The old idea that Britons and Romans were still two
distinct and hostile racial elements has, of course, been long abandoned
by all competent inquirers—for reasons which the preceding pages will
have made evident.
distinct and hostile racial elements has, of course, been long abandoned
by all competent inquirers—for reasons which the preceding pages will
have made evident.
Cambridge Medieval History - v1 - Christian Roman Empire and Teutonic Kingdoms
D.
60 was directed not only against
the supremacy of Rome but also against the spread of Roman civilisation,
and one incident in it was the massacre of many thousands of " loyal”
natives along with actual Romans. Romanisation, it is plain, had been
spreading apace. Nor did this massacre check it for long. The Flavian
period (A. D. 70–96) saw in Britain, as indeed in other provinces, a serious
development of Roman culture and in particular of Roman town life, the
peculiar gift of Rome to her western provinces. In the decade A. D. 70-80,
the Britons began, as Tacitus tells us, to speak Latin and to use Latin
dress and the material fabric of Latin civilised life. Now towns sprang up,
such as Silchester (Calleva Atrebatum) and Caerwent (Venta Silurum),
laid out on the model approved by Roman town-planners, furnished with
public buildings (forum, basilica, etc. ) of Roman style, and filled with
houses which were Roman in their internal fittings (baths, hypocausts,
wall-paintings) if not in ground-plan. Now the baths of Bath (Aquae
Sulis) were equipped with civilised buildings suited to their new visitors:
the earliest datable monument there belongs to about 77. Two
coloniae also were planted. Hitherto there had only been one, established
by Claudius at Colchester (Camulodunum): now one was added at
Lincoln (Lindum) and in 96 a third at Gloucester (Glevum). A
new Civil Judge (legatus iuridicus) begins to make his appearance beside
the regular legatus Augusti pro praetore who was at once commander of
CH. XIII.
24--2
## p. 372 (#402) ############################################
372
Roman Britain: Civilisation
the troops and judge of the chief court and governor of the province,
and the appointment is doubtless due to increasing civil business in the
law courts. When Tacitus praises Agricola because he encouraged the
provincials to adopt Roman culture, he praises him for following the
tendency of his age, not for striking out any novel line of his own. It
is probable that by the end of the first century, Roman civilisation was
laying firm hold on all the British lowlands.
Subsequent progress was slower, or at least less showy. Little
advance was made beyond the lowlands. Towns and “ villas " were rare
west of the Severn, and save in the vale of York they were equally rare
north of the Trent. The uplands remained comparatively unaffected.
Their population, as recent excavations in Cumberland and in Anglesey
have shewn, used Roman objects and came to some extent within range
of Roman culture. But it seems impossible to speak of them as fully
civilised, even if, in the later years of the Roman occupation, they did not
remain wholly barbarian. In the lowlands we may ascribe to the second
and third centuries the development of the rural system and the building
of farmhouses and country residences constructed in Roman fashion.
is very
difficult to date these houses. But the evidence of coins seems to
shew that the end of the third and the first half of the fourth century
were the periods when they were most numerous and most fully occupied,
and when, as we may fairly argue, the countryside of Roman Britain was
most fully permeated with Roman culture. For such a conclusion we
shall have the support of a neighbouring parallel in Gaul.
The administration of the civilised part of Britain, while of course
subject to the governor of the whole province, was in effect entrusted to
the local authorities. Each Roman municipium and colonia ruled itself,
including a territory which might be as long and broad as a small
English county. Some districts probably belonged to the Imperial
Domains and were ruled by local agents of the Emperor ; such, probably,
were the lead-mining districts, as on Mendip or in Derbyshire or
Flintshire. The remainder of the country, by far its largest part, was
divided up, as before the Roman conquest, among the native cantons or
tribes, now organised in more or less Roman fashion : each tribe had its
council (ordo) and tribal magistrates and its capital where the tribal
council met. Thus, the tribe or canton of the Silures, the civitas
Silurum, as it learnt to call itself, had its capital at Venta Silurum,
Caerwent (between Chepstow and Newport); there its council met and
decreto ordinis, by decree of the council, measures were taken for the
government of the tribal area which probably covered much of Mon-
mouthshire and some of Glamorgan. This, we know by epigraphic
evidence, occurred at Caerwent and we shall not be rash in assuming,
on slighter evidence, that the same system obtained in other tribal areas
in Britain. It is just the system which Rome applied also to the local
government of Gaul north of the Cevennes : it illustrates well the Roman
1
## p. 373 (#403) ############################################
Roman Britain : Towns
373
method of entrusting local government to a restricted form of Home
Rule.
In the social fabric of Romano-British life, the two chief elements
were the town and the country house or “villa. ” Both are mainly Roman
“
importations. The Kelts do not appear to have reached any definite
urban life, either in Gaul or in Britain, before the coming of the
Romans, though they no doubt had, even in Britain, agglomerations
of houses which came near to being towns. But with the Roman
conquest a real town life arose. In part, this was directly created by
the government under the Roman forms of municipium and colonia,
noticed above. Colchester (Camulodunum), Lincoln (Lindum), Gloucester
(Glevum), York (Eburācum), were coloniae ; the first three were founded
in the first century by drafts of time-expired soldiers and the fourth,
York, probably grew out of the “civil settlement” on the west bank of
the Ouse which confronted the legionary fortress under the present
Cathedral and its precincts. One town Verulamium (St Albans) was
a municipium, ranking with the four coloniae in privilege and standing
but different (as explained above) in origin. All these five towns
attained considerable prosperity, and in particular Camulodunum,
Eburācum and Verulamium, but none can vie with the more splendid
municipalities of other provinces.
Besides them, Roman Britain could shew a larger number-some
ten or fifteen, according to the standard adopted-of country-towns
which varied much in size but possessed in their own way the essential
features of urban life. The chief of these seem to be the following:
(1) Isurium Brigantum, capital or chef-lieu of the Brigantes, now
Aldborough, some twelve miles N. W. of York and the most northerly
Romano-British town properly so called, (2) Ratae, capital of the
Coritani, now Leicester, (3) Viroconium—so best spelt, not Uriconium-
capital of the Cornovii, now Wroxeter, on the Severn, five miles below
Shrewsbury, (4) Corinium, capital of the Dobuni, now Cirencester,
(5) Venta Silurum, already mentioned, (6) Isca Dumnoniorum, capital
of the Dumnonii, now Exeter, (7) Durnovaria, capital of the Durotriges,
now Dorchester in Dorsetshire, (8) Venta Belgarum, capital of the
Belgae, now Winchester, (9) Calleva Atrebatum, capital of the Atrebates,
close to Silchester, (10) Durovernum Cantiacorum, capital of the Cantii,
now Canterbury, (11) Venta Icenorum, capital of the Iceni, now Caister
by Norwich, and perhaps—for the limits of the list are not easily drawn
with rigidity-Chesterford (Roman name unknown) in Essex, Kenchester
(Magna) in Herefordshire, Chesterton (Durobrivae ? ) on the Nen,
Rochester (also Durobrivae) in Kent, and even one or two which have
perhaps less right to inclusion. Many of these towns are indicated by
the Ravenna Geographer as holding some special rank and nearly all
are declared by their remains to be the sites of really Romanised town-
life. What exactly their status or government was, has yet to be
CH. XIII.
## p. 374 (#404) ############################################
374
Roman Britain: Towns
care.
1
defined.
But it is fairly probable—especially from the Caerwent
monument erected by the ordo civitatis Silurum—that the authorities
of town and tribe were one.
The general fashion of these towns has been revealed to us by
excavations at Silchester and Caerwent. At Silchester, the whole
100 acres within the walls have been systematically uncovered
during the last twenty years and the buildings studied with especial
At Caerwent, a smaller area (39 acres) has been excavated so
far as the buildings of the present village permit. Both shew much
the same features, with certain differences in detail which are both
natural and instructive: (i) Both have been planned according to the
Roman method, which obtained in many parts of the Empire : that is,
the streets run at right angles, so as to form a chessboard pattern with
square plots for the houses. At Silchester, where space was obviousl
abundant, the sanctity of the street frontages seems to have been in
general observed : at Caerwent, which is of smaller size and more thickly
crowded with buildings, the street plan has suffered some encroachments,
but not so much as to obliterate its character. (ii) Both towns had near
their centre the Town Buildings known as Forum and Basilica. At
Silchester the Forum was a rectangular plot of two acres, with streets
running along all its four sides. It contained a central open court,
nearly 140 feet square, surrounded on three sides by corridors or cloisters
with rooms-presumably shops and lounges-opening into them; on the
fourth side was a pillared hall, 270 x 58 feet in floor space, decorated
with Corinthian columns, marble lined walls, statues and the like, and
behind this hall a row of rooms which probably served as offices for the
town authorities and the like. The Caerwent Municipal Buildings were
very similar: so (as far as we can tell from imperfect finds) were those
at Cirencester and Wroxeter. They are indeed examples of a type
which was represented in most large towns of the western Empire and
in Italy itself. (iii) Both towns had in addition small temples in
different quarters within the walls and at Silchester a small building
close to the Forum is so similar in every detail to the early Christian
church of the western “ basilican " type, that we can hardly hesitate to
call it a church. (iv) Both towns, again, seem to have had Public Baths:
those at Silchester covered an area of 80 by 160 feet in their earliest
form and in later times were much extended. Both again had more
direct provision for amusements. At Silchester an earthen amphitheatre
stood outside the walls : at Caerwent there are traces of the stone walls
of one inside the ramparts. (v) Of dwelling-houses and shops and the
like both towns had naturally no lack. The private houses are built
like most of the private houses in the Keltic part of the Empire, in
fashions very dissimilar from anything at Pompeii or Rome, but are
fitted in Roman style with mosaics, hypocausts, painted wall-plaster
and the like. They are specially noteworthy as being properly “ country
9
a
:
## p. 375 (#405) ############################################
Roman Britain: Towns, Country Houses
375
houses,” brought together to form a town perforce, and not “ town
houses” such as could be used to compose regular rows or terraces or
streets. Even the architecture thus declares that the town life of these
cantonal chef-lieux, though real, was incomplete.
The civilisation of the towns appears to have been of the Roman
type. Not only do the buildings declare this: inscriptions, and, in par-
ticular, casual scratchings on tiles or pots which can often be assigned to
the lower classes, prove that Latin was both read and written and spoken
easily in Silchester and Caerwent. Whether Keltic was also known, is
uncertain : here evidence is totally lacking. But it may be observed
that if Keltic was understood, one would expect to meet it, quite as
much as Latin, on casual sgraffiti, while the total disappearance of
a native tongue can be paralleled from southern Gaul and southern Spain
and is not incredible in towns. Nor do the smaller objects found at
Silchester and Caerwent shew much survival of the Late Keltic art which
prevailed in Britain in the pre-Roman age and which certainly survived
here and there in the island. But while Romanised, these towns are not
large or rich. It has been calculated that Silchester did not contain
more than eighty houses of decent size, and the industries traceable there
-in particular, some dyers' furnaces—do not indicate wealth or capital.
The Romano-British towns, it seems, were assimilated to Rome. But
they were not powerful enough to carry their Roman culture through
a barbarian conquest or impose it on their conquerors.
From the town we pass to the country. This seems to have been
divided
up among estates commonly (though perhaps unscientifically)
styled “villas. ” Of the residences, etc. which formed the buildings of
these estates many examples survive. Some are as large and luxurious
as any Gaulish nobleman's residence on the other side of the Channel.
Others are small houses or even mere farms or cottages. It is difficult,
on our present evidence, to deduce from these houses the agrarian
system to which they belonged, save that it was plainly no mere slave
system. But it is clear from the character of the residences and the
remains in them that they represent the same Romanised civilisation as
the towns, while a few chance sgraffiti suggest that Latin was used in
some, at least, of them. A priori, it is not improbable that, while the
towns were Romanised, the countryside remained to some extent Keltic
or bilingual. But all that is certain as yet is that scanty evidence
proves some knowledge of Latin. These country houses were very
irregularly distributed over the island. In some districts they abounded
and included splendid mansions : such districts are north Kent, west
Sussex, parts of Hants, of Somerset, of Gloucestershire, of Lincolnshire.
Other districts, notably the midlands of Warwickshire or Buckingham-
shire, contained very few “ villas” and indeed, as it seems, very few
inhabitants at all. The Romans probably found these latter districts
thinly peopled and they left them in the same condition.
CH. XIII.
## p. 376 (#406) ############################################
376
Roman Britain: Villages, Roads
-
9
>
Besides country houses and farms, the countryside also contained
occasional villages or hamlets inhabited solely by peasants; such have
been excavated in Dorsetshire by the late General Pitt-Rivers. These
villages testify, in their degree, to the spread of Roman material civilisa-
tion. However little their inhabitants understood of the higher aspects
of Roman culture, the objects found in them-pottery, brooches, etc. -
are much the same as those of the Romanised towns and “ villas” and
are widely different from those of the Keltic villages, such as those
lately excavated near Glastonbury, which belong to the latest pre-Roman
age.
The province was, on the whole, well provided with roads, some of
them constructed for military purposes, some obviously connected with
the various towns: whether any of them follow lines laid out by the
Britons before A. D. 43 is more than doubtful. In describing them, we
must put aside all notion of the famous “ Four Great Roads” of Saxon
times. That category of four roads was a medieval invention, probably
dating from the eleventh or twelfth century antiquaries, and the names
of the roads composing it are Anglo-Saxon names, some of which the
inventors of the “Four Roads" plainly did not understand. If we
examine the Roman roads actually known to us, we discern in the
English lowlands four main groups of roads radiating from the natural
geographical centre, London, and a fifth group crossing England from
north-east to south-west. The first ran from the Kentish ports and
Canterbury through the populous north Kent to London. The second
took the traveller west by Staines (Pontes) to Silchester and thence by
various branching roads to Winchester, Dorchester, Exeter, to Bath, to
Gloucester and south Wales. A third, known to the English as Watling
street, crossed the Midlands by Verulam to Wall near Lichfield (Leto-
cetum), Wroxeter, Chester (Deva) and mid and north Wales: it also,
by a branch from High Cross (Venonae) gave access to Leicester and
Lincoln. A fourth, running north-east from London, led to Colchester
and Caister by Norwich and (as it seems) by a branch through Cambridge
to Lincoln. The fifth group, unconnected with London, comprises two
roads of importance. One, named “Fosse” by the English, ran from
Lincoln and Leicester by High Cross to Cirencester, Bath and Exeter.
Another, probably called Ryknield street by the English, ran from the
north through Sheffield and Derby and Birmingham (of which Derby
alone is a Roman site) to Cirencester and in a fashion duplicated the
Fosse. There were also other roads—such as Akeman street, which
crossed the southern Midlands from near St Albans by way of Alchester
(near Bicester) to Cirencester and Bath—which must be considered as
independent of the main scheme. But, judged by the places they served
and by the posts along them, the five groups above indicated seem the
really important roads of southern or non-military Roman Britain.
The road systems of Wales and of the north were military and can
## p. 377 (#407) ############################################
A. D. 286–296] Roman Britain : Roads, Sea Communications 377
best be understood from a map. In Wales, roads ran along the south
and north coasts to Carmarthen and Carnarvon, while a road (Sarn
Helen) along the west coast connected the two, and interior roads-
especially one up the Severn from Wroxeter and one down the Usk-
connected the forts which guarded the valleys: these roads, however,
need further exploration before they can be fully set out. In the north,
three main routes are visible. One, starting from the legionary fortress
at York, ran north, with various branches, to places on the lower Tyne,
Corbridge, Newcastle (Pons Aelius), Shields. Another, diverging at
Catterick Bridge from the first, ran over Stainmoor to the Eden valley
and the Roman Wall near Carlisle. A third, starting from the legionary
fortress at Chester (Deva) passed north to the Lake country and by
various ramifications served all that is now Cumberland, Westmorland
and west Northumberland. Several of these roads appear, as it were,
in duplicate leading from the same general starting-point to the same
general destination, and no doubt, if we knew enough, we should find
that one of the two routes in question belonged to an older or a later
age than the other.
Communications with the Continent seem to have been conducted
chiefly between the Kentish ports and those of the opposite Gaulish
littoral, and in particular between Rutupiae (Richborough, just north of
Sandwich) and Gessoriacum, otherwise called Bononia, now Boulogne.
There was also not infrequent intercourse between Colchester and the
Rhine estuary, to which we may ascribe various German products found
in Roman Colchester, though not elsewhere in Roman Britain. On
occasion men also reached or left the island by long sea passages. Troops,
it appears, were sometimes shipped direct from Fectio (Vechten, near
Utrecht), the port of the Rhine, to the mouth of the Tyne in North-
umberland, while traders now and then sailed direct from Gaul to Ireland
and to British ports on the Irish Channel. The police of the seas was
entrusted to a classis Britannica, which intermittent references in our
authorities shew to have existed from the middle of the first century
(that is from the original conquest or soon after) till at least the end of
the third century. Despite its title, the principal station of this fleet
was not in Britain but at Boulogne, and its work was the preservation of
order on either coast of the Straits of Dover,
This fleet appears to
have been a police flotilla rather than a naval force, but for once it
emerged into the political importance which fleets often assume. About
286 a Menapian (i. e. probably, Belgian) by name Carausius became com-
mandant, possibly with extended powers to cope with the increasing
piracy; he set himself up as colleague to the two reigning emperors,
Maximian and Diocletian, enlarged his fleet, allied himself with the sea-
robbers, and in 289 actually extorted some kind of recognition at Rome.
But in 293 he was murdered and his successor Allectus was crushed by
the Emperor Constantius Chlorus in 296. Carausius was apparently an
CH. XIII.
## p. 378 (#408) ############################################
378
Roman Britain
(A. D. 300-380
able man.
But in his aims he differed little from many other pretenders
to the throne whom the later third century produced : his object was
not an independent Britain but a share in the government of the
Empire. His special significance is that he shewed, for the first time in
history, how a fleet might detach Britain from its geographical connexion
with the north-western Continent. Twelve centuries passed before this
possibility was again realised.
The preceding paragraphs have described the main features of
Roman Britain, civil and military, during the main part of its existence.
In the fourth century, change was plainly imminent. Barbarian sailors,
Saxons and others, began, as we have seen, rather earlier than 300
to issue from the other shores of the German Ocean and to vex the
coasts of Gaul and probably also those of Britain. Carausius in 286
or 287 was sent to repress them. After his and his successor's deaths,
some change, the nature of which is not yet quite clear, was made
in the classis Britannica, and we now hear hardly anything more of it
.
A system of coast defence was established from the Wash to the Isle
of Wight. It consisted of some nine forts, each planted on a harbour
and garrisoned by a regiment of horse or foot. The “British Fleet,"
so far as Britain was concerned, may have been divided up amongst
these forts or may have been entirely suspended. But it is difficult to
make out (owing to the general obscurity) whether the change was
made in the interests of coast defence or as a preventive against another
Carausius. The new system was known—from the name of the chief
assailant-as the Saxon Shore (Litus Saxonicum).
Whatever the step and whatever the motive, Britain appears for
a while to have escaped the Saxon pillages. During the first years of
the fourth century, it enjoyed indeed considerable prosperity. But no
Golden Age lasts long. Before 350, probably in 343, the Emperor
Constans had to cross the Channel and drive out the raiders-not Saxons
only, but Picts from the north and Scots (Irish) from the north-west.
This event opens the first act in the Fall of Roman Britain (343–383).
In 360 further interference was needed and Lupicinus, magister armorum,
was sent over from Gaul. Probably he effected little: certainly we read
that in 368 all Britain was in evil plight and Theodosius (father of
Theodosius I), Rome's best general at that time, was despatched with large
forces. He won a complete success. In 368 he cleared the invading
bands out of the south: in 369 he moved north, restoring towns and forts
and limites, including presumably Hadrian's Wall. So decisive was his
victory that one district—now unfortunately unidentifiable—which he
rescued from the barbarians, was named Valentia in honour of the then
Emperor of the West, Valentinian I. For some years after this Britain
disappears from recorded history, and may be thought to have enjoyed
comparative peace.
Such is the account given us by ancient writers of the period circa
:
2
## p. 379 (#409) ############################################
A. D. 380—410]
Roman Britain
379
a
343–383. It sounds as though things were already“ about as bad as they
could be. ” But a similar tale is told of many other provinces, and yet the
Empire survived. When Ausonius wrote his Mosella in 371, he described
the Moselle valley as a rich and fertile and happy countryside. Britain
had no Ausonius. But she can adduce archaeological evidence, which is
often more valuable than literature. The coins which have been found
in Romano-British “ villas,” ill-recorded as they too often are, give us a
clue. They suggest that some country houses and farms were destroyed
or abandoned as early as 350 or 360, but that more of them remained
occupied till about 385 or even later. It is not surprising to read in
Ammianus that about 360 Britain was able to export corn regularly to
northern Germany and Gaul. The first act in the Fall of Roman
Britain contained trouble and disturbance, no doubt, but few disasters.
The second act (383 to about 410) brought greater evils and of a new
kind. In 383 an officer of the British army, by birth a Spaniard, by
name Magnus Maximus, proclaimed himself Emperor, crossed with many
troops to Gaul and conquered western Europe: in 387 he seized Italy:
in 388 he was overthrown by the legitimate Emperors. Later British
tradition of the sixth century asserted that his British troops never
returned home and that the island was thus left defenceless. We cannot
verify this tradition. But we have proof, both that Britain was sore
pressed and that the central government tried to help it. Claudian
alludes to measures taken by Stilicho, prime minister to the then Emperor
Honorius, about 395-8. Archaeological evidence shews that the coast-fort
of Pevensey (Anderida) was repaired under Honorius, and that a fort was
built high on the summit of Peak, overhanging the Yorkshire coast half-
way between Whitby and Scarborough, by an officer of the same period
who is known to have been in Britain a little after 400. These efforts
were in vain. Troops--not necessarily legionaries though Claudian
calls them legio-had to be withdrawn for the defence of Italy in 402.
Finally, the Great Raid of barbarians who crossed the Rhine on
the winter's night which divided 406 from 407 and the subsequent
barbarian attack on Rome itself cut Britain off from the Mediterranean.
The so-called “ departure of the Romans” speedily followed. This
departure did not mean any great departure of persons, Roman or
other, from the island. It meant that the central government in Italy
now ceased to send out the usual governors and other high officials and
to organise the supply of troops. No one went: some persons failed to
a
come.
How far the British themselves were responsible for, or even agreeable
to, this sundering of an ancient tie is, even after the latest inquiries, not
very certain.
The old idea that Britons and Romans were still two
distinct and hostile racial elements has, of course, been long abandoned
by all competent inquirers—for reasons which the preceding pages will
have made evident. But we have the names of three usurpers who tried
CH, XIIJ.
## p. 380 (#410) ############################################
380
Roman Britain: Saxon Conquest [A. D. 300–446
:
:
to seize the imperial crown in Britain (406–11), Marcus, Gratian
and Constantine, and it seems that, as Constantine went off to seek a
throne on the Continent, the Britons left to themselves set up a local
autonomy for self-protection. Unfortunately, our ancient authorities are
less clear than could be wished, especially on the chronology of these
events. One thing which seems certain is that Britain did not conceive
herself as breaking loose from the Empire and that in the years to come
the Britons considered themselves “Romans. ” If we may believe Gildas,
they even appealed for help to Aëtius, the Roman minister, in 446.
The attacks of the “Saxons” had begun before 300 and though
at first their brunt fell more heavily on the Gaulish than on the British
coasts, they were felt seriously in Britain from about 350 onwards.
At first, they were the attacks of mere pillagers : later, like the later
attacks of the barbarians elsewhere, they became invasions of settlers.
When exactly the change took place, is unknown, nor is it clear what
incident gave the stimulus. It seems probable, however, that the
Britons of the early fourth century, harassed by attacks of all kinds,
adopted the common device—even more familiar in that
age
than in
any other—and set a thief to catch a thief. The man who set is named
in the legends Vortigern of Kent; the thieves who were set, are called
Hengest and Horsa. We need not attach much weight to these names,
nor can we hope to fix a precise date. But the incident is sufficiently well
attested and sufficiently probable to find acceptance, and it obviously
occurred early in the fifth century. It had the natural result. The
English, called in to protect, remained to rule: they formed settle-
ments on the east coast and began the English invasion. But they
began it under conditions altogether different from those which
attended the barbarian conquests on the Continent. The English were
more savage and hostile to civilisation than most of the continental
invaders ; on the other hand, they were far less overwhelmingly
numerous. The Romano-British culture was less strong and coherent
than the civilisation of Roman Gaul, but the Britons themselves—at
least those in the hills-were no less ready to fight than the bravest of
the continental provincials. The sequel was naturally different in the
two regions.
The course of the invasion is a matter for English historians. But
part of it depends on Romano-British archaeology. This seems to
contradict violently the chronology which the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
sets out in suspiciously precise detail. We know that Wroxeter was
burnt and we have evidence that the burning occurred soon after (if
indeed it was not before) A. D. 400. We must treat this evidence
cautiously, since not a fiftieth part of the site has yet been explored.
But at Silchester, which has been all uncovered, the spade has told us
that the town was abandoned (not burnt), and as a limit for the date,
we find no coins which need be later than about A. D. 420. The same
## p. 381 (#411) ############################################
Roman Britain : Saxon Conquest
381
absence of fifth century coins may be noted on other sites which have
been sufficiently explored to yield trustworthy testimony. It would
seem as if the invaders, entering Britain on its eastern and least defensible
side, were able, like the Romans four centuries earlier, rapidly to sweep
over the lowlands, but were not able to maintain their hold. Thus for
several generations this region became a debatable land, where neither
Romano-British city life could safely endure nor the English take firm
hold and settle. In the long confusion, the Romano-British civilisation
of the lowlands perished. The towns, burnt or abandoned, lay waste
and empty. Even Durovernum (Canterbury), presumably the capital of
Vortigern, whom the legend mates with a Saxon wife, ceased to exist,
and at the healing springs of Aquae Sulis (Bath) the wild birds built their
nests in the marsh which hid the ruins. The country houses and farms
perished even more easily: not one is known in which we can trace
English inhabitants succeeding to British. The old native tribal areas
and the Roman administrative boundaries were alike lost: to-day we
have no certain knowledge of any of them. The Roman speech vanished;
the Romano-British material civilisation, and the house plans and house-
furniture, hypocausts and mosaics, even the fashions of brooches and
pottery, vanished with it. Only the solid aggeres of the roads remained
still in use, and in these, too, there were gaps and intervals. All else
was but the scattered débris of a ruined world.
Meanwhile the Romanised Britons, in losing the lowlands, lost their
towns and all the apparatus of town life. They retired into the hills,
to Wales and to the north the later Strathclyde—and there, in a region
where Roman civilisation had never established itself in its higher forms,
they underwent an intelligible change. The Keltic element, never quite
extinct in those hills and reinforced perhaps by immigrations from
Ireland, reasserted itself afresh. Gradually, the remnants of Roman
civilisation were worn down : the Keltic speech reappeared and, as a
sequel, the Late Keltic art was strong enough to pass on an artistic
legacy to the Middle Ages.
CH. XIII.
## p. 382 (#412) ############################################
382
Bede's account of the Conquest
[4504477
(B)
TEUTONIC CONQUEST OF BRITAIN.
According to Bede, who wrote his Ecclesiastical History about a. d. 731,
the Teutonic invasions of Britain began during the joint reign of Marcian
and Valentinian III, that is, between the years A. D. 450 and 455. Bede
states that the invaders came from three powerful nations, the Saxons,
Angles and Jutes. From the Jutes came those who occupied Kent and
the Isle of Wight with the adjacent coast of Hampshire, from the
Saxons came the people of Essex, Sussex and Wessex, and from the
Angles the East Anglians, Middle Anglians and Northumbrians. He
adds that the Saxons were sprung from the Old Saxons and that the
Angles came from a district called Angulus, which lay between the
territories of the Jutes and those of the Saxons, and was said to be still
unoccupied in his day. The leaders of this invasion, according to Bede,
were two brothers named Hengest and Horsa, from the former of whom
the Kentish royal family claimed to be descended. They were summoned
in the first place by the British king Wyrtgeorn (Vortigern) to defend
him against the assaults of his northern foes, and received a reward in
territory in return for their assistance, but a quarrel soon broke out on
account of the alleged failure of the king to redeem his promises. The
Saxon Chronicle amplifies Bede's account by mentioning certain battles,
the result of which was to transfer Kent to the possession of the invaders.
Of these events, however, a far more detailed account is furnished by
the Historia Brittonum known by the name of Nennius, which narrates
that the British nobles were treacherously massacred by Hengest at
a conference, and that the king himself was captured and only released
on the cession of certain provinces. After this a heroic resistance was
offered to the invaders by the king's son Vortemir.
The Saxon Chronicle is our only authority for two stories dealing
with the early history of the kingdoms of Sussex and Wessex. The
foundation of the former kingdom is attributed to a certain Aelle, who
is said to have landed in 477. This person is mentioned by Bede as the
first king who gained a hegemony (imperium) over the neighbouring
English kings, though he gives no account of his exploits and assigns no
date for his reign. The foundation of the kingdom of Wessex is attri-
buted in the Chronicle to a certain Cerdic and his son Cynric, who are
said to have arrived about forty years after Hengest and to have
## p. 383 (#413) ############################################
375–630]
Other accounts. Probable date
383
eventually established their position after a number of conflicts with
the Britons. This story is connected, according to the same authority,
with the occupation of the Isle of Wight, which is said to have been
given by Cerdic to his nephews Stuf and Wihtgar (530).
It is difficult to determine how much historical fact underlies these
stories. Little value can be attached to the dates given in the Saxon
Chronicle. It is clear too that we have to deal with an aetiological
element, especially in the West Saxon story. Indeed this story is the
most suspicious of the three. In making Cynric the son of Cerdic the
account is at variance even with the genealogy contained in the Chronicle
itself, while it is also very curious that Cerdic, the founder of the kingdom,
bears what appears to be a Welsh name.
The only reference to the invasion which can be regarded as in any
way contemporary occurs in an anonymous Gaulish Chronicle' which
comes to an end in the year 452. It is there stated that in 441-2
after many disasters the provinces of Britain were subdued by the Saxons.
This date would appear to be irreconcilable with that given by Bede
for the arrival of Hengest, and the discrepancy has given rise to a
good deal of discussion. Yet another date 428-9 is given by an entry
in the Historia Brittonum, the source of which cannot be traced.
The difference in all these cases is of comparatively little moment.
Some scholars however hold that the invasions began at a much earlier
time, during the latter half of the fourth century. The authority
of the passage in the Historia Brittonum which states that the
Saxons came in 375 can hardly be upheld. More importance is perhaps
to be attached to the fact that part of the coast of Britain is called
Litus Saxonicum in the Notitia Dignitatum, which was drawn up in the
early years of the fifth century; as this may indicate that Saxon
settlements had already taken place in this island. Yet if this be so
these Saxons must have been subject to the Roman authorities. Whether
they had any connexion with Hengest's invasion we have no means of
determining
The first reference to the Saxons occurs in a work dating from the
middle of the second century A. D. , namely the Geography of Ptolemy
(11. 11. $ 8), in which they are said to occupy the neck of the Cimbric
Peninsula (presumably the region which now forms the province of
Schleswig), together with three islands off its west coast. The Angles
are mentioned half a century earlier by Tacitus in his Germania (cap. 40).
No precise indication is given of their position, but they are clearly
represented as a maritime people and the connexion in which their name
1 This Chronicle is printed by Mommsen in M. G. H. Tom. IX. He ascribes
its authorship to a monk of the south of France, perhaps of Marseilles, owing to
the commendation of Bishop Proculus contained in it. There are other references
to Britain in this Chronicle, which are apparently original, including a notice of
victories won by Maximus over the Picts and Scots.
CH. XIII.
## p. 384 (#414) ############################################
384
The Invaders. Early notices
occurs would suggest the Baltic coast, though Tacitus appears to have
little knowledge of that region. Such indications as are given are
perfectly compatible with the traditions of later times, which place the
original home of the Angles on the east coast of Schleswig. To the
Jutes we have no reference earlier than the sixth century.
The Saxons no doubt belonged to the same stock as the Old Saxons
of the Continent. In the fourth century we find this people settled in
the district between the lower Elbe and the Zuiderzee. According to
.
their own traditions they had come thither by sea, and certainly we have
no evidence of their presence in that region during the first century,
when it was well known to the Romans and frequently traversed by
their armies. Whether the Saxons who invaded Britain came from the
peninsula or from the region west of the Elbe cannot be decided with
certainty, but since they appear to have been practically indistinguishable
from the Angles the former alternative seems more probable. In any
case they were a maritime people and their piratical ravages are frequently
mentioned from the close of the third century onwards.
The Angles, on the other hand, are never mentioned by Roman
writers from the time of Tacitus until the sixth century, when they
were settled in Britain. In their case however we have certain heroic
traditions which appear to have been preserved independently both in
England and Denmark. These traditions centre round an old king
named Wermund and his son Offa, of whom the latter is said to have
won great glory in a single combat, the scene of which was fixed by
Danish tradition at Rendsburg on the Eider. From him the Mercian
royal family traced their descent, while the royal family of Wessex
claimed to derive their origin from a certain Wig the son of Freawine,
both of whom according to Danish tradition were governors of Schleswig
under the kings above mentioned. The date indicated by the genealogies
for the reigns of these kings is the latter half of the fourth century.
It is a much debated question whether the Jutes who settled in
Britain came from Jutland. In the course of the sixth century we hear
twice of a people of this name which came into conflict with the Franks,
probably in western Germany, but it is by no means impossible that
this also was a case of invasion from Jutland.
The same
probably occurs also in connexion with the heroic story of Finn and
Hengest, with regard to which our information is unfortunately very
defective.
We have no satisfactory evidence of any linguistic differences between
the Angles, Saxons and Jutes. The divergencies of dialect which appear
in our earliest records are at first only slight and such as may very well
have
grown up
after the invasion of Britain. The language as a whole
must be pronounced homogeneous, its nearest affinities being with the
Frisian dialects. Nor with regard to customs or institutions have we
any evidence of a distinction between the Angles and Saxons. On the
name
## p. 385 (#415) ############################################
Language of the Invaders.
Their civilisation
385
other hand the Kentish laws exhibit a marked divergence from those of
the other kingdoms, in respect of the constitution of society, a diver-
gence which can scarcely have come into existence subsequent to the
invasion. We have no information with regard to the characteristics
of the Hampshire Jutes.
It
may be doubted whether all those who took part in the invasion
of Britain belonged to the three nationalities which we have been
discussing. The attempts made from time to time to trace the presence
of settlers belonging to other peoples cannot be pronounced successful,
and when Procopius speaks of Frisians inhabiting our island together
with Angles and Britons it is possible that he may mean either the
Jutes or the Saxons. Yet considering the numbers which must have
been required for such an undertaking, it is highly probable that the
invading forces were augmented by adventurers from all the regions
bordering on the North Sea, perhaps even from districts more remote.
With regard to the state of civilisation attained by the maritime
Teutonic peoples at the period when these settlements took place, a good
deal of information is afforded by their earliest cemeteries in this country
as well as by others on the opposite side of the North Sea. Amongst
the latter perhaps the most important is that of Borgstedterfeld near
Rendsburg, where the remains found shew much affinity to those
discovered in this country. Much is also to be learnt from the great
bog-deposits at Thorsbjaerg and Nydam in the east of Schleswig, the
latter of which appears to be only slightly earlier than the cemetery of
Borgstedterfeld. In a district slightly more remote, at Vi in Fyen, a
still larger deposit has been found dating from about the same period.
Among the most interesting objects found at Nydam were two clinker-
built boats about seventy feet long which are preserved practically
complete. A very large number of weapons were also found in this and
the other deposits. At Nydam were found 550 spears and 106 swords,
a large number of which bear the marks of Roman provincial workshops.
At Vi was discovered a complete coat of mail containing twenty thousand
rings. Fragments of such articles together with silver and bronze helmets
were found at Thorsbjaerg. This deposit also yielded some articles of
clothing in a fair state of preservation, among them cloaks, coats, long
trousers and shoes. Taken together the evidence of the various deposits
shews conclusively not only that the warriors of the period were armed
in a manner not substantially improved upon for many centuries
afterwards, but also that certain arts, such as that of weaving, had been
carried to a high degree of perfection.
The form of writing employed by the invaders of Britain was the
Runic alphabet. The origin of this is uncertain, but it was widely used
by the inhabitants of Scandinavian countries from perhaps the fourth
century A. D. until late in the Middle Ages. A few early inscriptions
have been found in Germany. In England itself we have scarcely any
C. MED. H. VOL. I. CH. XIII.
25
## p. 386 (#416) ############################################
386
Archaeological and Literary evidence
inscriptions dating from the first two centuries after the invasion, but
in the seventh century the Mercian kings engraved their coins with it,
and about the same time and perhaps down to the end of the eighth
century it was used on sepulchral monuments in Northumbria as well as
on various small articles found in different parts of the country.
It may be noted that inscriptions in the same alphabet were found in
the deposits at Thorsbjaerg and Nydam and also on one of the two
magnificent horns found at Gallehus in Jutland, which perhaps represent
the highest point reached by the art of the period.
Apart from this archaeological evidence a considerable amount of
information may be derived from the remains of ancient heroic poetry.
For although these poems, as we have them, date only from the seventh
century, there is no reason for supposing that the civilisation which they
portray differs substantially from that of a century or two earlier. The
weapons and other articles which they describe appear to be identical in
type with those found in the deposits already mentioned, while the dead
are disposed of by cremation, a practice which apparently went out of
use during the sixth century. The poems are essentially court works,
and scanty as they unfortunately are, they give us a vivid picture of the
court life of the period with which they deal. This period is substantially
that of the Conquest of Britain, namely, from the fourth to the sixth
century, but it is a remarkable fact that these works never mention
Britain itself and very seldom persons of English nationality. The
scene of Beowulf is laid in Denmark and Sweden and the characters
belong to the same regions, while Waldhere is concerned with the
Burgundians and their neighbours. Many of these characters can be
traced in German and Norse literature, and the evidence seems to point
to the existence of a widespread court poetry which we may perhaps
almost describe as international.
Concerning the religion of the invading peoples little can be stated
with certainty. Almost all that we know of Teutonic mythology comes
from Icelandic sources, and it is difficult to determine how much of this
was peculiar to Iceland and how much was common to Scandinavian
countries and to the Teutonic nations in general. The English evidence
unfortunately is particularly scanty. However there is little doubt that
the chief divinity among the military class was Woden, from whom
most of the royal families claimed to be descended. Thunor, presumably
the Thunder-God, may be traced in many place-names and Ti (Tiw) is
found in glosses as a translation of Mars. All these deities together
with Frig have left a record of themselves in the names of the days of
the week. The East Saxon royal family claimed descent from a certain
Seaxneat who appears to have been a divinity. There is evidence also
of belief in elves, valkyries and other supernatural beings.
On their forms of worship we have scarcely any more information.
In Northumbria at any rate there seems to have been a special class of
## p. 387 (#417) ############################################
Religion. Calendar. Agriculture
387
priests who were not allowed to bear arms or to ride except on mares.
Sanctuaries are occasionally mentioned, but we do not know whether
these were temples or merely sacred groves. A number of religious
festivals are also recorded by Bede, especially during the winter months.
It may be remarked in passing that the calendar appears to have been of
the “modified lunar” type with an intercalary month added from time
to time. The year is said to have begun-approximately, we must
presume—at the winter solstice. There are some indications however
which suggest that at an earlier period it may have begun after the
harvest.
There is no doubt that the invading peoples possessed a highly
developed system of agriculture long before they landed in this country.
Many agricultural implements have been found among the bog-deposits
in Schleswig. Representations of ploughing operations occur in rock-
carvings in Bohuslän (Sweden) which date from the Bronze Age, at least
a thousand years earlier than the invasion. All the ordinary cereals
were well known and cultivated, though on the other hand the system of
cultivation followed in this country was probably a continuation of that
which had previously been employed here. There is no evidence that
the heavy plough with eight oxen was used before the invasion by the
conquerors. The water-mill doubtless first became known to them
in Britain, and for ages afterwards it failed to oust the quern. In
horticulture the advance made was very great: the names of practically
all vegetables and fruits are derived from Latin, and though the
knowledge of a few of their names may have filtered through from the
Rhine provinces, there can be little doubt that the great bulk were first
acquired in this country.
These considerations bring us to the much disputed question as to
what became of the native population. The insignificance of the British
element in the English language is scarcely explicable unless the invaders
came over in very large numbers. On the other hand, many scholars
have probably gone too far in supposing that the native population was
entirely blotted out. British records say that they were massacred or
enslaved. In later times, i. e. in the eleventh century, the number of
slaves in England was not great, but it is not safe to infer that such was
the case four or five centuries earlier. Indeed the little evidence that
we have on this question suggests that in some districts at least they
were a very numerous class. There can be little doubt at all events that
the first invasions were essentially of a military character. Attempts
have been made to trace in various quarters settlements of kindreds
especially from the occurrence of place-names with the suffixes -ingas,
-ingatun, etc. , but the evidence is at best exceedingly ambiguous.
the supremacy of Rome but also against the spread of Roman civilisation,
and one incident in it was the massacre of many thousands of " loyal”
natives along with actual Romans. Romanisation, it is plain, had been
spreading apace. Nor did this massacre check it for long. The Flavian
period (A. D. 70–96) saw in Britain, as indeed in other provinces, a serious
development of Roman culture and in particular of Roman town life, the
peculiar gift of Rome to her western provinces. In the decade A. D. 70-80,
the Britons began, as Tacitus tells us, to speak Latin and to use Latin
dress and the material fabric of Latin civilised life. Now towns sprang up,
such as Silchester (Calleva Atrebatum) and Caerwent (Venta Silurum),
laid out on the model approved by Roman town-planners, furnished with
public buildings (forum, basilica, etc. ) of Roman style, and filled with
houses which were Roman in their internal fittings (baths, hypocausts,
wall-paintings) if not in ground-plan. Now the baths of Bath (Aquae
Sulis) were equipped with civilised buildings suited to their new visitors:
the earliest datable monument there belongs to about 77. Two
coloniae also were planted. Hitherto there had only been one, established
by Claudius at Colchester (Camulodunum): now one was added at
Lincoln (Lindum) and in 96 a third at Gloucester (Glevum). A
new Civil Judge (legatus iuridicus) begins to make his appearance beside
the regular legatus Augusti pro praetore who was at once commander of
CH. XIII.
24--2
## p. 372 (#402) ############################################
372
Roman Britain: Civilisation
the troops and judge of the chief court and governor of the province,
and the appointment is doubtless due to increasing civil business in the
law courts. When Tacitus praises Agricola because he encouraged the
provincials to adopt Roman culture, he praises him for following the
tendency of his age, not for striking out any novel line of his own. It
is probable that by the end of the first century, Roman civilisation was
laying firm hold on all the British lowlands.
Subsequent progress was slower, or at least less showy. Little
advance was made beyond the lowlands. Towns and “ villas " were rare
west of the Severn, and save in the vale of York they were equally rare
north of the Trent. The uplands remained comparatively unaffected.
Their population, as recent excavations in Cumberland and in Anglesey
have shewn, used Roman objects and came to some extent within range
of Roman culture. But it seems impossible to speak of them as fully
civilised, even if, in the later years of the Roman occupation, they did not
remain wholly barbarian. In the lowlands we may ascribe to the second
and third centuries the development of the rural system and the building
of farmhouses and country residences constructed in Roman fashion.
is very
difficult to date these houses. But the evidence of coins seems to
shew that the end of the third and the first half of the fourth century
were the periods when they were most numerous and most fully occupied,
and when, as we may fairly argue, the countryside of Roman Britain was
most fully permeated with Roman culture. For such a conclusion we
shall have the support of a neighbouring parallel in Gaul.
The administration of the civilised part of Britain, while of course
subject to the governor of the whole province, was in effect entrusted to
the local authorities. Each Roman municipium and colonia ruled itself,
including a territory which might be as long and broad as a small
English county. Some districts probably belonged to the Imperial
Domains and were ruled by local agents of the Emperor ; such, probably,
were the lead-mining districts, as on Mendip or in Derbyshire or
Flintshire. The remainder of the country, by far its largest part, was
divided up, as before the Roman conquest, among the native cantons or
tribes, now organised in more or less Roman fashion : each tribe had its
council (ordo) and tribal magistrates and its capital where the tribal
council met. Thus, the tribe or canton of the Silures, the civitas
Silurum, as it learnt to call itself, had its capital at Venta Silurum,
Caerwent (between Chepstow and Newport); there its council met and
decreto ordinis, by decree of the council, measures were taken for the
government of the tribal area which probably covered much of Mon-
mouthshire and some of Glamorgan. This, we know by epigraphic
evidence, occurred at Caerwent and we shall not be rash in assuming,
on slighter evidence, that the same system obtained in other tribal areas
in Britain. It is just the system which Rome applied also to the local
government of Gaul north of the Cevennes : it illustrates well the Roman
1
## p. 373 (#403) ############################################
Roman Britain : Towns
373
method of entrusting local government to a restricted form of Home
Rule.
In the social fabric of Romano-British life, the two chief elements
were the town and the country house or “villa. ” Both are mainly Roman
“
importations. The Kelts do not appear to have reached any definite
urban life, either in Gaul or in Britain, before the coming of the
Romans, though they no doubt had, even in Britain, agglomerations
of houses which came near to being towns. But with the Roman
conquest a real town life arose. In part, this was directly created by
the government under the Roman forms of municipium and colonia,
noticed above. Colchester (Camulodunum), Lincoln (Lindum), Gloucester
(Glevum), York (Eburācum), were coloniae ; the first three were founded
in the first century by drafts of time-expired soldiers and the fourth,
York, probably grew out of the “civil settlement” on the west bank of
the Ouse which confronted the legionary fortress under the present
Cathedral and its precincts. One town Verulamium (St Albans) was
a municipium, ranking with the four coloniae in privilege and standing
but different (as explained above) in origin. All these five towns
attained considerable prosperity, and in particular Camulodunum,
Eburācum and Verulamium, but none can vie with the more splendid
municipalities of other provinces.
Besides them, Roman Britain could shew a larger number-some
ten or fifteen, according to the standard adopted-of country-towns
which varied much in size but possessed in their own way the essential
features of urban life. The chief of these seem to be the following:
(1) Isurium Brigantum, capital or chef-lieu of the Brigantes, now
Aldborough, some twelve miles N. W. of York and the most northerly
Romano-British town properly so called, (2) Ratae, capital of the
Coritani, now Leicester, (3) Viroconium—so best spelt, not Uriconium-
capital of the Cornovii, now Wroxeter, on the Severn, five miles below
Shrewsbury, (4) Corinium, capital of the Dobuni, now Cirencester,
(5) Venta Silurum, already mentioned, (6) Isca Dumnoniorum, capital
of the Dumnonii, now Exeter, (7) Durnovaria, capital of the Durotriges,
now Dorchester in Dorsetshire, (8) Venta Belgarum, capital of the
Belgae, now Winchester, (9) Calleva Atrebatum, capital of the Atrebates,
close to Silchester, (10) Durovernum Cantiacorum, capital of the Cantii,
now Canterbury, (11) Venta Icenorum, capital of the Iceni, now Caister
by Norwich, and perhaps—for the limits of the list are not easily drawn
with rigidity-Chesterford (Roman name unknown) in Essex, Kenchester
(Magna) in Herefordshire, Chesterton (Durobrivae ? ) on the Nen,
Rochester (also Durobrivae) in Kent, and even one or two which have
perhaps less right to inclusion. Many of these towns are indicated by
the Ravenna Geographer as holding some special rank and nearly all
are declared by their remains to be the sites of really Romanised town-
life. What exactly their status or government was, has yet to be
CH. XIII.
## p. 374 (#404) ############################################
374
Roman Britain: Towns
care.
1
defined.
But it is fairly probable—especially from the Caerwent
monument erected by the ordo civitatis Silurum—that the authorities
of town and tribe were one.
The general fashion of these towns has been revealed to us by
excavations at Silchester and Caerwent. At Silchester, the whole
100 acres within the walls have been systematically uncovered
during the last twenty years and the buildings studied with especial
At Caerwent, a smaller area (39 acres) has been excavated so
far as the buildings of the present village permit. Both shew much
the same features, with certain differences in detail which are both
natural and instructive: (i) Both have been planned according to the
Roman method, which obtained in many parts of the Empire : that is,
the streets run at right angles, so as to form a chessboard pattern with
square plots for the houses. At Silchester, where space was obviousl
abundant, the sanctity of the street frontages seems to have been in
general observed : at Caerwent, which is of smaller size and more thickly
crowded with buildings, the street plan has suffered some encroachments,
but not so much as to obliterate its character. (ii) Both towns had near
their centre the Town Buildings known as Forum and Basilica. At
Silchester the Forum was a rectangular plot of two acres, with streets
running along all its four sides. It contained a central open court,
nearly 140 feet square, surrounded on three sides by corridors or cloisters
with rooms-presumably shops and lounges-opening into them; on the
fourth side was a pillared hall, 270 x 58 feet in floor space, decorated
with Corinthian columns, marble lined walls, statues and the like, and
behind this hall a row of rooms which probably served as offices for the
town authorities and the like. The Caerwent Municipal Buildings were
very similar: so (as far as we can tell from imperfect finds) were those
at Cirencester and Wroxeter. They are indeed examples of a type
which was represented in most large towns of the western Empire and
in Italy itself. (iii) Both towns had in addition small temples in
different quarters within the walls and at Silchester a small building
close to the Forum is so similar in every detail to the early Christian
church of the western “ basilican " type, that we can hardly hesitate to
call it a church. (iv) Both towns, again, seem to have had Public Baths:
those at Silchester covered an area of 80 by 160 feet in their earliest
form and in later times were much extended. Both again had more
direct provision for amusements. At Silchester an earthen amphitheatre
stood outside the walls : at Caerwent there are traces of the stone walls
of one inside the ramparts. (v) Of dwelling-houses and shops and the
like both towns had naturally no lack. The private houses are built
like most of the private houses in the Keltic part of the Empire, in
fashions very dissimilar from anything at Pompeii or Rome, but are
fitted in Roman style with mosaics, hypocausts, painted wall-plaster
and the like. They are specially noteworthy as being properly “ country
9
a
:
## p. 375 (#405) ############################################
Roman Britain: Towns, Country Houses
375
houses,” brought together to form a town perforce, and not “ town
houses” such as could be used to compose regular rows or terraces or
streets. Even the architecture thus declares that the town life of these
cantonal chef-lieux, though real, was incomplete.
The civilisation of the towns appears to have been of the Roman
type. Not only do the buildings declare this: inscriptions, and, in par-
ticular, casual scratchings on tiles or pots which can often be assigned to
the lower classes, prove that Latin was both read and written and spoken
easily in Silchester and Caerwent. Whether Keltic was also known, is
uncertain : here evidence is totally lacking. But it may be observed
that if Keltic was understood, one would expect to meet it, quite as
much as Latin, on casual sgraffiti, while the total disappearance of
a native tongue can be paralleled from southern Gaul and southern Spain
and is not incredible in towns. Nor do the smaller objects found at
Silchester and Caerwent shew much survival of the Late Keltic art which
prevailed in Britain in the pre-Roman age and which certainly survived
here and there in the island. But while Romanised, these towns are not
large or rich. It has been calculated that Silchester did not contain
more than eighty houses of decent size, and the industries traceable there
-in particular, some dyers' furnaces—do not indicate wealth or capital.
The Romano-British towns, it seems, were assimilated to Rome. But
they were not powerful enough to carry their Roman culture through
a barbarian conquest or impose it on their conquerors.
From the town we pass to the country. This seems to have been
divided
up among estates commonly (though perhaps unscientifically)
styled “villas. ” Of the residences, etc. which formed the buildings of
these estates many examples survive. Some are as large and luxurious
as any Gaulish nobleman's residence on the other side of the Channel.
Others are small houses or even mere farms or cottages. It is difficult,
on our present evidence, to deduce from these houses the agrarian
system to which they belonged, save that it was plainly no mere slave
system. But it is clear from the character of the residences and the
remains in them that they represent the same Romanised civilisation as
the towns, while a few chance sgraffiti suggest that Latin was used in
some, at least, of them. A priori, it is not improbable that, while the
towns were Romanised, the countryside remained to some extent Keltic
or bilingual. But all that is certain as yet is that scanty evidence
proves some knowledge of Latin. These country houses were very
irregularly distributed over the island. In some districts they abounded
and included splendid mansions : such districts are north Kent, west
Sussex, parts of Hants, of Somerset, of Gloucestershire, of Lincolnshire.
Other districts, notably the midlands of Warwickshire or Buckingham-
shire, contained very few “ villas” and indeed, as it seems, very few
inhabitants at all. The Romans probably found these latter districts
thinly peopled and they left them in the same condition.
CH. XIII.
## p. 376 (#406) ############################################
376
Roman Britain: Villages, Roads
-
9
>
Besides country houses and farms, the countryside also contained
occasional villages or hamlets inhabited solely by peasants; such have
been excavated in Dorsetshire by the late General Pitt-Rivers. These
villages testify, in their degree, to the spread of Roman material civilisa-
tion. However little their inhabitants understood of the higher aspects
of Roman culture, the objects found in them-pottery, brooches, etc. -
are much the same as those of the Romanised towns and “ villas” and
are widely different from those of the Keltic villages, such as those
lately excavated near Glastonbury, which belong to the latest pre-Roman
age.
The province was, on the whole, well provided with roads, some of
them constructed for military purposes, some obviously connected with
the various towns: whether any of them follow lines laid out by the
Britons before A. D. 43 is more than doubtful. In describing them, we
must put aside all notion of the famous “ Four Great Roads” of Saxon
times. That category of four roads was a medieval invention, probably
dating from the eleventh or twelfth century antiquaries, and the names
of the roads composing it are Anglo-Saxon names, some of which the
inventors of the “Four Roads" plainly did not understand. If we
examine the Roman roads actually known to us, we discern in the
English lowlands four main groups of roads radiating from the natural
geographical centre, London, and a fifth group crossing England from
north-east to south-west. The first ran from the Kentish ports and
Canterbury through the populous north Kent to London. The second
took the traveller west by Staines (Pontes) to Silchester and thence by
various branching roads to Winchester, Dorchester, Exeter, to Bath, to
Gloucester and south Wales. A third, known to the English as Watling
street, crossed the Midlands by Verulam to Wall near Lichfield (Leto-
cetum), Wroxeter, Chester (Deva) and mid and north Wales: it also,
by a branch from High Cross (Venonae) gave access to Leicester and
Lincoln. A fourth, running north-east from London, led to Colchester
and Caister by Norwich and (as it seems) by a branch through Cambridge
to Lincoln. The fifth group, unconnected with London, comprises two
roads of importance. One, named “Fosse” by the English, ran from
Lincoln and Leicester by High Cross to Cirencester, Bath and Exeter.
Another, probably called Ryknield street by the English, ran from the
north through Sheffield and Derby and Birmingham (of which Derby
alone is a Roman site) to Cirencester and in a fashion duplicated the
Fosse. There were also other roads—such as Akeman street, which
crossed the southern Midlands from near St Albans by way of Alchester
(near Bicester) to Cirencester and Bath—which must be considered as
independent of the main scheme. But, judged by the places they served
and by the posts along them, the five groups above indicated seem the
really important roads of southern or non-military Roman Britain.
The road systems of Wales and of the north were military and can
## p. 377 (#407) ############################################
A. D. 286–296] Roman Britain : Roads, Sea Communications 377
best be understood from a map. In Wales, roads ran along the south
and north coasts to Carmarthen and Carnarvon, while a road (Sarn
Helen) along the west coast connected the two, and interior roads-
especially one up the Severn from Wroxeter and one down the Usk-
connected the forts which guarded the valleys: these roads, however,
need further exploration before they can be fully set out. In the north,
three main routes are visible. One, starting from the legionary fortress
at York, ran north, with various branches, to places on the lower Tyne,
Corbridge, Newcastle (Pons Aelius), Shields. Another, diverging at
Catterick Bridge from the first, ran over Stainmoor to the Eden valley
and the Roman Wall near Carlisle. A third, starting from the legionary
fortress at Chester (Deva) passed north to the Lake country and by
various ramifications served all that is now Cumberland, Westmorland
and west Northumberland. Several of these roads appear, as it were,
in duplicate leading from the same general starting-point to the same
general destination, and no doubt, if we knew enough, we should find
that one of the two routes in question belonged to an older or a later
age than the other.
Communications with the Continent seem to have been conducted
chiefly between the Kentish ports and those of the opposite Gaulish
littoral, and in particular between Rutupiae (Richborough, just north of
Sandwich) and Gessoriacum, otherwise called Bononia, now Boulogne.
There was also not infrequent intercourse between Colchester and the
Rhine estuary, to which we may ascribe various German products found
in Roman Colchester, though not elsewhere in Roman Britain. On
occasion men also reached or left the island by long sea passages. Troops,
it appears, were sometimes shipped direct from Fectio (Vechten, near
Utrecht), the port of the Rhine, to the mouth of the Tyne in North-
umberland, while traders now and then sailed direct from Gaul to Ireland
and to British ports on the Irish Channel. The police of the seas was
entrusted to a classis Britannica, which intermittent references in our
authorities shew to have existed from the middle of the first century
(that is from the original conquest or soon after) till at least the end of
the third century. Despite its title, the principal station of this fleet
was not in Britain but at Boulogne, and its work was the preservation of
order on either coast of the Straits of Dover,
This fleet appears to
have been a police flotilla rather than a naval force, but for once it
emerged into the political importance which fleets often assume. About
286 a Menapian (i. e. probably, Belgian) by name Carausius became com-
mandant, possibly with extended powers to cope with the increasing
piracy; he set himself up as colleague to the two reigning emperors,
Maximian and Diocletian, enlarged his fleet, allied himself with the sea-
robbers, and in 289 actually extorted some kind of recognition at Rome.
But in 293 he was murdered and his successor Allectus was crushed by
the Emperor Constantius Chlorus in 296. Carausius was apparently an
CH. XIII.
## p. 378 (#408) ############################################
378
Roman Britain
(A. D. 300-380
able man.
But in his aims he differed little from many other pretenders
to the throne whom the later third century produced : his object was
not an independent Britain but a share in the government of the
Empire. His special significance is that he shewed, for the first time in
history, how a fleet might detach Britain from its geographical connexion
with the north-western Continent. Twelve centuries passed before this
possibility was again realised.
The preceding paragraphs have described the main features of
Roman Britain, civil and military, during the main part of its existence.
In the fourth century, change was plainly imminent. Barbarian sailors,
Saxons and others, began, as we have seen, rather earlier than 300
to issue from the other shores of the German Ocean and to vex the
coasts of Gaul and probably also those of Britain. Carausius in 286
or 287 was sent to repress them. After his and his successor's deaths,
some change, the nature of which is not yet quite clear, was made
in the classis Britannica, and we now hear hardly anything more of it
.
A system of coast defence was established from the Wash to the Isle
of Wight. It consisted of some nine forts, each planted on a harbour
and garrisoned by a regiment of horse or foot. The “British Fleet,"
so far as Britain was concerned, may have been divided up amongst
these forts or may have been entirely suspended. But it is difficult to
make out (owing to the general obscurity) whether the change was
made in the interests of coast defence or as a preventive against another
Carausius. The new system was known—from the name of the chief
assailant-as the Saxon Shore (Litus Saxonicum).
Whatever the step and whatever the motive, Britain appears for
a while to have escaped the Saxon pillages. During the first years of
the fourth century, it enjoyed indeed considerable prosperity. But no
Golden Age lasts long. Before 350, probably in 343, the Emperor
Constans had to cross the Channel and drive out the raiders-not Saxons
only, but Picts from the north and Scots (Irish) from the north-west.
This event opens the first act in the Fall of Roman Britain (343–383).
In 360 further interference was needed and Lupicinus, magister armorum,
was sent over from Gaul. Probably he effected little: certainly we read
that in 368 all Britain was in evil plight and Theodosius (father of
Theodosius I), Rome's best general at that time, was despatched with large
forces. He won a complete success. In 368 he cleared the invading
bands out of the south: in 369 he moved north, restoring towns and forts
and limites, including presumably Hadrian's Wall. So decisive was his
victory that one district—now unfortunately unidentifiable—which he
rescued from the barbarians, was named Valentia in honour of the then
Emperor of the West, Valentinian I. For some years after this Britain
disappears from recorded history, and may be thought to have enjoyed
comparative peace.
Such is the account given us by ancient writers of the period circa
:
2
## p. 379 (#409) ############################################
A. D. 380—410]
Roman Britain
379
a
343–383. It sounds as though things were already“ about as bad as they
could be. ” But a similar tale is told of many other provinces, and yet the
Empire survived. When Ausonius wrote his Mosella in 371, he described
the Moselle valley as a rich and fertile and happy countryside. Britain
had no Ausonius. But she can adduce archaeological evidence, which is
often more valuable than literature. The coins which have been found
in Romano-British “ villas,” ill-recorded as they too often are, give us a
clue. They suggest that some country houses and farms were destroyed
or abandoned as early as 350 or 360, but that more of them remained
occupied till about 385 or even later. It is not surprising to read in
Ammianus that about 360 Britain was able to export corn regularly to
northern Germany and Gaul. The first act in the Fall of Roman
Britain contained trouble and disturbance, no doubt, but few disasters.
The second act (383 to about 410) brought greater evils and of a new
kind. In 383 an officer of the British army, by birth a Spaniard, by
name Magnus Maximus, proclaimed himself Emperor, crossed with many
troops to Gaul and conquered western Europe: in 387 he seized Italy:
in 388 he was overthrown by the legitimate Emperors. Later British
tradition of the sixth century asserted that his British troops never
returned home and that the island was thus left defenceless. We cannot
verify this tradition. But we have proof, both that Britain was sore
pressed and that the central government tried to help it. Claudian
alludes to measures taken by Stilicho, prime minister to the then Emperor
Honorius, about 395-8. Archaeological evidence shews that the coast-fort
of Pevensey (Anderida) was repaired under Honorius, and that a fort was
built high on the summit of Peak, overhanging the Yorkshire coast half-
way between Whitby and Scarborough, by an officer of the same period
who is known to have been in Britain a little after 400. These efforts
were in vain. Troops--not necessarily legionaries though Claudian
calls them legio-had to be withdrawn for the defence of Italy in 402.
Finally, the Great Raid of barbarians who crossed the Rhine on
the winter's night which divided 406 from 407 and the subsequent
barbarian attack on Rome itself cut Britain off from the Mediterranean.
The so-called “ departure of the Romans” speedily followed. This
departure did not mean any great departure of persons, Roman or
other, from the island. It meant that the central government in Italy
now ceased to send out the usual governors and other high officials and
to organise the supply of troops. No one went: some persons failed to
a
come.
How far the British themselves were responsible for, or even agreeable
to, this sundering of an ancient tie is, even after the latest inquiries, not
very certain.
The old idea that Britons and Romans were still two
distinct and hostile racial elements has, of course, been long abandoned
by all competent inquirers—for reasons which the preceding pages will
have made evident. But we have the names of three usurpers who tried
CH, XIIJ.
## p. 380 (#410) ############################################
380
Roman Britain: Saxon Conquest [A. D. 300–446
:
:
to seize the imperial crown in Britain (406–11), Marcus, Gratian
and Constantine, and it seems that, as Constantine went off to seek a
throne on the Continent, the Britons left to themselves set up a local
autonomy for self-protection. Unfortunately, our ancient authorities are
less clear than could be wished, especially on the chronology of these
events. One thing which seems certain is that Britain did not conceive
herself as breaking loose from the Empire and that in the years to come
the Britons considered themselves “Romans. ” If we may believe Gildas,
they even appealed for help to Aëtius, the Roman minister, in 446.
The attacks of the “Saxons” had begun before 300 and though
at first their brunt fell more heavily on the Gaulish than on the British
coasts, they were felt seriously in Britain from about 350 onwards.
At first, they were the attacks of mere pillagers : later, like the later
attacks of the barbarians elsewhere, they became invasions of settlers.
When exactly the change took place, is unknown, nor is it clear what
incident gave the stimulus. It seems probable, however, that the
Britons of the early fourth century, harassed by attacks of all kinds,
adopted the common device—even more familiar in that
age
than in
any other—and set a thief to catch a thief. The man who set is named
in the legends Vortigern of Kent; the thieves who were set, are called
Hengest and Horsa. We need not attach much weight to these names,
nor can we hope to fix a precise date. But the incident is sufficiently well
attested and sufficiently probable to find acceptance, and it obviously
occurred early in the fifth century. It had the natural result. The
English, called in to protect, remained to rule: they formed settle-
ments on the east coast and began the English invasion. But they
began it under conditions altogether different from those which
attended the barbarian conquests on the Continent. The English were
more savage and hostile to civilisation than most of the continental
invaders ; on the other hand, they were far less overwhelmingly
numerous. The Romano-British culture was less strong and coherent
than the civilisation of Roman Gaul, but the Britons themselves—at
least those in the hills-were no less ready to fight than the bravest of
the continental provincials. The sequel was naturally different in the
two regions.
The course of the invasion is a matter for English historians. But
part of it depends on Romano-British archaeology. This seems to
contradict violently the chronology which the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
sets out in suspiciously precise detail. We know that Wroxeter was
burnt and we have evidence that the burning occurred soon after (if
indeed it was not before) A. D. 400. We must treat this evidence
cautiously, since not a fiftieth part of the site has yet been explored.
But at Silchester, which has been all uncovered, the spade has told us
that the town was abandoned (not burnt), and as a limit for the date,
we find no coins which need be later than about A. D. 420. The same
## p. 381 (#411) ############################################
Roman Britain : Saxon Conquest
381
absence of fifth century coins may be noted on other sites which have
been sufficiently explored to yield trustworthy testimony. It would
seem as if the invaders, entering Britain on its eastern and least defensible
side, were able, like the Romans four centuries earlier, rapidly to sweep
over the lowlands, but were not able to maintain their hold. Thus for
several generations this region became a debatable land, where neither
Romano-British city life could safely endure nor the English take firm
hold and settle. In the long confusion, the Romano-British civilisation
of the lowlands perished. The towns, burnt or abandoned, lay waste
and empty. Even Durovernum (Canterbury), presumably the capital of
Vortigern, whom the legend mates with a Saxon wife, ceased to exist,
and at the healing springs of Aquae Sulis (Bath) the wild birds built their
nests in the marsh which hid the ruins. The country houses and farms
perished even more easily: not one is known in which we can trace
English inhabitants succeeding to British. The old native tribal areas
and the Roman administrative boundaries were alike lost: to-day we
have no certain knowledge of any of them. The Roman speech vanished;
the Romano-British material civilisation, and the house plans and house-
furniture, hypocausts and mosaics, even the fashions of brooches and
pottery, vanished with it. Only the solid aggeres of the roads remained
still in use, and in these, too, there were gaps and intervals. All else
was but the scattered débris of a ruined world.
Meanwhile the Romanised Britons, in losing the lowlands, lost their
towns and all the apparatus of town life. They retired into the hills,
to Wales and to the north the later Strathclyde—and there, in a region
where Roman civilisation had never established itself in its higher forms,
they underwent an intelligible change. The Keltic element, never quite
extinct in those hills and reinforced perhaps by immigrations from
Ireland, reasserted itself afresh. Gradually, the remnants of Roman
civilisation were worn down : the Keltic speech reappeared and, as a
sequel, the Late Keltic art was strong enough to pass on an artistic
legacy to the Middle Ages.
CH. XIII.
## p. 382 (#412) ############################################
382
Bede's account of the Conquest
[4504477
(B)
TEUTONIC CONQUEST OF BRITAIN.
According to Bede, who wrote his Ecclesiastical History about a. d. 731,
the Teutonic invasions of Britain began during the joint reign of Marcian
and Valentinian III, that is, between the years A. D. 450 and 455. Bede
states that the invaders came from three powerful nations, the Saxons,
Angles and Jutes. From the Jutes came those who occupied Kent and
the Isle of Wight with the adjacent coast of Hampshire, from the
Saxons came the people of Essex, Sussex and Wessex, and from the
Angles the East Anglians, Middle Anglians and Northumbrians. He
adds that the Saxons were sprung from the Old Saxons and that the
Angles came from a district called Angulus, which lay between the
territories of the Jutes and those of the Saxons, and was said to be still
unoccupied in his day. The leaders of this invasion, according to Bede,
were two brothers named Hengest and Horsa, from the former of whom
the Kentish royal family claimed to be descended. They were summoned
in the first place by the British king Wyrtgeorn (Vortigern) to defend
him against the assaults of his northern foes, and received a reward in
territory in return for their assistance, but a quarrel soon broke out on
account of the alleged failure of the king to redeem his promises. The
Saxon Chronicle amplifies Bede's account by mentioning certain battles,
the result of which was to transfer Kent to the possession of the invaders.
Of these events, however, a far more detailed account is furnished by
the Historia Brittonum known by the name of Nennius, which narrates
that the British nobles were treacherously massacred by Hengest at
a conference, and that the king himself was captured and only released
on the cession of certain provinces. After this a heroic resistance was
offered to the invaders by the king's son Vortemir.
The Saxon Chronicle is our only authority for two stories dealing
with the early history of the kingdoms of Sussex and Wessex. The
foundation of the former kingdom is attributed to a certain Aelle, who
is said to have landed in 477. This person is mentioned by Bede as the
first king who gained a hegemony (imperium) over the neighbouring
English kings, though he gives no account of his exploits and assigns no
date for his reign. The foundation of the kingdom of Wessex is attri-
buted in the Chronicle to a certain Cerdic and his son Cynric, who are
said to have arrived about forty years after Hengest and to have
## p. 383 (#413) ############################################
375–630]
Other accounts. Probable date
383
eventually established their position after a number of conflicts with
the Britons. This story is connected, according to the same authority,
with the occupation of the Isle of Wight, which is said to have been
given by Cerdic to his nephews Stuf and Wihtgar (530).
It is difficult to determine how much historical fact underlies these
stories. Little value can be attached to the dates given in the Saxon
Chronicle. It is clear too that we have to deal with an aetiological
element, especially in the West Saxon story. Indeed this story is the
most suspicious of the three. In making Cynric the son of Cerdic the
account is at variance even with the genealogy contained in the Chronicle
itself, while it is also very curious that Cerdic, the founder of the kingdom,
bears what appears to be a Welsh name.
The only reference to the invasion which can be regarded as in any
way contemporary occurs in an anonymous Gaulish Chronicle' which
comes to an end in the year 452. It is there stated that in 441-2
after many disasters the provinces of Britain were subdued by the Saxons.
This date would appear to be irreconcilable with that given by Bede
for the arrival of Hengest, and the discrepancy has given rise to a
good deal of discussion. Yet another date 428-9 is given by an entry
in the Historia Brittonum, the source of which cannot be traced.
The difference in all these cases is of comparatively little moment.
Some scholars however hold that the invasions began at a much earlier
time, during the latter half of the fourth century. The authority
of the passage in the Historia Brittonum which states that the
Saxons came in 375 can hardly be upheld. More importance is perhaps
to be attached to the fact that part of the coast of Britain is called
Litus Saxonicum in the Notitia Dignitatum, which was drawn up in the
early years of the fifth century; as this may indicate that Saxon
settlements had already taken place in this island. Yet if this be so
these Saxons must have been subject to the Roman authorities. Whether
they had any connexion with Hengest's invasion we have no means of
determining
The first reference to the Saxons occurs in a work dating from the
middle of the second century A. D. , namely the Geography of Ptolemy
(11. 11. $ 8), in which they are said to occupy the neck of the Cimbric
Peninsula (presumably the region which now forms the province of
Schleswig), together with three islands off its west coast. The Angles
are mentioned half a century earlier by Tacitus in his Germania (cap. 40).
No precise indication is given of their position, but they are clearly
represented as a maritime people and the connexion in which their name
1 This Chronicle is printed by Mommsen in M. G. H. Tom. IX. He ascribes
its authorship to a monk of the south of France, perhaps of Marseilles, owing to
the commendation of Bishop Proculus contained in it. There are other references
to Britain in this Chronicle, which are apparently original, including a notice of
victories won by Maximus over the Picts and Scots.
CH. XIII.
## p. 384 (#414) ############################################
384
The Invaders. Early notices
occurs would suggest the Baltic coast, though Tacitus appears to have
little knowledge of that region. Such indications as are given are
perfectly compatible with the traditions of later times, which place the
original home of the Angles on the east coast of Schleswig. To the
Jutes we have no reference earlier than the sixth century.
The Saxons no doubt belonged to the same stock as the Old Saxons
of the Continent. In the fourth century we find this people settled in
the district between the lower Elbe and the Zuiderzee. According to
.
their own traditions they had come thither by sea, and certainly we have
no evidence of their presence in that region during the first century,
when it was well known to the Romans and frequently traversed by
their armies. Whether the Saxons who invaded Britain came from the
peninsula or from the region west of the Elbe cannot be decided with
certainty, but since they appear to have been practically indistinguishable
from the Angles the former alternative seems more probable. In any
case they were a maritime people and their piratical ravages are frequently
mentioned from the close of the third century onwards.
The Angles, on the other hand, are never mentioned by Roman
writers from the time of Tacitus until the sixth century, when they
were settled in Britain. In their case however we have certain heroic
traditions which appear to have been preserved independently both in
England and Denmark. These traditions centre round an old king
named Wermund and his son Offa, of whom the latter is said to have
won great glory in a single combat, the scene of which was fixed by
Danish tradition at Rendsburg on the Eider. From him the Mercian
royal family traced their descent, while the royal family of Wessex
claimed to derive their origin from a certain Wig the son of Freawine,
both of whom according to Danish tradition were governors of Schleswig
under the kings above mentioned. The date indicated by the genealogies
for the reigns of these kings is the latter half of the fourth century.
It is a much debated question whether the Jutes who settled in
Britain came from Jutland. In the course of the sixth century we hear
twice of a people of this name which came into conflict with the Franks,
probably in western Germany, but it is by no means impossible that
this also was a case of invasion from Jutland.
The same
probably occurs also in connexion with the heroic story of Finn and
Hengest, with regard to which our information is unfortunately very
defective.
We have no satisfactory evidence of any linguistic differences between
the Angles, Saxons and Jutes. The divergencies of dialect which appear
in our earliest records are at first only slight and such as may very well
have
grown up
after the invasion of Britain. The language as a whole
must be pronounced homogeneous, its nearest affinities being with the
Frisian dialects. Nor with regard to customs or institutions have we
any evidence of a distinction between the Angles and Saxons. On the
name
## p. 385 (#415) ############################################
Language of the Invaders.
Their civilisation
385
other hand the Kentish laws exhibit a marked divergence from those of
the other kingdoms, in respect of the constitution of society, a diver-
gence which can scarcely have come into existence subsequent to the
invasion. We have no information with regard to the characteristics
of the Hampshire Jutes.
It
may be doubted whether all those who took part in the invasion
of Britain belonged to the three nationalities which we have been
discussing. The attempts made from time to time to trace the presence
of settlers belonging to other peoples cannot be pronounced successful,
and when Procopius speaks of Frisians inhabiting our island together
with Angles and Britons it is possible that he may mean either the
Jutes or the Saxons. Yet considering the numbers which must have
been required for such an undertaking, it is highly probable that the
invading forces were augmented by adventurers from all the regions
bordering on the North Sea, perhaps even from districts more remote.
With regard to the state of civilisation attained by the maritime
Teutonic peoples at the period when these settlements took place, a good
deal of information is afforded by their earliest cemeteries in this country
as well as by others on the opposite side of the North Sea. Amongst
the latter perhaps the most important is that of Borgstedterfeld near
Rendsburg, where the remains found shew much affinity to those
discovered in this country. Much is also to be learnt from the great
bog-deposits at Thorsbjaerg and Nydam in the east of Schleswig, the
latter of which appears to be only slightly earlier than the cemetery of
Borgstedterfeld. In a district slightly more remote, at Vi in Fyen, a
still larger deposit has been found dating from about the same period.
Among the most interesting objects found at Nydam were two clinker-
built boats about seventy feet long which are preserved practically
complete. A very large number of weapons were also found in this and
the other deposits. At Nydam were found 550 spears and 106 swords,
a large number of which bear the marks of Roman provincial workshops.
At Vi was discovered a complete coat of mail containing twenty thousand
rings. Fragments of such articles together with silver and bronze helmets
were found at Thorsbjaerg. This deposit also yielded some articles of
clothing in a fair state of preservation, among them cloaks, coats, long
trousers and shoes. Taken together the evidence of the various deposits
shews conclusively not only that the warriors of the period were armed
in a manner not substantially improved upon for many centuries
afterwards, but also that certain arts, such as that of weaving, had been
carried to a high degree of perfection.
The form of writing employed by the invaders of Britain was the
Runic alphabet. The origin of this is uncertain, but it was widely used
by the inhabitants of Scandinavian countries from perhaps the fourth
century A. D. until late in the Middle Ages. A few early inscriptions
have been found in Germany. In England itself we have scarcely any
C. MED. H. VOL. I. CH. XIII.
25
## p. 386 (#416) ############################################
386
Archaeological and Literary evidence
inscriptions dating from the first two centuries after the invasion, but
in the seventh century the Mercian kings engraved their coins with it,
and about the same time and perhaps down to the end of the eighth
century it was used on sepulchral monuments in Northumbria as well as
on various small articles found in different parts of the country.
It may be noted that inscriptions in the same alphabet were found in
the deposits at Thorsbjaerg and Nydam and also on one of the two
magnificent horns found at Gallehus in Jutland, which perhaps represent
the highest point reached by the art of the period.
Apart from this archaeological evidence a considerable amount of
information may be derived from the remains of ancient heroic poetry.
For although these poems, as we have them, date only from the seventh
century, there is no reason for supposing that the civilisation which they
portray differs substantially from that of a century or two earlier. The
weapons and other articles which they describe appear to be identical in
type with those found in the deposits already mentioned, while the dead
are disposed of by cremation, a practice which apparently went out of
use during the sixth century. The poems are essentially court works,
and scanty as they unfortunately are, they give us a vivid picture of the
court life of the period with which they deal. This period is substantially
that of the Conquest of Britain, namely, from the fourth to the sixth
century, but it is a remarkable fact that these works never mention
Britain itself and very seldom persons of English nationality. The
scene of Beowulf is laid in Denmark and Sweden and the characters
belong to the same regions, while Waldhere is concerned with the
Burgundians and their neighbours. Many of these characters can be
traced in German and Norse literature, and the evidence seems to point
to the existence of a widespread court poetry which we may perhaps
almost describe as international.
Concerning the religion of the invading peoples little can be stated
with certainty. Almost all that we know of Teutonic mythology comes
from Icelandic sources, and it is difficult to determine how much of this
was peculiar to Iceland and how much was common to Scandinavian
countries and to the Teutonic nations in general. The English evidence
unfortunately is particularly scanty. However there is little doubt that
the chief divinity among the military class was Woden, from whom
most of the royal families claimed to be descended. Thunor, presumably
the Thunder-God, may be traced in many place-names and Ti (Tiw) is
found in glosses as a translation of Mars. All these deities together
with Frig have left a record of themselves in the names of the days of
the week. The East Saxon royal family claimed descent from a certain
Seaxneat who appears to have been a divinity. There is evidence also
of belief in elves, valkyries and other supernatural beings.
On their forms of worship we have scarcely any more information.
In Northumbria at any rate there seems to have been a special class of
## p. 387 (#417) ############################################
Religion. Calendar. Agriculture
387
priests who were not allowed to bear arms or to ride except on mares.
Sanctuaries are occasionally mentioned, but we do not know whether
these were temples or merely sacred groves. A number of religious
festivals are also recorded by Bede, especially during the winter months.
It may be remarked in passing that the calendar appears to have been of
the “modified lunar” type with an intercalary month added from time
to time. The year is said to have begun-approximately, we must
presume—at the winter solstice. There are some indications however
which suggest that at an earlier period it may have begun after the
harvest.
There is no doubt that the invading peoples possessed a highly
developed system of agriculture long before they landed in this country.
Many agricultural implements have been found among the bog-deposits
in Schleswig. Representations of ploughing operations occur in rock-
carvings in Bohuslän (Sweden) which date from the Bronze Age, at least
a thousand years earlier than the invasion. All the ordinary cereals
were well known and cultivated, though on the other hand the system of
cultivation followed in this country was probably a continuation of that
which had previously been employed here. There is no evidence that
the heavy plough with eight oxen was used before the invasion by the
conquerors. The water-mill doubtless first became known to them
in Britain, and for ages afterwards it failed to oust the quern. In
horticulture the advance made was very great: the names of practically
all vegetables and fruits are derived from Latin, and though the
knowledge of a few of their names may have filtered through from the
Rhine provinces, there can be little doubt that the great bulk were first
acquired in this country.
These considerations bring us to the much disputed question as to
what became of the native population. The insignificance of the British
element in the English language is scarcely explicable unless the invaders
came over in very large numbers. On the other hand, many scholars
have probably gone too far in supposing that the native population was
entirely blotted out. British records say that they were massacred or
enslaved. In later times, i. e. in the eleventh century, the number of
slaves in England was not great, but it is not safe to infer that such was
the case four or five centuries earlier. Indeed the little evidence that
we have on this question suggests that in some districts at least they
were a very numerous class. There can be little doubt at all events that
the first invasions were essentially of a military character. Attempts
have been made to trace in various quarters settlements of kindreds
especially from the occurrence of place-names with the suffixes -ingas,
-ingatun, etc. , but the evidence is at best exceedingly ambiguous.
