The fall of Roman Britain and why we speak English 2022 176pg

 1812/25 

Rome's conquest of Britain started in 77CE with Emperor Claudius and departed in 410 CE . Thus 333 years.

410CE under ineffective Emperor Honorius  of Western Roman Empire was sacked by the Visigoths under Alaric1

The Anglo-Saxon language seems to have been introduced onto the island after the fall from the Roman Empire. Romans conquered territories for glory, not for economic reasons and never really pacified it.

 

Julius  49 to 44 BCE   Vespacius   69  CE  

Augustus 27BCE        Titus  79 CE

Tiberius  14CE           Domician   81 CE

Caligula 37CE          

Claudius 41 CE           410 CE  Rome sacked       

Nero  54  CE               by  Aleric King of the Visigoths.

Galba 68 CE

Otho  69 CE

Aurilus Vitalus 69 CE

Britain is the largest island in Europe. Seas can be both a barrier and a highway. In warmer periods the sea is higher and the last land bridge between the continent and Britain was 8000 years ago. Migration by boat was limited to  carrying one family with essential property children and farmstock. Single raiding vessels could reach the right areas and flee back with the loot. This is different from organizing a fleet. Manufacture of ships requires infrastructure location, materials and technology. The best known invasion is of Julius Caesar in 55BCE. He had 80 invasion ships. Ships were made entirely of oak. Fleets were scattered in storms. They ran out of  food and the ships were damaged.

43ACE Claudian invasion with 40 thousand men and 3,000 tons of grain, but this only was be navigable the right season of the year.

We have evidence that women moved more than me as the "married out." Farming population stayed put. The Mediterranean migrants were fitter as they had better farming technology and could support bigger farming population. 

Cicero quote-To  understand Latin is a mark of Roman Citizen but in England by 700 Latin was  a dead language. Christian liturgy would reinforce Latin. The use of Vulgar Latin had been widespread in some regions like Bath. The presents of 50thousand militia added to the province importance.

The Old English (Anglo Saxon)spoken in post Roman England is a west Germanic language with grammar more like modern German. Anglo Saxon must have been introduced after the Romans left. Vulgar Latin was only spoken by an elite who disappeared. The Roman army constructed 9,000km of roads in Britain. The embarked on a ambitious building program of  a military nature , like forts at key river crossings, legion bases, ports, lighthouses. Towns grew around the bases.  no great officer of state, or high ranking bureaucrat  can be traced back to British origin. There was an indifference of the Roman authorities to the welfare of their British subjects as Romans still regarded the Britains as semi-barbarians. Later Norman French did not replace English although did influence it. The Roman elite did not accept British born Romans as equals. The indigenous people reciprocated with hostility.

In Rome successful politician were usually also generals. Newly elected consuls were awarded a province and a army. Conquests led to loot and personal glory and hence political power and influence. Slave traders notoriously followed the Roman armies. A Triumph with a Roman street parade was the ultimate acknowledgment of military prowess. The modern word emperor comes from the roman world conqueror. In conquest the importance of glory outweighed economic and  strategic advantages.

It took 37 years and 9 commanders to thoroughly conquer Britain compared of Caesar's conquest of Gaul in 8 years.

It needed a garrison of 55,000men or 12% of the Imperial army all for a province that had 4% of the Empires land. Britain resisted incorporation into the Empire and the sense of Romanization failed.

60/61 BCE Boudiccan Revolt at the  time of burning Londonium it had a population of  10,000 and was a booming mercantile centre.  125 to 130 ACE Londonium was burned down again during Hadrian's reign. Valuables seem to have been stripped before the fire spread but also looters would steal.

 Insurrection came primary from the Roman system itself, there were examples that Legions had mutinied before. Records were not left of the fate of the 9th Legion damnacio memoriae - officialdom erasing problematic people or events. In Rome this practice usually applied to traitors , criminals, religious or political offences. The 9th Legion had been in Britain for almost a century and many men  probably had roots in the province and unofficial wives and dependents and they expected to retire in Britain on grants of land. Marching them south may have caused rumours that they were being taken off the island and caused the mutiny between108CE and 120CE The rebelled attacked London and were put down by loyal forces. Mutineers and runaway slaves attend to attack symbols of authority.

Military engineers may build a wall for a military function but also to demonstrate status like monumental gateways. Greater London was full of high status  buildings. London walls were more than 3 km long and the largest Roman constructions were in London. There were multiple coastal defenses but they have been eroded by the sea. These provided protected anchorages and defense against pirates. They also had strongpoints to tax unofficial ship -borne trade. The army had to be fed and soldiers paid irrespectively. The army in Britain proved to be ill-disciplined and were kept expending their surplus energy building walls.

209 The tried invading Scotland  but the scattered tribes offered no strategic target  so they had a grinding guerilla war.

The Empire never solved the problem of succession and in the 3rd Century was under short reigning warlords. It now had to evolve into something new or cease to exist. It had no constitutional  way of removing incompetent leaders.

Technically the Senate paid soldiers salaries in the name of the Roman people but over time the soldiers relied more on loot. Buying land is an end in itself to enhance dignitas not an investment. The Empire had the habit of press ganging barbarians into the Roman army. With the general collapse of the Empire trade with Britain and the continent declines. 

With the disappearance of Classis Britannica . This was a fleet that protected both sides of the channel.  Rome lost control of the channel and pirates and Saxon sea raiders started.

Climate change at this time also put the Empire into stress. Warm climate was favorable and cold was unfavorable. High precipitation was good, however low precipitation that resulted in decreasing agricultural output caused migration from badly hit regions, bringing , spreading war and disease. Pre-industrial Empires grew in agricultural rich regions. Migration resulted in " barbarians from the fringes moving into the civilized "imperial centres. They lacked the capacity to store food, and moving food to places needed was difficult. 

When at the end of the 3rd Century the rainfall and temperature recovered we see the Roman Republic had a period of expansion

 

 Few Emperors died of old age so they were  inevitably paranoiac. The Empire had been founded on exploitative conquest. Rome attacked Britain for all the wrong reasons, as other was not strategic or economic benefits to be gained, but personal status and loot. The Claudian invasion in 43 CE and battle of Medway succeeded.

London went up in flames twice in the First Century. The first by tribal worriers the second by mutineers. The Romans shut the British elites out of important imperial or provincial positions. Postings to Britain received less enthusiasm as chasing bands gangs of bandits and insurrectionist around Britain would never bring fame glory loot and advancement. Britain became a territory of exploitation of metals and agricultural produce.

350CE  After this disintegration is shown from archeology.  By the 4th Century most soldiers were recruited locally married locally and had children and aged parents .Desertion was common amongst unpaid soldiers and were a source of bandits.

Lenin quote - every society is 3 meals away from collapse. People buried valuables but never returned to reclaim them. Long distance trade collapses and with depopulation and mass migration. The who monetary and economic cycle existed to serve the army.  With the taxation system collapsing the Romans would settle mercenaries on land with local wives. 406 the Barbarian invasion of Gaul created a crises in Britain.

 541CE Justinian plague, was bubonic plague that started  when he was Emperor.