Romano-British culture

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Romano-British is a term used to refer to the Romanized Britons under the Roman Empire (and later the Western Roman Empire) and in the years after the Roman departure exposed to Roman culture. The Romano-British were originally a diverse group of Celtic peoples living, and usually fighting amongst each other, uniting first when Roman troops under Emperor Claudius invaded Britannia in 43 AD.

Being defeated and conquered, the various tribes were assimilated to the Roman Empire as the province of Britannia. Roman businessmen and officials came to Britannia to settle by the thousands along with their families. Roman troops from all across the Empire as far as Spain, North Africa and Egypt were garrisoned in Roman towns taking local Britons for wives and intermarrying, bringing a diversity of cultures and religions to Britannia the populace of which remained a mainly Celtic people living a Roman way of life.

Britannia became one of the most loyal portions of the Empire until its decline when many native officers in the military tried to win independence or declare themselves as Emperors wasting Britannia's manpower on civil wars eventually leading to Honorius to force Roman troops back home to help fight invading hordes.

Since the Roman army stationed there basically governed Britannia, those Romans remaining could not control the province as people like retired officers, mercenaries and farmers became local rulers. Romano-British created an army of British legionaries and Saxon mercenaries to defend their abandoned province.

The "Romano-British" were romanised people of Britannia under the rule of the Roman Empire and later the Western Roman Empire, when Roman had extensively entered into the life of the native Brythonic peoples of Britain.

One vector of Roman influence into British life was the grant of Roman citizenship . At first this grant went out very selectively: to the council members of certain classes of towns, which Roman practice made citizens; to veterans, either legionaries or soldiers in auxiliary units; and to a number of natives whose patrons were able to obtain it for them. Some of the local Celtic kings, such as Togidubnus, received citizenship in this manner. However, the number of citizens steadily increased over the years, as people inherited citizenship and more grants were made. Eventually all people who were not slaves or freed slaves were granted citizenship by the Constitutio Antoniniana in 212.

The other inhabitants of Britain, who did not enjoy citizenship, the Peregrini, continued to live under the laws of their ancestors. The principal handicaps were that they could not:

own land with a Latin title,
serve as a legionary in the army (although they could serve in an auxiliary unit, and become a Roman citizen upon discharge)
In general, inherit from a Roman citizen

But for the vast number of British inhabitants, who were peasants tied to the soil, citizenship would not dramatically alter daily operation of their lives.

Britain was also independent of the rest of the Roman Empire for a number of years, first as a part of the Gallic Empire, then a couple of decades later under the usurpers Carausius and Allectus.

Christianity came to Britain in the third century. One early figure was Saint Alban, who was martyred near the Roman town of Verulamium, on the site of the modern St Albans, by tradition during the reign of the emperor Decius.

After the withdrawal of Roman troops in the reign of the emperor Honorius, the Romano-British were forced to fight for themselves but quickly developed their own armies among hiring barbarians from across the Sea. Romano-British were divided politically as former soldiers, nobles and officials declared themselves kings fighting amongst each other allowing later peoples to take Britain. The depredations of the Picts from the north and Scotti (Scots) from Ireland forced them to seek help from pagan Germanic tribes of Angles, Saxons and Jutes, who decided to settle. However, the Germanic tribes became hostile against their hosts and began to conquer their territory. Romano-British culture, over the course of six centuries, was restricted to the western fringes of the island in Wales, Devon, Somerset, Dorset and Cornwall and the north in Strathclyde, Rheged and Elmet. Some of the Romano-British may have migrated to Brittany and possibly Ireland.

Some histories (in context) refer to Romano-British people with the blanket term "Welsh". The term Welsh is an Old English word meaning foreigner to contrast the old inhabitants of southern Britain with themselves. Historically Wales and the Cornish peninsula were known respectively as North Wales and West Wales. The Celtic north of England was referred to as Hen Ogledd.

The struggles of this period have given rise to the legends of Uther Pendragon and King Arthur. It is sometimes said that Ambrosius Aurelianus, the leader of the Romano-British forces, was the model for the former, and that Arthur's court of Camelot is an idealised Welsh memory of pre-Saxon Romano-British civilisation.

Romano-British culture

See also