Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
There was little resistance to the Roman fighting machine, although there was one
well-known uprising, led by Queen Boudicca of the Iceni tribe who ruled parts of East
Anglia. The Romans had tried to force their will on Boudicca by publicly whipping her,
and she subsequently led a rebellion that razed Colchester. Then she marched on
London (there's a statue of Boudicca in Parliament Square) and rampaged through
St. Albans, then known as Verulamium—70,000 people were killed.
The Romans moved north and west, conquering tribes as they went, but they were
stopped by the ferocious Picts in Scotland, and did not get far into Wales because of
the mountainous countryside, although a Roman Legion was stationed at
Caerleon,
where the remains of an impressive amphitheatre and baths can still be seen (p. 683).
In a.d. 122,
Hadrian's Wall
was built across northern England from Wallsend on
the east coast to Bowness-on-Solway, on the west coast (p. 669); meantime, the
Welsh tribes—well, they were just left to their fighting. Then, after 350 years of rule,
the Romans went home, abandoning the Romano-Britons.
By 410, the Germanic Saxons, Jutes, and Angles had carved out settlements in
southern and eastern England, and the Saxons went on to dominate all but the far
north and Wales, where the Romano-Britons were forced to flee. The Saxons had
neatly divided England into Northumbria in the north, East Anglia in the east, Wes-
sex in the south, and Mercia in the west and Midlands by the 600s. Subsequently,
King Offa of Mercia had the 177-mile
Offa's Dyke
earthworks built (p. 692) from
Chepstow
in South Wales to
Prestatyn
in North Wales, to keep the Celtic Welsh
tribes out of England in 787.
The Saxon kings reigned supreme until the Vikings, forced from their settlements
in Scandinavia, started taking an interest in England. They were driven from southern
England by King Alfred the Great of Wessex, whose headquarters were at
Win-
chester
(p. 290), but the Vikings remained in the north and east, evidenced by
astonishing burial mounds at
Sutton Hoo
in Suffolk (p. 523). The Vikings were even
stronger in the Northeast, as the
Jorvik Viking Centre
in York (p. 644) illustrates.
By 924, the rest of England was united behind King Athelstan of Wessex, but this
2
DATELINE
55
B
.
C
.
Julius Caesar invades England.
A
.
D
. 43
Romans conquer England.
410
Jutes, Angles, and Saxons form
small kingdoms in England.
470
Romans found Londinium.
500-1066
Anglo-Saxon kingdoms fi ght of
Viking warriors.
1215
King John signs the Magna Carta
at Runnymede.
1215
Hadrian's Wall is built.
1337
Hundred Years' War between
France and England begins.
1485
Battle of Bosworth Field ends
the Wars of the Roses between
the houses of York and Lancaster;
Henry VII launches the Tudor
dynasty.
1066
William, Duke of Normandy,
invades England, defeats Harold II
at the Battle of Hastings.
1534
Henry VIII brings the Reformation
to England and dissolves the
monasteries.
1154
The Plantagenets launch their rule
(which lasts until 1399) with the
crowning of Henry II.
