romanizacion
English is not the native Language of England. It was introduced by Germanic tribes who invaded Britain in successive waves. Around the mid-fifth century the Saxons, Angles and Jutes drove back the Britons, who were Celts. Celtic is the only substratum that Germanic people could find apart from Latin.
The Old English period, which lasted from about 450 to 1150, the language was brought into contact with three other languages: the language of the Celts, the Romans and the Scandinavians. We are going to deal here with the Latin influence on the English language which was of great importance because of the great number of loan-words and adaptations. This influence was undoubtedly due mainly to the Romanization of Britain and especially to its subsequent Christianisation by Roman missionaries.
To the Romans, Britannia was a mysterious island lying beyond Oceanus, Britain was therefore seen as a land beyond the limits of civilisation.
Britannia was first brought to the attention of the Roman people by the campaigns of Julius Caesar in 55 and 54 BC.
Caesar made two expeditions to Britain in the successive campaign seasons of 55 and 54 BC, during which he effectively rattled his armour and thus coerced the native inhabitants to pay tribute to Rome.
The campaigns conducted in Britain by the militaristic governors of the first
century, carried in their wake the luxuries of Roman civilization, and were to have aprofound effect on the future development of the British Isles. Native British artisans, attracted by the regular salaries of the Roman soldiers, gathered outside the defences of almost every Roman fort in England and Wales. Some of these shanty-towns quickly disappeared once the military moved on, but where local conditions permitted, many
communities were able to survive the resultant upheaval and later developed into self-sustaining settlements.
Britain before the Romans.
At the time of the Roman invasions of 55 and 54BC Britain was still in the late IronAge, inhabited by Celtic tribes.
the Celts were not the savage barbarians that Caesar described: they were a well-organised society with strict laws and relatively advanced bronze and iron technology; they even had goldsmiths.
Invasion and Conquest.
In 61BC, when the city state of Rome ruled the whole of Italy and much of the Mediterranean seaboard, the Senate appointed General Caius Julius Caesar to be Governor of Transalpine Gaul (France). Within four years he had conquered the whole area and stood on the north coast of France gazing at the white cliffs of Dover. He knew there was mineral wealth to be won, and that the lowlands in the south produced an abundance of corn, the staple diet of the hungry legions. On the night of 25 August 55BC Caesar sailed with 10,000 men in 80 ships across the Straits of Dover, but Caesar’s progress inland was painfully slow as his cavalry, aboard a fleet of
transports, had been dispersed in a gale. Four weeks after the landing he re-embarked his army for France, determined to return the next year and gain Britain as a Roman province.
To achieve any degree of conquest he had to defeat the Catuvellauni, the strongest tribe in Britain. The stronghold was betrayed by a rival tribe, the Trinovantes, and in August, Caesar overpowered them and their chief surrendered.
The next invasion, which was to lead to 365 years of Roman rule, was ordered by Emperor Claudius in 43AD. landed in the natural harbour at Richborough on the east Kent coast. A battle on the banks of the Medway lasted two days before the Britons retreated north of the Thames, but the Romans soon crossed the river and prepared for an assault on the tribal capital of Camulodunum (Colchester). The capital was taken. It was to take another 90 years before the whole of England and Wales was fully pacified, with Hadrian’s Wall forming the northern frontier of the empire.
Leisure.
The Celts had always been a clean race, but the Romans developed cleanliness to a fine art and made it one of life’s pleasures. Every town had its bath complex, as did inns and all the best houses.
Public baths and those outside army forts were the Roman equivalent of modern sports centres.
Many towns boasted an amphitheatre, usually built on the outskirts. Games were held on religious and military festivals and certainly on the emperor’s birthday. The ‘stars’ of the entertainment world were the gladiators.
The family played games similar to draughts and chess with pieces made of bone or pottery, and for musical entertainment there were the lyre and cithara.