonese

7442-432: The change of capital. The provinces are nominally ascribed to historical regions, which lacked any competition or common bodies grouped provinces, having a qualifier character, without pretensions of administrative operation. In the region of Leon are ascribed the provinces of León, Salamanca and Zamora. This reform implemented in 1833 has remained virtually unchanged (at provincial level) to the present. In some periods of

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7564-444: The city of León . The Atlantic provinces became the Kingdom of Portugal in 1139, and the eastern, inland part of the kingdom was joined dynastically to the Kingdom of Castile first in 1037–1065, again 1077–1109 and 1126–1157, 1230–1296 and from 1301 onward (see Castile and León § Historic union of the Kingdoms of Castile and León ). León retained the status of a kingdom until 1833, being replaced by Adelantamientos Mayores , where

7686-650: The classical world of Greece and Rome. Archaeologist Stuart Piggott compared the attitude of the Classical authors toward the druids as being similar to the relationship that had existed in the 15th and 18th centuries between Europeans and the societies that they were just encountering in other parts of the world, such as the Americas and the South Sea Islands. He highlighted the attitude of " primitivism " in both Early Modern Europeans and Classical authors, owing to their perception that these newly encountered societies had less technological development and were backward in socio-political development. Historian Nora Chadwick , in

7808-687: The course of study. What was taught to druid novices anywhere is conjecture: of the druids' oral literature , not one certifiably ancient verse is known to have survived, even in translation. All instruction was communicated orally, but for ordinary purposes, Caesar reports, the Gauls had a written language in which they used Greek letters. In this he probably draws on earlier writers; by the time of Caesar, Gaulish inscriptions had moved from Greek script to Latin script. Caesar believed that this practice of oral transmission of knowledge and opposition to recording their ideas had dual motivations: wanting to keep druidic knowledge from becoming common, and improving

7930-480: The creation of the federal state of Old Castile, but the provinces of Castile and the present community and the Cantabria and La Rioja. The End of the Republic, in early 1874, had blasted the initiative. In 1921, marking the fourth centenary of the Battle of Villalar, the city of Santander advocated the creation of a pool of eleven provinces of Castile and León. This idea would be kept in later years. In late 1931 and early 1932, from León, Eugenio Merino drafted

8052-422: The druids and their practices. Caesar's contemporary, Cicero , noted that he had met a Gallic druid, Divitiacus , of the Aedui tribe. Divitiacus supposedly knew much about the natural world and performed divination through augury . Whether Diviaticus was genuinely a druid can however be disputed, for Caesar also knew this figure, and wrote about him, calling him by the more Gaulish-sounding (and thereby presumably

8174-438: The druids as being concerned with "divine worship, the due performance of sacrifices, private or public, and the interpretation of ritual questions". He said they played an important part in Gaulish society, being one of the two respected classes along with the equites (in Rome the name for members of a privileged class above the common people, but also "horsemen") and that they performed the function of judges. Caesar wrote that

8296-407: The druids recognized the authority of a single leader, who would rule until his death, when a successor would be chosen by vote or through conflict. He remarked that to settle disputes between tribes, they met annually at a sacred place at the borders of the Carnute territory, which is said to be the center of Gaul. They viewed Britain as the centre of druidic study; and that they were not found among

8418-407: The druids to be great philosophers, has also supported the idea that they had not been involved in human sacrifice, and that such accusations were imperialist Roman propaganda. Alexander Cornelius Polyhistor referred to the druids as philosophers, and called their doctrine of the immortality of the soul and metempsychosis (reincarnation), " Pythagorean ": The Pythagorean doctrine prevails among

8540-676: The druids' faculties of memory. Caesar writes that of the Druids "a large number of the young men resort for the purpose of instruction". Due to the privileges afforded to the druids he tells us that "many embrace this profession of their own accord", whereas many others are sent to become druids by their families. Greek and Roman writers frequently made reference to the druids as practitioners of human sacrifice . Caesar says those who had been found guilty of theft or other criminal offences were considered preferable for use as sacrificial victims, but when criminals were in short supply, innocents would be acceptable. A form of sacrifice recorded by Caesar

8662-416: The end of the training began in 1993 regional unit of Castile and León. Parallel other character emerged as the Autonomist Leonese Group (1978) or PREPAL (1980), who advocated the creation of an Autonomous Community of León , comprising the provinces of León, Salamanca and Zamora. The popular and political support he held in León province in autonomy became very important in that city. Following

8784-614: The entire linguistic area, including Asturias. This designation has been replaced by Ibero-Romance scholars with "Asturian-Leonese", but "Leonese" is still often used to denote Asturian-Leonese by non-speakers of Asturian or Mirandese. Sometimes the language as a whole is simply called "Asturian" for several reasons, such as the Leonese dialects being on the brink of extinction, or the widespread ignorance of its very existence (even in León), as well as their lack of recognition and institutional support (as opposed to their Asturias counterparts). In

8906-414: The entire province analysed the prevalence of Leonese and the linguistic attitudes of its speakers. According to the latter, maintenance of the language is the primary wish but opinions differ about how to do so. Almost 37 per cent think that the language should be kept for nonofficial uses, and about 30 per cent believe it should be on a par with Spanish. Twenty-two per cent favour its disappearance. Nearly

9028-605: The entry into operation of autonomic castellanoleonés body, whose creation was facilitated by the Leon County Council of their agreement of 16 April 1980, the same institution Leon revoked on January 13, 1983, its original agreement, just as the draft Orgánca Law entered the Spanish parliament. The existence of contradictory agreements valid and what was resolved by the Constitutional Court in

9150-403: The existing inhabitants of Leon, giving rise to a mixed culture. This Celtic origin is said to remain in certain cultural aspects today. Their social leadership included military chiefs as well as druids or religious chiefs. The Celts' livelihood was based on fishing, farming, cattle-raising, and hunting. They lived in castros that were built in a circular form. Each family had a palloza and

9272-620: The first time. A decree in November 1833, his secretary of state for Works, Javier de Burgos, created a centralized state, divided into 49 provinces. The provinces were named after their capitals (except four of them, who kept their former names: Navarra, capital Pamplona, Vitoria Álava, Guipúzcoa and Vizcaya in San Sebastian and Bilbao). The project is almost the same as in 1822, but without the provinces of Calatayud, Xàtiva, Bierzo and in addition, other provinces have changed their name to

9394-542: The following centuries, the new rulers of Roman Gaul subsequently introduced measures to wipe-out the druids from that country. According to Pliny the Elder , writing in the 70s CE, it was the emperor Tiberius (ruled 14–37 CE) who introduced laws which banned not only druidic practices, but also other native soothsayers and healers– a move which Pliny applauded, believing that it would end human sacrifice in Gaul. A somewhat different account of Roman legal attacks upon

9516-548: The future. In the tale of Deirdre of the Sorrows  – the foremost tragic heroine of the Ulster Cycle  – the druid prophesied before the court of Conchobar that Deirdre would grow up to be very beautiful, and that kings and lords would go to war over her, much blood would be shed because of her, and Ulster's three greatest warriors would be forced into exile for her sake. This prophecy, ignored by

9638-535: The gods must be worshipped, and no evil done, and manly behavior maintained". Druids play a prominent role in Irish folklore , generally serving lords and kings as high ranking priest-counselors with the gift of prophecy and other assorted mystical abilities – the best example of these possibly being Cathbad . The chief druid in the court of King Conchobar mac Nessa of Ulster , Cathbad features in several tales, most of which detail his ability to foretell

9760-528: The headdress resembles depictions of Romano-British priests from several centuries later, leading to speculation among archaeologists that the man might have been a religious official– a druid. In the Gallic Wars of 58–51 BCE, the Roman army, led by Julius Caesar , conquered the many tribal chiefdoms of Gaul, and annexed it as a part of the Roman Republic . According to accounts produced in

9882-532: The highest form of human courage be developed. Subsidiary to the teachings of this main principle, they hold various lectures and discussions on the stars and their movement, on the extent and geographical distribution of the earth, on the different branches of natural philosophy, and on many problems connected with religion. Diodorus Siculus , writing in 36 BCE, described how the druids followed "the Pythagorean doctrine", that human souls "are immortal, and after

10004-634: The historical region of Leon. The current number of Leonese speakers is estimated at 20,000 to 50,000. Spanish is now the predominant language in the area. Leonese forms part of the Asturleonese linguistic group along with dialects of Asturian . The division between Asturian and Leonese is extra-linguistic, as the main divisions within the Asturleonese complex are between eastern and western varieties, rather than between varieties spoken in Asturias and Leon. Menéndez Pidal used "Leonese" for

10126-501: The holiness of perpetual virginity, are said to be nine in number. They call them Gallizenae, and they believe them to be endowed with extraordinary gifts to rouse the sea and the wind by their incantations, to turn themselves into whatsoever animal form they may choose, to cure diseases which among others are incurable, to know what is to come and to foretell it. They are, however, devoted to the service of voyagers only who have set out on no other errand than to consult them. According to

10248-477: The hypothetical proto-Celtic word may be reconstructed as * dru-wid-s (pl. * druwides ), whose original meaning is traditionally taken to be " oak -knower", based upon the association of druids' beliefs with oak trees, which was made by Pliny the Elder , who also suggested that the word is borrowed from the Greek word δρῦς ( drỹs ) 'oak tree' but nowadays it is more often understood as originally meaning 'one with firm knowledge' (ie. 'a great sage'), as Pliny

10370-460: The idea of the druid might have been a fiction created by Classical writers to reinforce the idea of the barbaric "other" who existed beyond the civilized Greco-Roman world, thereby legitimizing the expansion of the Roman Empire into these areas. The earliest record of the druids comes from two Greek texts of c. 300 BCE: a history of philosophy written by Sotion of Alexandria, and

10492-416: The initiative that Segovia could form autonomous province but in the municipalities of the province's status was matched between the supporters of autonomy one province or the rest Castilla y Leon. The City Council initially Cuellar joined this initiative autonomic resolution adopted by the corporation on 5 October 1981. Yet another resolution adopted by the same corporation, dated December 3, reversed

10614-652: The king, came true. The greatest of these mythological druids was Amergin Glúingel , a bard and judge for the Milesians featured in the Mythological Cycle . The Milesians were seeking to overrun the Tuatha Dé Danann and win the land of Ireland but, as they approached, the druids of the Tuatha Dé Danann raised a magical storm to bar their ships from making landfall. Thus Amergin called upon

10736-508: The language by publishing some of their announcements in Leonese. Spanish is the dominant language spoken throughout the territory, while Galician is spoken in the occidental part of El Bierzo. In January 2005 the population of the Leonese Region was distributed by provinces as follows: Leon, 497,387; Salamanca, 351,326; and Zamora, 197,237. It is sparsely populated and demographically declining, especially in rural areas and even in small traditional towns. The demographic characteristics of

10858-424: The law-texts, which were first written-down in the 600s and 700s CE, suggests that with the coming of Christianity, the role of the druid in Irish society was rapidly reduced to that of a sorcerer who could be consulted to cast spells or do healing magic, and that his standing declined accordingly. According to the early legal tract Bretha Crólige , the sick-maintenance due to a druid, satirist, and brigand ( díberg )

10980-539: The more authentic) Diviciacus, but never referred to him as a druid and indeed presented him as a political and military leader. Another classical writer to take up describing the druids not too long afterward was Diodorus Siculus , who published this description in his Bibliotheca historicae in 36 BCE. Alongside the druids, or as he called them, drouidas , who he believed to be philosophers and theologians, he remarked how there were poets and singers in Celtic society, who he called bardous , or bards . Such an idea

11102-469: The name of Leonesism . Until 1833, the formerly independent Kingdom of León , situated in the northwest region of the Iberian Peninsula , retained the status of a kingdom although dynastic union had brought it into the Crown of Castile . The Kingdom of León was founded in 910 A.D. when the Christian princes of Asturias along the northern coast of the peninsula shifted their main seat from Oviedo to

11224-762: The north and west of the province of Leon, the northeast of Zamora, both provinces in Castile and León, and the region of Miranda do Douro in the east of the Portuguese district of Bragança , this article focuses on the autonomous community of Castile and León. Borrego Nieto wrote that the area in where Leonese is best preserved, defined as "area 1", consists of the regions of Babia and Laciana , part of Los Argüellos , eastern Bierzo and La Cabrera ; in Zamora, non-Galician Sanabria . Borrego Nieto describes another geographical circle, which he calls "area 2", where Leonese

11346-549: The numerous differences it has when compared to dialects in the Spanish side. In fact, it is often considered as a separate language, especially in Portugal , where it has been granted official recognition, and is regulated by the Institute of the Mirandese Language . Thus, Asturleonese is sometimes considered a group of two languages, Asturian or Asturleonese proper , and Mirandese . Unlike Asturian , which

11468-571: The population supports granting official status to Leonese by amending the Statute of Autonomy. About 70 per cent favour linguistic coordination between León and Asturias, with 20 per cent opposing. Leonese in education is favoured by more than 63 per cent of the population, and opposed by about 34 per cent. Institutional promotion of the dialect, especially by town councils, was favoured by more than 83 per cent of respondents. The Statute of Autonomy of Castile and León, amended 30 November 2007, addresses

11590-572: The power and might of the immortal gods", indicating they were involved with not only such common aspects of religion as theology and cosmology , but also astronomy . Caesar held that they were "administrators" during rituals of human sacrifice , for which criminals were usually used, and that the method was by burning in a wicker man . Though he had first-hand experience of Gaulish people, and therefore likely druids, Caesar's account has been widely criticized by modern historians as inaccurate. One issue raised by such historians as Fustel de Coulanges

11712-400: The previous year and the process was halted pending the processing of an appeal by the county council against this agreement this change of City Council Cuellar tipped the balance in the province towards independence with the rest of Castile and León, but was an agreement reached late. Finally Segovia province joins the region of Castile and León along with the other eight provinces and

11834-452: The province of Leon also plant maize, hops and legumes. Leonese Region has about 42,100 agricultural assets. By provinces, the agricultural working population in Leon working in about 18,300 people, about 9,200 in Salamanca and Zamora about 14,600 people. Livestock accounts for a significant part of the final agricultural production. Thus, small livestock farms tend to disappear, largely as

11956-666: The province of León, as did municipalities such as León and Ponferrada , the biggest cities in León, but this proposal was rejected by the Tribunal Constitucional (Constitutional Court of Spain). The idea of constituting the Leonese Region as an autonomous community within Spain has been promoted by a number of Spanish regional political parties such as Partido Regionalista del País Leonés , Grupo Autonómico Leonés , Unión del Pueblo Leonés and Unión del Pueblo Salmantino . This movement receives

12078-507: The region of the Belgae chiefdom. The excavator of these sites- Jean-Louis Brunaux, interpreted them as areas of human sacrifice in devotion to a war god, although this conclusion was criticized by another archaeologist- Martin Brown, who believed that the corpses might be those of honoured warriors who were buried in the sanctuary, rather than sacrifices. Some historians have questioned whether

12200-481: The road to Santiago which passes through the province of Leon are the great pillars of cultural tourism in the Leonese Region. Domestic trade in the Leonese Region focuses on the food industry, automotive, fabric and footwear. For foreign trade, by region, are exported mainly manufactures steel bars and slate in Leon, Salamanca beef and meat goat and sheep, along with wine, Zamora. Leonese language Leonese ( Leonese : llionés , Asturian : lleonés )

12322-586: The role of druids in Gallic society, stating that the druids were held in such respect that if they intervened between two armies they could stop the battle. Diodorus writes of the Druids that they were "philosophers" and "men learned in religious affairs" who are honored. Strabo mentions that their domain was both natural philosophy and moral philosophy , while Ammianus Marcellinus lists them as investigators of "obscure and profound subjects". Pomponius Mela

12444-518: The role of druids in Gaulish society may report an idealized tradition, based on the society of the 2nd century BC, before the pan-Gallic confederation led by the Arverni was smashed in 121 BC, followed by the invasions of Teutones and Cimbri , rather than on the demoralized and disunited Gaul of his own time. John Creighton has speculated that in Britain, the druidic social influence

12566-585: The singular take -es for the plural. Adjectives agree with nouns in number and gender. The native languages of Leon, Zamora, Asturias, and the Terra de Miranda in Portugal are the result of the evolution of Latin introduced by Roman conquerors in the region. Their colonization and organization led to the Conventus Asturum , with its capital at Asturica Augusta (present-day Astorga, Spain ,

12688-455: The spirit of Ireland itself, chanting a powerful incantation that has come to be known as The Song of Amergin and, eventually (after successfully making landfall), aiding and dividing the land between his royal brothers in the conquest of Ireland, earning the title Chief Ollam of Ireland . Other such mythological druids were Tadg mac Nuadat of the Fenian Cycle , and Mug Ruith , a powerful blind druid of Munster . Irish mythology has

12810-610: The status of Spanish, Leonese, and Galician. According to Section 5.2, "Leonese will be specifically protected by the institutions for its particular value within the linguistic patrimony of the Community. Its protection, usage and promotion will be regulated". On 24 February 2010, a parliamentary group from the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party presented a proposition to the Cortes of Castile and León to recognize

12932-554: The support of local administrations in the provinces of Leon and Zamora. In 2001, the Universidad de León (University of León) created a course for teachers of Leonese. The dialect can be studied in the larger villages of León , Zamora and Salamanca provinces as El Fueyu courses, following an agreement between the Leonese provincial government and the organization. The Leonese Language Teachers and Monitors Association ( Asociación de Profesores y Monitores de Llingua Llïonesa )

13054-511: The term from the Irish, as had the English (who used the terms dry and drycraeft to refer to magicians and magic respectively, most probably influenced by the Irish terms). As the historian Jane Webster stated, "individual druids ... are unlikely to be identified archaeologically". A. P. Fitzpatrick, in examining what he believed to be astral symbolism on late Iron Age swords, has expressed difficulties in relating any material culture, even

13176-597: The time of the First Republic (1873–1874), the federal republicans conceived the project of creating a single federal state of eleven provinces in the Spanish Douro Valley, which also would have understood the provinces of Santander and Logroño. A few years earlier, in 1869, Republicans in the provinces that are part of the autonomous Federal Pact signed the Castilian, which already envisaged

13298-515: The town of Leon. The main industrial centers are: Leon (4521) and Ponferrada (4270). Other industries include textiles in Béjar, the sugar factory in Leon, Toro and Benavente, Leon and the pharmaceutical and steel metallurgy in Ponferrada. In the Leonese Region, mining became important in Roman times, when it drew a road, route de la Plata, to transport the mined gold deposits in the marrow, in

13420-444: The twenty-third book of his Succession of Philosophers . Subsequent Greek and Roman texts from the 3rd century BCE refer to " barbarian philosophers", possibly in reference to the Gaulish druids. The earliest extant text that describes druids in detail is Julius Caesar 's Commentarii de Bello Gallico , book VI, written in the 50s or 40s BCE. A general who was intent on conquering Gaul and Britain, Caesar described

13542-479: The two most important social groups in the region (alongside the equites , or nobles) and were responsible for organizing worship and sacrifices, divination, and judicial procedure in Gallic, British, and Irish societies. He wrote that they were exempt from military service and from paying taxes , and had the power to excommunicate people from religious festivals, making them social outcasts. Two other classical writers, Diodorus Siculus and Strabo , wrote about

13664-531: The value of Leonese and implement a plan to protect and promote it. Although the proposition was approved unanimously by the plenary session of the parliament of Castile and León on 26 May, the government's position has not changed. UNESCO , in its Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger , listed Leonese in the most at-risk category. The category's criteria are: The Autonomous Community of Castile and León lacks

13786-401: The way his limbs convulse as he falls and the gushing of his blood, they are able to read the future. Archaeological evidence from western Europe has been widely used to support the theory that Iron Age Celts practiced human sacrifice. Mass graves that were found in a ritual context, which date from this period, have been unearthed in Gaul, at both Gournay-sur-Aronde and Ribemont-sur-Ancre in

13908-632: The woodland goddess Flidais , and sometimes described as a sorceress rather than a bandruí) features in a tale from the Metrical Dindshenchas , where she joins three other of the Tuatha Dé to defeat the evil Greek witch Carman . Other bandrúi include Relbeo– a Nemedian druid who appears in The Book of Invasions , where she is described as the daughter of the king of Greece, and the mother of Fergus Lethderg and Alma One-Tooth. Dornoll

14030-473: The words "unite in a personality to Leon and Old Castile around the great basin of the Duero, without falling now in simple village rivalries. Eventually the civil war ended with the aspirations of autonomy for the region. After the death of Franco, emerged regional organizations, regional and national regionalism as castellanoleonés Regional Alliance of Castile and León (1975), Regional Institute of Castilla y Leon (1976) or Pancal (1977). Later after

14152-463: Was a bandrúi in Scotland, who normally trained heroes in warfare, particularly Laegaire and Conall ; she was the daughter of Domnall Mildemail. According to classical authors, the Gallizenae (or Gallisenae) were virgin priestesses of the Île de Sein off Pointe du Raz, Finistère , western Brittany . Their existence was first mentioned by the Greek geographer Artemidorus Ephesius and later by

14274-420: Was already in decline by the mid-1st century BCE, in conflict with emergent new power structures embodied in paramount chieftains. Other scholars see the Roman conquest itself as the main reason for the decline of the druid orders. Archaeologist Miranda Aldhouse-Green (2010) asserted that Caesar offered both "our richest textual source" regarding the druids, and "one of the most reliable". She defended

14396-621: Was created in 2008 to promote Leonese-language activities. Leonese literature includes: Druid A druid was a member of the high-ranking priestly class in ancient Celtic cultures. Druids were religious leaders as well as legal authorities, adjudicators, lorekeepers, medical professionals and political advisors. Druids left no written accounts. While they were reported to have been literate, they are believed to have been prevented by doctrine from recording their knowledge in written form. Their beliefs and practices are attested in some detail by their contemporaries from other cultures, such as

14518-403: Was expanded upon by Strabo , writing in the 20s CE, who declared that amongst the Gauls, there were three types of honoured figures: The Roman writer Tacitus , who was himself a senator and historian, described how when the Roman army, led by Suetonius Paulinus , attacked the island of Mona ( Anglesey ; Welsh : Ynys Môn ), the legionaries were awestruck on landing, by the appearance of

14640-567: Was that while Caesar described the druids as a significant power within Gaulish society, he did not mention them even once in his accounts of his Gaulish conquests. Nor did Aulus Hirtius , who continued Caesar's account of the Gallic Wars after Caesar's death. Hutton believed that Caesar had manipulated the idea of the druids so they would appear both civilized (being learned and pious) and barbaric (performing human sacrifice) to Roman readers, thereby representing both "a society worth including in

14762-422: Was the burning alive of victims in a large wooden effigy , now often known as a wicker man . A differing account came from the 10th-century Commenta Bernensia , which stated that sacrifices to the deities Teutates , Esus , and Taranis were by drowning, hanging, and burning, respectively (see threefold death ). Diodorus Siculus asserts that a sacrifice acceptable to the Celtic gods had to be attended by

14884-465: Was the first author to say that the druids' instruction was secret and took place in caves and forests. Cicero said that he knew a Gaulish druid who "claimed to have that knowledge of nature which the Greeks call physiologia, and he used to make predictions, sometimes by means of augury and sometimes by means of conjecture". Druidic lore consisted of a large number of memorized verses, and Caesar remarked that it could take up to twenty years to complete

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