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Historical Evidence: Rome
• Rome invades Britain in about 43 BCE
• Rome deserts Britain around 420 CE
• With Rome in Britain– Celts were protected from invaders– Relative peace, stability, technological
improvements
Historical Evidence: Rome
• Without Rome Celts needed to replace– civic administration– military administration– military personnel– technological maintenance
Quick Timeline
• 43 Rome invades• 60/61 Boudica revolts• 122 Hadrian’s wall begun• 364 Picts, Saxons, Scots, and Atacotti raise hell• 401/402 Roman troops withdrawn• 408-410 Saxons raid• 410 Visigoths sack Rome; Honorius tells Britons
to defend themselves
At Same Time
• Patrick active in Ireland
• Vortigern (high king?) invites Saxons to defend against northern invaders– begins strife with Germanic peoples
• Ambrosius Aurelianus fights against Saxons
Historical Evidence: Germanic Tribes
• 449: Anglos, Saxons, and Jutes begin invasions– Tribes from Northern
Europe– Germanic– Originally raiders– Eventually settled
• Devastated Celticpeoples
Historic Events: Northern Invasions
• Germans weren’t only problem
• Irish tribe from North– Scots– Conquered– Scotland as well
Celtic British Response
• Seem to have elected supreme ruler in time of war– High king– rex bellorum
• literally, king of war
• Vortigern (ca 425-450)– Caused major problems
Vortigern
• High king• Threatened from North
– Scots– Picts
• Hired Saxon and Jute Mercenaries– Led by Hengist & Horsa– Payment: lands to settle (447ish)
• Germans stayed
Anglo-Saxons
• Initially settled on coasts
• Rebelled against Britons (~442)
• Expanded holdings– Drove Celts into Wales, Cornwall, Ireland,
Brittany (NW France)
• 449 more invasions from continent– Joined with resident Anglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxons
• Celts fought back– Launched campaign against Anglo-Saxons– ~500: Celtic victory at Mt. Badon
• 540: De Excidio Britanniae (The Fall of Britain)– Gildas– Laments fall of Britain to Anglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxon Dominance
• By end of 6th Century– Anglo-Saxons dominated Britain– Pushed Celts to
• Wales• Cornwall• Brittany• Ireland• Scotland
• 597: Gregory the Great sends St. Augustine to Christianize Anglo-Saxons
Excalibur
• Fabled sword of Arthur
• Cover of Mists– anything wrong with this?– This type of sword didn’t exist in the 6th
century world