Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Roman Rule & the Coming Of The Kings
The first Roman landings in Britain were led by Julius Caesar in 55 BC. In AD 43 Aulus
Plautius invaded Britain with around 20,000 troops, who were backed by reinforcements
from the stuttering Emperor Claudius. Over the next five years, under the orders of their
commander Vespasian, the legions rampaged through southern England.
Having wrested control of the area from the ruling Celtic tribes (the Durotriges in Dorset
and Somerset, and the Dumnonii in Devon and Cornwall), the Romans set about building a
network of roads, settlements, ports, temples and forts. A key garrison was stationed at
Exeter (Isca Dumnoniorum to the Romans), which marked the western end of the Roman
road to Lincoln known as the Fosse Way.
The Romans' grip on power lasted until the 4th century, when military pressures and
dwindling resources forced their withdrawal from many of the empire's more far-flung out-
posts. By 410 the last legions had returned to Rome, and the so-called 'Dark Ages' had be-
gun.
Over the next 500 years, southwest Britain was invaded by waves of Anglo-Saxon set-
tlers, mainly tribes of Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Frisians from modern-day Germany, who
first came as mercenaries in the Roman army. The native Celts were pushed back into their
core strongholds in Wales, Dartmoor and Cornwall, creating pockets of Celtic culture,
while the rest of the region was largely colonised by the Anglo-Saxons. Around this time a
fearsome war leader - supposedly named Arthur or Arthurus - is said to have emerged to
lead a counter-attack against the invading Saxons, checking their progress over 12 great
battles, and launching the enduring legend of King Arthur.
The first Christian saints arrived in the southwest around this time, probably from Ire-
land, although their vessels were a little unconventional - St Ia is supposed to have sailed
to the north Cornish coast on a giant leaf, while St Piran, patron saint of Cornwall, al-
legedly arrived aboard a granite millstone.
In the early 9th century, King Egbert and the armies of Wessex swept west and brought
the whole of the southwest under Anglo-Saxon control. His grandson, King Alfred, led a
series of campaigns against Viking incursions (and famously burnt some cakes while hid-
ing on the island of Athelney). After a series of power struggles between various Anglo-
Saxon kingdoms over the next century, King Edward (the Peacemaker) was crowned the
first king of a unified England at Bath Abbey in 973.
