Britain After Rome // The Age of Arthur - History Documentary

[Music] this is hadrian's wall symbol of empire during the late classical age it stretches across 73 miles of windy hills and haunting moors from coast to coast a stark reminder of the ephemeral impermanence of man like countless other sites on african plains in syrian desert and german woodland this colossal fortification was designed to lock down the borders of the roman empire at their maximum territorial extent during the early second century a.d it wasn't the largest fortification of its age the great wall of gorgon built by the sasanian persians to keep out step riders to the north dwarfs it in scale yet it was especially useful in protecting rome's far northern frontier and when the empire fell in framing the existence of those who came after here on an isolated hilltop in the windswept north of england stood one of the most important garrisons along that wall bird oswald roman fort it doesn't look like much today 15 others also once existed here too spaced out at regular intervals along the wall each one manned by its own garrison of soldiers in the intervening period many of their foundations have long since been carried away to build castles farmsteads and towns but this one in part no doubt due to its slightly inaccessible geography survives to the present and for a brief time during the 5th and 6th centuries some small part of rome may have survived here too to the north the land dips steeply into an extensive bogey mire known as the midgal mamas for hundreds of years across this expanse of treacherous finland fearsome picked and determined britons had made their way to assault the roman world to the south along straight and well-ordered roads the rich province of britannia jewel in the crown of roman emperors from claudius to theodosius the great britain wasn't an especially rich place but it was a dependable source of revenue and at times vital to the empire leaving britannia behind sailing across the english channel into gaul and then over more well-ordered straight roads we arrive at the sprawling heartlands of the capital itself a journey that would be near impossible just a few centuries later in the fifth and sixth centuries this fort was one of the last bastions of that classical world during a time of great upheaval and war of barbarian conquests and last emperors its garrison once stood as the guardians and watchers of this land the last official outposts of the roman world against the more ancient wilder one beyond the famed general agricola had come here in the 1st century a.d establishing a fortress before ravaging and pacifying the northlands in a great campaign he was the first to circumnavigate the island though he couldn't fully subjugate its inhabitants [Music] at the time most of the surrounding area had been rough grazed moorland devoid of trees felled during the earlier iron age and this hilltop provided an excellent vantage point over the landscape around originally little more than a square tower in ad-122 a new emperor hadrian one of the most famous of all undertook the building of a giant wall across the entire north of the new province the empire had finally stopped growing and now it would protect its borders bird oswald and its 1 000 strong garrison just like the other forts along the entire length of northern britain became a part of hadrian's new frontier for 300 years to come its warriors would hold the line against the barbarian world to the north yet as we shall see more often than not these men actually originated in peripheral newly conquered newly romanized areas of the empire for this was a lucrative opportunity after 20 years service these men would be made citizens their children full-blooded romans thus ensuring a steady influx of the military strength of conquered foes as long as the empire kept expanding one of the first of those groups arriving a generation after the emperor trajan's bitterly fought campaigned in dacia commemorated on his famous triumphal column were dacians evidenced by two inscriptions decorated with their famous curved swords known as falks and the names such as dessa ballas and burabista given to soldiers in this land they may have come here as dacians syrians samatians germans and spaniards but in time all of them became roman though seen by many as a provincial backwater britannia could be and often was pivotal to affairs of the state at the end of the second century after the infamous year of the five emperors the general claudius albinus proclaimed himself emperor here raising an army 60 000 strong and heading across the channel to narrowly lose against his rival septimus severus this may have been one of the largest battles ever fought during pre-modern times by 212 after undertaking the largest campaign ever yet fought on british soil an expedition that wouldn't be surpassed for at least a millennia to come this time across hadrian's wall into modern-day scotland severus died at york then known as ebarakum his son and new emperor caracalla then issued one of the most important though as we shall see ultimately devastating edicts in the history of the empire in that year all three men in the empire were given full citizenship thus removing any incentive for newly romanised people to join the military [Music] whereas previously local elites from britannia to arabia had sought to vie with each other for patronage and social advancement no longer was this the case in time active involvement in the empire was no longer necessary for economic cultural and social standing for many historians after this it was only a matter of time before these men became independent once more at some point during the ensuing crisis of the third century as various regional elites attempted to break away from the centralizing power of rome there had been friesian settlements at bird oswald suggesting the need for an influx of new blood perhaps the dacians had been relocated but equally as likely was that they had simply merged with the native population in all honesty the empire should have fallen in the third century it was only down to the monumental efforts of warrior generals such as aurelian and diocletian that it survived reformed into a more localized system though this too had its shortcomings each quarter was still the size of a large empire in itself though nevertheless it did survive for longer all the while the britons became more and more roman even supposed barbarians living beyond the borders of the empire from the danube to the clyde became romanized enjoying all the trappings of the classical world hey guys sorry to break the fourth wall here but i'm a one-man team working on these documentaries and they take a ridiculous amount of time to make so please allow me a moment to thank the sponsor for this one this video was sponsored by march of empires a genre redefining mmo strategy game from gameloft for fans of history strategy games and clan vs clan combat claim your title as either 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under the rule of a line of breakaway gallic emperors [Music] until eventually it was incorporated once more by the warrior emperor aurelian yet the story doesn't end there in 286 a belgic naval officer named carousias usurped power in britain in much the same way his batavian predecessor posthumous had done in gaul within a couple of years carousias ruled the entirety of roman britain and parts of northern gaul under the title emperor of the north until in 293 he was overthrown by his own treasurer electus who replaced him as emperor whilst utilizing claims of restoring liberty to rouse up british sentiment before finally he was overthrown and britannia reincorporated into the empire by the emperor constantius in truth britannia might have been stronger had it broken away permanently then the britons to a certain extent still had a martial culture a good economy strong fortifications and a better equipped and armed army than the barbarians it hadn't been drained away like it was by the year 400 [Music] one result of the third century crisis had been the breaking up of britannia into separate provinces perhaps to stop an independent province again arising experts have debated over the exact locations of these provinces for centuries and it still isn't entirely clear where they were located perhaps overlapping at times two of the most important were britannia primer in the south and britannia secunda in the north significant changes can also be seen in the archaeological record during this time with organic towns growing up rather than the centrally planned cities that the romans had decided would be put in place with smaller populations more akin to the previous celtic system replaced the giant market cities such as londinium which gradually became less inhabited nevertheless as the 4th century dawned britannia would enter a particularly prosperous age which also saw a relocation to border regions by the new military leaders of the empire this restructuring meant that ebarakum modern-day york was often the seat of emperors or at least their deputies constantine the great for example the first christian emperor was lifted up on the shields of his men here and proclaimed emperor in 306 slightly later the roman general turned historian amianas marcelinus tells us that british grain was especially important in feeding troops along the rhine frontier during the wars of his own time however we do have other evidence by the mid-fourth century after centuries of service the north granary at bird oswald collapsed suggesting a somewhat dilapidated garrison potentially now supplied by the local area rather than a centralized authority operating out of rome by the 360s increasingly worrying written reports begin to come in from the continent of well-armed and organized raiders operating on the rhine and the danube frontiers yet events even closer to home were beginning to become alarming too in 368 perhaps mirroring similar campaigns all over the borders of the empire a vast confederation of picts irishmen saxons and angles from across the channel amassed on britain in an event known as the great barbarian conspiracy though they ravaged the province forts such as at bird oswald now manned by hereditary garrisons the position of soldier having passed from father to son over successive generations held out finally count theodosius father of the later famed emperor arrived and quelled the great raid restoring imperial control to the region [Music] yet despite this seemingly dangerous situation generals in britannia would still have a huge part to play not in combating external threats but in vying for power with other romans for control of the imperial throne in ad383 a great spanish general named magnus maximus led his armies to the continent from britannia to launch an ultimately unsuccessful attempt at the imperial throne aimed against the incompetent gratian the young son of a previous emperor gratian would soon be dead handed over for execution by his own alienated men and magnus maximus reigned as western emperor for the next four years in opposition to the ineffective valentinian still rolling from rome ultimately however his successes were to be short-lived and most of those troops who had followed maximus across the channel would find themselves up against theodosius the great along with his new hardened germanic allies and the full might of the eastern field army in 388 defeated in battle somewhere in modern day croatia magnus was captured and executed a large number of his men would never see their homeland again though he would be remembered in legend and myth in the centuries that followed usually portrayed as a british king fighting for independence rather than a roman emperor born in spain britannia was becoming ever more isolated and undefended it would surely only be a matter of time before the northern barbarians tried their luck once more nevertheless britannia remained loyal providing troops whenever asked to do so this era was fraught with chaos and devastation all over the continent following emperor theodosius's death in 395 despite the best efforts of the generalissimo stillico the situation only became worse leading to the sack of the great city of rome itself 15 years later and the installment of a long line of weak and incompetent emperors in both east and west in 407 another contender for the throne a british general named constantine named for the famous emperor of the previous century in order to inspire his men had done the same as magnus maximus stripping the province of much of its military muscle in order to march on the capital to relieve it of its weak emperor yet these men were a far cry from the well-drilled armies of previous generations after some initial successes constantine was crushed his men never returned to britain by now many military garrisons in the province seemed to have become hereditary they lived with their families and held static positions meanwhile events on the continent were about to go from bad to worse in the year 406 a huge confederation of germanic and allen tribes crossed over the rhine after it froze over in a particularly harsh winter rome would never hold the whole of gaul again [Music] then as germanic invaders swept over mainland gaul the british economy collapsed replaced according to many historians with a barter system destroying the last vestiges of the regular army in places like bird oswald the men had no choice but to fight now a hereditary military cast having developed they fought not for pay but for their families [Music] the archaeological evidence suggests a dramatic collapse in around 400. most british towns enter a period of significant decay or abandonment many villas in the countryside survived later another generation or two but soon they would go as well the historian zosimus talks of roman colonial administrators being ousted and exiled in the early 5th century suggesting an actual governmental exodus however because dateable coins from the continent dry up around this time it's difficult to date the actual end of settlements with pottery 2 once a prosperous trade dying off by around 4 25 [Music] thus according to many archaeologists someone who grew up in the empire in around the time of the great barbarian conspiracy did so in an interconnected world of coliseums aqueducts and roads just 60 years later they now lived in a world without towns or currency [Music] though of course it isn't as simple as that there are many conflicting theories about the real extent of continuation from the roman world for example old pottery could have simply been reused and old coins kept in circulation with no new ones being made and black earth found in the archaeological record found at places such as virgonium could suggest continuation in wood until at least the end of the 5th century and in other areas for much longer historian roger white suggests that britannia primer the westernmost of the reconstituted roman provinces in britain survived although it still remains difficult to establish exactly where these provinces were for roger white life here for the average person was no different than that in italy or africa during this period certain places in britain seemed to have been a land in between trapped between the classical and the medieval the old world and the new by the 5th century a gold earring and a glass ring found near the remains of hearths at bird oswald suggest a high status settlement two large central halls surrounded by smaller buildings for retainers seem to have been built by this time reminiscent of rothgar's hall from beowulf there is no break in occupation here meaning this community evolved from the roman garrison some form of continuation probably happened at other forts too such as vindalanda and hausteads just as it did in most cities for a time after all where else would people go the more romanized regions of the south east seem to have suffered the most whereas in wales and beyond the wall long since having been self-governed by auxiliaries their native chiefs allied to the roman cause the collapse perhaps wasn't as severe when the empire fell many of these fortifications survived though the wall itself fell into ruins perhaps these gates at bird oswald saw the warriors of a romano british elite still clinging on to some form of romanitas riding through to the great hall beyond but other fortifications were made too ancient hilltop citadels all over britain once held by their ancient ancestors before the time of the romans were re-fortified and reoccupied after centuries of absence all over the land from the far north antonine wall to the very south at cadbury castle though this is one of the periods in history with the least amount of recorded information the legends of king arthur and merlin may have begun during this time though it's important to note that he himself is only mentioned for the first time by welsh bishop nenius in the 9th century you can listen to nenius's account of king arthur over on our second channel voices of the past and don't forget to subscribe for more historical content [Music] a number of historians and archaeologists portray this era as a failed state some such as stuart laycock go even further arguing that the province was never fully romanised in the first place regional rivalries remaining strong if he existed living in a post-roman twilight of warring factions and regional chiefs arthur or the many warlords who inspired his legend might have been just as likely to fight other romano-british warlords rather than saxon invaders with some archaeologists going so far to suggest in some areas polities being no larger than their own surrounding valley and kings barely existing in any more than name and any sense of shared identity be it roman or british being little more than skin-deep such was the level of societal collapse that they read from the evidence however in other areas of the province there is substantial evidence of a great re-militarization of society money was being spent on other things besides luxury in truth british elites had never been forced to become roman they'd romanized themselves by choice much like american culture today and when the empire fell they chose to deromanize themselves money was now spent on retinues on hill forts and over time on churches rather than on villas and bath houses as a new culture took hold [Music] even before this time by the 4th century the previously large and impressive houses of military governors shrink in size significantly these warrior lords didn't have a tradition of showing off wealth via their architecture wealth was now shown through military power though it's now been returned to its original state south cadbury hill fort was excavated by the great archaeologist leslie alcock in the 1960s he found a great hall here along with vast early medieval fortifications so much so that he was able to market the site as camelot yet this was by no means the exception hill forts occupied before the romans became occupied again afterwards all over the country from maiden castle to dennis palace to garn bot one if king arthur did exist this was the world he was born into a warrior culture far removed from the luxuries of the second and third centuries no doubt there were warlords like arthur who fought it out during this mysterious time but would this arthur-like figure have been a member of the old roman world at somewhere like bird oswalt or would he be refortifying an old citadel of his ancestors from hundreds of years before in around 430 a gallic bishop gemanus of auxerre arrived in britain with his companion severus to root out pelagian heretics according to them the southern half of the island was ruled by one man gildas probably writing somewhere around a century later also refers to this tyrant [Music] much later nenius and beed call him vortigern gemanus describes winchester still being a viable city at this time and though writing in hagiographical style rather than historical constantius of leon who wrote the account down before the end of the 5th century provides us a fascinating glimpse into some form of rome surviving [Music] when germanus apparently returns to pay a second visit though this is disputed by some historians the province faced significant pressure from the north and from the east from fearsome picts and pagan saxons perhaps ex-mercenaries who couldn't be paid there had probably been germanic auxiliaries in the province for centuries by this point as evidenced by the saxon shaw forts and the position duke of the saxon shore in the 5th century when germanic mercenaries were called in in later centuries said to have been led by the legendary judish warriors hengist and horsa to fight against other invaders the fate of the province was essentially sealed the rest of the century is then marked by a gradual erosion away of british power and a new germanic culture particularly in the east of the island where several kingdoms were formed though this isn't the case in the west in the 3rd century the largely self-governed britannia primer had proved remarkably resilient and many might have assumed that life would simply go on here it did in many areas viraconium shows little change in the initial post-roman period and direct links to the continent continued via the western seaways even after the collapse of rome itself in 476 roman baths continued to be used until just after the year 500 and in some places particularly villas in the countryside for much longer [Music] surviving cities were common in the north too with chester lincoln and york showing some signs of continuation the city of carlisle originally a fortress on the eastern edge of hadrian's wall is a good candidate for roman britain's last city surviving well into the 7th century having been made into a civitas in the 3rd century perhaps by caracalla carlisle had its own city council and was thus to a certain extent self-sufficient [Music] historians such as ken dark have gone even so far as to suggest that britannia secunda survived as the hereditary monarchy ruled over by cole hen in the early 400s a figure mentioned in many later welsh poems the top of numerous royal pedigrees in the north of britain and is thought to have been the last dux britanniarum duke of roman york [Music] in the 1970s independent scholar john morris presented a fascinating yet somewhat fanciful idea of an independent britannia surviving complete with a full acceptance of arthur as a long-lost historical king who oversaw a brief golden age this is an extremely entertaining idea and was incredibly popular at the time though it received huge amounts of scholarly criticism in places bordering on the fantastical territory of the much earlier arthurian legends by geoffrey of monmouth we have evidence of many native warlords during this time some of whom may have inspired the arthur legend no doubt many fought against germanic newcomers but in all likelihood they were probably just as likely to have fought neighbouring british warlords and in time themselves developed a more germanic influenced warrior culture hinted at by the great hall built at bird oswald one famous warrior who arose during this time is ambrosius aurelianus recorded by gildas in the 6th century after winning several battles against the saxons some traditions recording him overthrowing the tyrant vortiger no further victories against the britons are recorded until after 473 leading many historians to suggest that some level of equilibrium had been reached by ambrosius with the britons still controlling vast swathes of the west of the island it would be decades yet before germanic warriors are recorded in the written record once more in the form of ayla of the south saxons and cherdich of the west saxons each the semi-legendary progenitor of a royal house at the city of virgonium in the english midlands the remnants of irish warriors are found a testament to similar warrior mercenaries making their fortunes on britain's western shores many irish place names along the western coasts and inscriptions written in ogham suggest widespread settlement at this time in around 500 the tombstone of an irishman called konorix translated by some to mean something along the lines of son of a dog and by others as hound king was found at the city of virgonium these were pagan irishmen eager to get rich from the carcass of roman rule yet unlike the saxons in the east it wouldn't be the irish who would leave a lasting impact on the region according to epic poetry the origins of the northern welsh kingdom of gwyneth lie not with their own native leaders they projected themselves as having originated near modern day edinburgh then the capital of den eden with the men of godothin one of the kingdoms of the old north according to the gwyneth foundation legend a british warrior lord came down from north of hadrian's wall to drive out the irish along with his eight sons and grandson his name was canada he is sometimes portrayed as being descended from a sub-roman official of the north hinted at by his ancestor padan pesrot meaning of the red robe which may reflect the latin paternus the people of mano gadothin perhaps the mete are often thought to have been pictish or at least a closely related people never having been ruled by rome they remained strong perhaps explaining how a group of them under canada usurped control of gwyneth [Music] the men of gwyneth would survive the longest out of any of the welsh kingdoms and long had strong cultural connections with the men of the north ancestry from the old north would become a badge of honor for later welsh dynasties for centuries to come forming an integral backdrop to the struggle between saxon and britain for both glasgow and edinburgh have british welsh origins both being the heartlands of kingdoms of the old north juan lay on the imposing hilltop fortress of old klute an exceptionally strong place for a capital established by a new group that seized control of the ancient peoples around the end of the 5th century the men from the kingdom of the rock were notorious pirates at first being known to operate all over the irish sea and perhaps as hinted at by a letter in the life of columba it was actually they not irishmen who enslaved saint patrick and brought him to ireland [Music] unlike these other kingdoms the ancient realm of godothin was old near unfathomably old it existed before the romans came in the form of the votadini tribe their capital initially may have been the well-defended crags at trapan law in east lothian though later they moved to den eden edinburgh rock [Music] their territory stretched between the fourth and the time and for hundreds of years they'd fortified the region for rome though often written down hundreds of years later there are many welsh sources for this period often in the form of poetic songs made by travelling bards they provide glimpses of a historical account thus though the years 400 to 600 are some of the least documented in british history in wales there is more information than the previous or the next two centuries [Music] in these stories still recounted today hundreds of years later the heroes of the old north become paragons of valor [Music] but such as in nenius's case they may have actually been constructed or modified for modern goals for example inflating the pedigree of the new ruling dynasty of gwyneth in the 9th century a dynasty that claimed descent from the old north whilst diminishing that of their rivals such as palace claiming descent from vortigern making him into a tyrant for this was the time of rodery the great who sought to conquer palace and claim it as his own succeeding before the end of his reign nevertheless the legacy of the old north can still be glimpsed today in place name evidence and archaeological data [Music] so it was by the early 6th century whether arthur had been involved or not in the post-roman twilight from their heartland of lothian the lords of den eden ruled over large swathes of lands certainly to the tweed and perhaps including hadrian's wall but their sub-kingdom of burneck the land of the mountain passes a number of germanic mercenaries had been settled whether they had come from the south at one of the other germanic settlements in britannia or whether they were newcomers to the province entirely isn't clear but within a few generations due to the actions of these men the entire landscape would be redrawn [Music] but of course the old north wouldn't go down without a fight you've been watching history time don't forget to like and subscribe and i'll see you on the next one you

Channel: History Time

Views: 869,444

Rating: 4.8660088 out of 5

Keywords: iMovie, Britain after rome, early medieval, king arthur, the real king arthur, riothamus, history, early middle ages, romano-britons, romano-british, fall of britannia, Britannia, Roman Britain

Id: 1k3e4qlgtaQ

Length: 41min 28sec (2488 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 28 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/Massive-Gas]

thank you for that wonderful documentary i like it