I don't know if this falls under "theological"...

[Chad]

Most sources I have read state that Druids traveled to Britain to learn Druidry. However, I have recently read that Druids can only be proven to have been in Britain on the Isle Of Anglesey. www.sacred-texts.com/pag/idr/idr04.htm According to this, Druidry is Gaelic and not Brythonic. I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts, information, or otherwise.

[Heron]

Chad, I think referring to a nineteenth century work of dubious value because it happens to be available on 'Sacred Texts' is unfortunately an all too common way for people to gather information.

In truth very little is known about the druids for certain. There are various references to them as priests of the Celts in Antiquity, mainly in Gaul (modern day France). The reference to Anglesey you refer to comes from the Roman historian Tacitus who refers to them confronting the Roman army across the Menai Straits. Certainly nothing can be proved, but Roman sources do record their presence in Britain.There are various statements about what the Druids believed from Julius Caesar, though how much he really knew is uncertain.

Here' a quote from a book published earlier this year by a well-regarded archaeologist:

"The emergence of the mature religious system that we glimpse so fleetingly in the comments of the classical writers at the end of the first millennium is unlikely to have happened suddenly: it may have taken hundreds of years to evolve, and it was still evolving when Strabo, Caesar and the rest made their observations. All that can be safely said is that the religious practices of the first century BC came from deep in the prehistoric past and that its practitioners, the Druids, were the inheritors of an ancient religion."

Barry Cunliffe Britain Begins (Oxford 2013)

I would recommend that book as an up to date and reliable guide to present knowledge about Ancient Britain and the Celts discussing archaeology, linguistic history and genetics and reviewing what each of these disciplines can tell us about British prehistory.

[Chad]

Right. I wasn't necessarily stating that I believe that. I just found it an odd piece. A lot of times, most sources I read will point one way, and a few will point the other. And the few ends up being right. For example, I live in the United States, and just about every piece of information our media relates is false. So, I have to dig deep into alternative media, or foreign media to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Granted, good sound research is so hard to find. I get confused by misinformation often. I apologize, my efforts are sincere, however. Also, I will certainly have to check out the book you recommended. I have a few others on my list as well. I read most often that Britain was the center of Druidic learning. The Gaulish Druids went to Britain to learn it. That made more sense to me than it being Ireland. It would make sense that Ireland would be the last bastion of Ancient Druidry, simply because of the Romans never conquering it. But Britain makes more sense for it to be the center of Druidry at its height, if for no other reason, it is between Ireland, and what was Gaul. That is how I see it.

[Chad]

By the way, just an update, I finally got my copy of Britain Begins. Thank you for the recommendation!