The Roman era in Britain / by John Ward ... with seventy-seven illustrations by the author.

  • John Ward
Date:
[1920]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The Roman era in Britain / by John Ward ... with seventy-seven illustrations by the author. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION POLITICALLY, the Roman era in Britain began with the Claudian Conquest in a.d. 43, and ended with the isolation of the country from the rest of the decaying empire consequent upon the passing of northern Gaul into the hands of the Trans-Rhenish barbarians in a.d. 406-410. But Roman influence through intercourse with the Continent preceded the former event, and Britain continued to be Roman after the latter event, remaining so, harassed by foes from without and probably by dissensions within, until the English conquest. Broadly speaking, the Roman era lasted 450 years. To gauge what four-and-a-half centuries may mean in the history of a country, let the reader contrast the times of Henry the Sixth with our own. England then was without the printing- press, the newspaper, and a cheap literature ; without steam- power and almost without machinery ; without a postal system, railways, steamships, telephones, and gas and electric lighting ; without cotton, porcelain, vulcanite, and a host of other familiar inventions. It helps one to realize what four-and-a-half centuries mean, when one recalls the fact that since that time twenty-three sovereigns have sat on the throne of England ; and that during the interval the population has increased well-nigh tenfold, America has been discovered, our political system has been evolved, and a vast colonial empire founded. We cannot doubt that under the Romans, the greatest organizers of the ancient world, enormous changes were also wrought in this country, and this is confirmed by the verdict of both history and archaeology.
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