The Romans invasion

The Romans came from Italy in AD 43 and in calling the country “Britannia” gave Britain its name. At the time of the Roman’s first expedition (Caesar’s expedition in 55 BC when a 10-thousand strong Roman army was repulsed by the iron-weapon-possessing Celts with the help of the Channel storms) the Belgic tribal chief Cunobelin (Shakespeare’s Cymbeline) united the Celtic tribes of southern Britain under his rule and called himself, after the Roman fashion, “Rex Britonum” that is “King of the Britons” – a title which was impressed on the coins that he struck in his capital, Camulodunum. It was this king who invited Roman traders and craftsmen to come and settle in Britain. Some historians attribute the origin of London to his reign (the Celtic phrase Llyn-din, “Lake-Fort” is believed by some to have given the town its name) and archaeologists state that the wooden London bridge was built at that time. The city was called Londinium, for this time when, after Caesar’s first “reconnaissance” the Romans started infiltrating into the country as immigrants and traders bringing in eastern luxuries and taking out corn, metal and slaves. Thus, ground was prepared for the Roman conquest.

The decay of Roman power in Britain became apparent already at the end of the 4^th century. The attacks of the wild Celtic tribes from behind the walls that had sealed off those dangerous areas, were no longer so efficiently and promptly repulsed in the latter part of the 5^th century as it used to have been the Roman’s way. The usual grainloaded ships were no longer sent to the metropolis. Finally in 407 orders came for the legions to return. Those historians who base their observations on the data derived from town life, that is, the life of the romanized upper layers of the British Celts, state that Romanization was completed and the Celts forgot they were Britons. Romanization was nearly non-existent in Ireland and Scotland. In the countryside, the old Celtic way of life was preserved. The Celts continued living in their old Celtic way, suffering from the invaders’ exploitation, passing their native customs and traditions from generation to generation and speaking their Celtic dialects enriched by some of Latin words like “castra” – military camp (found now in names like Lancaster, Winchester, Leicester, Chester, etc.).