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The Dobunni were one of the Iron Age tribes living in the British Isles prior to the Roman conquest of Britain. There are seven known references to the tribe in Roman histories and inscriptions.Rivet and Smith, The Place Names of Roman Britain (1979), pp339-340,Collingwood, Wright and Tomlin, The Roman Inscriptions of Britain: Vol 1 (1995), nos.621,2250
Various historians and archaeologists have examined the Dobunni, including Stephen J. Yeates in his book The Tribe of Witches (2008), where he suggests that the latter part of the name possibly derives from * bune, a cup or vessel, with a similar meaning to the later tribal name Hwicce; both being related to the recognisable cult of a Romano-British goddess.Stephen Yeates, A Dreaming for the Witches, 2009, pp162-163 This view has been sharply criticised by several archaeologists.Harte, Jeremy (2011). "Review of The Tribe of Witches". Time and Mind: The Journal of Archaeology, Consciousness and Culture 4(1)Rodway, Simon (2009). "Review of The Tribe of Witches". Britannia: A Journal of Romano-British and Kindred Studies 40Hooke, Della (January–February 2009). "Review of The Tribe of Witches". British Archaeology 104 (York: Council for British Archaeology) Archaeologist Miles Russell suggests that their original name may have been "Bodunni", connecting this with the Celtic word *bouda meaning "Victorious", in the sense of "The Victorious Ones".Russel, M. (2010). Bloodline: The Celtic Kings of Roman Britain. Published by Amberley Publishing. ()
Their territory was bordered by the Cornovii and Corieltauvi to the North; the Catuvellauni to the East; the Atrebates and Belgae to the South; and the Silures and Ordovices to the West. Some of these suggestions are, however, speculative.
There is evidence for a cult associated with the tribe in the Romano-British period; the evidence being coterminous with the tribe's territory. Sculpture has been found at Gloucester, Cirencester, Nettleton, Bath, Wellow, and Aldsworth.Stephen Yeates, A Dreaming for the Witches, 2009, pp137-169
Remnants of several fortified camps, otherwise known as hillforts, thought to have been occupied by the Dobunni can be seen in the Bristol area at Maes Knoll, Clifton Down, Burwalls and Stokeleigh Camp – all overlooking the Avon Gorge – and at Kingsweston Down and Blaise Castle.
In the late Iron Age period, southern Britain saw the development of sites generally referred to as oppida (towns). An example of such a site has been recognised for some time at Bagendon, near Cirencester.Elsie M. Clifford, Bagendon: a Belgic oppidum, 1961 It has now been realised that the Bagendon site was not as important as first thought, as other extensive sites are now known to have existed at places such as Salmonsbury.Tom Moore, Iron Age Societies in the Severn-Cotswolds: developing narratives of social and landscape change, 2006, BAR British Series 421, pp218-222,
Unlike the Silures, their neighbours in what later became southeast Wales, they were not a warlike people and submitted to the Romans even before they reached their lands. Afterwards they readily adopted the Romano-British lifestyle.
Even though the Dobunni were incorporated into the Roman Empire in AD 43, their territory was probably not formed into Roman political units until AD 96–98. The tribal territory was divided into a civitas centred on Cirencester, and the Colonia at Gloucester. The Colonia was established during the reign of the emperor Nerva (AD 96–98).Henry Hurst, The Coloniae of Roman Britain: new studies and a review, 1999.
At the beginning of the 4th century, Britain was reorganised into, initially, four and then five provinces. The Dobunnic territory lay in the province of Britannia Prima, as described in an inscription found at the base of a Jupiter column.Collingwood, Wright and Tomlin, The Roman Inscriptions of Britain: Vol 1 (1995), no. 103. The area remained a Roman civitas until approximately 409.
The Dobunnic territory contained two large towns (Corinium Dobunnorum now Cirencester, and Colonia Nerviana Glevum now Gloucester). Besides this there were numerous smaller towns, and many rich villas.
Stephen Yeates asserts that a study of the religion of the Dobunni has shown that there was a focus on the worship of the natural world. It is possible to identify deities associated with the landscape, for example *Cuda, a mother goddess associated with the Cotswold Hills and its rivers and springs, and Sulis Minerva at Bath. Other cults were defined by social action, such as mining, for example at Lydney Park, and hunting, for example at Pagan's Hill near Chew Stoke.Stephen Yeates, The Tribe of Witches, 2009.
A repeated theme of coins ascribed to the Dobunni is a branched emblem appearing on the obverse. The symbol's significance and origins are unclear although corn, ferns and a derivative of the wreath on the British Q stater have all been suggested.
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