HEL l Roman Conquest

The beginning of the Roman Conquest

Following the visit of Julius Ceasar, Roman emperor Claudius invaded Britain in 43 AD and began a more systematic conquest of the Island.

The continuation of the Roman Conquest

over the next 45 years Romans gradually extended its control over the present day England and Wales and ventured into territory now in Scotland

Britannia

New province established by Romans, which formed part of the empire until the early 5th C AD

The official language used by occupying forces in Britain

Latin

Roman heritage in names

Lat. castrum = camp, e.g. Lancaster, Chester, Winchester

Manuscript carpet pages

full page in an illuminated manuscript containing intricate, non-figurative, patterned designs. typically placed at the beginning of a Gospel Book.

Portchester, Hampshire

A Roman fort, built to defend the coast against the Anglo-Saxons. Part of the enclosure became an Anglo-Saxon village.

Germanic Invasion when?

5th c AD

The origins of Germanic Invasion

After the collapse of Roman rule in Britain and the collapse of Roman economy, larger groups of Germanic people came to Britain

The Germanic settlement led to 2 things:

a shared Germanic language: Old English

the emergence of a distinct Anglo-Saxon cultural identity

Venerable Bede

The Ecclesiastical History of the English People: writes about the Germanic Invasion. History of the Christian Churches in England, and of England generally; its main focus is on the growth of Christianity.

the Anglo-Saxon chronicle

a chronological account of events in England from the beginning of the Christian era to the middle of the 12th century, written in the vernacular

the Anglo-Saxon heptarchy

heptarchy=from a greek word “seven” and “rule”; Period between the establishment of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in England towards the end of the 5th c and the destruction of most of them by the Danes in the second half of the 9th century.

the seven kindoms in Anglo-Saxon heptarchy

Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia, Essex, Kent, Sussex, Wessex

Christianization of the Anglo-Saxons

the shift from Germanic paganism to Christianity in early medieval England. Spanning from the late 6th to the 8th century, the process was driven by the Gregorian mission from Rome and Irish missionaries, fundamentally transforming Anglo-Saxon culture, politics, and law.

King AEthelberht of Kent

the first king to accept baptism (601)

A germanic tombstone

ca. 650, It represents a dead man preyed upon by a double-headed serpent; he carries a sword in one hand and is combing his hair (?) with the other. On the reverse side: a transfigured Christ surrounded by rays of light.