Roman London

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Carausius coin from Londinium mint.

Londinium redirects here, for other uses see Londinium (disambiguation)

This article covers the history of London during the Roman period from around 47 AD when the Roman city of Londinium was founded, to its abandonment during the 5th century.

1 Origins and language
2 Development
3 Decline
4 See also
5 Notes
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Origins and language

Londinium was established as a town by the Romans after the invasion of AD 43 led by the Emperor Claudius. Archaeologists now believe that Londinium was founded as a civilian settlement by 50 AD. A wooden drain by the side of the main Roman road excavated at No 1 Poultry has been dated to 47 which is likely to be the foundation date.

Prior to the arrival of the Romans, the area was almost certainly open countryside. The site was probably chosen because it was the first place up river where the River Thames could easily be bridged.

It was traditionally thought that Londinium started as a fort to defend the crossing, and later developed into a civilian settlement. However, archaeological excavation (undertaken by the Department of Urban Archaeology of the Museum of London, now called MOLAS) since the 1970s has also failed to unearth any convincing traces of military occupation on the site, so many archeologists now believe that Londinium was the product of private enterprise. Its site on a busy crossing made it a perfect place for traders from across the Empire to set up business.

The name Londinium is thought to be pre-Roman (and probably pre-Celtic) in origin although there has been no consensus on what it means. However, recent research by Richard Coates has suggested that the name derives from pre-Celtic Old European — Plowonida — from two roots, plew and nejd, meaning something like "the flowing river" or "the wide flowing river". Londinium therefore means "the settlement on the wide river". He suggests that the river was called the Thames upriver where it was narrower, and Plowonida downriver where it was too wide to ford. For a discussion on the legends of London and Plowonida see [1]. Many other suggestions have been made in the past. For example, see BBC History website. (For suggestion that the name of the city is derived from a mythical King Lud, see above.)

Inscriptions and graffiti found by archaeologists show that Latin was the official language. It has been inferred that many of the local people spoke Brythonic (a Celtic dialect similar to Welsh) although Stephen Oppenheimer in The Origins of Britain: A Genetic Detective Story (Constable and Robinson, London 2006) controversially claims that it is possible that an early version of English was already being spoken in the South at the time of Londinium's foundation.

[edit] Development

[edit] 1st Century

Following its foundation in the mid 1st century, early Roman London occupied a relatively small area, roughly equivalent in size to Hyde Park. The nineteenth century antiquarian Roach Smith estimates its length from the Tower to Ludgate (east to west) at about a mile; and from London Wall to the Thames (north to south) around half a mile. Archeologists have uncovered numerous imported goods from this period from across the Roman Empire, suggesting that early Roman London was a highly cosmopolitan community of merchants from across the Empire.

[edit] Boudica's uprising

In around AD 60, ten years after Londinium was founded, it was sacked by the Iceni led by the their queen Boudica. Excavation has revealed extensive evidence of destruction by fire in the form of a layer of red ash beneath the City at this date, and recently a military compound has been discovered in the City of London which may have been the headquarters of the Roman fight against the British uprising.

Tacitus states that the Romans responded to Boudica's attack by slaughtering as many as 80,000 Britons. There is a longstanding folklore belief that this battle took place at King’s Cross (earlier known as Battle Bridge), after which Boudica is said to have committed suicide by taking poison.

However, after this, the city was quickly rebuilt as a planned Roman town and recovered after perhaps 10 years. During the late decades of the 1st century Londinium expanded rapidly, and quickly became Roman Britain's largest city. By the end of the century, Londinium had replaced Colchester as the capital of Roman Britain (Britannia).

[edit] 2nd and 3rd Centuries

During the 2nd century Londinium was at its height. Emperor Hadrian visited Londinium in AD 122, and probably because of his visit, a number of impressive public buildings were constructed. At some point soon after his visit, a major fire is believed to have destroyed a significant part of the city. Archeologists have discovered significant amounts of burnt debris from this period, although there is no mention of a fire by any classical writers.

London appears to have bounced back, however, and by 140 Londinium had reached its population height of around 45,000 to 60,000 inhabitants. By the middle of the century Londinium boasted major public buildings, including the largest basilica north of the Alps, a governor's palace, temples, bath houses and a large fort for the city garrison.

Excavations during the 1980s uncovered a large Roman port complex near the present-day London Bridge and on the other side of the river at Southwark, confirming that, during this period, Londinium would have been an important commercial and trading centre.

In the second half of the 2nd century, after about 150, Londinium appears to have suffered a slump in size and population. It is not known what caused this but plague is considered a likely culprit, as it is known that between AD 165 and 190 the disease had severely affected Western Europe. Another explanation put forward is that Emperor Hadrian's decision not to extend the empire any further may have caused London merchants to lose valuable contracts, causing the economy to slump.

[edit] London Wall

Main article: London Wall

At around the same time, the Romans built the London Wall, a defensive wall around the landward side of the city. Along with Hadrian's Wall and the road network, the London Wall was one of the largest construction projects carried out in Roman Britain. The wall was about 3 kilometres (2 miles) long, 6 metres (20 feet) high, and 2.5 metres (8 feet) thick. The wall was built at some time between 190 and 225 AD.

Although the exact reason for the wall's construction is unknown, it may have been connected to the invasion of northern Britain by Scots who overran Hadrian's Wall in the 180s ^[1]. Alternatively, many historians link it with the political crisis that had emerged in the 190s when two men—Septimius Severus, governor of Britain, and usurper Clodius Albinus—both claimed the right to succession as Emperor. The wall may have been constructed on the orders of Albinus in the 190s, who, in a power struggle with his rival, may have felt the need to protect his capital. Septimius eventually defeated his rival in 197.

The economic stimulus provided by the wall and Septimius's campaigns of conquest in Scotland appear to have revived Londinium's fortunes somewhat in the early 3rd century. Archeological evidence points to renewed construction activity from this period.

One of the reforms introduced by Severus in around 200 AD was the division of Roman Britain into two provinces: Britannia Superior (Upper Britain) and Britannia Inferior (Lower Britain). London remained capital of Upper Britain, whilst Eboracum (York) became capital of Lower Britain.

The wall would survive for another 1,600 years and define London's perimeters for centuries to come. The perimeters of the present City of London are roughly the same as those defined by the wall.

In the late 3rd century, Londinium was raided on several occasions by Saxon pirates. This led, from around 255 onwards, to the construction of an additional riverside wall.

[edit] Carausian Revolt

Main article: Carausian Revolt

The "Trier medallion" showing a woman kneeling in front of a Roman soldier at the city walls, to thank him for bringing Allectus's rule to an end

In 286 the usurper Carausius rebelled against Rome's rule and declared himself the Emperor of Roman Britain. His rule lasted for seven years before he was murdered by his treasurer Allectus, who assumed his position.

In 296 the general Constantius Chlorus invaded Britain to reclaim Britain for Rome. At this point, Frankish mercenaries employed by Allectus started to sack Londinium. They were interrupted in this task when a flotilla of Roman warships sailed up the Thames. According to the 4th century writer Eumenius "the ships reached London, found survivors of the barbarian mercenaries plundering the city, and, when these began to seek flight, landed and slew them in the street".

The event was commemorated (see picture) by a gold medallion known as the Trier medallion which showed Constantius Chlorus on one side and on the other side a woman kneeling at the city wall welcoming a Roman soldier on horseback.

[edit] 4th century

The early half of the 4th century appears to have been a prosperous time for Britain. The villa estates surrounding London appear to have flourished during this period. There is evidence to suggest that London had become a seat of a Christian bishop by 314.

By the middle of the century, however, the Roman Empire became increasingly troubled. Britain, by the mid 4th century, had become increasingly troubled by incursions by barbarian invaders. From 340 onwards, northern Britain was attacked by Picts and Scots. In 360 a large-scale attack forced the Emperor Julian the Apostate to send troops to deal with the problem.

In London at about this time, large efforts were made to improve the city's defences. At least twenty bastions were added to the city walls.

In 367 the "Great Conspiracy" - another large scale invasion py Picts, Scots and Saxons - occurred. This time the commander Count Theodosius was sent to deal with the problem and restore order, using Londinium as his base.

In around 368 Londinium was renamed as Augusta ^[2]. In the same century, Roman Britain was divided again and Londinium became the capital of the province of Maxima Caesariensis.

However, the troubles in the empire continued, and in 382 British troops rebelled and elected their own "emperor" Magnus Maximus. He soon gathered all of the British-based troops he could and crossed the channel. He gained control of the western part of the empire before being defeated by Theodosius I in 388. Unfortunately this left few troops remaining to defend Britain.

By the end of the 4th century, many Romano-British towns, including London, were in decline. Evidence shows that many of London's public buildings had fallen into disrepair by this point.

[edit] Decline

During the early 5th century the Roman Empire continued its decline. Between 407 and 409 large numbers of barbarians had penetrated Gaul and Spain and had seriously weakened communication between Rome and Britain. British troops elected their own leaders - the last of these, Constantine III, declared himself to be emperor of the Western Empire - and took an expeditionary force across the Channel leaving Britain short of troops. In 410, the Romano-British authorities dropped their alliegance to Constantine and appealed to Emperor Honorius for help. He told them that the Britons would have to look after their own defences, meaning effectively that the Roman occupation of Britain officially came to an end.

After the fall of the Roman Empire, Britain became increasingly vulnerable to attack by Germanic invaders, namely Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Frisians.

There is very little evidence - either historical or archaeological - of what happened to London in this period. However, chaos in the collapsing Roman Empire and in the British Isles meant that trade broke down, and London declined drastically.

According to early historians such as the Venerable Bede and Gildas, whose writings were later brought together in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, in 449 Angles and Saxons were invited to Britain by King Vortigern as mercenaries to help defend Britain against Picts and Scots. Bede, writing in the 8th century, stated that Jutes settled in Kent, and in 457, led by brothers Hengist and Horsa, defeated Britons at the Battle of Crecganford (Crecganford is thought to be modern Crayford) and the Britons fled to London in terror.

Although a small number of wealthy families managed to maintain a Roman lifestyle until the middle of the 5th century, by the end of the century the city was largely an uninhabited ruin.^[3]