Roman Britain: Origins and Romanisation

• Study notes on Roman Britain: Beginnings and Origin Stories

Roman Britain

• A cosmopolitan empire that prompts questions about historical facts and interpretations.
• Research paper objects include status, materials, use, and design.
• Key questions about Roman Britain include:
  • Why the Romans invaded.
  • How the rich lived.
  • How much of the population was Roman or Romanised.
• The Empire functioned as an economic space with a common currency, roads, postal service, lighthouses, and ports.
• The empire was also linguistically diverse.

Romanisation

• Describes an economic process where local elites quickly adopted Roman lifestyles and built villas.
• Syncretism is defined as the merging of different religions, cultures, or ideas.
• Picts lived in Britain in 150 AD with Celtic culture, non-Roman languages, and a small protected percentage.
• Society comprised Roman and Romanised townspeople who were villa and land-owners.
• Celtic language-speaking village people essentially lived in the Iron Age.

Roman Britain in Historiographies

• History books often commence with the Roman Conquest when discussing Roman Britain.
• Roman history and facts are used to define a nation, culture, and people.
• Eighteenth-century Britain "adopted" Rome, leading to:
  • Neo-classical architecture projecting authority.
  • Public buildings echoing Rome.
  • Aristocratic interiors becoming Roman fantasies.
• In the 19th century, the British added the word "empire" to their job description, indicative of parliamentary actions.
• 1877: Queen Victoria proclaimed Empress of India instead of being Queen.
• The mid-19th century saw a surge in British novels, poems, and paintings about Rome.
• Economic benefits of being Romanised included citizenship, trade, and empire status.

Roman Britain in Popular Culture

• Displays violence between indigenous people and the Romans.
• This highlights conflict which influences contemporary historiography.
• Britain was not as included in the RE than the narrative that is often told.
• Deconstruction of a unified British history and identity.
• The idea that Romans were just people from Italy is a cultural misinterpretation
• Roman Britain was multicultural, similar to modern-day Britain.
• The Empire was a linguistic space with local languages in addition to Latin.
• Romans built roads, established an empire, and brought people from over the Mediterranean.

The Anglo-Saxon Period

• Germanic language speakers from Fresia (Belgium), Denmark, or Germany.
• Encompasses different tribes with diversity in visual art, religion, and poetry.
• Roman-Britain merged culture and traditions in religious places, instead of replacing them—Syncretism.
• Territories were established to control all over Europe.
• The Saxon movement was not a uniquely British phenomenon.

Two Narratives

• Invading Force: Pushed native Brits and Celtic speakers to Wales.
  • Known as hostile aliens according to primary narratives.
• Honoured Ancestors:
  • After the fall of the Roman Empire, Roman soldiers withdrew leading to instability and the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons.
  • Can be described as "honoured ancestors and founding fathers."
  • Involved merged cultures.

Sutton Hoo

• Site of two Anglo-Saxon cemeteries from the 6th to 7th centuries near Woodbridge, Suffolk.
• Excavated since 1938.
• Contains an undisturbed ship burial.
• Establishes the history of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of East Anglia and illuminates the Anglo-Saxons during a period which lacks historical documentation.
• Items found include drinking vessels, byzantine silver, French coins.

Artifacts

• Helmet of Sutton Hoo (archaeological dig, East Anglia), decorated with garnets from India or Sri Lanka, indicating warriors and traders.
• The Spong Man (Anglo-Saxon grave, East Anglia) shows religious diversity.
  • Cremation (pagan) involved goods.
  • Inhumation is burial (Christian) lacking goods.
  • An example of Syncretism.
• Anglo-Saxon buckle with a fish symbol.
• Anglo-Saxon necklace with cross (aesthetically pagan jewelry, also an example of Christianity).
• After the RE fell, infrastructure remained, and Roman presence fundamentally shaped society and culture.
• Urban life continued in some Romano-British towns until the 7th century, with buildings repaired and baths in use.

A warrior society

• Buried men with spears and shields.
• Luxury was often a token of valor.
• Byzantine and French goods indicated warriors and traders.

Anglo-Saxon Architecture

• Primarily used wood which is not as long-lasting and present fewer examples today.
• Reused and recycled stone from Roman ruins to recreate buildings.
• Anglo-Saxon structures involved reused and recycled Roman materials.

Settling Down

• West Germanic invaders called native Celts "wealas," meaning foreigners.
• Celts called them all "Saxons".

Culture, Law, Language

• Normally descriptions of organic traditions to do deals with different things.
• Laws of Aethelberht are a compilation and inventory of customs-in-law enforced under the kings' authority, but not made by the king.

Local Political Organisation

• Village assemblies (=moots) to settle disputes.
• Village assemblies evolved over time, some estates were endowed with courts and judicial powers.
• Folkright or custom was the most important basis of law (often highly local).
• "The procedure was calculated to avoid reasoned decision-making."
• Proof by oath.
• Oath-helpers (neighbours).
• Ordeal (let God decide).
• Shire (=counties).
• Each shire had an assembly that met twice a year.

Economic Life

• Most important crops: wheat, barley, and oats (bread, beer, and porridge).
• Open field and common land.

Old English or Anglo-Saxon

• Old English is more of a now-perspective (referring to Modern-English).
• "Anglo-Saxon" establishes a different relationship.
• According to the linguist Tom McArthur, Old English and present-day English are as different from one another as Classical Latin and present-day French.
• Basic tools of English - this, the, that, I, me, him, it - are of Anglo-Saxon origin.
• Romans didn't just come from Italy, but also Africa, Algeria, etc.
• Queen Victoria claimed to be an empress from Romans.
• Anglo Saxons merged their culture with the one of the Romans - Syncretism.
• There were two narratives: intruders and founding fathers.
• Used a lot of wood in their architecture and not many buildings from that time are left.

Vikings

• Navigators, warriors, and traders from Scandinavia, Germany, and Fresia.
• Viking stone carvings exist in Turkey.
• The Viking Age: approx. 800-1050.
• Travelled to Russia, the Mediterranean, and Asia.
• Sailed the North Atlantic (Greenland, Iceland, Newfoundland).
• Had superiority in shipbuilding technology and sailing skills, including navigation and fighting.
• Longest ships were over 35m long, crewed by eighty men and built of oak, ash, elm, and pine; symmetrical design for easy manoeuvrability.
• Founded cities.
• By the late 9th century, Danish Vikings moved larger forces, sailing up French rivers, attacking cities (Paris), then south (Lisbon).

GB

• Attacks were seasonal, setting out in the spring and returning in the autumn.
• Started to stay longer and longer.
• Began raiding monasteries in England, Ireland, and Scotland, indicated territorial expansion.
• All similar patterns of invasions - larger and larger groups - armies - colonization.
• Language: Norn until the 18th c.