The name Britain comes from the word Pretani, the Greek term for the inhabitants of the British islands, but the Romans mispronounced it and called the people Briton and the country Britannia. The Romans invaded Britannia because military and political leaders had an eye on glory, fame and booty, because the British Celts had supported the Celts of Gaul against them, and also because they could make excellent use of British-produced goods such as corn, animals, metal ores and slaves.
Julius Caesar first came to Britain in 55 b. c. for a reconnaissance en force, but was repulsed. It was not until almost a century later, in A. d. 43, that the Romans were determined to conquer Britain, and sent an army composed of Legion II Augusta, XX Valeria Victoria, XIV Gemina Martia Victoria, and IX Hispana, totaling some 50,000 men. As they possessed artillery machines, siege devices and skilled engineers, the Romans could successfully lay siege to the Celtic hill forts, but they had some difficulty in defeating the high-spirited and quick-for-battle Celtic warriors. Ultimately the lack of unity among tribes led to Roman victory. By the beginning of the second century all the rich plains across the southern half of Britain, from the River Humber to the River Severn, were in subjection. Beyond that line were the upland areas where Roman control was not developed. These areas were watched from the town of York in the north, Chester and Caerleon in the western peninsula of Britain — the area that later became known as Wales. The Romans, however, never managed to subdue Caledonia (Scotland) although they tried over a century to do so.
The Romans came to trade, rule, exploit the land, and levy taxes, but the Italian immigration was never large enough to be overwhelming. However, the few traders and moneylenders, functionaries, officers, and active and discharged soldiers managed to establish a Romano-Celtic culture with methods of occupation that varied little from other parts of the Empire. Provided the subdued populations accepted the servitude of an alien power and payed tributes and taxes, the Romans treated them reasonably. They respected the local religions and customs, built excellent roads enabling their occupation forces to move swiftly from place to place, and fortified centers to hold fixed-occupation garrisons, towns and marketplaces. They introduced the skills of reading and writing, and also brought a new monotheist religion when the emperor Constantine converted to Christianity in 312 and made it the official faith of the empire. By employing a double policy of ruthless annihilation of rebels and dissidents, and favorable treatment of friendly factions, the Romans guaranteed peace throughout their empire for 400 years. There were occasional periods of internal violence, but these were generally the struggles for power between rival emperors or riots and rebellions resulting from temporary breakdown of law and order during such interregna. In some ways life in Roman Britain seemed civilized, but the Romans were indeed too few in number to change the language and customs of the early British people as they successfully did in France and Spain. Only a small fringe of the British population was directly involved with the Roman civilization. Britannia, located much too far away from the Mediterranean basin, was for the Romans very much of a peripheral importance. Indeed this cold island brought them rather little economic advantage. The Romans were forced to leave remote Britain in the early 5 th century, as troops were badly needed elsewhere. They left behind a leaderless and quasi-defenseless population, and these were no match for the fierce Germanic tribes that poured into the island. The use of Latin completely disappeared when the Jutes, the Angles and the Saxons invaded the British Islands.
Cross-section of a Roman road. 1: Drainage ditch; 2: Paving stone; 3: Pebbles, gravel and sand; 4: Foundation of rubble stones. Well-metalled roads were, however, more the exception than the rule. Many dirt-tracks existed in the English countryside, choking and dusty in the summertime and quagmire in the autumn.
World History
