Editing Northumbria (section)

====Possible Celtic British origins====
The [[Anglo-Saxons|Anglo-Saxon]] kingdom of Northumbria was originally two kingdoms divided approximately around the [[River Tees]]: [[Bernicia]] was to the north of the river and [[Deira]] to the south.<ref>{{harvnb|Rollason|2003|p=44}}</ref> It is possible that both regions originated as native [[Celtic British]] kingdoms, which the [[Anglo-Saxon Settlement of Britain|Germanic settlers]] later conquered, although there is very little information about the infrastructure and culture of the British kingdoms themselves.<ref name="Rollason2003p81">{{harvnb|Rollason|2003|p=81}}</ref> Much of the evidence for them comes from regional names that are British rather than Anglo-Saxon in origin. The names Deira and Bernicia are likely British in origin, for example, indicating that some British place names retained currency after the Anglo-Saxon migrations to Northumbria.{{efn|In addition to Bernicia and Deira, some other British place names are recorded for important Northumbrian locations. Northumbrian scholar [[Bede]] ({{circa|731}}) and Welsh ninth-century chronicler [[Nennius]] both provide British place names for centres of power. Nennius, for example, refers to the royal city of [[Bamburgh]] as Din Guaire.<ref>{{harvnb|Bede|1969}} Book IV Chapter 19</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Nennius|2005}} para 62</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Higham|1993|p=81}}</ref><ref name="Rollason2003p81"/>}} There is also some archeological evidence to support British origins for the polities of Bernicia and Deira. In what would have been southern Bernicia, in the [[Cheviot Hills]], a hill fort at [[Yeavering]] Bell contains evidence that it was an important centre for first the British and later the Anglo-Saxons. The fort is originally pre-[[Ancient Rome|Roman]], dating back to the [[Iron Age]] at around the first century. In addition to signs of Roman occupation, the site contains evidence of timber buildings that pre-date Germanic settlement in the area that are probably signs of British settlement. Moreover, Brian Hope-Taylor has traced the origins of the name Yeavering, which looks deceptively English, back to the British gafr from Bede's mention of a township called Gefrin in the same area.<ref>{{harvnb|Hope-Taylor|1983|pp=15–16}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Rollason|2003|pp=83–84}}</ref> Yeavering continued to be an important political centre after the Anglo-Saxons began settling in the north, as King [[Edwin of Northumbria|Edwin]] had a royal palace at Yeavering.<ref>{{harvnb|Bede|2008}} Book II, Chapter 14</ref>

Overall, English place-names dominate the Northumbrian landscape, suggesting the prevalence of an Anglo-Saxon elite culture by the time that Bede – Anglo-Saxon England's most prominent historian – was writing in the eighth century.<ref>{{harvnb|Bede|2008|p=93}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Rollason|2003|pp=57–64}}</ref> According to Bede, the [[Angles (tribe)|Angles]] were the predominant Germanic immigrants, who settled north of the Humber and gained political prominence during this period.<ref>{{harvnb|Bede|2008}} Book I, Chapter 15</ref> While the British natives may have partially assimilated into the Northumbrian political structure, relatively contemporary textual sources such as Bede's ''[[Ecclesiastical History of the English People]]'' depict relations between Northumbrians and the [[Celtic Britons|British]] as fraught.<ref>{{harvnb|Rollason|2003|p=100}}</ref>