Download prouince

AN Ai\crENr Lawn
south coast of England at Hengistbury Head in Dorset. The site, near
Christchdrch Harbour, had been occupied by earlier hunting and
farming peoples. In the first century BCit became a major international
port. Tin, silver, copper and pottery arrived here from the west country'
lead and pottery from further inland and wine, coins and pottery from
France.
During the first century BC the Romans extended the frontiers of
their empire as far as Gaul (now mainly France). Some refugees from
the Roman occupation came acrossto Britain, but there wasalso a chance
for goods, especiallyluxury goods, to be imported from the Roman world.
These are often found in the gravesofwealthy members of Celtic society.
The idca of wing coins
probably began anong PmPIa
in Europe and, uu rePizd' fo
people in Britain. This gol.d.
coin wn mi,nted.in Kmt in
thertnt centw) Bc. The
d,esign (like many oths coins
of thc pniod) shows the shaPe
of a hmse.
Cneeren 5
TheRomon
prouince
Tribesand chieftains
More than a million people must have been living in Britain by the first
century AD. The written evidence tells us the names of the tribes and of
some of the people, especially chieftains and queens' Some of the large
hillforts, such as Maiden Castle, were probably the strongholds of the
chieftains of the tribes. In the south-east of Britain, however, a new
type of settlement was created. The Roman Latin term used to
'a
describe them was oppidum,which really means fortified town''
built
to
cut
offand defend
were
and
ditches
Long stretches ofbanks
large flat areas.These were areasofsettlement, places for industry
and places from which powerful chieftains could control river
crossings.It was to one of these towns, Camulodunum (now
Colchester, in Essex) that the Roman Emperor Claudius
marched in ao 43. The prehistoric period of the history of
Britain and Ireland was coming to an end.
\
o
15o
2oo km
I
I
The narus of the Celtic tribes
in Britain at the time of tfu
Roman i,nuuion haue been
crittzctedfrom dillumt sources
- mostly from Raman
actounts. Thae shou that
Britain u6 conpletely
occuPied b'y the Celts. We ako
n"* tfu names of nany of
the hings uho goumed tfuse
peoples.
,:
I
*
I'i
In the firstcenturynC the huge Roman Empirefirstbegan to make contact
with the island of 'far away Britain', as one Roman poet called it. At first
this contact was through trade with the rich Celtic nobility in places like
Camulodunum ( Colchester). The merchantsfrom the empiie brough t
luxury goods,such asgo1d,small bronze statues,wine and pottery
from Gaul, Spain and Italy. However, peoples who lived on
the edge of the empire could expect to receive more
attention from the Romans thanjustvisits from merchants.
In 58 ncJulius Caesar,who was governor of Rome's
most northerly province in Italy, wanted to make the
north-western frontier of the Roman state safe, and to
bring honour to himself. The frontier stretched as far as
Gaul, a part of Europe which then covered roughly the
samearea asmodern France, southern Holland, Belgium,
Switzerland and part of Germany. Caesarset out to conquer
the Celtic tribes of Gaul. He was so successful that the Roman
politician Cicero said that, 'Before ... we only had a route
through Gaul ... Caesar has fought very successfully against the
fiercest of peoples in great battles and made them part of the
Roman state.'
As part of this campaign Caesar turned to the Celtic
tribes in Britain. He thought they were helping the
Gauls, and he wanted to see if it wasworth launching
a full-scale invasion.
This shows the fuad of one oJ
lhe mostfanow of Roman,
gmrak- Julirc Caesar bd the
Roman my in campaigns in
Gaul and, in llze inauion of
Brinin. He wote his mn
ucount oJhis campaigns, and
much ofuhat we knru about
Rman Britain coms from
this.
AN ANcrrNT
Tnr, RoueN ProvrNcL
LAND
Romans thought Britain wasworth invading: Britain, he wrote, had 'gold,
silver and other metals to make it worth conquering.'
Claudius did not lead the invasion force of 4o,ooo men himself but
joined his commander-in-chief, Aulus Plautius, when the army had
successfullyfought is way to what is now London. Claudius then arrived
from Gaul, bringing some war elephants, to make a real impression on
the native people. He marchedwith his armyto Camulodunum (Colchester)
in Essex,which was then the capital of southern Britain. In Rome there
is still a triumphal arch built by Claudius which records his capture of
the Celtic stronghold: it tells howhe received the submissionof ten kings
and one queen. For the first time, it says,'the Barbarians beyond the sea'
were under the power of the Roman people.
Caesar'sinaasions
first time, in 55 nc, he landed
Julius Caesar invaded Britain twice. The
iomewhere near Deal in Kent with about r2,ooo troops. The Romans
dreaded the sea crossing to Britain. caesar himself wrote that they were
faced with grave difficultres:
The sizeof the shipsmadeit impossibleto run them aground exceptin fairly
deepwater;and soldiers,unfamiliar with the ground, with their handsfull,
and weigheddown by the heavyburden of their arms,had at the sametime
tojump downfrom the ships,get a footing in the waves,and fight the enemy
... [who were] boldly hurling javelins and galloping their horses"' these
perils frightened our soldiers,who were quite unaccustomedto battlesof
this kind ...
In the first invasion Caesarforced the chieftains of the tribes in what
is now Kent (see the map on page 4z) to accePt the authority of Rome.
In the followin gyear, 54 uc, he invaded again with atrout 37,ooo troops'
This time he marched inland as far as Hertfordshire and defeated the
powerful Catuvellauni tribe. The Trinovantes in Essex surrendered'
These two invasions showed that Rome was powerful and prepared
to use force to extend and Protect its empire. The southern tribes of
Britain had surrendered, but the conquest was not completed. Caesar
left no troops to occupy the country because he needed his army in
Gaul. However, trade and contact continued and more people in
southern Britain became used to Roman ways - although at a
Nchborough, on the coast of
Kent, was the landing Place
of the army of the EmPnm
Claudiu* In AD 43 tht se.a
uas closeto the site uhi,ch you
can su hre, but it did not
look kke this thm as it u6
built ns and' dnehPednght
through the Rtman Pdod.
Tht Rnmarc bui.lt the stone
uall late4 to dcfmd the coast
of Roman Britai.n against
attatks fron Europe (see
pagej2.)
distance.
'Barbarians beyondthe sea'
\Arhenthe Romansdecided to add newterritoryto theirempire
they askedthemselvestwo main questions:' do we haveenough
'will we recover the cost of the
troops?' and
invasion and will the new province "pay
These are the tuofares oJa
coin mad,ein the rei'gn of the
Empror Claudiu to celebrate
his uictuy our the Britons,
uhich u6 witten in Latin
on the coin - DE BRITANN.
His name is abbrniated on
lhe ri.ght of his picture:
A,AW (V=U). Claudiu rs
shown on the rnuse oJ the
coin, rid,ing on horseback on
the top oJ a triumphal mch.
iu way"?'
Inao 43 the Emperor Claudius ,
askedthose questions and decided '
a full-scale invasion and occupation of Britain was possible.
Claudius,who unlike someother r
emPerorswasnot a military man'.1
alsowanted honour and fame fol !
himself.He collected information '
about Britain from up-to-date;,
reports and studied Caesar's olvni,
accounts. One description by Tacitus,,o
the Roman historian, shows whY the'
Claudius stayed only sixteen days in Britain, but his army went on
to establish Roman rule in the south and south-west of the country. In
the rest of Britain the Romans did not find the people easyto conquer.
In a number of campaigns their armies pushed out from the south-east
of the country and by AD 47 had established a frontier stretching from
Devon to the river Humber. In the next ten yearsthe Romans campaigned
in Wales, occupied Cornwall and moved the frontier north to the borders
of what is now Scotland. Permanent military forts were established in
Wales, but the tribes there remained difficult to subdue. The Romans
fought many campaigns in Scotland and occupied some parts, especially
on the eastcoast,buteventuallytheywere forced to withdraw and established
frontier walls, Hadrian's Wall and the Antonine Wall.
In the ao 7os an invasion oflreland was proposed but never carried
out. Although the Romans never in'uaded lreland, some Scotti, a people
from there, settled in the north and west of Britain and then others took
back to Ireland a variety of Roman goods and ways; Latin words which
began to be part of the vocabulary, clothes which were Roman in style
and even a new religion - Christianity.
TIru l{ou.a.N l'"9:.q
AN AwcIur'.tr Leltl
tl-reMidlands. The slaushtcr wasterrible. It was
said that 80,ooo Britons died and 70,ooo on the
Rornan side, including those Britons who
supported them. The Britons were defeatedand
it is said that Boudica poisoned herself.
Whm Hadrian uisittd
Britain - probably in AD t z r
or t zz - he toured the
prouince aztrl ordued his
soklirs to buikl u huge stone
waLI across it.s northmt L)rtits,
b lrotect lhi inhubita'nls from
'l'he
inuasion and, atlack.
wal| knoun as Had,rian's
Wall, ratzJu r r7 kilometres
from Walkend on the Riau
T)ne to Bouness on the
Solway l-irth.
CuardQosts ure built at
regttkr intruals along the
wall. [n betwem them use
lnoh-out towu; The soklius
uue station.ed in lorts alang
or behind the walL
Ruling Britannia
Now that Britannia, as the Romans called it,
was a new province of the Roman Empire they
could gradually introduce their own Roman laws.
The Romans wanted each province in the
empire to be controlled as part of the whole,
so that it was a safe place for everyone to live
and work in.
Most ol'tl-re people of Roman Britain were
already living on the island when the Romans
arrived. Tens of thousands ofsoldiers increasecl
their nurnbers. There were also Roman officials
and merchants.
The soldiers of the Roman anny lived itr
(below) Boud,ica, queen oJ the
lceni, Ln a bronzeslatue in
Lorulon, put ttp in lhe early
r goos. The dturiot h.a,s
sqLhes on tlu ulut|s, ultich it
tuould nner lmue hatl.
Bottdica uas cutainly
firce . One Ronan uitr
'a
rlesribed hu as uu"9 big
uoman, turifiing to looh a,l,
wilh a fince look on hu face'
and, a lmrsh uoice.
There were setbacksfor the occupying Romans. The most serious
was the revolt in ,qo 6o when tribes in eastern Britain massacredthe
inhabitants of several towns and one Roman army legion of
nearly 6000 soldiers. The uprising was led by
Boudica, the queen of the Iceni tribe who,
with her daughters, had been brutally
attacked and humiliated by the Romans.
Many of the tribes in the south joined
h e r - "a n d a t f i r s t h e r f o r c e s w e r e
successful, as they burned and
killed the inhabitants first of
Colchester and then at the new
Greatly
port of Londinium.
alarmed,
the Romans
gathered an army and met
Borrdica somewhcre in
'l'ltis
is the tombstone of u
Rornan untttrion ca I led
Fauonius.His lull name is
urilten, in ohbrcviakd form
itL l.atin, orl the top lhu of
tlte insuiltlion. Tln
insqi.ftion ako tclls us tltat
lu uas in tlu Twentieth
Legion. TIrc tombstonewos
founrl, in Coldtasler;Essex,
tui|h tltefttu daLnaged'probabfu
b1Borulica's lbrces.
camps. Some of these were large permanent
fortresses built for whole legions, such as those
needed to control the invasion and occupation
of Wales at Caerleon (in the south), Wroxeter
(in the midlands) and Chester (in the north).
\\rhen the Roman authorities were satisfied that
tl're people they had conquered in an area were
living peacefully the army pulled out, leaving
only police forces and patrols at key places.
The army's first task was to build roads.
Good roads made it easier f<rr them to move
quickly to conqlrer rebellious tribes. Then the
officials would follow. The emperor would
appoint a governor, to rule on his behalf. He
would serve for three to five years; he would be
commander-in-chief of the Roman forces in the
province, chief administrator and chief judge.
He wouid be responsible for seeing that Roman
law was obeyed and have a large stafT to carry
out his orders. In addition, the emperor would
appoint another official called a procllrator to
work for him. His.job was to collect taxes, look
after the cstates and the valuable mines, and
see that the gold, silver, iron
exDorted back to Rome.
and lead were
Tnr
Rouan Pnovr Ncn
Liaing as Rorlans
The main tow% and. roads in
Rnman Britain in the second
cmtury.
The biggest change causedby the Romans in Britain
was the number of
towns which they developed all over the province. In pre-Roman
Britain
(seepage 33) the power of celtic tribal chieftains and
t-henobiliry covered
a large area which 'sualy inc]uded some defended
towns. TLese new
Roman^towns not only looked completely different; they
were organised
in a different *ay. There were differenr rl?es, each
built for a different
purpose.
Some were called coloniae.These were colonies of
ex_soldierswho
settled.down with a plot of land and some money.
The Romans could ,
rely on theseRoman citizens to rule sensiblythrough
the town _"".ii
,
and gradually build a proper Roman town. Colchester,
th; i
province's first capital,wasan example of a colonia.Other
towns ,
were municipia. These were towns where the local people
,
had
been given a charter to run their own affairs. Vlrulamium
r;*rll
n
(now St Albans) was an example of a municipiun
"rriEili'
The thirJ ;
type of town was called a ciuitas. Cirirtasis the Latin
oricin i
of our word for cirizen;it meant someonewho lived
ii, i
town or city; to the Roman this wasa .civilized,place. These
l
towns were established as the main centre for a tribal
area. f
They organized some of their own affairs but the gou"rr,o;
!
had the final say,at least at first. Wroxeter wa, u.r".*a*pl.
I
of a ciuitas(seepage 49).
\4rhat was a Roman town like? We know that a town
or city today means a large settlement of people
with
places for living, working, shopping and
ente rtainment. In Roman times that wasalso true,
but a visitor to a town in Roman Britain would
wau
expect to seea number of particular build
and places,including a planned road systeir
which linked lhe town with others and
the countryside around. On the edse
of town. there would be cemeteriis
for the disposalof the dead.The town
itself would have a wall with
(if'the people had permissionf
the emperor), a laid-out
pattern with buildings in regu
blocks, a water supplywith founta
and water basinsin the street,
a proper underground sewage
system.
The public buildings would
mainroadsfromLondon
grouped around an open
other inportant roads
space such as a square called
15o
zoo km
9
forum. Here therewould be a publ
i*::,i
-,,
',1
:F,t,-
This drauing shous uhat th(.
uhole of the city of Wroxetn
mi.ght haue loohed lilu. lt uas
buih, on a flat plain our'fhe
loohing tlu Riuu Sam.
lantl, drops sharply away to
the riun and ttroaidcs a good
fufmce on that si.de.
All uound the city ran a
ktrge bank end. ditch uith a
uooden uall on top. The
main road, through llritain,
latr called,Watling Street,
ran through tJw centre oJ the
ciry. It began at Richbmough
in Kmt, (seepage 45) antl
endzd in Wales.
hall formeetings, lawcourts, council
offices,baths,
markemand temples.There would
alsobe main
snopplng streers wirh workshops
and small
factories, as well as places foi
l.i.,r.. ^rrJ
entertarnment such as a theatre,
perhaps even
an amphitheatre. Much of the
work ir., tfr"r"
placeswould be done by the slaves
which the
Komans took from the Brirish
tribesHo rsesmight be heated with hlpocausts,
a type of underfloor central
hearin;. The;;
would cerralnly be painted walls
and"ceilines
antr at leasr some mosaic floors.
The foil
gradually became more like
Roman f"J
.;
various herbs and spiceswere b.o.rghtf.orn
oth",
parts of the empire. The Romans
were particularly'
fondof the strong fish sauce callecl
iiquo*rn.
The Romans forced the people
6f e.i,;i"
,.^
rheir sysremof governmenr and
liy. ?y
wav
of life, bur they also wantid ," p"r.ruJ.
,h.il
to live as Romans. Tacitus Lrescn'es
desiribes how
fro* the
tfr"
Roman aim was to make , Iif.;;;:;::'-'::'.''"
trib
esorB;;;il,ffi ;l'l?'*:ffi T*rH':i::.il :,1;*:;
'encouraged
Hf;
the buildingoftemples,
;$il;";;.s
Romansintrodiced ..fr""rr,'""J
*i,i?'
.*.y";;;;;ned
it, of course,but it
_11:tl I.,
wanted
and good houses,.
a new language-
to do welti. Ro*u., Brirannia.
T..ir";T:,l;;;TiilJtffi
'educated
the sons of the chiefs ... ttr" ...,rrino*ilat
instead of loathing
the Latin language they
became encouraged to speak it.,
This eave a.,
49
Trrn RolreN PnovrNcr
Ar ANcrnNr LeNu
In gladi,atorial conbat m
wtre foned' tu rtgh to the
fuathfm the mwd"s
In Britain
amumt.
nidnce corus from
amphitheatres and objects likn
this d,ecorated,Pot. It uas
found, in Cnlchxter and'
illwtrates scmesfrom the
gladiatmial shou s. Pi'chned
hqe is Memnon (on the kfi)
a heauy med gladiator
called, a secutor.
opportunity, to boys,to take up ajobwith the Romans,
which might mean leaving their own province and
travelling to other parts of the empire.
By the time the Emperor Hadrian came on
an official visit to Britannia in eo r e z many people
had settled into a regular Roman way of life. Some
had even begun to dress as Romans: Tacitus
'our national dress came into favour
records that,
and the toga waseverywhereto be seen'' Contact
with travellers - merchants, craftworkers and
officials - kept the people of this far away Roman
province in touch with what was happening in
the rest of the empire. In towns they could enjoy
themselves at the baths or the theatre, or go to see
the spectacle of the gladiatorial games in the
amphitheatre.
Before the Romans came the Celts had many
'the population is exceedingly
wrote that
Caesar
farms.
Iarge, the ground thickly studded with homesteads ..' and the cattl
Celtic farmers were efficient enough to feed a larg
o.ry tn-.iorrs'.
population, but the way the Romans farmed would have sr
ixtraordinary to the Celts. As the Romans drove their roads and
through the countryside, cleared and drained land and even built <
in some places, the changes in the appearance of the landscape
have been astonishing. The Romans also created large farming er
(some of them owned by the emperor), made the mines bigger and
slavesfor work in them and on the land.
Roman buildings in the countryside were different too. They called
afarma uilla.Theword was used to include the house of the farmer and
the family as well as the buildings for the slaves, animals and produce.
These places would have seemed huge beside the much smaller Celtic
farms surrounding them. By the first century ao a Celtic farmer would
probably want to build a new 'Roman' house and farm buildings.
The Romans brought their own religion and religious ceremonies
with them when they invaded Britain. The Romans worshipped all sorts
of different gods and goddessesfrom different parts of their huge empire.
The people in Britain could worship Roman gods, although many of the
Celtic gods and goddesseswere worshipped still beside Roman ones. For
example, in Bath there was a temple to Sulis Minerva who was a
combination of the Celtic goddessSulis and the Roman goddessMinerva.
A popular god, especially for soldiers and merchants, was Mithras who
was originally worshipped in Persia. His secret and mysterious religion
wasintroduced into Britain and temples have been found at, forexample,
Christian
CW
discouuyof
chltrch
extraorilinmy
u6
Roman
(nou
ThE uue
theearly
q wealtlry
Thz main building at the
Roman ailla at Lullingstme
in Kmt has bem comPletelY
excaxated,.Hne lou can see
the rmai,ns of lou ualk
presffaed, undn a Protectiae
build.i.ng. In thefm ground'
are the roorc of the ailla's
prtuate bath blnck.
uko gaxe
raun,
ir:1:
IF:
5o
London (the capital city) and the forts of Segontium (in Wales) and
Housesteads(on Hadrian's Wall).
Christianityhadbecome an importantreligion in parts ofthe Roman
Empire, even though it wasbanned in the early period. Britons probably
were unaware of Christianity until the later part of the second century
AD. After that we do know of churches being built at, for example,
Richborough in Kent and at the town of Silchester in Hampshire. private
churches in villas have also been found. The most famous is probably
the one at Lullingstone Villawhere in the mid-fourth century ADtopfloor
rooms were made into a chapel with Christian wall-paintings (now in the
British Museum) . Itwas in the fourth centuryAD that Christianity became
the official religion of Rome and people could then worship lreely in
churches.
Aw ANcrnrvr LAND
Attacks from all sides
Tl'rroughout the history of the empire the
Romans had to deal with
uprisines a'd attacksfrom beyoncl its borders.
By the third ..r-rr.,.y rii,
there was ser.iousunrest in many parts of the
empire. In the ,5,r. ,t"."
were uprisings in the German provinces and
fi_omeo z6o to ,i4 tn...
emperors took power for themselvesancl ruled
the west ,rf tn" ._po",
from Hadrian'sWall to the Strailsof GibraltarancltheAlpr,
irr,rpp;;;i;;;
to Rome' Raidson the coasts.f Britain and
Gaur meant that strong forts
had to be built as a def'ence, and town
walls were also repaired and
strenethened' In the fourth century ADthe picts
from Scotiani, the scots
from Northern Ireland, theAttacotifrom
the western islesand the Franks
and Saxonsfrom Europe threatened Britain.
In el 367 u tlrg. ,.,_U..
swept south acrossHadrian,s Wall and besiegedyork.
The fourth century arsosawanother seriJus
threat to Rornan control
^^
of Britain, In ao 35o a Gaul_calledMagentius
deJared himself Emper_or.
of Rome in opposition to the true Eripero.
Constans.Many people il ,
Britain,went to fight for him in Europe.
He lost agarnst Constans and,
Rome did not restore rhe army in Britairrto it
f"f f rt.",-rgih. b,n*
took,troops to fight on the continent _ in
"_#;;,,
eu 383 and"4o7.
;l
By the beginning of the fifth century -".r,"o.,
of ihe Roman army:r
in Britain had gone' For those British peopre
who ,ro* lived as Romansrr
there was no organised army to defeni their
wuy o1.life. In AD 4ro thsi
Britons sent a petition ro the Emperor
Honoriirs asking for help. Hell
replied that they must from now on 'see
ro rheir own deienc.s'. d'"riii
appeal to Rome was macle in AD
446. The British monk Gildas, .".iriilii
much later, telis of a letter sent to R.o-" that
year, pleading fo.ir.lp, :;i
Cneprnn 6
Thecoming
of theEngtiih
l.
Snapped roof trees, towers
fallen,
the work of the Giants,
the stone_srnidts
mouldereth. . .
of pestilence, on all sides
men f-ell dead,
9"-," lt:
death
fetched o{f the flower
of t}re people;
\4/hcre they stood to fight,
waste places
and on the acropolis
ftemple] ruins.
The barbarians are driving us into the sea
and the sea is driving us back to
the barbarians. Two forms ofdeathwaitforus,
to be slaughtered orclrowned.
No help came.
The end of Roman control
The end? People have often supposed that
Roman Britain came ro
abrupt end in the fifth century an. But a
Roman way of life had exis
rt didnotlustatupfearovernighr.
4ooyears.
r.h
:.311:ll:illearly
may nave been no cenual.control,
h the cmturies aJter
the
nomansbf Bitain,
their
Iub, like this one at
f:;!#:::',
cuminatelt
This bleak picture of ruin,
death.and destruction,
darknessand plague
is^a description, probably
of Bath, ,.ir,."
rnree hunclred years
arter the Roman periort
"fr"r,
in Britain. Th; R;;;;;"ins,
which coutd sti'
be seen, it said weie .the
work orciu.,t.l.ii.,.
l.r"iruy
the rowns and vilas of
world of
the Roman, ;r; feil;;io
".o"red
o".ur.
Britain broke
up into.smallkingdoms
led by warlord
tl DarkAges'
0.."i3', fl.";"#"n:ffi : :wnften
rians,partry
-',111"o
".' to tell bvhisto
evidence
us about
our
it. Much oi
the work of archaeologists.
It can t.u
":;;;;
evidence.";;;;;.
irrr, r: ri ,,r r.:r.
but many urp"it of Roman life m
have remained for some time. We know that
tfri .ity centre at Wrox
had been rebuilt in the Roman style in the
late fourth century, perl
by a local chieftain from Ireland or Wales.
Roman Britain did come to an end, of course,
but only graclually.
the.future, waysoflife were to change again,
as i."rh *uu.. ofinvad
and settlerscame to Britain.
.53
AN ANcrnitr
Ttrr
LeNo
deal about the way people lived, even if we can put few names, if any, to
the people themselves.We also know enough to realise that in the period
from 4go to 8oo lie the beginnings of answersto such questions as'why
'why
are there different countries in the islands of Britain and Ireland?',
'why do some people
is English the language most of us speak today?' and
speakWelsh and others Gaelic?'
CovrrNG oF'rHE
ENcr-rsH
today has its roots in theAnglo-Saxon languageand bythe eighth century,
three hundred years after the first Anglo-Saxon invasions, the word
'Englisc'
was being used to describe the people in southern Britain.
Gradually these new settlers drove the British warlords west, to the
hills, where they perhaps used some of the old Celtic hillforts to defend
themselves. Certainly excavations show that some were rebuilt around
this time, but there is not enough evidence to say who might have used
them. By the beginning of the sixth century the Angles, Saxons andJutes
had settled widely in Britain. A British lament described'how the
Northumbrian English laid wasteShropshire in the seventh century:
More common wasblood on the field's face
Than ploughing of fallow
Thepowerof lzgend- who uas Arthur?
Castk, Susm. The
Pnmq
outtr ualk of thi.s cmth wne
built lry the Rnmans in the
middk oJ thefourth cmtury.
It wu one of many forts
which the Ronans buih to
dzfmd their pruince egainst
raidss from aross the sea.
The nan i,naadsrs
Before the end of the fourth century Britain's coastswere already being
attacked from the seaby new invaders. These were the Irish and the Picts
in the west and north, and the Saxonsand other peoples, together known
asAnglo-Saxons, who came from Europe. At first the Roman army fough
them off but by 4 r o the army had gone. A fewAnglo-Saxons were
living in Britain, mostly assoldiers. According to the British monk,
the British invited some of them to Britain, Paying them to fight
the northern invaders from bevond Hadrian's Wall. But enemies
in different forms. In 446 plague ravaged the country. Many died
the Anglo-Saxon newcomers, moving further inland from the south
east coasts, saw their chance and turned their weapons against thet
weakened British allies.
'Anglo-Saxon' is a name used now to describe several di
peoples. The Angles, Saxons andJutes came from northern German
and Scandinavia.Frisians and Franks came from lands which are n
part of France, Holland and part of Germany. The English we
54
TheAnglo-Saxon advancewasnot alwaysvictorious. Certainly, laterwriters
tell of a huge battle at Mount Badon, which the British won. Later scraps
of written evidence suggest that there was a British war leader, called
Arthur, who may have fought for more than one British war band, and
held back the enemy's advance at the end of the fifth century.
By 6oo the fame of this leader was known to the Welsh poet who
spoke of one warriorwho had'glutted the black ravens'on the wall of
the stronghold,'even though he was no Arthur'. Long afterwards an
accountwritten between 96o and 9Bo described'the battle ofBadon in
which Arthur bore the cross of our LordJesus Christ on his shoulders
for three days and nights and the Britons were the victors'. No one is sure
where the battle took place.
A later chronicle tells of Arthur's birth on the rocky Cornish coast
at Tintagel Castle - but by then his story had become full of magical
events.Arthur is perhaps the most mysterious figure in history; his name
occurs in the myths of Wales, Britain and Europe, yet there is almost
nothing to show that he ever existed.
The mahing of kingdoms
By the early seventhcenturytheAnglo-Saxonswereruling mostof Britain,
but not its most westerly corners (Wales and Cornwall) or the north (see
the map on page 56). Only in those regions did the British manage to
keep their independent kingdoms. In the west by bso there were Welsh
kingdoms of Gwynedd, Dfed, Powys and Gwent. In the north the Picts
were the largestgroup. Tribesfrom Ireland created the kingdom ofDalriada
on the west coast, and the main British kingdom was Strathclyde.
Notall the British people fled before theAnglo-Saxon advance.Many
would have stayed and, as the years passed, as they had done with the
Romans before, intermarried with the invaders, creatins mixed
AN ANcrnNr
Tnr
LeNo
the floor. Sometimes people may have lived in these, but usually they
were workshopsor stores.
The people of Stowa were farmers, who kept cattle, sheep, pigs,
geeseand chickens. They grew wheat, rye, barley, oats and peas in the
fields around the houses and added to their diet by hunting deer and
wild fowl, and catching fish. Theywould grow all their own food, eating
mostly bread or porridge with meat for special occasionsand brewing
beer from barley. They might have been able to trade grain if there was
a surplus, but they would certainly have exchanged animal hides and
clothes for other luxury items. At Stowa they made iron objects (such
as knives), pins and combs ofbone, and pottery.
Some of what we know about Anglo-Saxon people comes from
remains found in their graves. Death for Anglo-Saxons who were not
Christian meant setting out on a journey. They would be buried with
things which they would need and were most valuable to them. Finds
from burial sites show that people were often buried in fine clothes, with
their treasured possessions.A sword was a very valuable possession and
might be handed down from father to son; for most men their weapon
would be a spear. People might also be buried with everyday objects
such as bone combs, knives, or spindle-whorls for weaving. Sometimes
very small fragments of cloth survive in the graves, perhaps attached to
the back of a brooch as one of the burials at West Heslerton in North
Yorkshire showed.
These objects tell us something about the clothes people wore, and
how they made them. Women often wore long flowing gowns fastened
at the shoulders with big brooches, and they might decorate the cuffs
with stitching, and hang a purse from a belt around the waist. Theywould
British
settlements, living side by side. Some Anglo-Saxon kings had
Celtic
names, and they Lay have divided land in the same way as the
ancestors of the British.
'cynn' (the
The Anglo-Saxons settled in small groups' The
and
followers
his
lord
and
kin or tribef was a community of the
To
the
kin'
the
of
guardian
the
(king)
was
the lord, the'cyning'
Anglo-Saxon warrioi io U! pu.t of a war ban-d led by a strong'
I
leader was a matter of life and death; loyalty between king and
withdraw from battle and survive his death.
return they expected their reward in treasure
land, cattle and slaves. Some of the names
these leaders survive today; Hastings in Ke
was the home of the Haestingas, the
of Haesta; Reading in Berkshire was the
of the Readingas, the followers
of Reada'
Between 5oo and 7oo some of the
smaller kingdoms conquered
the
of
'bloodshed
neighbours. By the late Toos
of la
number
a
created
had
sword'
kingdoms. Lesserkingdoms paid tribute mot
to these stronger kings. Sometimes one kl
DUMNONIA Celtic and British kingdoms
would become more powerful than all
Anglo'Saxonkingdoms
ESSEX
Offa's DYke
others.Laterwriterscalledthem.over-ruler,or.Britain.ruler'.Thech
graduallY
be
TheAnglo-Saxons
which were to end in England becoming a single kingdom had
pushedthe Britonswestwards:
ffi
bV5oo
conouests
concuestsbv8oo
ffi
k'
o,----'::----10
Angkr'\axon settlemmt
betueen5oo and 8oo
Gr a dually, t h e An gln-Sa x orc
p6hed, the Britons weslwmd'
mmti,ng a numbr of largu
hingd,ore by the late 7oos.
Eaerydaylife
Finds
Day-to-day living was as much about survival as warfare'
earlyl
about
details
many
revealed
have
sites
excavations of vi-llage
Saxon daily life. Oie, now called West Stow in Suffolk, has been
been
completelv excavated. The lands along the river Lark had
to I
for thousands ofyears before the Anglo-Saxons chose this place
Stowa'
of
vrllage
small
the
Only three of four families lived in
one had two sorts of buildings, both made of wood with thatched
One, which is long and cafle"tla hall by the archaeologists'n'd 1]
in ttre centre. The other type of family buildiirg they call a sunken
area
These are wooden tent-like buildings which had a dug-out
Corr.rrucoF THE Er{crrsH
families lixed in
Wst Heslerton in
from about
t55g. ArchanL
ekavated it and
lhinh the
Looked.
Tnr
ColrrNc oF THE ENcr-rss
AN Axcrnrsr Lamo
pins and bracelets' Men
wear jewellery of all kinds rings, necklaces'
laced boots' In cold
leather
with
lefgings
over
Jhor, ,,rni.,
;;;;ilt*"..
them
keep
larmt
cloaks fastened with largi brooches would
-*.",it!.
Ut ti", tradewasbecominglnimportantPartofdaiYll::91*i
the south and eastcoasts.Peopre
trading iettlemen$were called'wics'. On
;;;;;"J;.
livein theselarsersettlemell:I11fl yj::::li:,t::Ti
of streetsI
;tg.t1;* H"-i"ic (nowSouthamPton)' Remains
i;;;il
houses
Jo*',t u, they iould havebeen crowded.with
T9
l:tfl",lll
tradin
Inland'
A remarkable discoaerY
During the late summer of r939, when the nations of Europe were about
to be ilunged into another world war, in a corner of England neal the
suffolk coJst, archaeologists were making a remarkable discovery. With
war only days away,they had found the grave ofan Anglo-Saxon leader
which heldiome of the mostbeautiful objects ever discovered. The name
over Europe'
and the finds have included objects from all
p.r" gr"* *nere theimportait roadtt1"::1.-l1t,Il9::**,:t-?:
nts th
trade and'somerimes made rhese trading settleme
i;;;il,his
settlement,
a
t""y
such
had
London
;;;q;.;.tt.
ft"ul^:,"^:t.::1
another' Some smaller tradir
i.ufJg.. Sq"ure).York, called Eoforwicwas
asFordwich in Ke
*"re on the lower reaches of rivers' such
,.r,f.ri"rr*
Anglia'
East
in
and
_- Ipswich
A" villages and towns grew, written **irnti::,-*I-*::
placeswith z
r'"gfud becamewell-ordered
their"leaderstojudge th":.' 9: :j:5:.'::
for exampli' which showedthe lists of fi
ki";;-t;;i;r*s*""
;;i:;;;;;i;;;pected
il;;.^;#;;ito,.oa",,
This i: thefirst page of
Beowulf. The manwri|t
uas ffiitten on Parchmmt,
and' is nou kePt in the British
which
a leader
to life, a world of splendour, wealth and power
where such treasure was the highest prize.
The treasure itself had been part of a ship
burial; no human remains were found but the
richness of the objects, chosen for thejourney
to the next world, showed that this person must
have been important. The objects included
cloaks and leather shoes; weapons - sPears,
sword and axehammer; armour; a sceptre and
could
impose'
An Anglo-Saxonhero
Library.
'shield' in war with courage and loyalty'
Eaoi
Perhaps the mostfamous fheroic' poem is
centu
ninth
and
the
eighth
written down between
is Beowulf himielf, a war-leader f
t
it.
"to who is a slayer of dragons' In one story
Scandinavia
man
rescues the land of. the Danes from the
monsterGrendel.In the otherhe risksallfora
hoardstolen from earls and guardedbyafire-t
the hero and the poet
monster. The monsterkills'the
thick gold and bracel
of the treasure-hoard of
a fire made'so hlgn
funeral-pyre,
the
He describes
afar''
broad that the seafarers might see it from
mourneo
s
warriors
Beowulf
poet ends,telling how
Ling, not only praising his courage but'
and
They said he was of all the world's kings
the gentlesr of men, and the most gracious'
fame'
the iindest to his people, the keenest for
58
(right) This helma wu
found i,n the Sutton
Hoo bwial site. It is
fiwly dccmated,with scmes of
:f.ghting and is mdc of iron
uith oarlays of brmze, silvn
and, gold.
Tnn
AN Ar.tcrnNr
CovrNG
oF THE Exclrsn
LaNn
This lnrge gold, buckle, shoun
htre in its ortual size of jwt
oau t 3 mtimztra ltng uas
troboily rced' on a belt to hold
'o
'interlnu'- a
rrori. Th"
- is
niswross decmatim
ofim found on jeuellrry and
in stme mruingJrom the
sixth and' snmth cmtmix'
If you Inoh closelYat the
dtcuation You will seestrange
ani.mak ueaui'ng in and' out
of the fattm and' biting
The Sutton Hoo
in"*t"u.
treasure can be sem i'n the
British Museum in London'
'
1,fft7chatiuwu found in
" .WdaghinCountYLimrirh
lhlrit^nd in r868 and is
i[u in theNational Mrcrum
oifiMqnd. The chalice uould
iit:iq bem usedfor the giaing
ofwi'w at tke communzon
massin church.
Mildz in the eightll cmtw)'
ilii:iMirtjs an emnPlzoJ
itii.:ithirmammt rced,at the
'hli"smadeof beaten and
silnn The bowl and,
with
This is the rutal lid' of a Purce
uhich contai'red thirtYs n m
gold coi.m. It u6 fitted m to
i belt and' the Pune i'tself wu
probably madz of bY *i"ory
uhich hu nuu rotted' auaY'
Thz netal is gold' but thqe are
inlays of gamet, stone and
glass. APtrtfromthe
inttrhce, )ou can su rlcn
and, animak and'inthz cmtre
me two falcorc swoofnng on
tuo d'uks'
and.gold,coppr,
ambq and
gold coins; buckets' cauldt
an iron standard;jewellery, a purse and
tT
(a
small^harp),with
iyre
a
spoons;
bowls, dishes and
::llCij
shows that
objects
the
of
of some
arint irrg horns. The *"t^l*oitt
came
---- from EuroPe.
it i, mightiravebeenthe Ctu*-9f Y"y.utd: u *1q -"t*,Tj
in about 625' Others
*no *^
.i.tt"und powerful' He p"robably died
tosigebi,",
ffi ;hril; ;;lo'nged
1".n,'"'111'91'..T,Yi:
1*i5*lkings
i"t, he felonged to a new world in which
ffi;:\ ;;;;;1.
shoresof Britainl
enormouswealth,power and coitact beyondthe
Pagan.hi,ngsbecomeChristi'an
'to the lrish be
In 43r Pope Celestine sent Palladius as bishop
missionaries'
Christ'. Palladius was followed by other
""".:l-l
life was certainly cott
Patrick, later to become St Patrick' Patrick's
rem:-0"11
and it is not surprising that he is the best
,Hj"Xi,
f.orn his own writings' His fatherr'vas.",tiff
uUor.t fti*.o*.,
around Ca1"1l;'11'i
u Ctt.lrtlt.t, and probably lived in the area
probably Scotti
raiders'
by
captured
Pauickwas
about sixteen
6o
who took him back with them to Ireland as a slave. After six years he
escapedby ship to Brittany (part of Roman Gaul). He returned to his
home district when he was about twenty-five years old. There he trained
for the priesthood, and he returned to Ireland as a bishop sometime
after 4bo. During the next hundred years or so, Patrick and the other
missionaries who followed converted the Irish to Christianity.
In bg7 Pope Gregory I in Rome decided it was time to persuade
the Anglo-Saxon kings to give up their heathen beliefs and become
Christian. The monk he chose to lead a group of about fiftymissionaries
wasAugustine. KingAethelbert of Kent received the Christian missionaries
from Rome kindly, gave them a dwelling in Canterbury, but did not at
frrstwish to become a Christian himself. Gradually he changed his mind,
letting the monks build a church in Canterbury. Augustine became its
first archbishop. Anglo-Saxon England had entered a new era.
To the English kings, with their ever-increasing power and wealth,
this new religion wasattractive. European leaders were already Christian;
now they would be on equal terms. There were other benefits. Christian
priests could read and write. Anglo-Saxon kings could not. Who better
to write their documents?
Not all Christians came from Rome. Some had already arrived in
the north of Britain from Ireland and converted some of the northern
kings.In 563 an Irish monk,
called Columba, had
founded his monastery on the island of
Iona on the west
coast of Scotland.
\ArhenKingOswaldof
Northumbria asked for
someone to converl thc
Northumbrians, Aidan and
some followers came and
settled on the island of
Lindisfarne. where thev built a
monastery.
Although the'Irish' and'Roman' churches
had links they did have some disagreements
about how they organized themselves.
They argued most fiercely over
the date ofEaster. Each tradition
observed it on different dates.
The bishops, becoming rather
bad-tempered. put their case
before the king of Northumbria at a
'
specialconference atwhitbyin 664. The king
decided in favour of the Roman date for Easter, much to the displeasure
of the Irish bishop who returned home in a huff.
6r
Tns
AN ANctBNr
CoirarNG oF THE ENcr-rsu
LaNo
to make the manuscripts beautiful was to
honour God. Perhaps for the first time, Britain
was taking a dynamic part in the growth of
European civilization.
In the monastery atJarrow in Northumbria
the greatest Anglo-Saxon scholar, Bede, wrote
his EcclesiasticalHistorl of theEnglish People,which
h e f i n i s h e d i n 7 3 r . H i s m a i n p u r p o s ew a s l o
explain how the English became Christian, as
the work of the various groups of monks and
priests from Rome and Ireland gradually built
up a unified Faith- But he also describesin vivid
detail the Roman rulers of Britain, the arrival
of theAnglo-Saxons,thewars inwhich theywon
territory from the Britons and Picts, and the
growth of their kingdoms. Bede has been called
'the
Father ofEnglish History';he mayevenhave
been the person who first invented the phrase
'English
people' to describe the various AngloSaxon groups.
Preaching the word of God
kings to give up
It probably took more than seventyyears for the English
kings and
converting
their old gods and become Christian' However'
the
converting
as
same
the
all
at
not
was
their couits to Christianity
Christian message
the
hear
to
go
to
they
were
\Arhere
people.
ordinary
the answer
of the bishops and their priests?Monasteries and churcheswere
g.,*."r-r 6go and 85b tingt and their bishops built hundreds of
monastenes.
These early monasteries were rather like settlemen" q:*-ttl-t'
aswell as Priests'nuns
ruled by women, they included a variety of peoplc
became magnets for
and
life
religious
and monks. They were centres of
of towns such
names
the
in
today
echo
they
minsters,
trade. Called
Ilminster and Kidderminster.
The ageof Bede
culture
In the great eighth-century monasteries' Anglo-Saxon
ii':i-11
became
they
and
ide-as,
European
enrichei by imp*orted
built
centres .rf i"urnirlg and a.t. Thtir churches' often elaborately
and
secut
Wealth
architecture'
stone, mark the be"ginnings of English
the stories of
guu. -orlt, und nuns the"chance io study' They copied
to.reld,Th
for.others
saints
Blnf., tft" psalms and the lives of the
by h
write
to
scribere"
manu
(from
Latin
copies, called manuscrips
and illust
.oi,ld tak. years to makl and were beautifully decorated
Olfa and the Mercian kingdom
(aboue) 7'he.L,indisfurne
Gospc.lswne copietl ancl
decorated at the rnonaslny ott
Lindisfarne in 598. Worh on
manuscripts li.ke tltis is
descibed as'illuminated',
becauseit looks as tltough it is
lit fron thc inside. TIre lettus
and bordrs a,repaintcd in
bright colours, slwLinles u.ith
gold or silau kaf ottaclrctl.
Dach of thefour Gospek
begins with a magtif,cently
such as this
y::rated PqCe,
Onl. oJ the emliest bishoPs,
Airtan (seePuge 6 r ) ashed'the
Northunbrian king for the
isLand of Lindisfarne so lhal
he coukl buiLd a monastul
thqe. lt uas a I'onelYPlace
uhich Bcde desniberJlike this:
'On the bishoP'saniaal the
king gaae him ... the islnnd
oJLindisJarne ... As the title
ebbsand flous, this Place is
surrounded twice d'aiLYbYlhe
uaues oJ the sea like an
island and twice, uhen tlu
shora is left drY, it becones
egein atteched to thc
It is intercsting to competz
lhe designttitlt Lhe Suu,on,
Hoo lreasure. Sotne of the
pattcrus are uu) similar
mainlaruL'
6s
It was nearly tlvo centuries after Bede's death
'English
before the
people' were genuinely
united. In the meantime kings were becoming
steadilymore powerful, ruling ever larger areas.
In the seventh and eighth centuries the great
Midland kingdom of Mercia, which had its
centre in what is now Staffordshire and
Derbyshire, was the richest and strongest
kingdom, and often dominated weaker ones
around it. The Mercian king, Offa, who ruied
for nearly forty years from 758 to 796, was
regarded by some as the king of all England
south of the Humber. This claim is exaggerated,
but Offa probably controlled greater resources
than any ruler in Britain had done since the
Romans left. By now more people could read
and write, and better systemsof administration
were being developed to control trade and
gather tax. Wealth and productivity were
increasing,so that kings could become very rich.
In the 78os Offa decided that he had had
enough of the Welsh tribes raiding on his
borders. A later Welsh chronicle records that.
AN ANcrnNr LeuP
and Wales "' that is
Offa causeda dyke to be made between him
'glawd Oifu' ... and it extendsfrom one sea to the other "'
called
Flint'
from the south near Bristol to the north above
dug a ditch up to
Offa summoned thousands of men' who
dyke cutthrough
z.r metres deep andup to zometreswide'The
stranding farms
today'
do
,t'otot*uyt
.r,d
.uil*uy.
ttrl-i""J*
a thousand years
Over
neighbours'
near
once
from
villages
and
later,
--"- sorie of the dyke still stands'
b".pi .u offaiseffortsto createastab*.Ylgoif Y"l'lll t
" in the 8zos' The future lay with the kings of,the'
power coliapsed
'vGst Sa*ons, t]re people of Hampshire and.Dorset wh":.?"o"ll:o;
resources of the south-1
the greatport of Southampton and *re mineral
This coin shnus King Offal
head.and' naru- English
hi.ngshadbem issuing coins
since the snmth centmY, but
Offa's are the most beautiful
ti-haae bem made in Britain
since the Romarc lzfi'. The
pi,cture shows him .lnoking
raths like a Ronan mptror:
uas he starting to think of
hi.melf u a d'iffnmt hind oJ
CHeernn 7
TheVikings
.T
Lnuod,e
wesL
was as short.as
All Offa's efforts proved in lrain' His son's reign
I
*^ r""g. E.gf.ith diedonlvmonthsafter.histuq:i:ll^:?::11*:'::
Cenv
king'
Jj;t-kings gatheredin revolt'The newMercian
il;;il
to Me
brought
was
leader
Kentish
captured
The
round.
won the firsi
hands.cut
his
and
out
in chains and mutilated. Fiit "ytt were Put
was an ugly business' but the king was lucky
Holding on to Power
escapewith his life.
ruln?
TheDark Ages?
rule in Britain most
For the flrst two hundred years of Anglo-Saxon
from sites of burii
evidence
archaeological
whatwe know comes from
more written evrt
clntury.fhere,is
eighth
the
By
towns.
and
,rillug.,
- eJd.'r History,the charteri and Beguu{are tl: *:,::l*Portant'
that'
so, there is stilivery little; one historian has written
it is certain as certaln car
what we know hangs by so narrow a thread that
England about which
be that there *u, u g..ut deal about AngloSaxon
anything'
know
will
never
we do not know and
west and far
We know enough, however, to realise that in the
th:Tg]i
In
tribestherewere separateLngdoms ofmainlyBritish
conti
which
ofjustice
systems
and
laws
kingdoms the rulers criated
i""!
traded,'ig
Thepeople
hadgone.
ii1',gli::.*:
monastenes
"r,".,r'"y
,o.ri. of the most exquisite ever produced' founded
Towards
learning'
and
utt
g"ut
of
ce,to"'
became
settlements which
"everythin^g
achieved
had
they
end of the eighth century however
from across the sea'
threatened. A new wave oi'inaders appeared
64
L
l
The year was 78g. From across the sea three ships carrying Northmen
landed on the coast of the kingdom of the West Saxons' The king sent
a messenger to find out who they were, but he never returned' The
account records that the Northmen slew the messenger' The next
'those were the first ships of Danish
sentence foretold the threat to come:
men which came to the land of the English'. In
the ninth century many people were terrified
of these Northmen, orVikings. In England they
'wolves to be feared' and 'stinging
called them
hornets' and in Ireland'ruthless, angry,foreign,
purely pagan people'. The word Viking comes
frorn uikingr which meant Pirate or raider in
the old language of the Norwegians'
In the eighth and ninth centuries all the
people who lived in the Scandinavian countries
of Norway, Sweden and Denmark were known
as Vikings. In their own countries they were
farmers, town builders and great traders. Their
artists and craftworkers made beautiful objects.
Many were travellers and sailors who sailed the
seas looking for plunder, trade, and land for
new settlements.
Thi-s Viki.ng boat, near\
tumtyhro wtfus lnng, wu
found. at Osebergin Nomay.
It has bem recontructed in
near
theViking Ship Mumn
Osln. A thousand' years ago it
uu the burial shiP (like thc
6x
one at Suttnn Hoo' seepage
59) of a royl lad,y who died
in the ninth cmtw). It uas
Wbably uiginally 6ed' 6
ptrsonal transpol'tftr the
royalfamily
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