IV. Traces of the Roman Rule in Britain

Today there are many things in Britain to remind the people of the Ro­mans. The wells which the Romans dug give water today and the chief Roman roads are still among the highways of Modern England. The fragments of the old London wall built by the Romans can still be seen. Often, ever now, when men are digging in England they find Ro­man pottery, glass, tiles, statues, armour, coins and other things that were used by Romans in that old time. Many of these remains can be seen in the British Museum.

Besides, many words of Modern English have come from Latin. The words with the Romans left behind them in the language of Britain are for the most part the names of the things which they taught the Celts. For example, the word ‘street’ came from Latin ‘strata’ which means ‘road’; ‘port’ from the Latin ‘portus’: ‘wall’ – ‘vallum’ (Lat.)

The names of many modern English towns are of Latin origin too. The Roman towns were strongly fortified and they were called ‘castra’ which means ‘camps’. This word can be recognized in various form in such names of towns as Chester, Winchester, Manchester, Leicester, Lancaster. Any English town with a name ending in ‘chester’, ‘cester’, ‘caster’ was once a camp or city.

The Roman way of life influenced only the southeastern part of the country. The Romans built most of their towns in the south and east. In the remote western parts of the country and especially in the North, which the Romans didn’t manage to conquer, the old tribal life went on.

V. The Anglo-Saxon Conquest of Britain

The fall of the Western Roman Empire is regarded as the end of ancient history.

After the Roman legions left Britain the Celts had to defend the country against Germanic tribes which lived on the Continent. But the Celts were not success. By the end of the 6th cent. the Germanic tribes (Teutonic) inhabited all the territory of the Br. Isles, except Scotland, Wales and Cornwall (Корноул – граф-во в Англии). The Germanic (Teutonic) tribes, included the Angles, the Saxons, the Jutes, the Freezes occupied the British Isles this way – the Angles occupied the territory from Scotland to the Thames, the Saxons – near the Thames and to the south from it; the Jutes – the south – eastern part of the Br. Isles ( the part which was called Kent and up to modern days it is called Kent). By the end of the 6^th cent. and the beginning of the 7^th cent. several kingdoms were formed on the territory of Britain conquered by the Germanic tribes. Their names were Northumbria, Mercia, Wessex and Kent. On the territory of these kingdoms 4 dialects were formed – Northumbrian, Mercian, Wessexian, Kentish.These kingdoms were hostile to each other and they fought constantly for the supreme power in the country.

In the half of the 9^th century, Wessex occupied the leading position. And from that period the differences between these Anglo-Saxon king­doms began disappearing.

But the Anglo-Saxons made up the majority of the population of Brit­ain. Their customs, religion and language became predominant. They called the Celts (whom they couldn’t conquer) ‘welsh’ which means foreigners as they couldn’t understand the Celtic language which was quite unlike their own. But gradually the Celts who were in minority merged with the conquerors, adopted their customs and learned to speak their language. Only the Celts who remained independent in the West, Scotland and Ireland spoke their native language.

In the course of time all people of Britain were referred to as the Eng­lish after the Angles and the new name ‘England’ was given to the new country [ England means ‘Anglelond’ – страна/ земля ангелов]. From that period it’s possible to speak about the forming of English nation. The Anglo-Saxon language or English, has become the main language of the country since then, although it has undergone great changes.

As early as the 6^th cent. (597) the Roman monks started to convert the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity. But at the end of the 7^th cent. the Christianity was spread all over the country. The monasteries became centers of knowledge and learning. The monks copied many handwritten books and even translated some books from Latin and Greek into Anglo-Saxon. Some monks were chroniclers, they kept a record of the important events of every year. Psalters, chronicles and other manuscripts written by the monks are very important historical documents today. The monks started to create written English.