Britain Flashcards
What was the immediate effect of Britain being abandoned?
Rapid and complete collapse of the Roman power structure
Collapse of city life, coinage, pottery, all disappearing within a generation.
Saxons settled along the eastern and southern coasts.
Who were the main usurpers which were raised in Britain?
Magnus Maximus (383-8) and Constantine III (407-11)
Explain how Britain dropped out of the Empire
The Province of Britain had backed a series of military usurpers.
These usurpers took armies with them to the continent, these armies were not replaced which left Britain’s garrison lacking. => by 411 military presence was effectively gone
Due to repeated crises, the imperial government could not spare troops so Britain was abandoned.
What about cities in the 4th and 5th C?
Since the 4th C, cities of Britain had seen little new building. Probably increasingly served as administrative centres without any real concentration of population or economic expertise.
5th C, cities became redundant. Even rural villas had ceased to be built.
What about the elites in the 5thc?
Without the infrastructure of the state to underwrite their position, they no longer had the resources necessary to maintain a luxurious life.
Hispania and S Gaul, landowning elites were able to maintain the local Roman infrastructure of cities and revenue collection and this maintain their resources and lifestyle. => able to raise personal armies to maintain their position.
In Britain, landowners unable to do this. Forced to transform themselves into warlords.
What does Gildas say about the Saxons?
Apparently first invited as federates after the failure of Aetius to help the British in 449.
What effect did the Saxon migrations have?
Material culture changed.
General change in the nature of settlement and the associated techniques of construction, with the end of Roman stone building traditions.
Burial practices change. With the largely furnished burials, often in new cemeteries, some in himations, some cremations housed in purpose made pottery.
Who are the Britons?
It’s the collective term for the Celtic population.
It means the people who were there in the British Isles before the Romans came and who were there afterwards fighting invaders from Europe.
Why did Roman society end in Britain?
When the Roman troops withdrew to fight invaders in Gaul, this ended Roman society in Britain. This is partly because Britain was a frontier province. The invaders tended to obliterate much of what had been there in Roman times.
When was England pretty definitely converted to Christianity?
660s-70s
