Roman Britain.

In 55 BCJulius Caesar landed in Britain and the Britons were so frightened that they fled inland and Caesar had not so much cavalry as to pursue them. He returned to Gaul with his forces, but the Romans considered it a great victory. A year later Caesar returned with a more substantial expedition. This time the Romans remained for two months. Britannia was not colonized, or annexed to Rome, but it acknowledged Roman supremacy.

In AD 43, the Romans invaded southern Britain. It became a Roman colony called Britannia.Roman rule lasted for over 300 years.

The Romans introduced their civilization and language and built towns, roads, baths and temples. They set up their capital in London which they called Londinium and built major cities in Bath, Chester and York. The cities contained beautiful buildings, squares and public baths. Fine villas were built for Celtic aristocrats who accepted Roman rule. Many of the roads which are still in use today were built by the Romans.

The Roman invasion was not completely peaceful. Boudicca, the queen of the Iceni tribe together with her two daughters headed a revolt against Roman invaders in East Anglia in AD 61. With almost 100,000 fighting men she destroyed three big Roman settlements: Colchester, London and St. Albans. These towns were burned to the ground and some 70,000 people were killed. That was their terrible revenge on the Romans who treated the Iceni harshly. Though much smaller in number, the Roman well-trained and disciplined army cruelly suppressed the rebels. Not willing to get into the enemy’s hands, Boudicca took poison and before that poisoned her daughters, who had assisted her in the fighting. However, the revolt was not fruitless as Roman governors changed their attitude to the Iceni people for conciliatory. Queen Boudicca’s statue on horseback erected near Westminster Bridge in London commemorates this historic event and her heroic deed.

The Romans established a Romano-British culture across the southern half of Britain, from the River Humber to the River Severn. This part of Britain was inside the empire.

The tribes of Scotland never completely surrendered to the Romans. As a result, in AD 122, Emperor Hadrian built a long wall to defend the border between England and Scotland. Hadrian’s Wall was overrun several times by Scottish tribes (known as Picts) and was finally abandoned in AD 383. By then, the Roman Empire was collapsing. At the beginning of the 5^th century AD, Rome withdrew legions from Britain.

<== попередня сторінка	\|	наступна сторінка ==>
Early history of Britain.	\|	The Anglo-Saxon period.

Не знайшли потрібну інформацію? Скористайтесь пошуком google:

Генерація сторінки за: 0.004 сек.