Britonia

Britonia (which became Bretoña in Galician) is the historical, apparently Latinized name of a Celtic settlement, presently Santa Maria de Bretoña, or A Pastoriza, in the Province of Lugo, autonomous community of Galicia, Spain.

Map of Briton settlements in the 6th-century.

History

It was established in the Kingdom of the Suebi, in the Roman Gallaecia, northwestern Hispania, in the late 5th and early 6th centuries AD by Romano-Britons escaping the Anglo-Saxons, who were conquering Britain. Britonia is therefore similar to Brittany in Gaul (present-day France) in that it was settled by expatriate Britons at roughly the same time.

Ecclesiastical history

What little is known of Britonia is deduced from its religious history. The British settlements were recognised at the First Council of Lugo in 569 and a separate bishopric established, on territory split off from the then Metropolitan Archdiocese of Lugo. Mailoc was nominated Bishop of Britonia and signed the acta at the Second Council of Braga in 572.

The British Celtic settlements were quickly integrated and their adherence to Celtic rite lasted only until the Fourth Council of Toledo in 633 decreed the now so-called Visigothic or Mozarabic rite as the standard liturgy of Hispania.

The diocese was suppressed in 716. The line of (errant?) bishops of Britonia nevertheless existed at least until 830, when the area was attacked by the Vikings; it may have continued as late as the Council of Oviedo in 900.

It was finally restored as or merged into the Diocese of Mondoñedo-Ferrol in 866, being assigned territories split off from the Diocese of Oviedo and from the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Lugo (since 1071 a suffragan of Santiago de Compostela).

Resident Bishops of Bretoña

Known bishops of the ecclesia Brittaniensis include:

Titular see

No longer a residential bishopric, Britonia is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see.[1]

The diocese was nominally restored in 1969 as Latin Titular bishopric of Britonia (also Curiate Italian) / Britonien(sis) (Latin adjective).

It has had the following incumbents, so far secular priests of the fitting Episcopal (lowest) rank:[2]

References

  1. ↑ Annuario Pontificio 2013 (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 ISBN 978-88-209-9070-1), p. 853
  2. ↑ http://www.gcatholic.org/dioceses/former/t0344.htm

Sources - bibliography

  • Richards, Melville, "Mailoc", Habis, III, 1972, p. 159.
  • Tovar, António, "Un obispo con nombre británico y los orígenes de la diócesis de Mondoñedo", Habis, III, 1972, pp. 155–158.
  • Vives, J., Concilios visigóticos e hispano-romanos, Madrid, 1963.
  • Young, Simon (Summer 2003). "The Bishops of the early medieval diocese of Britonia". Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies (45): 1–20.
  • Young, Simon, "Note on Britones in Thirteenth-century Galicia", Studia Celtica, XXXV (2001), pp. 361–2.
  • Young, Simon, "The Forgotten Colony", History Today, L, oct. 2000, pp. 5–6.
  • Young, Simon, Britonia: Camiños Novos, Noia, 2002. ISBN 84-95622-58-0. (in Galician)
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