Britannia - Definition and Overview

There was no Britannia in Celtic mythology, and the land of Britain was not personified by any early Latin poet. The Emperor Claudius paid a visit while Britain was being pacified and was honored with the agnomen Britannicus just as if he were the conqueror, but Britannia remained a place, not a female personification of the land, until she appeared on coins issued under Hadrian which introduced a female figure labelled BRITANNIA. She was usually shown seated on a rock, holding a spear, and with a spiked shield propped beside her. Sometimes she holds a standard, and leans on the shield. On another range of coinage, she is seated on a globe above waves: Britain at the edge of the known world. Similar coin types were also issued under Antoninus Pius. Then there came a long gap.

In Renaissance tradition, a Britannia came to be viewed as the personification of Britain, in imagery that was developed during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. When James I came to the throne, some elaborate pageants were staged. One pageantperformed on the streets of London in 1605 was described in Anthony Munday's Triumphs of Reunited Britannia:

On a mount triangular, as the island of Britain itself is described to be, we seat in the supreme place, under the shape of a fair and beautiful nymph, Britannia herself..."

On British coins, she had to wait. Britannia first appeared on the farthing in 1672, followed by the halfpenny later the same year, on the penny coin between 1797 and 1970, and on the 50 pence coin since 1969.

When the Bank of England was granted a charter in 1694, the directors decided within days that the device for their official seal should represent "Brittannia sitting on looking on a Bank of Mony "(sic) [1] (http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/newtwenty/foil.htm).

External links

• Norton Anthology of English literature: (http://www.wwnorton.com/nael/16century/topic_4/munday.htm) Anthony Munday, The Triumphs of Reunited Britannia, London 1605
• Britannia on British coins (http://www.24carat.co.uk/britanniaframe.html)

Other namesakes:

• Classical Romans referred to the British Isles and to the various administrative provinces they set up there using the name Britannia. (See Roman Britain.)
• Britannia Airways was the name of a charter airline, recently renamed Thomsonfly. The company flies out of London, Liverpool and Manchester to many sunspots worldwide. It uses Boeing 757 and 767 planes to transport its passengers.
• Britannia Beach, British Columbia
• HMS Britannia
• Britannia can refer to the Royal Yacht Britannia.
• Britannia (Ultima) for the fictitious world "Britannia" of the Ultima series of computer games.
• Britannia metal is an alloy that resembles silver.
• Britannia also refers to a series of British gold bullion coins issued since 1987, which have nominal values of 100, 50, 25, and 10 pounds.

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