223-510: The settlement of Great Britain by diverse Germanic peoples led to the development of a new Anglo-Saxon cultural identity and shared Germanic language , Old English , which was most closely related to Old Frisian on the other side of the North Sea . The first Germanic speakers to settle permanently are likely to have been soldiers recruited by the Roman administration, possibly already in
446-405: A priestly role . He could not marry a woman from a senatorial family, nor achieve legitimate senatorial rank himself, but during the early Empire, freedmen held key positions in the government bureaucracy, so much so that Hadrian limited their participation by law. The rise of successful freedmen—through political influence or wealth—is a characteristic of early Imperial society. The prosperity of
669-406: A Goidelic language, Manx . Northern Scotland mainly spoke Pritennic , which became Pictish , which may have been a Brythonic language. During the period of the Roman occupation of Southern Britain (AD 43 to c. 410 ), Common Brythonic borrowed a large stock of Latin words. Approximately 800 of these Latin loan-words have survived in the three modern Brythonic languages. Romano-British
892-589: A collective name for the British Isles. However, with the Roman conquest of Britain , the Latin term Britannia was used for the island of Great Britain, and later Roman-occupied Britain south of Caledonia . The earliest known name for Great Britain is Albion ( Greek : Ἀλβιών ) or insula Albionum , from either the Latin albus meaning "white" (possibly referring to the white cliffs of Dover ,
1115-456: A common ancestral language termed Brittonic , British , Common Brythonic , Old Brythonic or Proto-Brythonic , which is thought to have developed from Proto-Celtic or early Insular Celtic by the 6th century AD. Brythonic languages were probably spoken before the Roman invasion at least in the majority of Great Britain south of the rivers Forth and Clyde , though the Isle of Man later had
1338-534: A conquest remains very influential. In contrast, Gildas did not explain what happened to the Saxons after the initial wars. (Gildas, in discussing the spiritual life of Britain does however mention that because of the partition ( divortium ) of the country caused by barbarians, citizens ( cives ) were prevented from worshipping at the shrines of the martyrs in St Albans and Caerleon .) He reported instead that Britain
1561-415: A continuation in sub-Roman Britain, with control over its own political and military destiny for well over a century, is that of Kenneth Dark, who suggests that the sub-Roman elite survived in culture, politics and military power up to c. 570 . Bede, however, identifies three phases of settlement: an exploration phase, when mercenaries came to protect the resident population; a migration phase, which
1784-701: A defence against an invasion of Picts and Saxons in 429. By about 430 the archaeological record in Britain begins to indicate a relatively rapid melt-down of Roman material culture, and its replacement by Anglo-Saxon material culture. At some time between 445 and 454 Gildas , writing some generations later, reported that the Britons also wrote to the Roman military leader Aëtius in Gaul, begging for assistance, with no success. In desperation, an un-named "proud tyrant" subsequently invited Saxons to Britain to help defend it from
2007-489: A diversity associated with language. Beyond these, in the early Anglo-Saxon period, identity was local: although people would have known their neighbours, it may have been important to indicate tribal loyalty with details of clothing and especially fasteners. It is sometimes hard in thinking about the period to avoid importing anachronistic 19th-century ideas of nationalism: in fact it is unlikely that people would have thought of themselves as Anglo-Saxon – instead they were part of
2230-511: A faction that opposed his concentration of power. This faction was driven from Rome and defeated at the Battle of Philippi in 42 BC by Mark Antony and Caesar's adopted son Octavian . Antony and Octavian divided the Roman world between them, but this did not last long. Octavian's forces defeated those of Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC. In 27 BC the Senate gave him
2453-425: A fifth of the population and played a major role in the economy. Slavery was a complex institution that supported traditional Roman social structures as well as contributing economic utility. In urban settings, slaves might be professionals such as teachers, physicians, chefs, and accountants; the majority of slaves provided trained or unskilled labour. Agriculture and industry, such as milling and mining, relied on
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#17327722722222676-640: A fine for a crime for which an humilior might receive a scourging . Execution, which was an infrequent legal penalty for free men under the Republic, could be quick and relatively painless for honestiores , while humiliores might suffer the kinds of torturous death previously reserved for slaves, such as crucifixion and condemnation to the beasts . In the early Empire, those who converted to Christianity could lose their standing as honestiores , especially if they declined to fulfil religious responsibilities, and thus became subject to punishments that created
2899-496: A framework assuming that many Brittonic-speakers shifted to English, for example over whether at least some Germanic-speaking peasant-class immigrants must have been involved to bring about the language-shift ; what legal or social structures (such as enslavement or apartheid -like customs) might have promoted the high status of English; and precisely how slowly Brittonic (and British Latin) disappeared in different regions. An idiosyncratic view that has won extensive popular attention
3122-425: A freedman were born free, with full rights of citizenship. After manumission, a slave who had belonged to a Roman citizen enjoyed active political freedom ( libertas ), including the right to vote. His former master became his patron ( patronus ): the two continued to have customary and legal obligations to each other. A freedman was not entitled to hold public office or the highest state priesthoods, but could play
3345-410: A glimpse into the relationship between people, land, and the tribes and groups into which they had organised themselves. The individual units in the list developed from the settlement areas of tribal groups, some of which are as little as 300 hides. The names are difficult to locate: places such as East wixna and Sweord ora . What it reveals is that micro-identity of tribe and family is important from
3568-578: A high-achieving group of freedmen is attested by inscriptions throughout the Empire . The Latin word ordo (plural ordines ) is translated variously and inexactly into English as "class, order, rank". One purpose of the Roman census was to determine the ordo to which an individual belonged. Two of the highest ordines in Rome were the senatorial and equestrian. Outside Rome, cities or colonies were led by decurions , also known as curiales . "Senator"
3791-571: A higher social class. Most of the emperors were bilingual but had a preference for Latin in the public sphere for political reasons, a "rule" that first started during the Punic Wars . Different emperors up until Justinian would attempt to require the use of Latin in various sections of the administration but there is no evidence that a linguistic imperialism existed during the early Empire. After all freeborn inhabitants were universally enfranchised in 212 , many Roman citizens would have lacked
4014-401: A household or workplace, a hierarchy of slaves might exist, with one slave acting as the master of others. Talented slaves might accumulate a large enough peculium to justify their freedom, or be manumitted for services rendered. Manumission had become frequent enough that in 2 BC a law ( Lex Fufia Caninia ) limited the number of slaves an owner was allowed to free in his will. Following
4237-472: A knowledge of Latin. The wide use of Koine Greek was what enabled the spread of Christianity and reflects its role as the lingua franca of the Mediterranean during the time of the Empire. Following Diocletian's reforms in the 3rd century CE, there was a decline in the knowledge of Greek in the west. Spoken Latin later fragmented into the incipient romance languages in the 7th century CE following
4460-459: A man as an equestrian. The census of 28 BC uncovered large numbers of men who qualified, and in 14 AD, a thousand equestrians were registered at Cádiz and Padua alone. Equestrians rose through a military career track ( tres militiae ) to become highly placed prefects and procurators within the Imperial administration. The rise of provincial men to the senatorial and equestrian orders
4683-453: A marriage between Cecily , daughter of Edward IV of England , and James , son of James III of Scotland , which described it as "this Nobill Isle, callit Gret Britanee". The Scottish philosopher and historian, John Major (Mair), published his 'History of Great Britain, both England and Scotland' ( Historia majoris Britanniae, tam Angliae quam Scotiae ) in 1521. While promoting a possible royal match in 1548, Lord Protector Somerset said that
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#17327722722224906-560: A married woman could have sex only with her husband, but a married man did not commit adultery if he had sex with a prostitute or person of marginalized status. Childbearing was encouraged: a woman who had given birth to three children was granted symbolic honours and greater legal freedom (the ius trium liberorum ). At the time of Augustus, as many as 35% of the people in Roman Italy were slaves, making Rome one of five historical "slave societies" in which slaves constituted at least
5129-432: A native British chieftain and his war band adopting Anglo-Saxon culture and language. The incidence of British Celtic personal names in the royal genealogies of a number of "Anglo-Saxon" dynasties is very suggestive of the latter process. The Wessex royal line was traditionally founded by a man named Cerdic , an undoubtedly Celtic name identical to Ceretic , the name given to two British kings, and ultimately derived from
5352-466: A new "Anglo-Saxon" culture (one with parallels in northern Germany) had indeed become prominent in Britain by the 430s, well before the 450s as reported by Bede. Historians such as Halsall have also pointed out that a Germanic population may have already been present under Roman rule for many years before 430 without this being obvious in the archaeological record, because of the prestige which Roman material culture still had. In Bede's semi-mythical account
5575-533: A number of hides to each one. A hide was an amount of land sufficient to support a household. The list of tribes is headed by Mercia and consists almost exclusively of peoples who lived south of the Humber estuary and territories that surrounded the Mercian kingdom, some of which have never been satisfactorily identified by scholars. The document is problematic, but extremely important for historians, as it provides
5798-513: A number of features of the Regnal List and Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the fifth and sixth centuries clearly contradict the idea that they constitute a reliable record. Some of the information there may contain a kernel of truth if the obvious fictions are rejected (such as the claim that Portsmouth took its name from an invader, Port, who arrived in 501), such as the sequence of the events associated with Ælle of Sussex (albeit not necessarily
6021-583: A peninsular extension of mainland Europe until catastrophic flooding between then and 130,000 years ago resulted in the creation of the English Channel and Britain becoming an island during warm interglacial periods like the Last Interglacial/Eemian (130–115,000 years ago), though it remained connected to mainland Europe during glacial periods when sea levels were low. Archaic humans repeatedly occupied Britain before abandoning
6244-777: A result of this eventful geological history, the island shows a rich variety of landscapes . The oldest rocks in Great Britain are the Lewisian gneisses , metamorphic rocks found in the far north west of the island and in the Hebrides (with a few small outcrops elsewhere), which date from at least 2,700 My ago. South of the gneisses are a complex mixture of rocks forming the North West Highlands and Grampian Highlands in Scotland. These are essentially
6467-427: A sense of "Romanness". Roman society had multiple, overlapping social hierarchies . The civil war preceding Augustus caused upheaval, but did not effect an immediate redistribution of wealth and social power. From the perspective of the lower classes, a peak was merely added to the social pyramid. Personal relationships— patronage , friendship ( amicitia ), family , marriage —continued to influence politics. By
6690-413: A significant number of items now in phases before this historically set date. Archaeological evidence for the emergence of both a native British identity and the appearance of a Germanic culture in Britain in the 5th and 6th centuries must consider first the period at the end of Roman rule. The collapse of Roman material culture some time in the early 5th century left a gap in the archaeological record that
6913-699: A similar sense to fauna, and for similar reasons, the flora consists of fewer species compared to much larger continental Europe. The flora comprises 3,354 vascular plant species, of which 2,297 are native and 1,057 have been introduced. The island has a wide variety of trees , including native species of birch , beech , ash , hawthorn , elm , oak , yew , pine , cherry and apple . Other trees have been naturalised, introduced especially from other parts of Europe (particularly Norway) and North America. Introduced trees include several varieties of pine, chestnut , maple , spruce , sycamore and fir , as well as cherry plum and pear trees . The tallest species are
Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain - Misplaced Pages Continue
7136-513: A slave's rapist had to be prosecuted by the owner for property damage under the Aquilian Law . Slaves had no right to the form of legal marriage called conubium , but their unions were sometimes recognized. Technically, a slave could not own property, but a slave who conducted business might be given access to an individual fund ( peculium ) that he could use, depending on the degree of trust and co-operation between owner and slave. Within
7359-657: A source with the Anglian list). The Regnal List was in turn a source for the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle , the relevant sections of which were edited into their surviving form in the later ninth century. The Chronicle also includes various more detailed entries for the fifth and sixth centuries that ostensibly constitute historical evidence for a migration, Anglo-Saxon elites, and various significant historical events. However, Barbara Yorke , Patrick Sims-Williams , and David Dumville , among others, have demonstrated how
7582-451: A tribe or region, descendants of a patron or followers of a leader. It is this identity that archaeological evidence seeks to understand and determine, considering how it might support separate identity groups, or identities that were inter-connected. Part of a well-furnished pagan-period mixed, inhumation-cremation, cemetery at Alwalton near Peterborough was excavated in 1999. Twenty-eight urned and two unurned cremations dating from between
7805-553: A type issued to late Roman forces, which have been found both in late Roman contexts, such as the Roman cemeteries of Winchester and Colchester , and in purely 'Anglo-Saxon' rural cemeteries like Mucking (Essex), though this was at a settlement used by the Romano-British. The distribution of the earliest Anglo-Saxon sites and place names in close proximity to Roman settlements and roads has been interpreted as showing that initial Anglo-Saxon settlements were being controlled by
8028-401: A very extended period of time. Changing latitude and sea levels have been important factors in the nature of sedimentary sequences, whilst successive continental collisions have affected its geological structure with major faulting and folding being a legacy of each orogeny (mountain-building period), often associated with volcanic activity and the metamorphism of existing rock sequences. As
8251-500: A view that gained support in the late 20th century suggests that the migration involved relatively few individuals, possibly centred on a warrior elite, who popularized a non-Roman identity after the downfall of Roman institutions. This hypothesis suggests a large-scale acculturation of natives to the incoming language and material culture . In support of this, archaeologists have found that, despite evidence of violent disruption, settlement patterns and land use show many continuities with
8474-480: Is Stephen Oppenheimer 's suggestion that the lack of Celtic influence on English is because the ancestor of English was already widely spoken in Britain by the Belgae before the end of the Roman period. However, Oppenheimer's ideas have not been found helpful in explaining the known facts: there is no evidence for a well established Germanic language in Britain before the fifth century, and Oppenheimer's idea contradicts
8697-677: Is G. On the Internet, .uk is the country code top-level domain for the United Kingdom. A .gb top-level domain was used to a limited extent, but is now deprecated; although existing registrations still exist (mainly by government organizations and email providers), the domain name registrar will not take new registrations. In the Olympics, Team GB is used by the British Olympic Association to represent
8920-569: Is a list of 35 tribes that was compiled in Anglo-Saxon England some time between the seventh and ninth centuries. The inclusion of the ' Elmet -dwellers' suggests to Simon Keynes that the Tribal Hideage was compiled in the early 670s, during the reign of King Wulfhere , since Elmet seems to have reverted thereafter to Northumbrian control. It includes a number of independent kingdoms and other smaller territories and assigns
9143-743: Is also more than 1000 species of bryophyte including algae and mosses across the island. The currently known species include 767 mosses, 298 liverworts and 4 hornworts . There are many species of fungi including lichen -forming species, and the mycobiota is less poorly known than in many other parts of the world. The most recent checklist of Basidiomycota (bracket fungi, jelly fungi, mushrooms and toadstools, puffballs, rusts and smuts), published in 2005, accepts over 3600 species. The most recent checklist of Ascomycota (cup fungi and their allies, including most lichen-forming fungi), published in 1985, accepts another 5100 species. These two lists did not include conidial fungi (fungi mostly with affinities in
Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain - Misplaced Pages Continue
9366-545: Is an aspect of social mobility in the early Empire. Roman aristocracy was based on competition, and unlike later European nobility , a Roman family could not maintain its position merely through hereditary succession or having title to lands. Admission to the higher ordines brought distinction and privileges, but also responsibilities. In antiquity, a city depended on its leading citizens to fund public works, events, and services ( munera ). Maintaining one's rank required massive personal expenditures. Decurions were so vital for
9589-474: Is seen as Britain's first true historian, in that he cited his references and listed events according to dates rather than regnal lists. Because of this we know that he relied heavily on Gildas for early events. It has been suggested that Bede based his dating of the arrival of Horsa and Hengist upon the report in Gildas that the invitation to the foederati happened after the Britons first implored Aëtius when he
9812-593: Is strikingly different from, for example, post-Roman Gaul, Iberia, or North Africa, where Germanic-speaking invaders gradually switched to local languages. Old English shows little obvious influence from Celtic or spoken Latin: there are for example vanishingly few English words of Brittonic origin . Moreover, except in Cornwall , the vast majority of place-names in England are easily etymologised as Old English (or Old Norse , due to later Viking influence), demonstrating
10035-511: Is subject to continuing urbanisation , which have contributed towards the overall loss of species. A DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) study from 2006 suggested that 100 species have become extinct in the UK during the 20th century, about 100 times the background extinction rate . However, some species, such as the brown rat , red fox , and introduced grey squirrel , are well adapted to urban areas. Rodents make up 40% of
10258-487: Is that political dominance by a fairly small number of Old English-speakers could have driven large numbers of Britons to adopt Old English while leaving little detectable trace of this language-shift. The collapse of Britain's Roman economy and administrative structures seems to have left Britons living in a technologically similar society to their Anglo-Saxon neighbours, making it unlikely that Anglo-Saxons would need to borrow words for unfamiliar concepts. If Old English became
10481-898: Is the capital city of Scotland , and is the seat of the Scottish Government as well as the highest courts in Scotland . The Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh is the official residence of the British monarch in Scotland. Cardiff is the capital city of Wales , and is the seat of the Welsh Government . In the Late Bronze Age, Britain was part of a culture called the Atlantic Bronze Age , held together by maritime trading, which also included Ireland, France, Spain and Portugal. In contrast to
10704-598: Is the largest denomination in Wales . There are other non-conformist minorities, such as Baptists , Quakers , the United Reformed Church (a union of Congregationalists and English Presbyterians ), Unitarians . The first patron saint of Great Britain was Saint Alban . He was the first Christian martyr dating from the Romano-British period, condemned to death for his faith and sacrificed to
10927-474: Is the largest species, with roe deer and fallow deer also prominent; the latter was introduced by the Normans . Sika deer and two more species of smaller deer, muntjac and Chinese water deer , have been introduced, muntjac becoming widespread in England and parts of Wales while Chinese water deer are restricted mainly to East Anglia. Habitat loss has affected many species. Extinct large mammals include
11150-791: Is the name for the Latinised form of the language used by Roman authors. British English is spoken in the present day across the island, and developed from the Old English brought to the island by Anglo-Saxon settlers from the mid 5th century. Some 1.5 million people speak Scots —which was indigenous language of Scotland and has become closer to English over centuries. An estimated 700,000 people speak Welsh , an official language in Wales . In parts of north west Scotland, Scottish Gaelic remains widely spoken. There are various regional dialects of English, and numerous languages spoken by some immigrant populations. Christianity has been
11373-549: Is too easy to consider Anglo-Saxon archaeology solely as a study of ethnology and to fail to consider that identity is "less related to an overall Anglo-Saxon ethnicity and more to membership of family or tribe, Christian or pagan, elite or peasant". "Anglo-Saxons" or "Britons" were no more homogeneous than nationalities are today, and they would have exhibited diverse characteristics: male/female, old/young, rich/poor, farmer/warrior—or even Gildas ' patria (fellow citizens), cives (indigenous people) and hostes (enemies)—as well as
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#173277227222211596-583: The Chronica Gallica of 452 , a chronicle written in Gaul , Britain was ravaged by Saxon invaders in 409 or 410. This was only a few years after Constantine "III" was declared Roman emperor in Britain, and during the period that he was still leading British Roman forces in rebellion on the continent. Although the rebellion was eventually quashed, the Romano-British citizens reportedly expelled their Roman officials during this period, and never again re-joined
11819-473: The British Olympic team . The Olympic Federation of Ireland represents the whole island of Ireland , and Northern Irish sportspeople may choose to compete for either team, most choosing to represent Ireland. Politically, Great Britain refers to the whole of England , Scotland and Wales in combination, but not Northern Ireland ; it includes islands, such as the Isle of Wight , Anglesey ,
12042-456: The Brittonic *Caraticos. This may indicate that Cerdic was a native Briton, and that his dynasty became anglicised over time. A number of Cerdic's alleged descendants also possessed Celtic names, including the ' Bretwalda ' Ceawlin . The last occurrence of a British name in this dynasty was that of King Caedwalla , who died as late as 689. The British name Caedbaed is found in the pedigree of
12265-824: The Celtic languages to the island. During the Iron Age , Britain was inhabited by various different Celtic tribes . The Romans conquered most of the island (up to Hadrian's Wall in northern England) and this became the Ancient Roman province of Britannia . In the course of the 500 years after the Roman Empire fell, the Britons of the south and east of the island were assimilated or displaced by invading Germanic tribes ( Angles , Saxons , and Jutes , often referred to collectively as Anglo-Saxons ). At about
12488-688: The Danes , the " Huns " ( Pannonian Avars in this period, whose influence stretched north to Slavic-speaking areas in central Europe), the "old Saxons" ( antiqui Saxones ), and the " Boructuari " who are presumed to be inhabitants of the old lands of the Bructeri , near the Lippe river. The vision of the Anglo-Saxons exercising extensive political and military power which excluded Britons at such an early date remains contested. The most developed vision of
12711-475: The Dominate . The emperor was the ultimate authority in policy- and decision-making, but in the early Principate, he was expected to be accessible and deal personally with official business and petitions. A bureaucracy formed around him only gradually. The Julio-Claudian emperors relied on an informal body of advisors that included not only senators and equestrians, but trusted slaves and freedmen. After Nero,
12934-957: The Douglas firs ; two specimens have been recorded measuring 65 metres or 212 feet. The Fortingall Yew in Perthshire is the oldest tree in Europe. There are at least 1,500 different species of wildflower . Some 107 species are particularly rare or vulnerable and are protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 . It is illegal to uproot any wildflowers without the landowner's permission. A vote in 2002 nominated various wildflowers to represent specific counties. These include red poppies , bluebells , daisies , daffodils , rosemary , gorse , iris , ivy , mint , orchids , brambles , thistles , buttercups , primrose , thyme , tulips , violets , cowslip , heather and many more. There
13157-764: The Greek East and Latin West . Constantine the Great ( r. 306–337 ), the first Christian emperor , moved the imperial seat from Rome to Byzantium in 330, and renamed it Constantinople . The Migration Period , involving large invasions by Germanic peoples and by the Huns of Attila , led to the decline of the Western Roman Empire . With the fall of Ravenna to the Germanic Herulians and
13380-522: The Gregorian mission . It was the main religion for around a thousand years. There are over 5 million adherents today, 4.5 million Catholics in England and Wales and 750,000 in Scotland , although fewer than a million Catholics regularly attend mass . The Church of Scotland , a form of Protestantism with a Presbyterian system of ecclesiastical polity , is the third most numerous on
13603-477: The Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia . Judaism figured slightly more than Buddhism at the 2011 census, having 263,000 adherents (excluding Scotland's about 6000). Jews have inhabited Britain since 1070. However, those resident and open about their religion were expelled from England in 1290, replicated in some other Catholic countries of the era. Jews were permitted to re-establish settlement as of 1656, in
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#173277227222213826-574: The Isles of Scilly , the Hebrides and the island groups of Orkney and Shetland , that are part of England, Wales, or Scotland. It does not include the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands . The political union which joined the kingdoms of England and Scotland occurred in 1707 when the Acts of Union ratified the 1706 Treaty of Union and merged the parliaments of the two nations, forming
14049-662: The Kingdom of Great Britain , which covered the entire island. Before this, a personal union had existed between these two countries since the 1603 Union of the Crowns under James VI of Scotland and I of England . The oldest evidence for archaic humans in Britain are the Happisburgh footprints and associated stone tools found in Norfolk , dating to around 950–850,000 years ago. Prior to 450,000 years ago, Britain formed
14272-586: The Nile Valley in Egypt. The empire completely circled the Mediterranean ... referred to by its conquerors as mare nostrum —'our sea'. Trajan's successor Hadrian adopted a policy of maintaining rather than expanding the empire. Borders ( fines ) were marked, and the frontiers ( limites ) patrolled. The most heavily fortified borders were the most unstable. Hadrian's Wall , which separated
14495-599: The Old English Breoton, Breoten, Bryten, Breten (also Breoton-lond, Breten-lond ). Britannia was used by the Romans from the 1st century BC for the British Isles taken together. It is derived from the travel writings of Pytheas around 320 BC, which described various islands in the North Atlantic as far north as Thule (probably Norway ). The peoples of these islands of Prettanike were called
14718-545: The Picts and Scots . After a long war, he reported that the Romano-British recovered control. Peace was restored, but Britain was now ruled by tyrants. It had internal conflicts instead of conflicts with foreigners, but because of foreigners it was still difficult for Britons to travel to some parts of England and Wales. He gives no other information about Saxons or other Germanic people before or after this specific conflict. No other local written records survive until much later. By
14941-585: The Privy Council of England was drafting the proclamation of the new king, Charles I, a Scottish peer, Thomas Erskine, 1st Earl of Kellie , succeeded in insisting that it use the phrase "King of Great Britain", which James had preferred, rather than King of Scotland and England (or vice versa). While that title was also used by some of James's successors, England and Scotland each remained legally separate countries, each with its own parliament, until 1707, when each parliament passed an Act of Union to ratify
15164-482: The Republic , and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian 's assumption of effective sole rule in 27 BC. The western empire collapsed in 476 AD, but the eastern empire lasted until the fall of Constantinople in 1453. By 100 BC, Rome had expanded its rule to most of the Mediterranean and beyond. However, it was severely destabilised by civil wars and political conflicts , which culminated in
15387-470: The Romance languages while Medieval Greek became the language of the East. The Empire's adoption of Christianity resulted in the formation of medieval Christendom . Roman and Greek art had a profound impact on the Italian Renaissance . Rome's architectural tradition served as the basis for Romanesque , Renaissance and Neoclassical architecture , influencing Islamic architecture . The rediscovery of classical science and technology (which formed
15610-536: The Servile Wars of the Republic, legislation under Augustus and his successors shows a driving concern for controlling the threat of rebellions through limiting the size of work groups, and for hunting down fugitive slaves. Over time slaves gained increased legal protection, including the right to file complaints against their masters. A bill of sale might contain a clause stipulating that the slave could not be employed for prostitution, as prostitutes in ancient Rome were often slaves. The burgeoning trade in eunuchs in
15833-406: The Treaty of Union that had been agreed the previous year. This created a single kingdom with one parliament with effect from 1 May 1707. The Treaty of Union specified the name of the new all-island state as "Great Britain", while describing it as "One Kingdom" and "the United Kingdom". To most historians, therefore, the all-island state that existed between 1707 and 1800 is either "Great Britain" or
16056-433: The brown bear , grey wolf and wild boar ; the latter has had a limited reintroduction in recent times. There is a wealth of birdlife , with 628 species recorded, of which 258 breed on the island or remain during winter. Because of its mild winters for its latitude, Great Britain hosts important numbers of many wintering species, particularly waders , ducks , geese and swans . Other well known bird species include
16279-569: The deposition of Romulus Augustus in 476 by Odoacer , the Western Empire finally collapsed. The Eastern Roman Empire survived for another millennium with Constantinople as its sole capital, until the city's fall in 1453. Due to the Empire's extent and endurance, its institutions and culture had a lasting influence on the development of language , religion , art , architecture , literature , philosophy , law , and forms of government across its territories. Latin evolved into
16502-520: The golden eagle , grey heron , common kingfisher , common wood pigeon , house sparrow , European robin , grey partridge , and various species of crow , finch , gull , auk , grouse , owl and falcon . There are six species of reptile on the island; three snakes and three lizards including the legless slowworm . One snake, the adder , is venomous but rarely deadly. Amphibians present are frogs , toads and newts . There are also several introduced species of reptile and amphibian. In
16725-548: The mammal species . These include squirrels , mice , voles , rats and the recently reintroduced European beaver . There is also an abundance of European rabbit , European hare , shrews , European mole and several species of bat . Carnivorous mammals include the red fox , Eurasian badger , Eurasian otter , weasel , stoat and elusive Scottish wildcat . Various species of seal , whale and dolphin are found on or around British shores and coastlines. The largest land-based wild animals today are deer . The red deer
16948-525: The pagan gods . In more recent times, some have suggested the adoption of St Aidan as another patron saint of Britain. From Ireland, he worked at Iona amongst the Dál Riata and then Lindisfarne where he restored Christianity to Northumbria . The three constituent countries of the United Kingdom have patron saints: Saint George and Saint Andrew are represented in the flags of England and Scotland respectively. These two flags combined to form
17171-555: The phonology , morphology , and syntax of Old English (as well as on whether British Latin-speakers influenced the Brittonic languages, perhaps as they fled westwards from Anglo-Saxon domination into highland areas of Britain). These arguments have not yet, however, become consensus views. Thus a 2012 synthesis concludes that 'the evidence for Celtic influence on Old English is somewhat sparse, which only means that it remains elusive, not that it did not exist'. Debate continues within
17394-652: The victory of Octavian over Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, and the subsequent conquest of the Ptolemaic Kingdom in Egypt. In 27 BC, the Roman Senate granted Octavian overarching military power ( imperium ) and the new title of Augustus , marking his accession as the first Roman emperor . The vast Roman territories were organized into senatorial provinces, governed by proconsuls who were appointed by lot annually, and imperial provinces, which belonged to
17617-660: The " Kingdom of Great Britain ". Great Britain lies on the European continental shelf, part of the Eurasian Plate and off the north-west coast of continental Europe , separated from this European mainland by the North Sea and by the English Channel , which narrows to 34 km (18 nmi; 21 mi) at the Straits of Dover . It stretches over about ten degrees of latitude on its longer, north–south axis and covers 209,331 km (80,823 sq mi), excluding
17840-694: The "War of the Saxon Federates". It ended after the siege at 'Mons Badonicus' . (The price of peace, Higham argues, was a better treaty for the Saxons, giving them the ability to receive tribute from people across the lowlands of Britain.) Gildas did not report the year of this invitation. Possibly referring to some phase in these same events, the Chronica Gallica of 452 records for the year 441: "The British provinces, which to this time had suffered various defeats and misfortunes, are reduced to Saxon rule." However, Bede, writing centuries later, reasoned that these soldiers arrived only in 449, and he named
18063-490: The "proud tyrant" as Vortigern . Bede's understanding of these events has been questioned. For example, he reports St Germanus coming to Britain after this conflict began, although he would have been dead by then. The Historia Brittonum , written in the 9th century, gives two different years, but was apparently based on the idea that it happened in 428, possibly based on the real date of the visit of Germanus in 429. In fact, both textual and archaeological evidence indicates that
18286-450: The 3rd century, the Empire underwent a 49-year crisis that threatened its existence due to civil war, plagues and barbarian invasions . The Gallic and Palmyrene empires broke away from the state and a series of short-lived emperors led the Empire, which was later reunified under Aurelian ( r. 270–275 ). The civil wars ended with the victory of Diocletian ( r. 284–305 ), who set up two different imperial courts in
18509-450: The 5th and 6th centuries, and 34 inhumations, dating from between the late 5th and early 7th centuries, were uncovered. Both cremations and inhumations were provided with pyre or grave goods, and some of the burials were richly furnished. The excavation found evidence for a mixture of practices and symbolic clothing; these reflected local differences that appeared to be associated with tribal or family loyalty. This use of clothing in particular
18732-672: The 600-member body by appointment. A senator's son belonged to the ordo senatorius , but he had to qualify on his own merits for admission to the Senate. A senator could be removed for violating moral standards. In the time of Nero, senators were still primarily from Italy , with some from the Iberian peninsula and southern France; men from the Greek-speaking provinces of the East began to be added under Vespasian. The first senator from
18955-400: The 6th and 7th centuries with the disintegration of the complex Imperial economy. Laws pertaining to slavery were "extremely intricate". Slaves were considered property and had no legal personhood . They could be subjected to forms of corporal punishment not normally exercised on citizens, sexual exploitation , torture, and summary execution . A slave could not as a matter of law be raped;
19178-547: The Angles. Germanic speakers referred to Britons as Welsh . This term came to be applied exclusively to the inhabitants of what is now Wales, but it also survives in names such as Wallace and in the second syllable of Cornwall . Cymry , a name the Britons used to describe themselves, is similarly restricted in modern Welsh to people from Wales, but also survives in English in the place name of Cumbria . The Britons living in
19401-560: The Ascomycota but known only in their asexual state) or any of the other main fungal groups (Chytridiomycota, Glomeromycota and Zygomycota). The number of fungal species known very probably exceeds 10,000. There is widespread agreement among mycologists that many others are yet to be discovered. London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom as a whole, and is the seat of the United Kingdom's government . Edinburgh
19624-457: The Augustan programme to restore traditional morality and social order, moral legislation attempted to regulate conduct as a means of promoting " family values ". Adultery was criminalized, and defined broadly as an illicit sex act ( stuprum ) between a male citizen and a married woman, or between a married woman and any man other than her husband. That is, a double standard was in place:
19847-566: The British Isles archipelago . Connected to mainland Europe until 9,000 years ago by a landbridge now known as Doggerland , Great Britain has been inhabited by modern humans for around 30,000 years. In 2011, it had a population of about 61 million , making it the world's third-most-populous island after Honshu in Japan and Java in Indonesia , and the most populated island outside of Asia . The term "Great Britain" can also refer to
20070-677: The Church is the monarch of the United Kingdom, as the Supreme Governor . It has the status of established church in England. There are just over 26 million adherents to Anglicanism in Britain today, although only around one million regularly attend services. The second largest Christian practice is the Latin Church of the Catholic Church , which traces its history to the 6th century with Augustine of Canterbury and
20293-524: The Empire was engulfed by the Crisis of the Third Century , a period of invasions , civil strife , economic disorder , and plague . In defining historical epochs , this crisis sometimes marks the transition from Classical to Late Antiquity . Aurelian ( r. 270–275 ) stabilised the empire militarily and Diocletian reorganised and restored much of it in 285. Diocletian's reign brought
20516-410: The English and Scots were, "like as twoo brethren of one Islande of great Britaynes again." In 1604, James VI and I styled himself "King of Great Brittaine, France and Ireland". Great Britain refers geographically to the island of Great Britain. Politically, it may refer to the whole of England , Scotland and Wales , including their smaller offshore islands. It is not technically correct to use
20739-508: The London area sinking at double this partly due to the continuing compaction of the recent clay deposits. Animal diversity is modest, as a result of factors including the island's small land area, the relatively recent age of the habitats developed since the last glacial period and the island's physical separation from continental Europe , and the effects of seasonal variability. Great Britain also experienced early industrialisation and
20962-494: The Mediterranean, Italy maintained a special status which made it domina provinciarum ("ruler of the provinces"), and – especially in relation to the first centuries of imperial stability – rectrix mundi ("governor of the world") and omnium terrarum parens ("parent of all lands"). The 200 years that began with Augustus's rule is traditionally regarded as the Pax Romana ("Roman Peace"). The cohesion of
21185-559: The Middle East. The Latin phrase imperium sine fine ("empire without end" ) expressed the ideology that neither time nor space limited the Empire. In Virgil 's Aeneid , limitless empire is said to be granted to the Romans by Jupiter . This claim of universal dominion was renewed when the Empire came under Christian rule in the 4th century. In addition to annexing large regions, the Romans directly altered their geography, for example cutting down entire forests . Roman expansion
21408-592: The Picts and Scots. Gildas recounts how these Saxons, initially stationed in the east, claimed that the British were not providing sufficient monthly supplies, and eventually overran the whole country. "After a certain length of time the cruel robbers returned to their home." ( Tempore igitur interveniente aliquanto, cum recessissent domum crudelissimi praedones .) The British then united successfully under Ambrosius Aurelianus , and struck back. Historian Nick Higham calls this
21631-454: The Rhine and Danube. Roman jurists also show a concern for local languages such as Punic , Gaulish , and Aramaic in assuring the correct understanding of laws and oaths. In Africa , Libyco-Berber and Punic were used in inscriptions into the 2nd century. In Syria , Palmyrene soldiers used their dialect of Aramaic for inscriptions, an exception to the rule that Latin was the language of
21854-500: The Roman empire. Writing in the mid-sixth century, Procopius states that after the overthrow of Constantine "III" in 411, "the Romans never succeeded in recovering Britain, but it remained from that time under tyrants". The Romano-Britons nevertheless called upon the empire to help them fend off attacks from not only the Saxons , but also the Picts and Scoti . A hagiography of Saint Germanus of Auxerre claims that he helped command
22077-448: The Roman world from what was perceived as an ever-present barbarian threat, is the primary surviving monument of this effort. Latin and Greek were the main languages of the Empire, but the Empire was deliberately multilingual. Andrew Wallace-Hadrill says "The main desire of the Roman government was to make itself understood". At the start of the Empire, knowledge of Greek was useful to pass as educated nobility and knowledge of Latin
22300-401: The Romano-British past, despite profound changes in material culture. A major genetic study in 2022 which used DNA samples from different periods and regions demonstrated that there was significant immigration from the area in or near what is now northwestern Germany, and also that these immigrants intermarried with local Britons. These studies indicate that in both the early medieval period and
22523-493: The Romano-British. Catherine Hills suggests it is not necessary to see all the early settlers as federate troops, and that this interpretation has been used rather too readily by some archaeologists. A variety of relationships could have existed between Romano-British and incoming Anglo-Saxons. The broader archaeological picture suggests that no one model will explain all the Anglo-Saxon settlements in Britain and that there
22746-547: The Saxons as invited soldiers in the past and says nothing of migrations, or of any ongoing conflict or even Saxon presence in his time. Instead, for their understanding of Anglo-Saxon settlement historians have often relied upon Bede the English monk, a much later author and scholar (672/673–735), who in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People , tried to compute dates for events in early Anglo-Saxon history. Although primarily writing about church history, Bede
22969-558: The UK government yearbooks have used both Britain and United Kingdom . GB and GBR are used instead of UK in some international codes to refer to the United Kingdom, including the Universal Postal Union , international sports teams, NATO , and the International Organization for Standardization country codes ISO 3166-2 and ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 , whilst the aircraft registration prefix
23192-637: The Upper Thames region, and from 47% to 71% of Anglo-Saxon cemeteries excavated since 1945. Härke suggests that one of the contexts for the increasing reuse of monuments may be "the adoption by the natives of the material culture of the dominant immigrants". Great Britain Great Britain (commonly shortened to Britain ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe , consisting of
23415-449: The account of his achievements ( Res Gestae ) prominently featured the geographical cataloguing of the Empire. Geography alongside meticulous written records were central concerns of Roman Imperial administration . The Empire reached its largest expanse under Trajan ( r. 98–117 ), encompassing 5 million km . The traditional population estimate of 55–60 million inhabitants accounted for between one-sixth and one-fourth of
23638-442: The adoption of the language—as well as the material culture and traditions—of an Anglo-Saxon elite, "by large numbers of the local people seeking to improve their status within the social structure, and undertaking for this purpose rigorous acculturation", is the key to understanding the transition from Romano-British to Anglo-Saxon. The progressive nature of this language acquisition, and the 'retrospective reworking' of kinship ties to
23861-412: The ancestors, and John Shephard has extended this interpretation to Anglo-Saxon tumuli. Eva Thäte has emphasised the continental origins of monument reuse in post-Roman England, Howard Williams has suggested that the main purpose of this custom was to give sense to a landscape that the immigrants did not find empty. In the 7th and 8th centuries, monument reuse became so widespread that it strongly suggests
24084-660: The area during cooler periods. Modern humans arrived in Britain about 40,000 years ago, as evidenced by remains found in Kents Cavern in Devon, following the disappearance of Neanderthals . Prior to 9,000 years ago Britain retained a land connection to the continent, with an area of mostly low marshland ( Doggerland ) joining it to what are now Denmark and the Netherlands . During the Mesolithic period, Britain
24307-513: The areas now known as Wales, Cumbria and Cornwall were not assimilated by the Germanic tribes, a fact reflected in the survival of Celtic languages in these areas into more recent times. At the time of the Germanic invasion of southern Britain , many Britons emigrated to the area now known as Brittany , where Breton , a Celtic language closely related to Welsh and Cornish and descended from
24530-431: The areas that they settled. In recent decades, a few specialists have continued to support this interpretation, and Peter Schrijver has said that 'to a large extent, it is linguistics that is responsible for thinking in terms of drastic scenarios' about demographic change in late Roman Britain. But the consensus among experts in the first decades of the twenty-first century, influenced by research in contact linguistics ,
24753-607: The basis for Islamic science ) in medieval Europe contributed to the Scientific Renaissance and Scientific Revolution . Many modern legal systems, such as the Napoleonic Code , descend from Roman law. Rome's republican institutions have influenced the Italian city-state republics of the medieval period, the early United States , and modern democratic republics . Rome had begun expanding shortly after
24976-712: The basis of the Great Britain royal flag of 1604. Saint David is the patron saint of Wales. There are many other British saints. Some of the best known are Cuthbert , Columba , Patrick , Margaret , Edward the Confessor , Mungo , Thomas More , Petroc , Bede , and Thomas Becket . Numerous other religions are practised. The 2011 census recorded that Islam had around 2.7 million adherents (excluding Scotland with about 76,000). More than 1.4 million people (excluding Scotland's about 38,000) believe in Hinduism , Sikhism , or Buddhism —religions that developed in
25199-539: The bed of the North Sea was dry and acted as a land bridge, now known as Doggerland , to the Continent. It is generally thought that as sea levels gradually rose after the end of the last glacial period of the current ice age, Doggerland reflooded cutting off what was the British peninsula from the European mainland by around 6500 BC. Great Britain has been subject to a variety of plate tectonic processes over
25422-623: The breaching of the Weald-Artois Anticline , a ridge that held back a large proglacial lake , now submerged under the North Sea. Around 10,000 years ago, during the Devensian glaciation with its lower sea level , Great Britain was not an island, but an upland region of continental north-western Europe, lying partially underneath the Eurasian ice sheet. The sea level was about 120 metres (390 ft) lower than today, and
25645-522: The call to the "Angle or Saxon nation" ( Latin : Anglorum sive Saxonum gens ) was initially answered by three boats lead by two brothers, Hengist and Horsa ("Stallion and Horse"), and Hengist's son Oisc . They had a region assigned to them in the eastern part of Britain. A bigger fleet followed, from the three most powerful tribes of Germania, Angles, Saxons, and Jutes, and these were eventually followed by terrifying swarms. According to one well-known passage by Bede: In another passage Bede clarified that
25868-459: The chapter undermine its credibility as a clue to sixth-century population in Britain." The work of Gildas is based around a constant theme of blaming the Romano-British people for being the cause of their own distresses, with the Saxon conflict only being one example. Leading up to these events they had been rebellious within the Roman empire, supporting many usurpers who attempted to take control of
26091-552: The collapse of the Roman economy and administration. In Higham's assessment, "language was a key indicator of ethnicity in early England. In circumstances where freedom at law, acceptance with the kindred, access to patronage, and the use or possession of weapons were all exclusive to those who could claim Germanic descent, then speaking Old English without Latin or Brittonic inflection had considerable value". All linguistic evidence from Roman Britain suggests that most inhabitants spoke British Celtic and/or British Latin . However, by
26314-418: The collapse of the Empire's west. The dominance of Latin and Greek among the literate elite obscure the continuity of other spoken languages within the Empire. Latin, referred to in its spoken form as Vulgar Latin , gradually replaced Celtic and Italic languages . References to interpreters indicate the continuing use of local languages, particularly in Egypt with Coptic , and in military settings along
26537-482: The conditions of martyrdom . The three major elements of the Imperial state were the central government, the military, and the provincial government. The military established control of a territory through war, but after a city or people was brought under treaty, the mission turned to policing: protecting Roman citizens, agricultural fields, and religious sites. The Romans lacked sufficient manpower or resources to rule through force alone. Cooperation with local elites
26760-599: The continental ancestors of the Anglo-Saxons were more diverse, and they arrived over a long period. He named pagan peoples still living in Germany ( Germania ) in the eighth century "from whom the Angles or Saxons, who now inhabit Britain, are known to have derived their origin; for which reason they are still corruptly called Garmans by the neighbouring nation of the Britons": the Frisians , the Rugini (possibly from Rügen ),
26983-576: The countries England , Scotland and Wales . With an area of 209,331 km (80,823 sq mi), it is the largest of the British Isles , the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world . It is dominated by a maritime climate with narrow temperature differences between seasons. The island of Ireland , with an area 40 per cent that of Great Britain, is to the west – these islands, along with over 1,000 smaller surrounding islands and named substantial rocks , comprise
27206-498: The culture of the Anglo-Saxons was not transplanted from there, but rather developed in Britain. In 400, the Roman province of Britannia had long been part of the Roman Empire . The imperial government and military forces had been divided by internal conflicts several times during the previous centuries, often because of usurpations beginning in Britain such as those of Magnus Maximus , and Constantine "III" . However, there
27429-508: The dates). Yet there is little basis for sifting truth from invention. As Dumville pointed out about the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle , "medieval historiography has assumptions different from our own, particularly in terms of distinctions between fiction and non-fiction". Explaining linguistic change, and particularly the rise of Old English , is crucial in any account of the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain. According to Higham ,
27652-517: The dead in the early Anglo-Saxon landscape. Anglo-Saxon secondary activity on prehistoric and Roman sites was traditionally explained in practical terms. These explanations, in the view of Howard Williams , failed to account for the numbers and types of monuments and graves (from villas to barrows) reused. Anglo-Saxon barrow burials started in the late 6th century and continued into the early 8th century. Prehistoric barrows, in particular, have been seen as physical expressions of land claims and links to
27875-539: The deceased emperor's deification. The dominance of the emperor was based on the consolidation of powers from several republican offices. The emperor made himself the central religious authority as pontifex maximus , and centralized the right to declare war, ratify treaties, and negotiate with foreign leaders. While these functions were clearly defined during the Principate , the emperor's powers over time became less constitutional and more monarchical, culminating in
28098-445: The deliberate location of burials of the elite next to visible monuments of the pre-Saxon past, but with 'ordinary' burial grounds of this phase also frequently being located next to prehistoric barrows. The relative increase of this kind of spatial association from the 5th/6th centuries to the 7th/8th centuries is conspicuous. Williams' analysis of two well-documented samples shows an increase from 32% to 50% of Anglo-Saxon burial sites in
28321-501: The descent "from a kingdom of gold to one of rust and iron", a comment which has led some historians, notably Edward Gibbon , to take Commodus' reign as the beginning of the Empire's decline . In 212, during the reign of Caracalla , Roman citizenship was granted to all freeborn inhabitants of the empire. The Severan dynasty was tumultuous; an emperor's reign was ended routinely by his murder or execution and, following its collapse,
28544-403: The dominance of English across post-Roman England. Intensive research in recent decades on Celtic toponymy has shown that more names in England and southern Scotland have Brittonic, or occasionally Latin, etymologies than was once thought, but even so, it is clear that Brittonic and Latin place-names in the eastern half of England are extremely rare, and although they are noticeably more common in
28767-414: The dominant group led, ultimately, to the "myths which tied the entire society to immigration as an explanation of their origins in Britain". The consensus in the first decades of the twenty-first century was that the spread of English can be explained by a minority of Germanic-speaking immigrants becoming politically and socially dominant, in a context where Latin had lost its usefulness and prestige due to
28990-553: The downtrodden subjects of Anglo-Saxon oppression. This has been used by some linguists and archaeologists to produce invasion and settlement theories involving genocide, forced migration and enslavement. The depiction of the Britons in the Historia Ecclesiastica is influenced by the writing of Gildas, who viewed the Saxons as a punishment from God against the British people. Windy McKinney notes that "Bede focused on this point and extended Gildas' vision by portraying
29213-472: The easternmost province, Cappadocia , was admitted under Marcus Aurelius. By the Severan dynasty (193–235), Italians made up less than half the Senate. During the 3rd century, domicile at Rome became impractical, and inscriptions attest to senators who were active in politics and munificence in their homeland ( patria ). Senators were the traditional governing class who rose through the cursus honorum ,
29436-465: The eighth century, when extensive evidence for the post-Roman language situation is next available, it is clear that the dominant language in what is now eastern and southern England was Old English, whose West Germanic predecessors were spoken in what is now the Netherlands and northern Germany. Old English then continued spreading westwards and northwards in the ensuing centuries. This development
29659-457: The emperor but were governed by legates . The first two centuries of the Empire saw a period of unprecedented stability and prosperity known as the Pax Romana ( lit. ' Roman Peace ' ). Rome reached its greatest territorial extent under Trajan ( r. 98–117 AD ), but a period of increasing trouble and decline began under Commodus ( r. 180–192 ). In
29882-481: The empire was furthered by a degree of social stability and economic prosperity that Rome had never before experienced. Uprisings in the provinces were infrequent and put down "mercilessly and swiftly". The success of Augustus in establishing principles of dynastic succession was limited by his outliving a number of talented potential heirs. The Julio-Claudian dynasty lasted for four more emperors— Tiberius , Caligula , Claudius , and Nero —before it yielded in 69 AD to
30105-462: The empire's most concerted effort against the perceived threat of Christianity , the " Great Persecution ". Diocletian divided the empire into four regions, each ruled by a separate tetrarch . Confident that he fixed the disorder plaguing Rome, he abdicated along with his co-emperor, but the Tetrarchy collapsed shortly after . Order was eventually restored by Constantine the Great , who became
30328-416: The empire. These tyrants dominate the historical accounts of the fifth and sixth centuries and the work tells us much about the transition from magisterial to monarchical power in Britain. Gildas' remarks reflected his continuing concern regarding the vulnerability of his countrymen and their disregard and in-fighting: for example, "it was always true of this people (as it is now) that it was weak in beating off
30551-506: The empire. This legal egalitarianism required a far-reaching revision of existing laws that distinguished between citizens and non-citizens. Freeborn Roman women were considered citizens, but did not vote, hold political office, or serve in the military. A mother's citizen status determined that of her children, as indicated by the phrase ex duobus civibus Romanis natos ("children born of two Roman citizens"). A Roman woman kept her own family name ( nomen ) for life. Children most often took
30774-425: The end of Roman rule, and his De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae is therefore the most detailed and contemporary account available. However, it is a highly stylized critique of Romano-British politics, society and religion, which treats the Saxons as a punishment sent by God, and gives few details such as dates, and the sections might not have been intended to represent one single sequence of events. Gildas described
30997-576: The end of the Western Roman Empire in 476, when Romulus Augustulus was forced to abdicate to the Germanic warlord Odoacer . Odoacer ended the Western Empire by declaring Zeno sole emperor and placing himself as Zeno's nominal subordinate. In reality, Italy was ruled by Odoacer alone. The Eastern Roman Empire, called the Byzantine Empire by later historians, continued until the reign of Constantine XI Palaiologos ,
31220-504: The exploitation of slaves. Outside Italy, slaves were on average an estimated 10 to 20% of the population, sparse in Roman Egypt but more concentrated in some Greek areas. Expanding Roman ownership of arable land and industries affected preexisting practices of slavery in the provinces. Although slavery has often been regarded as waning in the 3rd and 4th centuries, it remained an integral part of Roman society until gradually ceasing in
31443-517: The extensive evidence for the use of Celtic and Latin. While many studies admit that a substantial survival of native British people from lower social strata is probable, with these people becoming anglicised over time due to the action of "elite dominance" mechanisms, there is also evidence for the survival of British elites and their anglicisation. An Anglo-Saxon elite could be formed in two ways: from an incoming chieftain and his war band from northern Germania taking over an area of Britain, or through
31666-457: The father's name, with some exceptions. Women could own property, enter contracts, and engage in business. Inscriptions throughout the Empire honour women as benefactors in funding public works, an indication they could hold considerable fortunes. The archaic manus marriage in which the woman was subject to her husband's authority was largely abandoned by the Imperial era, and a married woman retained ownership of any property she brought into
31889-640: The first emperor to convert to Christianity , and who established Constantinople as the new capital of the Eastern Empire. During the decades of the Constantinian and Valentinian dynasties, the empire was divided along an east–west axis, with dual power centres in Constantinople and Rome. Julian , who under the influence of his adviser Mardonius attempted to restore Classical Roman and Hellenistic religion , only briefly interrupted
32112-515: The first view of Britain from the continent) or the "island of the Albiones ". The oldest mention of terms related to Great Britain was by Aristotle (384–322 BC), or possibly by Pseudo-Aristotle , in his text On the Universe , Vol. III. To quote his works, "There are two very large islands in it, called the British Isles, Albion and Ierne ". The first known written use of the word Britain
32335-533: The founding of the Roman Republic in the 6th century BC, though not outside the Italian Peninsula until the 3rd century BC. Thus, it was an "empire" (a great power) long before it had an emperor. The Republic was not a nation-state in the modern sense, but a network of self-ruled towns (with varying degrees of independence from the Senate ) and provinces administered by military commanders. It
32558-494: The fourth century or earlier. In the early fifth century, after the end of Roman rule in Britain and the breakdown of the Roman economy, larger numbers arrived and their impact upon local culture and politics increased. Many questions remain about the scale, timing and nature of the Anglo-Saxon settlements, and also about what happened to the previous residents of what is now England. The available evidence includes not only
32781-456: The functioning of cities that in the later Empire, as the ranks of the town councils became depleted, those who had risen to the Senate were encouraged to return to their hometowns, in an effort to sustain civic life. In the later Empire, the dignitas ("worth, esteem") that attended on senatorial or equestrian rank was refined further with titles such as vir illustris ("illustrious man"). The appellation clarissimus (Greek lamprotatos )
33004-730: The generally accepted view that Celtic originated in the context of the Hallstatt culture , since 2009, John T. Koch and others have proposed that the origins of the Celtic languages are to be sought in Bronze Age Western Europe, especially the Iberian Peninsula. Koch et al.'s proposal has failed to find wide acceptance among experts on the Celtic languages. All the modern Brythonic languages (Breton, Cornish, Welsh) are generally considered to derive from
33227-481: The gradual death of Celtic and spoken Latin in post-Roman Britain. Likewise, scholars have posited various mechanisms other than massive demographic change by which pre-migration Celtic place-names could have been lost. Scholars have stressed that Welsh and Cornish place-names from the Roman period seem no more likely to survive than English ones: 'clearly name loss was a Romano-British phenomenon, not just one associated with Anglo-Saxon incomers'. Other explanations for
33450-692: The historian Christopher Kelly described it: Then the empire stretched from Hadrian's Wall in drizzle-soaked northern England to the sun-baked banks of the Euphrates in Syria; from the great Rhine – Danube river system, which snaked across the fertile, flat lands of Europe from the Low Countries to the Black Sea , to the rich plains of the North African coast and the luxuriant gash of
33673-503: The honorary title imperator (commander); this is the origin of the word emperor , since this title was always bestowed to the early emperors. Rome suffered a long series of internal conflicts, conspiracies, and civil wars from the late second century BC (see Crisis of the Roman Republic ) while greatly extending its power beyond Italy. In 44 BC Julius Caesar was briefly perpetual dictator before being assassinated by
33896-450: The interregnum which was a peak of anti-Catholicism. Most Jews in Great Britain have ancestors who fled for their lives , particularly from 19th century Lithuania and the territories occupied by Nazi Germany . Roman Empire The Roman Empire was the era of Roman civilisation lasting from 27 BC to 476 AD. Rome ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Romans conquered most of this during
34119-550: The island group as αἱ Πρεττανικαὶ νῆσοι (the Prettanic Isles). The Greco-Egyptian scientist Ptolemy referred to the larger island as great Britain (μεγάλη Βρεττανία megale Brettania ) and to Ireland as little Britain (μικρὰ Βρεττανία mikra Brettania ) in his work Almagest (147–148 AD). In his later work, Geography ( c. 150 AD ), he gave the islands the names Alwion , Iwernia , and Mona (the Isle of Man ), suggesting these may have been
34342-404: The island of Great Britain as Britannia major ("Greater Britain"), to distinguish it from Britannia minor ("Lesser Britain"), the continental region which approximates to modern Brittany and had been settled in the fifth and sixth centuries by Celtic Briton migrants from Great Britain. The term Great Britain was first used officially in 1474, in the instrument drawing up the proposal for
34565-505: The island with around 2.1 million members. Introduced in Scotland by clergyman John Knox , it has the status of national church in Scotland. The monarch of the United Kingdom is represented by a Lord High Commissioner . Methodism is the fourth largest and grew out of Anglicanism through John Wesley . It gained popularity in the old mill towns of Lancashire and Yorkshire , also amongst tin miners in Cornwall . The Presbyterian Church of Wales , which follows Calvinistic Methodism ,
34788-530: The kings of Lindsey , which argues for the survival of British elites in this area also. In the Mercian royal pedigree, the name of King Penda and the names of other kings have more obvious Brittonic than Germanic etymologies, though they do not correspond to known Welsh personal names. Bede, in his major work, charts the careers of four upper-class brothers in the English Church; he refers to them as being Northumbrian , and therefore "English". However,
35011-423: The lack of works of archaeological synthesis for the Anglo-Saxon period in general, and the early period in particular. This is changing, with new works of synthesis and chronology, in particular the work of Catherine Hills and Sam Lucy on the evidence of Spong Hill , which has opened up the possible synthesis with continental material culture and has moved the chronology for the settlement earlier than AD 450, with
35234-456: The language of the emigrants, is still spoken. In the 9th century, a series of Danish assaults on northern English kingdoms led to them coming under Danish control (an area known as the Danelaw ). In the 10th century, however, all the English kingdoms were unified under one ruler as the kingdom of England when the last constituent kingdom, Northumbria, submitted to Edgar in 959. In 1066, England
35457-541: The largest religion by number of adherents since the Early Middle Ages : it was introduced under the ancient Romans, developing as Celtic Christianity . According to tradition, Christianity arrived in the 1st or 2nd century . The most popular form is Anglicanism (known as Episcopalism in Scotland). Dating from the 16th-century Reformation , it regards itself as both Catholic and Reformed . The Head of
35680-521: The last Roman emperor. He died in battle in 1453 against Mehmed II and his Ottoman forces during the siege of Constantinople . Mehmed II adopted the title of caesar in an attempt to claim a connection to the former Empire. His claim was soon recognized by the Patriarchate of Constantinople , but not by most European monarchs. The Roman Empire was one of the largest in history, with contiguous territories throughout Europe, North Africa, and
35903-592: The late 1st century prompted legislation that prohibited the castration of a slave against his will "for lust or gain". Roman slavery was not based on race . Generally, slaves in Italy were indigenous Italians, with a minority of foreigners (including both slaves and freedmen) estimated at 5% of the total in the capital at its peak, where their number was largest. Foreign slaves had higher mortality and lower birth rates than natives, and were sometimes even subjected to mass expulsions. The average recorded age at death for
36126-464: The later Viking settlers , may have begun as piratical raiders who later seized land and made permanent settlements. Other settlers seem to have been much humbler people who had few if any weapons and suffered from malnutrition. These were characterised by Sonia Chadwick Hawkes as Germanic 'boat people', refugees from crowded settlements on the North Sea which deteriorating climatic conditions would have made untenable. Catherine Hills points out that it
36349-486: The marriage. Technically she remained under her father's legal authority, even though she moved into her husband's home, but when her father died she became legally emancipated. This arrangement was a factor in the degree of independence Roman women enjoyed compared to many other cultures up to the modern period: although she had to answer to her father in legal matters, she was free of his direct scrutiny in daily life, and her husband had no legal power over her. Although it
36572-416: The members of the three higher "orders", along with certain military officers. The granting of universal citizenship in 212 seems to have increased the competitive urge among the upper classes to have their superiority affirmed, particularly within the justice system. Sentencing depended on the judgment of the presiding official as to the relative "worth" ( dignitas ) of the defendant: an honestior could pay
36795-730: The military. The last reference to Gaulish was between 560 and 575. The emergent Gallo-Romance languages would then be shaped by Gaulish. Proto-Basque or Aquitanian evolved with Latin loan words to modern Basque . The Thracian language , as were several now-extinct languages in Anatolia, are attested in Imperial-era inscriptions. The Empire was remarkably multicultural, with "astonishing cohesive capacity" to create shared identity while encompassing diverse peoples. Public monuments and communal spaces open to all—such as forums , amphitheatres , racetracks and baths —helped foster
37018-474: The modern period there were large regional variations, with the genetic impact of immigration highest in the east and declining towards the west. This evidence supports a theory of large-scale migration of both men and women, beginning in the Roman period and increasing in the early medieval period until the 8th century. This sits alongside evidence of rapid acculturation, with early medieval individuals of both local or migrant ancestry being buried near each other in
37241-542: The most prestigious language in a particular region, speakers of other languages may have found it advantageous to become bilingual and, over a few generations, stop speaking the less prestigious languages (in this case British Celtic and/or British Latin). A person or household might change language so as to serve an elite, or because it provided some advantage economically or legally. This account, which demands only small numbers of politically dominant Germanic-speaking migrants to Britain, has become 'the standard explanation' for
37464-433: The much smaller surrounding islands. The North Channel , Irish Sea , St George's Channel and Celtic Sea separate the island from the island of Ireland to its west. The island is since 1993 joined, via one structure, with continental Europe: the Channel Tunnel , the longest undersea rail tunnel in the world. The island is marked by low, rolling countryside in the east and south, while hills and mountains predominate in
37687-932: The names of Saint Chad of Mercia (a prominent bishop) and his brothers Cedd (also a bishop), Cynibil and Caelin (a variant spelling of Ceawlin) are British rather than Anglo-Saxon. A good case can be made for southern Britain (especially Wessex, Kent, Essex and parts of Southern East Anglia), at least, having been taken over by dynasties having some Germanic ancestry or connections, but also having origins in, or intermarrying with, native British elites. Archaeologists seeking to understand evidence for migration and/or acculturation must first get to grips with early Anglo-Saxon archaeology as an "Archaeology of Identity". Guarding against considering one aspect of archaeology in isolation, this concept ensures that different topics are considered together, that previously were considered separately, including gender, age, ethnicity, religion, and status. The task of interpretation has been hampered by
37910-452: The names of the individual islands not known to him at the time of writing Almagest . The name Albion appears to have fallen out of use sometime after the Roman conquest of Britain , after which Britain became the more commonplace name for the island. After the Anglo-Saxon period, Britain was used as a historical term only. Geoffrey of Monmouth in his pseudohistorical Historia Regum Britanniae ( c. 1136 ) refers to
38133-458: The pagan Anglo-Saxons not as God's scourge against the reprobate Britons, but rather as the agents of Britain's redemption. Therefore, the ghastly scenario that Gildas feared is calmly explained away by Bede; any rough treatment was necessary, and ordained by God, because the Britons had lost God's favour, and incurred his wrath." McKinney, who suggests that "Bede himself may not have been an ethnically 'pure' Angle," argues that his use of ethnic terms
38356-409: The passage of goods. Andrew Pearson suggests that the "Saxon Shore Forts" and other coastal installations played a more significant economic and logistical role than is often appreciated, and that the tradition of Saxon and other continental piracy, based on the name of these forts, is probably a myth. The archaeology of late Roman (and sub-Roman) Britain has been mainly focused on the elite rather than
38579-399: The peasant and slave: their villas, houses, mosaics, furniture, fittings, and silver plates. This group had a strict code on how their wealth was to be displayed, and this provides a rich material culture, from which "Britons" are identified. There was a large gap between richest and poorest; the trappings of the latter have been the focus of less archaeological study. However the archaeology of
38802-518: The peasant from the 4th and 5th centuries is dominated by "ladder" field systems or enclosures, associated with extended families, and in the South and East of England, the extensive use of timber-built buildings and farmsteads shows a lower level of engagement with Roman building methods than is shown by the houses of the numerically much smaller elite. Confirmation of the use of Anglo-Saxons as foederati or federate troops has been seen as coming from burials of Anglo-Saxons wearing military equipment of
39025-412: The political career track, but equestrians often possessed greater wealth and political power. Membership in the equestrian order was based on property; in Rome's early days, equites or knights had been distinguished by their ability to serve as mounted warriors, but cavalry service was a separate function in the Empire. A census valuation of 400,000 sesterces and three generations of free birth qualified
39248-442: The political territory of England , Scotland and Wales , which includes their offshore islands. This territory, together with Northern Ireland , constitutes the United Kingdom . The archipelago has been referred to by a single name for over 2000 years: the term ' British Isles ' derives from terms used by classical geographers to describe this island group. By 50 BC, Greek geographers were using equivalents of Prettanikē as
39471-507: The poor were other sources. Vernae , by contrast, were "homegrown" slaves born to female slaves within the household, estate or farm. Although they had no special legal status, an owner who mistreated or failed to care for his vernae faced social disapproval, as they were considered part of the family household and in some cases might actually be the children of free males in the family. Rome differed from Greek city-states in allowing freed slaves to become citizens; any future children of
39694-410: The remains of folded sedimentary rocks that were deposited between 1,000 My and 670 My ago over the gneiss on what was then the floor of the Iapetus Ocean . In the current era the north of the island is rising as a result of the weight of Devensian ice being lifted. Counterbalanced, the south and east is sinking, generally estimated at 1 mm ( 1 ⁄ 25 inch) per year, with
39917-407: The replacement of Roman period place-names include adaptation of Celtic names such that they now seem to come from Old English; a more gradual loss of Celtic names than was once assumed; and new names being coined (in the newly dominant English language) because instability of settlements and land-tenure. Extensive research is ongoing on whether British Celtic did exert subtle substrate influence on
40140-442: The same new ways. One of the few written accounts of the period is by Gildas , who wrote in the early 6th century. His account influenced later works which became more elaborate and detailed, but which cannot be relied upon for this early period. He reported that a major conflict was triggered some generations before him, after a group of foreign Saxons was invited by the Romano-British leadership to help defend against raids from
40363-423: The same time, Gaelic tribes from Ireland invaded the north-west, absorbing both the Picts and Britons of northern Britain, eventually forming the Kingdom of Scotland in the 9th century. The south-east of Scotland was colonised by the Angles and formed, until 1018, a part of the Kingdom of Northumbria . Ultimately, the population of south-east Britain came to be referred to as the English people , so-named after
40586-440: The scant written record, which tells of a period of violence, but also the archaeological and genetic information. Furthermore, British Celtic languages had very little impact on Old English vocabulary, and this suggests that a large number of Germanic-speakers became important relatively suddenly. On the basis of such evidence it has even been argued that large parts of what is now England were cleared of prior inhabitants. However,
40809-528: The slaves of the city of Rome was seventeen and a half years (17.2 for males; 17.9 for females). During the period of republican expansionism when slavery had become pervasive, war captives were a main source of slaves. The range of ethnicities among slaves to some extent reflected that of the armies Rome defeated in war, and the conquest of Greece brought a number of highly skilled and educated slaves. Slaves were also traded in markets and sometimes sold by pirates . Infant abandonment and self-enslavement among
41032-426: The start. The list is evidence for more complex settlement than the single political entity of the other historical sources. In the eighth century, if not the seventh, Anglo-Saxon scholars began writing lists and genealogies of kings which purport to record their ancestry through the settlement period and beyond, prominently including the Anglian King-list and the West Saxon Genealogical Regnal List (which may share
41255-410: The strife-torn Year of the Four Emperors , from which Vespasian emerged as the victor. Vespasian became the founder of the brief Flavian dynasty , followed by the Nerva–Antonine dynasty which produced the " Five Good Emperors ": Nerva , Trajan , Hadrian , Antoninus Pius , and Marcus Aurelius . In the view of contemporary Greek historian Cassius Dio , the accession of Commodus in 180 marked
41478-461: The succession of Christian emperors. Theodosius I , the last emperor to rule over both East and West, died in 395 after making Christianity the state religion . The Western Roman Empire began to disintegrate in the early 5th century. The Romans fought off all invaders, most famously Attila , but the empire had assimilated so many Germanic peoples of dubious loyalty to Rome that the empire started to dismember itself. Most chronologies place
41701-401: The term to refer to the whole of the United Kingdom which includes Northern Ireland , though the Oxford English Dictionary states "...the term is also used loosely to refer to the United Kingdom." Similarly, Britain can refer to either all islands in Great Britain, the largest island, or the political grouping of countries. There is no clear distinction, even in government documents:
41924-544: The time of Bede , more than a century after Gildas, Anglo-Saxon kingdoms had come to dominate most of what is now modern England. Bede and other later Welsh and Anglo-Saxon authors apparently believed that the kingdoms of their time had always been distinctly Anglo-Saxon. However, many modern historians believe that the development of Anglo-Saxon culture and identity, and even its kingdoms, involved not only Germanic immigrants but also local British people and kingdoms. Although it involved immigrant communities from northern Europe,
42147-562: The time of Nero , however, it was not unusual to find a former slave who was richer than a freeborn citizen, or an equestrian who exercised greater power than a senator. The blurring of the Republic's more rigid hierarchies led to increased social mobility , both upward and downward, to a greater extent than all other well-documented ancient societies. Women, freedmen, and slaves had opportunities to profit and exercise influence in ways previously less available to them. Social life, particularly for those whose personal resources were limited,
42370-466: The title Augustus ("venerated") and made him princeps ("foremost") with proconsular imperium , thus beginning the Principate , the first epoch of Roman imperial history. Although the republic stood in name, Augustus had all meaningful authority. During his 40-year rule, a new constitutional order emerged so that, upon his death, Tiberius would succeed him as the new de facto monarch. As Roman provinces were being established throughout
42593-402: The use of peplos dress, or particular artistic styles found on artefacts such as those found at Alwalton, for evidence of pagan beliefs, or cultural memories of tribal or ethnic affiliation. The evidence for monument reuse in the early Anglo-Saxon period reveals a number of significant aspects of the practice. Ancient monuments were one of the most important factors determining the placing of
42816-400: The weapons of the enemy, but strong in putting up with civil war and the burden of sin." Gildas used the correct late Roman term for the Saxons, foederati , people who came to Britain under a well-used treaty system. This kind of treaty had been used elsewhere to bring people into the Roman Empire to move along the roads or rivers and work alongside the army. Gildas called them Saxons, which
43039-452: The western and northern regions. It is surrounded by over 1,000 smaller islands and islets . The greatest distance between two points is 968.0 km ( 601 + 1 ⁄ 2 mi) (between Land's End , Cornwall and John o' Groats , Caithness ), 838 miles (1,349 km) by road. The English Channel is thought to have been created between 450,000 and 180,000 years ago by two catastrophic glacial lake outburst floods caused by
43262-404: The western half, they are still a tiny minority─2% in Cheshire , for example. Into the later twentieth century, scholars' usual explanation for the lack of Celtic influence on English, supported by uncritical readings of the accounts of Gildas and Bede, was that Old English became dominant primarily because Germanic-speaking invaders killed, chased away, and/or enslaved the previous inhabitants of
43485-457: The work of Greek explorer Pytheas of Massalia , who travelled from his home in Hellenistic southern Gaul to Britain in the 4th century BC. The term used by Pytheas may derive from a Celtic word meaning "the painted ones" or "the tattooed folk" in reference to body decorations . According to Strabo, Pytheas referred to Britain as Bretannikē , which is treated a feminine noun. Marcian of Heraclea , in his Periplus maris exteri , described
43708-411: The world's total population and made it the most populous unified political entity in the West until the mid-19th century. Recent demographic studies have argued for a population peak from 70 million to more than 100 million . Each of the three largest cities in the Empire – Rome, Alexandria , and Antioch – was almost twice the size of any European city at the beginning of the 17th century. As
43931-416: The Πρεττανοί, Priteni or Pretani . Priteni is the source of the Welsh language term Prydain , Britain , which has the same source as the Goidelic term Cruithne used to refer to the early Brythonic -speaking inhabitants of Ireland. The latter were later called Picts or Caledonians by the Romans . Greek historians Diodorus of Sicily and Strabo preserved variants of Prettanike from
44154-426: Was conquered by the Normans , who introduced a Norman -speaking administration that was eventually assimilated. Wales came under Anglo-Norman control in 1282, and was officially annexed to England in the 16th century. On 20 October 1604 King James , who had succeeded separately to the two thrones of England and Scotland, proclaimed himself "King of Great Brittaine, France , and Ireland". When James died in 1625 and
44377-621: Was "tied to the expression of tradition and religious ideas, to the loyalty of a people to authority, and subject to change as history continued to unfold. Therefore, it is a moot point whether all of those whom Bede encompassed under the term Angli were racially Germanic". A traditional semi-mythical account of the origins of English kingdoms was supplied by Bede and the still later Historia Brittonum . These accounts add many details to Gildas based upon unknown sources. These are however considered doubtful by modern scholars. Several other types of evidence are considered relevant. The Tribal Hideage
44600-418: Was Albion; but at a later period, all the islands, of which we shall just now briefly make mention, were included under the name of 'Britanniæ.'" The name Britain descends from the Latin name for Britain, Britannia or Brittānia , the land of the Britons. Old French Bretaigne (whence also Modern French Bretagne ) and Middle English Bretayne , Breteyne . The French form replaced
44823-442: Was a point of pride to be a "one-man woman" ( univira ) who had married only once, there was little stigma attached to divorce , nor to speedy remarriage after being widowed or divorced. Girls had equal inheritance rights with boys if their father died without leaving a will. A mother's right to own and dispose of property, including setting the terms of her will, gave her enormous influence over her sons into adulthood. As part of
45046-467: Was an ancient Greek transliteration of the original Proto-Celtic term in a work on the travels and discoveries of Pytheas that has not survived. The earliest existing records of the word are quotations of the periplus by later authors, such as those within Strabo's Geographica , Pliny's Natural History and Diodorus of Sicily's Bibliotheca historica . Pliny the Elder (AD 23–79) in his Natural History records of Great Britain: "Its former name
45269-399: Was an overall continuity and interconnectedness. Before 400, the Roman sources used the term Saxons to refer to coastal raiders who had been causing problems on the coasts of the North Sea . In what is now south-eastern England the Romans established a military commander who was assigned to oversee a chain of coastal forts which they called the Saxon shore . The homeland of these Saxon raiders
45492-408: Was being ruled by corrupt Romano-British tyrannies, that could no longer be relied upon for law and order. He explicitly noted that there was peace, and that there was only internal fighting instead of fighting with foreigners. There are very few historical records from Britain in the 5th or 6th centuries which can help historians to understand the settlements of the Anglo-Saxons. The Chronica Gallica
45715-556: Was considerable regional variation. Settlement density varied within southern and eastern England. Norfolk has more large Anglo-Saxon cemeteries than the neighbouring East Anglian county of Suffolk ; eastern Yorkshire (the nucleus of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Deira ) far more than the rest of Northumbria. The settlers were not all of the same type. Some were indeed warriors who were buried equipped with their weapons, but we should not assume that all of these were invited guests who were to guard Romano-British communities. Possibly some, like
45938-401: Was further defined by their citizenship. Most citizens held limited rights (such as the ius Latinum , "Latin right"), but were entitled to legal protections and privileges not enjoyed by non-citizens. Free people not considered citizens, but living within the Roman world, were peregrini , non-Romans. In 212, the Constitutio Antoniniana extended citizenship to all freeborn inhabitants of
46161-466: Was further fostered by a proliferation of voluntary associations and confraternities ( collegia and sodalitates ): professional and trade guilds, veterans' groups, religious sodalities, drinking and dining clubs, performing troupes, and burial societies . According to the jurist Gaius , the essential distinction in the Roman " law of persons " was that all humans were either free ( liberi ) or slaves ( servi ). The legal status of free persons
46384-405: Was governed by annually elected magistrates ( Roman consuls above all) in conjunction with the Senate. The 1st century BC was a time of political and military upheaval, which ultimately led to rule by emperors. The consuls' military power rested in the Roman legal concept of imperium , meaning "command" (typically in a military sense). Occasionally, successful consuls or generals were given
46607-441: Was in his 3rd consulship, which was in 446. Another 6th century Roman source contemporary with Gildas is Procopius who however lived and wrote in the Eastern Roman Empire , and expressed doubts about the stories he had heard about events in the west. He states that an island called Brittia , which was supposedly not Britain, was settled by three nations: the Angili, Frissones, and Brittones, each ruled by its own king. Each nation
46830-426: Was inhabited by hunter gatherers. Neolithic farmers , of Anatolian origin, arrived in Britain around 4000 BC, replacing the pre-existing hunter gatherers. Around 2000 BC, the Bronze Age Bell Beaker Culture arrived in Britain, which genetic evidence suggests was associated with another episode of nearly complete population replacement. Later significant migration to southern Britain around 1000 BC may have brought
47053-440: Was mostly accomplished under the Republic , though parts of northern Europe were conquered in the 1st century, when Roman control in Europe, Africa, and Asia was strengthened. Under Augustus , a "global map of the known world" was displayed for the first time in public at Rome, coinciding with the creation of the most comprehensive political geography that survives from antiquity, the Geography of Strabo . When Augustus died,
47276-671: Was necessary to maintain order, collect information, and extract revenue. The Romans often exploited internal political divisions. Communities with demonstrated loyalty to Rome retained their own laws, could collect their own taxes locally, and in exceptional cases were exempt from Roman taxation. Legal privileges and relative independence incentivized compliance. Roman government was thus limited , but efficient in its use of available resources. The Imperial cult of ancient Rome identified emperors and some members of their families with divinely sanctioned authority ( auctoritas ). The rite of apotheosis (also called consecratio ) signified
47499-416: Was never a legal requirement for Latin in the Empire, but it represented a certain status. High standards of Latin, Latinitas , started with the advent of Latin literature. Due to the flexible language policy of the Empire, a natural competition of language emerged that spurred Latinitas , to defend Latin against the stronger cultural influence of Greek. Over time Latin usage was used to project power and
47722-457: Was not clearly described in surviving sources, but they were apparently the northerly neighbours of the Franks on the Lower Rhine . At the same time, the Roman administration in Britain (and other parts of the empire) was recruiting foederati soldiers from these same general regions in what is now Germany, and these are likely to have become more important after the withdrawal of field armies during internal Roman power struggles. According to
47945-426: Was not itself an elected office in ancient Rome; an individual gained admission to the Senate after he had been elected to and served at least one term as an executive magistrate . A senator also had to meet a minimum property requirement of 1 million sestertii . Not all men who qualified for the ordo senatorius chose to take a Senate seat, which required legal domicile at Rome. Emperors often filled vacancies in
48168-419: Was probably the common British term for the settlers. Gildas' use of the word patria (fatherland), when used in relation to the Saxons and Picts, implies that some Saxons could by then be regarded as native to Britannia. Various sources, including Gildas, were used by Bede in his Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum , written around 731. Bede's view of Britons is partly responsible for the picture of them as
48391-409: Was probably written in south-eastern Gaul and only contains snippets of information. In this chronicle, the entry about raids upon Britain in 409 is introduced with a general comment about weakening Roman power, and the growing number of enemies. It is grouped with events in Gaul and Spain which suffered invasions during the same period. Gildas lived only a few generations later in the 6th century after
48614-426: Was quite rapidly filled by the intrusive Anglo-Saxon material culture, while the native culture became archaeologically close to invisible—although recent hoards and metal-detector finds show that coin use and imports did not stop abruptly at AD 410. The archaeology of the Roman military systems within Britain is well known but is not well understood: for example, whether the Saxon Shore was defensive or to facilitate
48837-495: Was so prolific that it sent large numbers of individuals every year to the Franks, who planted them in unpopulated regions of their territory. He never mentions the Saxons or Jutes, and the continental relatives of the Angles are named as the Warini , who he believed had a kingdom stretching from the Danube to the Ocean. Michael Jones , a historian at Bates College in New England, says that "Procopius himself, however, betrays doubts about this specific passage, and subsequent details in
49060-449: Was substantial as implied by the statement that Anglia was deserted; and an establishment phase, in which Anglo-Saxons started to control areas, implied in Bede's statement about the origins of the tribes. The manner in which a land of Romano-British kingdoms in the time of Gildas transformed into a land of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in the time of Bede a century or so later is uncertain. Bede's scholarly and patriotic attempt to explain this as
49283-447: Was used to designate the dignitas of certain senators and their immediate family, including women. "Grades" of equestrian status proliferated. As the republican principle of citizens' equality under the law faded, the symbolic and social privileges of the upper classes led to an informal division of Roman society into those who had acquired greater honours ( honestiores ) and humbler folk ( humiliores ). In general, honestiores were
49506-476: Was useful for a career in the military, government, or law. Bilingual inscriptions indicate the everyday interpenetration of the two languages. Latin and Greek's mutual linguistic and cultural influence is a complex topic. Latin words incorporated into Greek were very common by the early imperial era, especially for military, administration, and trade and commerce matters. Greek grammar, literature, poetry and philosophy shaped Latin language and culture. There
49729-400: Was very symbolic, and distinct differences within groups in the cemetery could be found. Some recent scholarship has argued, however, that current approaches to the sociology of ethnicity render it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to demonstrate ethnic identity via purely archaeological means, and has thereby rejected the basis for using furnished inhumation or such clothing practices as
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