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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 I I I l l