Roman England

THE ROMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND

The first ever recorded event in the tumultuous early history of England was the invasion led by Julius Caesar in 55 BC. Though the Caesar and his troops defeated the Celts during this expedition as well as the subsequent one in 54 BC, they withdrew after the Celts agreed to pay them an annual tribute.

The second major invasion by the Roman army took place in 43 AD when several Roman forces marched into different English territories under Emperor Claudius. The Celts were no match against the might of the Roman army and in that one year 11 Celtic kings surrendered. Besides capturing the Celtic hill fort on the site of Colchester, the Roman also conquered Sussex, Dorchester and southern Somerset. The vanquished Celtic kings were however allowed to remain as puppet rulers.

By 47 AD Roman supremacy had spread from the Estuary of the River Severn to the River Humber and Aulus Plautius, who led the Roman forces, became the first governor of Roman Britain.

Several unsuccessful uprisings later, the Celts, including those from the Iceni tribe of East Anglia, were forced to accept Roman dominance.

During 71-77 AD the Romans first prevailed over the north of England and then later conquered South Wales too. Upon becoming governor of Britain in 77AD, Agricola went on to conquer North Wales and further up north to what is now Scotland, from where the Roman forces subsequently withdrew in 86.

The Romans again invaded Scotland under Emperor Antonius Pius and after defeating the Picts in 42-43, they erected the Antonine Wall to protect their conquests. The Roman army finally abandoned the wall in 163 and withdrew to Hadrian’s Wall, which was originally built by Emperor Hadrian in 122-126 and spanned across the northern frontier of Roman Britain.

THE END OF ROMAN BRITAIN

The middle of the 3rd century saw the beginning of the end of the Roman Empire. By the latter half of the 3rd century the east coast of Roman Britain was being raided by Saxons from Germany. These raids were small and inconsequential at first but everything changed when admiral Carauius seized power in Britain in 286. He ruled Britain as emperor for 7 years till his assassination at the hands of his finance minister Allectus who wore the mantle till 296 when Britain was re-conquered by Roman forces under Constantius, Emperor of the Western Roman Empire.

By the 4th century the Roman Empire in the west went into serious political and economic decline and in 367 the Saxons united with the Picts from Scotland and the Scots from Northern Ireland to raid and loot Roman Britain.

The raiding only worsened after Roman soldiers started withdrawing from Britain in 383. By 407 the last of the Roman troops had withdrawn from Britain and although the Romano-Celts appealed to the Roman Emperor Honorius for help to fight the Saxon raiders, none was forthcoming.

Roman Britain split into separate kingdoms and Roman civilization gradually broke down. With the rich left to look after their own estate and the craftsmen going off to live in the countryside, the populations of towns disseminated and the space started being used to grow crops. By the mid-5th century almost all Roman towns were abandoned and town life as it once was came to an end. By the end of the 5th century Roman civilization in the countryside faded into oblivion.