Pax Romana
The Romans changed the map of eastern England with a vast work of reclamation in the Fens, which until the first century ad had formed an indeterminate region of shallow sea and tidal marsh, completely uninhabitable save for a few island sites. The new land was let out to native farmers, and the canalised rivers formed communication links into the interior of the country, traversed by barges carrying agricultural produce. The legions also built the best roads England was to see for a millennium and a half: well-founded, stone-surfaced routes linking the main settlements and often running straight for many miles, though bending to ease the gradients where hills and steep slopes had to be tackled. Unlike the prehistoric trackways, which followed the dry chalk and limestone ridges, the Roman roads struck across country to link the key military depots to one another, and a host of Streets, Strattons and Strettons remain in place names to mark their way-stations, just as -chester names mark their castra, or fortified settlements.
The countryside these roads traversed was still inhabited by the British tribes. The conquest had changed their lives to some degree; they had to pay taxes and could be recruited into Roman auxiliary forces. They became familiar with the concept of coinage and markets, and with the methods of Roman local administration. The empire was not extended in the interests of peace but of commerce and profit: the Pax Romana was necessary in order to ensure that provinces got on with the task of enriching Rome and the aristocratic, mercantile and military family groups at the apex of its social pyramid. Romans took over the iron and lead mines and salt-workings and extended them. Quarries were opened up. In the south, large estates dominated by villas - the typical Roman farm plus country house complex -were established, sometimes on a palatial scale, and occupied by leaders of the Romanised Britons as well as by wealthy colonists. Cereal growing was their main activity, to supply the demands of the army garrisons and the growing towns. The enforced peace made it easier for country people to concentrate on farm work. Livestock rearing was also of great importance, not only for meat but for all the essential by-products of the animals, from wool and horn to leather and glue. The Romans introduced various new crops, including the cabbage, turnip, carrot and celery, as well as rye, oats and flax. But they also brought the rose, violet and lily, among other flowers. The Romano-British population ate better under Roman rule than in earlier days.
In 122 Emperor Hadrian included Britannia in one of his perpetual tours of the vast Roman Empire. The northern part of the province was by no means secure either from Caledonian invasion or from internal uprising. It was Hadrian who defined the limits of the Roman province of Britannia and instigated the construction of a massive wall, crossing the breadth of the country from the Tyne Estuary to the southern shore of the Solway Firth. Despite later Roman attempts to conquer northwards, this was to remain the outermost boundary of the empire. In the mid-second century, there was a serious revolt among the Brigantes, and after this had been crushed, their civitas, or administrative state, was broken up and their territory largely taken into imperial control. The old tribal structure of pre-Roman Britain was destroyed in terms of political power, though its traditions and language lived on.
The third century and the first decades of the fourth were a time of relative stability and prosperity. Military activity was focused on attempts to suppress the warrior peoples of Caledonia. Roman troops could gain fighting experience in the badlands north of Hadrian's Wall, and massive expeditions were launched from the legionary headquarters at York under Emperor Septimius Severus in 208-9 and Emperor Constantius in 306. Between these imperial visitations, the provincial government was pulled to and fro by the rivalries of would-be military rulers of north-west Europe. From 260 it had been divided into two provinces, Britannia Superior, with its military centres at Chester and Caerleon to the south; and Britannia Inferior, with its headquarters at York, forming the northern province. Britannia was wealthy, its internal stability secured by its three legionary centres, its prosperity sustained by the new urban culture developed under Roman rule. The towns of Roman Britain were mostly very small, but they were true urban nuclei, trading centres, homes of craftsmen, shopkeepers and merchants, with public facilities like bath-houses, and with their own local government.
A legal distinction was applied between native peoples and Roman citizens, but this came to an end in 212, in the reign of the emperor, Cara-calla, when all free-born inhabitants of the empire were granted the rights and status of Roman citizens. In Britannia as elsewhere, this still left a substantial population of slaves who were the property of their masters and had no civic rights. This was not a Roman innovation; the British tribes were long familiar with the practice of slave-ownership, though it is impossible to gauge its extent or its contribution to the economy. In the south, towns grew as open places, at fords, road junctions, or close to an old tribal centre, as with Dorchester and the adjacent hill-fort of Maiden Castle. Some were manufacturing places, like the pottery centre of Durobrivae (Water Newton) on the River Nene. As a port and commercial centre, London was probably already the largest town, and a centre of civilian administration. Latin was the language of these urban communities, though everyone save transient Roman administrators must also have spoken Brittonic. The town councils were manned by decurions, citizens whose wealth and status qualified them - often reluctantly - for leadership. Tax collection, and the making-up of any arrears in the assessment, were prime aspects of their responsibility.
The countryside these roads traversed was still inhabited by the British tribes. The conquest had changed their lives to some degree; they had to pay taxes and could be recruited into Roman auxiliary forces. They became familiar with the concept of coinage and markets, and with the methods of Roman local administration. The empire was not extended in the interests of peace but of commerce and profit: the Pax Romana was necessary in order to ensure that provinces got on with the task of enriching Rome and the aristocratic, mercantile and military family groups at the apex of its social pyramid. Romans took over the iron and lead mines and salt-workings and extended them. Quarries were opened up. In the south, large estates dominated by villas - the typical Roman farm plus country house complex -were established, sometimes on a palatial scale, and occupied by leaders of the Romanised Britons as well as by wealthy colonists. Cereal growing was their main activity, to supply the demands of the army garrisons and the growing towns. The enforced peace made it easier for country people to concentrate on farm work. Livestock rearing was also of great importance, not only for meat but for all the essential by-products of the animals, from wool and horn to leather and glue. The Romans introduced various new crops, including the cabbage, turnip, carrot and celery, as well as rye, oats and flax. But they also brought the rose, violet and lily, among other flowers. The Romano-British population ate better under Roman rule than in earlier days.
In 122 Emperor Hadrian included Britannia in one of his perpetual tours of the vast Roman Empire. The northern part of the province was by no means secure either from Caledonian invasion or from internal uprising. It was Hadrian who defined the limits of the Roman province of Britannia and instigated the construction of a massive wall, crossing the breadth of the country from the Tyne Estuary to the southern shore of the Solway Firth. Despite later Roman attempts to conquer northwards, this was to remain the outermost boundary of the empire. In the mid-second century, there was a serious revolt among the Brigantes, and after this had been crushed, their civitas, or administrative state, was broken up and their territory largely taken into imperial control. The old tribal structure of pre-Roman Britain was destroyed in terms of political power, though its traditions and language lived on.
The third century and the first decades of the fourth were a time of relative stability and prosperity. Military activity was focused on attempts to suppress the warrior peoples of Caledonia. Roman troops could gain fighting experience in the badlands north of Hadrian's Wall, and massive expeditions were launched from the legionary headquarters at York under Emperor Septimius Severus in 208-9 and Emperor Constantius in 306. Between these imperial visitations, the provincial government was pulled to and fro by the rivalries of would-be military rulers of north-west Europe. From 260 it had been divided into two provinces, Britannia Superior, with its military centres at Chester and Caerleon to the south; and Britannia Inferior, with its headquarters at York, forming the northern province. Britannia was wealthy, its internal stability secured by its three legionary centres, its prosperity sustained by the new urban culture developed under Roman rule. The towns of Roman Britain were mostly very small, but they were true urban nuclei, trading centres, homes of craftsmen, shopkeepers and merchants, with public facilities like bath-houses, and with their own local government.
A legal distinction was applied between native peoples and Roman citizens, but this came to an end in 212, in the reign of the emperor, Cara-calla, when all free-born inhabitants of the empire were granted the rights and status of Roman citizens. In Britannia as elsewhere, this still left a substantial population of slaves who were the property of their masters and had no civic rights. This was not a Roman innovation; the British tribes were long familiar with the practice of slave-ownership, though it is impossible to gauge its extent or its contribution to the economy. In the south, towns grew as open places, at fords, road junctions, or close to an old tribal centre, as with Dorchester and the adjacent hill-fort of Maiden Castle. Some were manufacturing places, like the pottery centre of Durobrivae (Water Newton) on the River Nene. As a port and commercial centre, London was probably already the largest town, and a centre of civilian administration. Latin was the language of these urban communities, though everyone save transient Roman administrators must also have spoken Brittonic. The town councils were manned by decurions, citizens whose wealth and status qualified them - often reluctantly - for leadership. Tax collection, and the making-up of any arrears in the assessment, were prime aspects of their responsibility.
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