Romano-British Culture
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The Romano-British culture arose in Britain under the
Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterr ...
following the Roman conquest in AD 43 and the creation of the province of Britannia. It arose as a fusion of the imported
Roman culture The culture of ancient Rome existed throughout the almost 1200-year history of the civilization of Ancient Rome. The term refers to the culture of the Roman Republic, later the Roman Empire, which at its peak covered an area from present-day Lo ...
with that of the indigenous
Britons British people or Britons, also known colloquially as Brits, are the citizens of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the British Overseas Territories, and the Crown dependencies.: British nationality law governs mod ...
, a people of
Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...
language and custom. Scholars such as
Christopher Snyder Christopher Allen Snyder is the Dean of Shackouls Honors College at Mississippi State University, in Starkville, Mississippi. He was previously a professor of European history and director of the Honors Program at Marymount University, in Arli ...
believe that during the 5th and 6th centuries – approximately from 410 when the Roman legions withdrew, to 597 when St Augustine of Canterbury arrived – southern Britain preserved an active sub-Roman culture that survived the attacks from the
Anglo-Saxons The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...
and even used a vernacular Latin when writing.


Arrival of the Romans

Roman troops, mainly from nearby provinces, invaded in AD 43, in what is now part of England, during the reign of Emperor Claudius. Over the next few years the province of
Britannia Britannia () is the national personification of Britain as a helmeted female warrior holding a trident and shield. An image first used in classical antiquity, the Latin ''Britannia'' was the name variously applied to the British Isles, Great ...
was formed, eventually including the whole of what later became
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
and
Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
and parts of
Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
.Kinder, H. & Hilgemann W. ''The Penguin Atlas of World History'', Penguin Books, London 1978, The Claudian army took over Colchester and eleven tribal kings of Britain also surrendered to the Roman army. By AD 47, the Romans had invaded southern Britain and claimed territory that held many natural resources. This led to an increase in imperial wealth. The Romans developed the city of Colchester through urbanisation and new clusters of public buildings. The
Roman army The Roman army (Latin: ) was the armed forces deployed by the Romans throughout the duration of Ancient Rome, from the Roman Kingdom (c. 500 BC) to the Roman Republic (500–31 BC) and the Roman Empire (31 BC–395 AD), and its medieval contin ...
and their families and dependents amounted to 125,000 people, out of Britannia's total population of 3.6 million at the end of the fourth century. Joan P. Alcock
''A Brief History of Roman Britain'', page 260
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There were also many migrants of other professions, such as sculptors (Barates) from Roman Syria and doctors from the Eastern Mediterranean region.
David Shotter David Colin Arthur Shotter (3 January 193922 May 2021) was a British archaeologist and Professor of Roman Imperial History at the University of Lancaster. Career Shotter was born in London and educated at King's College School, London and t ...
(2012)
''Roman Britain'', page 37
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Romano-British cultures and religions continued to diversify; while the populace remained mainly Celtic, there was an increase in Romanisation. The bulk of the population was rural and engaged in agriculture; from a total population of 3.6 million at the end of the fourth century, the urban population was about 240,000 people, with the capital city of Londinium having about 60,000 people. Londinium was an ethnically diverse city with inhabitants from across the Roman Empire, including natives of Britannia, and immigrants from continental Europe, the
Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...
, and
North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...
. There was also cultural diversity in other Roman-British towns, which were sustained by considerable migration, both within Britannia and from other Roman territories, including North Africa, Syria, the Eastern Mediterranean, and continental Europe. Christianity came to Britain in the 3rd century. One early figure was
Saint Alban Saint Alban (; la, Albanus) is venerated as the first-recorded British Christian martyr, for which reason he is considered to be the British protomartyr. Along with fellow Saints Julius and Aaron, Alban is one of three named martyrs rec ...
, who (according to tradition) was martyred near the Roman town of
Verulamium Verulamium was a town in Roman Britain. It was sited southwest of the modern city of St Albans in Hertfordshire, England. A large portion of the Roman city remains unexcavated, being now park and agricultural land, though much has been built upon ...
, on the site of the modern St Albans, during the reign of Emperor
Decius Gaius Messius Quintus Traianus Decius ( 201 ADJune 251 AD), sometimes translated as Trajan Decius or Decius, was the emperor of the Roman Empire from 249 to 251. A distinguished politician during the reign of Philip the Arab, Decius was procl ...
.


Roman citizenship

One aspect of Roman influence seen in British life was the grant of
Roman citizenship Citizenship in ancient Rome (Latin: ''civitas'') was a privileged political and legal status afforded to free individuals with respect to laws, property, and governance. Citizenship in Ancient Rome was complex and based upon many different laws, t ...
. At first this was granted very selectively: to the council members of certain classes of towns, whom Roman practice made citizens; to veterans, either
legionaries The Roman legionary (in Latin ''legionarius'', plural ''legionarii'') was a professional heavy infantryman of the Roman army after the Marian reforms. These soldiers would conquer and defend the territories of ancient Rome during the late Republi ...
or soldiers in auxiliary units; and to a number of natives whose
patron Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings, popes, and the wealthy have provided to artists su ...
s obtained citizenship for them. The granting of Roman citizenship was gradually expanded and more people from provinces became citizens. One way for a provincial inhabitant to become a citizen was to serve in the Roman army or a city council. The number of citizens steadily increased, as people inherited citizenship and more grants were made by the emperors. Eventually in 212 or early 213AD, everybody living in the provinces except slaves and
freed slaves A freedman or freedwoman is a formerly enslaved person who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, enslaved people were freed by manumission (granted freedom by their captor-owners), emancipation (granted freedom a ...
were granted citizenship by the ''
Constitutio Antoniniana The ''Constitutio Antoniniana'' (Latin for: "Constitution r Edictof Antoninus") (also called the Edict of Caracalla or the Antonine Constitution) was an edict issued in AD 212, by the Roman Emperor Caracalla. It declared that all free men in t ...
''. Roman citizenship held many benefits; for example, citizens could make their own decisions, could request protection, and could share possessions/responsibilities within the community under the protection of Roman law. The other inhabitants of Britain, who did not enjoy citizenship, the ''
Peregrini In the early Roman Empire, from 30 BC to AD 212, a ''peregrinus'' (Latin: ) was a free provincial subject of the Empire who was not a Roman citizen. ''Peregrini'' constituted the vast majority of the Empire's inhabitants in the 1st and 2nd centur ...
'', continued to live under the laws of their ancestors. Principal handicaps were that they could not own land with a Latin title, serve as a legionary in the army, or, in general, inherit from a Roman citizen. In the Republic, foreign ''peregrini'' were further named as ''peregrini dediticii'' which meant they were "surrendered foreigners" and forbidden to gain Roman citizenship. These surrendered foreigners were not provided with any of the benefits, duties, status or sense of identity of citizens. Romans continued to stigmatize ''peregrini dediticii'' as freedmen or foreigners who were tortured and excluded from citizenship forever.


Roman departure from Britain

Eventually
emperor Honorius Honorius (9 September 384 – 15 August 423) was Roman emperor from 393 to 423. He was the younger son of emperor Theodosius I and his first wife Aelia Flaccilla. After the death of Theodosius, Honorius ruled the western half of the empire while ...
ordered Roman troops back home to help defend Italy against invasion. Constantine III initially rebelled against Honorius and took further troops to
Gaul Gaul ( la, Gallia) was a region of Western Europe first described by the Romans. It was inhabited by Celtic and Aquitani tribes, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, most of Switzerland, parts of Northern Italy (only during ...
, but was later recognised as a joint emperor. After the Roman departure from Britain, the Romano-British were advised by Honorius to "look to their own defences". A written plea with General
Flavius Aëtius Aetius (also spelled Aëtius; ; 390 – 454) was a Roman general and statesman of the closing period of the Western Roman Empire. He was a military commander and the most influential man in the Empire for two decades (433454). He managed pol ...
as one of its believed recipients, known as the ''
Groans of the Britons Paralanguage, also known as vocalics, is a component of meta-communication that may modify meaning, give nuanced meaning, or convey emotion, by using techniques such as prosody, pitch, volume, intonation, etc. It is sometimes defined as relatin ...
'', may have brought some brief naval assistance from the fading Roman Empire of the West, but otherwise they were on their own.


Post-Roman period

In the early stages the lowlands and cities may have had some organisation or "council" and the
Bishop of London A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
appears to have played a key role, but they were divided politically as former soldiers, mercenaries, nobles, officials and farmers declared themselves kings, fighting amongst each other and leaving Britain open to invasion. Two factions may have emerged: a pro-Roman faction and an independence faction. The one leader at this time known by name is
Vortigern Vortigern (; owl, Guorthigirn, ; cy, Gwrtheyrn; ang, Wyrtgeorn; Old Breton: ''Gurdiern'', ''Gurthiern''; gle, Foirtchern; la, Vortigernus, , , etc.), also spelled Vortiger, Vortigan, Voertigern and Vortigen, was a 5th-century warlord in ...
, which may have been a title meaning "High King". The depredations of the
Picts The Picts were a group of peoples who lived in what is now northern and eastern Scotland (north of the Firth of Forth) during Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. Where they lived and what their culture was like can be inferred from e ...
from the north and
Scotti ''Scoti'' or ''Scotti'' is a Latin name for the Gaels,Duffy, Seán. ''Medieval Ireland: An Encyclopedia''. Routledge, 2005. p.698 first attested in the late 3rd century. At first it referred to all Gaels, whether in Ireland or Great Britain, but l ...
(Scots) from Ireland forced the Britons to seek help from pagan
Germanic tribes The Germanic peoples were historical groups of people that once occupied Central Europe and Scandinavia during antiquity and into the early Middle Ages. Since the 19th century, they have traditionally been defined by the use of ancient and e ...
of Angles, Saxons and Jutes, who then decided to settle in Britain. Some of the Romano-British people migrated to
Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known ...
, the
Kingdom of the Suebi The Kingdom of the Suebi ( la, Regnum Suevorum), also called the Kingdom of Galicia ( la, Regnum Galicia) or Suebi Kingdom of Galicia ( la, Galicia suevorum regnum), was a Germanic post-Roman kingdom that was one of the first to separate from ...
and possibly Ireland. The Anglo-Saxons obtained control of eastern England in the 5th century. In the mid-6th century, they started expanding into the Midlands, then in the 7th century they expanded again into the southwest and the north of England. The unconquered parts of southern Britain, notably
Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
, retained their Romano-British culture, in particular retaining Christianity. Members of groups who spoke Germanic also migrated to the southern section of Great Britain. Cultural exchange is seen in the post-Roman period with these Germanic settlements. Some Anglo-Saxon histories (in context) refer to the Romano-British people by the blanket term "Welsh". The term Welsh is derived from an
Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
word meaning 'foreigner', referring to the old inhabitants of southern Britain. Historically, Wales and the south-western peninsula were known respectively as North Wales and West Wales.h2g2 – Maps of Cornwall (Kernow) showing a Celtic or Distinct Identity
Bbc.co.uk.
The Celtic north of England and southern Scotland was referred to in Welsh as
Hen Ogledd Yr Hen Ogledd (), in English the Old North, is the historical region which is now Northern England and the southern Scottish Lowlands that was inhabited by the Brittonic people of sub-Roman Britain in the Early Middle Ages. Its population sp ...
("old north"). The struggles of this period have given rise to the legends of
Uther Pendragon Uther Pendragon (Brittonic) (; cy, Ythyr Ben Dragwn, Uthyr Pendragon, Uthyr Bendragon), also known as King Uther, was a legendary King of the Britons in sub-Roman Britain (c. 6th century). Uther was also the father of King Arthur. A few ...
and King Arthur. There are many theories, but it is sometimes said that
Ambrosius Aurelianus Ambrosius Aurelianus ( cy, Emrys Wledig; Anglicised as Ambrose Aurelian and called Aurelius Ambrosius in the ''Historia Regum Britanniae'' and elsewhere) was a war leader of the Romano-British who won an important battle against the Anglo-Sax ...
, a resistance leader of the Romano-British forces, was the model for the former, and that Arthur's court of
Camelot Camelot is a castle and court associated with the legendary King Arthur. Absent in the early Arthurian material, Camelot first appeared in 12th-century French romances and, since the Lancelot-Grail cycle, eventually came to be described as th ...
is an idealised Welsh and Cornish memory of pre-Saxon Romano-British civilisation.


See also

* British Latin *
British Italians Italians in the United Kingdom, also known as British Italians or colloquially Britalians, are citizens or residents of the United Kingdom of Italian heritage. The phrase may refer to someone born in the United Kingdom of Italian descent, some ...
*
Daco-Roman The term Daco-Roman describes the Romanized culture of Dacia under the rule of the Roman Empire. Etymology The Daco-Roman mixing theory, as an origin for the Romanian people, was formulated by the earliest Romanian scholars, beginning with Doso ...
* Gallo-Roman culture *
Illyro-Roman Illyro-Roman is a term used in historiography and anthropological studies for the Romanized Illyrians within the ancient Roman provinces of Illyricum, Moesia, Pannonia and Dardania. The term 'Illyro-Roman' can also be used to describe the Roman ...
*
Roman sites in the United Kingdom There are many Roman sites in Great Britain that are open to the public. There are also many sites that do not require special access, including Roman roads, and sites that have not been uncovered. England *Hadrian's Wall, Northumberland and Cumb ...
* Romano-British temple *
Thraco-Roman The term Thraco-Roman describes the Romanization (cultural), Romanized culture of Thracians under the rule of the Roman Empire. The Odrysian kingdom of Thrace became a Roman client kingdom c. 20 BC, while the Greek city-states on the Black Sea coas ...


References


Bibliography

* Jones, Michael (1996) ''The End of Roman Britain''. Ithaca: Cornell University Press * Myres, John (1960) ''Pelagius and the End of Roman Rule in Britain''. In: Journal of Roman Studies, 50, 21–36. * Pryor, Francis (2004) ''Britain AD: a Quest for Arthur, England and the Anglo-Saxons''. London: HarperCollins {{ISBN, 0-00-718186-8 * Radford, C. A. Ralegh (1939) ''Tintagel Castle''. London: H.M.S.O. (Reprinted by English Heritage 1985) * Thomas, Charles (1993) ''Tintagel: Arthur and Archaeology''. London: English Heritage


External links


The Romans in Britain

The Plague that made England

Google Books: ''The making of England'' of Richard Green (1881)


Ancient Roman culture Foreign relations of ancient Rome Roman Britain Roman assimilation