The Norman Era(1066-1154 A.D)

Flint was in the Cantref or Lordship of Englefield, known to the Welsh as Tegeingl. Roughly this is the portion of Flintshire which lies to the north of a line drawn from Bodfari to Connah's Quay and it was in the early medieval times part of a larger territory known as the Middle Land which lay between the old Welsh kingdoms of Powys and Gwynedd. The princes of both kingdoms had from time to time laid claim to this land, but in the two centuries which proceeded 1277 the princes of Gwynedd had, for long periods, successfully made it part of their territories. Their great rivals for its possession during this period had been, not the princes of Powys but the great Norman lords of Chester who had claimed that their earldom extended westwards as far as the mouth of the Clwyd. The estuary of the Clwyd was of considerable importance to both the Welsh and Normans because it formed the first natural barrier to movement along the coast of North Wales from Chester and from the 10th century a fortified stronghold had guarded its crossing at Rhuddlan, the most important place in the Lordship of Englefield throughout the Middle Ages. To the south of Englefield lay Ystrad Alun, the name given to the upper reaches of the Alun valley - from the Clwydian Hills down to the junction of the river with a little stream called the Terrig, which joins the main river about a mile below Mold. Ystrad Alun also included part of Buckley Mountain and the land which stretches away, through Hawarden towards Chester. It was once a commote belonging to the mid Wales kingdom of Powys but in Norman times it became known as the Lordship of Monalt or Moldesdale and the castles at Mold and Hawarden were the strongholds of its Norman rulers. Adjoining Ystrad Alun was Yr Hob also a former commote of the kingdom of Powys. This consisted of the middle portion of the Alun Valley running from the confluence of the Alun with the Terrig, down to the point where the present boundary between Flintshire and Denbighshire crosses the river. The castle of Caergwrle built by the princes of Powys guarded this area which was known to the Normans and the English as the Lordship of Hoper or Hopedale. From Yr Hob we enter the valley of the Dee which was at one time held by the princes of Powys. The middle reaches of the Dee - from Llangollen to Chester - were known as Maelor. It had been known from early times as English Maelor because it was conquered and settled by the Saxons in the 7th century and although it was recovered by the princes of Powys in later centuries the influence of the early Saxon occupation was never completely wiped out. The most important places in this area were Bangor Isycoed, Overton, Hanmer and Worthenbury.

In the Middle Ages much of the coastal strip was marshland which could only be crossed by fords. In past centuries much of Flintshire was covered by thick forest apart from the peaks of the Clwydian Hills and other highlands. The earliest inhabitants lived on the highlands above tree-line. As the population increased and people learnt more about the art of agriculture and had better tools they made clearings in the forest and built villages in the valleys and along the coast.

Although William became King of England in 1066, Chester was still held in 1070 by Edwin, Earl of Mercia. However William crossed the Pennines from Yorkshire and caught Edwin by surprise and after a brief struggle Edwin surrendered. This was the end of any serious Saxon hope of driving out the Normans and returning the kingdom to Saxon rule. Earl Edwin died in 1071 attempting to flee to Scotland, at the hands of his own followers. The walls of Chester were re-built and a castle constructed on the banks of the River Dee. William also had built castle outposts at Shotwick, Hawarden, Pulford and Holt. His nephew Hugh became Earl of Chester and quickly extended his lands into Wales where he built a castle at Rhuddlan in 1073. Flintshire had been included in the Earldom of Chester. (Henry III annexed the Earldom to the crown and made his son, later Edward I, Earl of Chester and Flint in 1241. Until 1727 all Prince's of Wales were created Earl of Chester and Flint). By 1080 the Normans controlled all the coastlands between the Clwyd and the Conway and built another castle at Deganwy. The Welsh did not know how to attack castles or how to fight against knights on horseback and it took some years for them to adapt to the new way of fighting.

William the Conqueror, though he seems to have had no intentions of invading Wales, wanted to ensure the stability of the frontier. Rather than trying to hold the border himself, he gave lands along the Welsh hinterland to his strongest and most loyal supporters. Roger Montgomery received Shrewsbury, William Fitzosbern got Hereford, and Hugh of Avranches (Hugh the Fat) was given Chester. These barons encouraged their followers to push gradually westward into Welsh territory. The Normans possessed several "weapons" which gave them an advantage over the Welsh. The Norman knights were better armoured and horsed than the Welsh, and they erected castles to hold each parcel of territory they carved from Welsh holdings.

The early Norman castles were simple motte and bailey affairs; basically an earthen mound surrounded by a wooden palisade. These wooden castles were gradually replaced by more massive - and more easily defended - castles of stone.

William Fitzosbern overran the kingdom of Gwent, but he had no time to enjoy his triumph. He died in 1071 and when his son was imprisoned for treason in 1075 the Earldom of Hereford was abandonned. Although this initially gave the Welsh in the south-east a breathing space, their relief was not to last long. A number of Norman landowners established small fiefdoms along the border. William visited Wales in 1081, making a pilgrimage to the shrine of St. David, a visit that allowed him to display his wealth and power to the Welsh. Although William acknowledged Rhys of Deheubarth as ruler of that kingdom, Rhys wisely agreed to pay Willliam an annual tribute. Grufudd ap Cynan was not so lucky - he was captured by Hugh the Fat of Chester and kept in prison for 12 years. Hugh's cousin Robert took much of Grufudd's lands, and the Normans seem to have regarded Gwynedd as a part of their kingdom. But the threat to Welsh territory did not stop at Gwynedd. Roger, Earl of Shrewsbury pushed deep into Powys. Around 1086 he built a castle at the ford of Rhydwhiman across the Severn, and named the place Montgomery. In 1087 William the Conqueror died, to be replaced on the English throne by his second son, also named William. The second William was not the forceful ruler his father had been, and he did nothing to restrict the ambitions of the Normans in Wales.

As we all know, William ordered his men to collect information about his new kingdom and this information has become known as the Domesday Book (also known as Doomsday Book). As Flintshire was regarded as part of the English kingdom it was included in the survey. In 1086 there were 226 houses in Chester. The most important part of Flintshire was Rhuddlan where there was a castle and church, a mint, corn mills and fisheries with 18 burgesses with numerous serfs and villeins. Other parts of Flintshire mentioned are Atiscros and Northop and Maelor Saesneg. Atiscros was the land around Oakenholt. The manor of Northop was then held by Hugh, the earl of Chester. There were 346 families recorded in Flintshire in the Domesday Book with a total of 2000 people. There were churches at Halkyn, Llanasa, Gwespyr, Meliden, Dyserth, Rhuddlan and Gwaenysgor.

Earl Hugh died in 1099 and was succeeded by his 7 year old son and the Prince of Gwynedd, Gruffydd ap Cynan (1081-1137), was able to retake the disputed lands. From 1100 to 1114 the prince, Gruffydd ruled over the whole of Flintshire. Then the Earl became 21 and wanted his lands back. Combined with the Kings of England and Scotland he invaded Wales and Gruffydd surrendered the disputed lands up to the River Clwyd to the Normans. Gruffydd died in 1137 and was succeeded by his son Owain ap Gruffydd who reigned 1137-70. At that time the English were in Civil War with Matilda fighting Stephen for the throne and Owain used the confusion to retake Flintshire from the Normans. There was a battle at Coleshill in 1150 where Owain defeated an English army led by the Earl of Chester assisted by the Prince of Powys, Madog ap Maredudd. It was not until 1157 that King Henry 11 invaded Wales to put an end to the independence of the Welsh princes.

The main English army crossed the Saltney marshes and moved along the coast towards Basingwerk but Owain was aware of the situation and when a small party including King Henry broke away he caught them unprepared in Ewloe woods and beat them. There was a second battle at Coleshill where Owain was again successful but was repulsed. Owain had to retreat in view of the large numbers of troops against him and peace was arranged with the disputed lands returning to English control. The fields south of Bagillt are known as 'Hill of Retreat'. In 1163 Henry quarrelled with Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury and during the dispute the Welsh again attempted to win control of Flintshire and in 1166 were successful. Owain died in 1170 and was succeeded by Dafydd who made peace with Henry even marrying his half-sister but he paid homage and acknowledged Henry as his overlord. This peaceful period ended in 1194 when Llewelyn ap Iorwerth, (the Great) the son of Dafydd's brother decided to become Prince of Gwynedd and by 1198 he had succeeded. In 1199 he captured Mold Castle from the English. In 1199 he made peace with King John, again acknowledging him as his overlord, and in 1205 marrying his daughter. However King John was greedy and in 1210 he invaded Wales and forced Llewelyn to make peace and all lands east of the Conway returned to English control. In 1213 King John was in dispute with his barons and Llewelyn took advantage of the situation and made peace with John and later the Earl of Chester whereby the lands returned to Welsh control. He was a powerful force on the side of the barons in their struggle with King John, and three clauses of Magna Carta (1215) declare his privileges and recognize the independence of the law administered by him. Though he did homage (1218) to John's successor, Henry III, Llewelyn continued fighting against the English until 1234. Llewelyn was shrewd enough to realize that England was ultimately invincible, and at the end of his life he tried to secure for Wales the continuation of peace by placing the country in feudal dependence on the king of England, by a treaty made through the bishops of Chester and Hereford. By this treaty Llewelyn gave away the semblance of Welsh independence while retaining the reality of it, but this involved the succession of Dafydd, his son by an English mother and the cousin of the king, and the disinheriting of Griffith, born of a Welsh mother. Griffith was able and forceful, whereas Dafydd was not, and the sympathies of many in Wales were with Griffith and with his policy of hostile independence of England. Llewelyn could not reconcile his sons, and retired to the Cistercian monastery at Aberconwy, where he died in 1240. Llewelyn died in 1240 and was succeeded by his son Daffydd (David) who died in 1246 and was eventually succeeded by his nephew Llewelyn ap Gruffudd (the Last) who was prince until he was killed in 1282. He was succeeded by his brother, Daffydd who was killed in 1283.

Prior to the Norman Conquest the district was in the hands of Edwin, the last Earl of Mercia (c1026-1071). He was killed by his own men when he tried to escape from King William to Scotland. Near to Bryn Edwin in Flint Mountain are the foundations of an ancient site called Llys Edwin where he lived. This was just one of his many homes as he was a very wealthy man. He was the grandson of Lady Godiva (of Coventry fame), and was the brother-in-law of King Harold (Godwinson).

Saxon Era (5th century -1066A.D)

After the Romans left the Celts returned to power in North Wales. There is no written record of the events which took place during this period and it was many years before accounts of events were written by people who had only heard the story secondhand.

It is very difficult to distinguish between fact and legend. However we know that the Saxons started to arrive in Briton in 428 and by 642 were in control of all England. During this century North Wales was invaded by the Scots from the west in Ireland, the Picts from the north east and the Saxons from the south. Therefore the Britons moved west away from the invaders looking for new homes. Settled and civilised living became impossible with industry and farming ceasing in the confusion. Life became hard and uncertain. The Dark Ages had become.
It is believed that a tribe of Celts called the 'Votadini' under their chief Cunedda were persuaded to migrate on masse to North Wales from the northeast of Hadrian's Wall from Manau, the district centered about the modern Clackmannan, in the 430's to drive out invaders from Ireland but without written records this is only conjecture. There is however a memorial stone in Gwynedd indicating that the deceased was from Elmet which was a north British kingdom. The County of Flintshire was then divided into two parts, called Coleshill and Teigangle, with Flint in Coleshill.

Map of Anglo Saxon Britain

There is a tradition that there was a great battle fought at Maesgarmon near Mold in 447 between the Britons and the Picts and Scots when the Britons won. The Celtic speakers of Wales were cut off from their fellow Celtic speakers by the Battle of Deorham in 577 and the Battle of Chester in 613. The Britons of Wales for some centuries made repeated attempts to recover the northern parts of England from the Anglo-Saxons, but their defeat by Ethelfrith, the Angle king of Northumbria, at the Battle of Chester (c. 613), severed Strathclyde and all north Britain from Wales. The Welsh lost and control of Chester passed to the English. King Ethelfrith of Bernicia/Northumbria invaded the Welsh Kingdoms in order to stop King Iago of Gwynedd restoring the former's old enemy, Edwin, to the Deiran (East Yorkshire) throne. The armies of Gwynedd, Powys, Pengwern & Dumnonia rose to repell him, but were bitterly defeated at the Battle of Chester: Kings Iago of Gwynedd & Selyf Sarffgadau of Powys and Prince Cadwal Cryshalog of Rhos being killed. The battle was made infamous by Ethelfrith’s orders to his army to slay the British monks of Bangor-Is-Coed who had come to pray for a British victory. Bede claims 2100 monks came to pray and later says that about 1200 were killed and only 50 escaped. Bledric ap Custennin, King of Dumnonia died at the closely following Battle of Bangor-is-Coed. The English penetrated to the Irish Sea, thus separating the Welsh in Wales from the Welsh in SW Scotland and the Welsh now were invaded by the English from Northumbria and from the east by the Kingdom of Mercia. Ethelfrith was killed in battle at the Idle River by Rædwald of East Anglia near the present-day town of Nottingham. Over the next few years the power of the Kingdom of Mercia increased and the control of Flintshire passed to Mercia. There was a battle at Rhuddlan in 796 when the Welsh forces, including those of Powys and Dyfed tried to regain control of the Flintshire land when it is believed Prince Caradoc of Gwynedd fought and lost to the King of Mercia. Maredudd, king of Dyfed was killed at the battle of Rhuddlan. There was a further battle at Basingwerk in 821 when the Mercian king, Cenwulf was killed. The power of Mercia then declined with the Kingdom of Wessex becoming all powerful and its king becoming King of England. However the English (Saxons) then started to be invaded in their turn by the Vikings. The first Viking raid in Wales was in 798.

From 757 to 796 Mercia was ruled by King Offa who extended his lands to control the border areas along the Severn and the Dee. He built a dyke the whole length of Wales from the Irish Sea to the Bristol Channel to mark the boundary between Mercia and Wales and this wall is known as Offa's Dyke and can be seen at Treuddyn near Mold. Offa's Dyke is 150 miles long, of which about 80 miles of earthworks survive. It consists of a ditch about 6 feet deep and a rampart rising up to 25 feet above it to the east. It is constructed with sods cut from the earth and raised high above ground level, fronted by a ditch from which the sods were cut. It was probably surmounted by a wooden palisade and in places by a stone breastwork. It often rises to points 1400 feet above sea level. There were likely to be watchtowers at frequent intervals with gateways. Offa's Dyke, which was meant to slow attacks from the Welsh mountains into Mercia, quickly became the demarcation of the boundary into Wales. In Welsh law, to go beyond the dyke was to go into exile. An earlier King of Mercia had tried to divide his lands from the Welsh and this was probably King Ethelbald who ruled between 725 and 750. His wall is known as Wat's Dyke and it extended from Basingwerk near Holywell, to the River Severn at Maesbury Hill near Welshpool, North Shropshire. There are thoughts that Offa's Dyke actually finishes at Basingwerk and not at Prestatyn and also that it may have been constructed by the Romans. We may never know the true facts.
While the Saxons were engaged in the war against the Vikings there was continual warfare between the Welsh princes which prevented the Welsh people from settling down to prosperous and peaceful ways. In 821 the Celtic King, Cenwulf of Mercia died in Hen Blas Castle, Bagillt (perhaps called Basingwerk Castle). This was a Welsh Royal household castle and the remains are situated between Flint and Bagillt. In 891 a Viking army captured Chester and marched through Flintshire but was beaten back by the men of Gwynedd and Powys. Some years later there was a short period of stability under the Prince of Deheubarth, Hywel Dda, who managed to unite the Welsh but after his death Wales was once again a prey to English attacks. In 973 Edgar the Peaceful, King of Wessex came to Chester and invited the other Kings to meet him and submit to his authority. Eight kings including Prince Iago ab Idwal of Gwynedd attended and submitted.

Extract from the Bayeux Tapestry

By 1039 Gruffydd ap Llewelyn was the ruler of Gwynedd and was able to extend his kingdom east and south into Flintshire and Wrexham. He fought against Edward the Confessor and won and later Harold Godwinson, Earl of Wessex (later King Harold) and lost. Harold invaded Wales to retake the disputed lands and Gruffydd was killed in Snowdonia by traitors and the lands returned to English control in 1063. Harold was crowned King of England on 6 January 1066 the day after King Edward's death but was killed at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066, fighting the invading Normans under William the Conqueror.

Towards the end of the 6th century the Angles and Saxons in eastern Britain began to entertain designs on the western lands. The inability of the independent western peoples to unify against this threat left the most powerful kingdom, Gwynedd, as the centre of cultural and political resistance, a position it has retained until today. The weaker groups were unable to hold the invaders and after the Battle of Dyrham, near Gloucester in 577, the Britons in Cornwall were separated from those in Wales who became similarly cut off from their northern kin in Cumbria after the Battle of Chester in 616.

Though still geographically in a state of change, Wales could now be said to exist. At this point, the racial mix in Wales was probably little different from that to the east, where Saxon numbers were small, but Wales was held together by the people's resistance to the Saxons. The Welsh started to refer to themselves as Cymry (fellow countrymen), not by the Saxon term used by English-speakers today, which is generally thought to mean either foreigners or Romanized people.

Wales, like England in the Dark Ages, was a land of multiple kingships. The rugged terrain, with impenetrable mountain massifs and inhospitable upland ranges, broken by river valleys, did not make for a unified control or a unified development. The boundary with England was not marked by natural defences, and productive lowland areas as well as profitable upland pastures were open to frequent attacks. Not until King Offa of Mercia built his dyke in the second half of the 8th century was there a definable frontier, and that was designed mainly to deter Welsh attacks and control trade across the new border. It was much the longest as well as the most striking man-made boundary in the whole of western medieval Europe, and clearly came to play an important role in shaping the perception of the extent and identity of Wales. Small local communities acknowledged a ruler whose principal function might seem at times to wage war on his neighbours and to plunder their lands. In general, war made them defensive.

The principal divisions of Wales (right) were the four major kingdoms or principalities. Gwynedd was based on the Snowdonia massif and on Anglesey. Powys stretched from the borders of Mercia into central Wales. Dyfed, in the south-west, has been thought to represent the survival of very early traditions, some pre-Roman, some linked with the settlement of those who spoke the Goedelic form of Celtic. Deheubarth was a general name for the whole of south Wales, but in later centuries, certainly by the 11th century, it was a recognizable kingdom extending from Ceredigion on the west coast to Brycheiniog on the English border. As Dyfed declined Deheubarth absorbed parts of south-west Wales. In the 11th and 12th centuries, under pressure of Norman attacks and settlement, that part of Deheubarth which remained independent grew smaller.

In the ninth century the political order which had emerged among the peoples west of Offa's Dyke broke down. The ruling Dynasty of Dyfed-Deheubarth ran out in 814, that of Gwynedd in 825, and of Powys in 855. Into the vacuum stepped a new breed, the High Kings of all Wales. The first of them took over all Wales outside Glywysing by 878; he fought Vikings and English and although he was cut down in battle, he set a precedent and created a dynasty, grounded in Gwynedd, which took all Wales as its patrimony. He was Rhodri Mawr, the only king in Welsh history called Great. The second set up the dynasty in Dyfed-Deheubarth and by 950 ruled all Wales outside Morgannwg. He presided over a great codification of the laws of Wales, which henceforth bore his name. One Wales was to have one law. He was Hywel Dda the only king in Welsh history to be called good.

It would be difficult to characterize these early ruling Welsh princes as a group, but certain characteristics may be identified. They were, in general, rulers of a single kingdom. An individual who established his authority over several areas, or over Wales as a whole, was an exceptional figure. The king was usually drawn from the royal kin, though some of the most vigorous rulers were intruders. Even when these are taken into account, there was a clear tendency to return to the ancient stock of the ruling dynasty. In early centuries much depended on the reputation of an outstanding ruler.

From the 9th to 11th centuries, a threatening cloud lowered over Welsh and Saxon alike, in the shape of the Vikings - insatiable in their lust for adventure, battle, and the spoils of war. The shores of Britain were terrorized by these warriors, who plundered not only the coastline but deep inland, disrupting entire communities. Some success was achieved against the raiders by Rhodri Mawr - Rhodri the Great, ruler of Gwynedd, who won a victory over the Danish in 856 but was eventually forced into exile in Ireland. It is surprising, therefore that, despite their undoubted influence, apart from the place-names (such as Bardsey, Fishguard, Milford, Skomer, Swansea), the Vikings have left little in the way of monuments in the landscape. Indeed, perhaps the most notable signs are those upon the style of decoration used on the great crosses of the 10th and 11th centuries, like those at Carew and Nevern.

The unity established by Rhodri Mawr in the 9th century was to prove short-lived. Aggravated by Anglo-Saxon intervention and the Viking raids, the country remained politically feeble and divided. Again, although his laws long outlived his death, the cohesiveness brought about by Hywel Dda - Howell the Good, the grandson of Rhodri Mawr, was too fragile to extend beyond the reign in which it was achieved.

One last powerful ruler managed to bring a measure of unity prior to the Norman conquest. Gruffydd ap Llywelyn, from his initial seizure of power in Gwynedd in 1039, became a dominant figure in Wales. During the last eight years of his life (1055-63), he held the whole country under his sway; a position founded on military might and personal dependence. Once again, though, his downfall and death left a vacuum of authority and strength. Within a decade, the Welsh were facing a new and very real threat, more powerful than anything they had ever faced before - the Normans.

The Celtic period 700-600 B.C

Throughout its early history, as in later periods, the human settlement of Wales has been dictated by the geographical personality of the countryside. It is part of the highland zone of Britain, a land chiefly of mountain and high plateau; its connections with the eastern parts of Britain facing mainland Europe are less than those with Ireland, and with the western sea route that brought the Mediterranean into contact with Scandinavia.
Wales's relative physical isolation meant that native cultures persisted for many centuries after they had been replaced in lowland Britain. An outstanding example is the hut circles of the Bronze Age in North Wales, which were absorbed into the cultures of the Early Iron Age and continued in use well into Romano-British times. Caves, also, which were used in prehistoric times, continued to be used as the homes of Romano-British people. At the same time, the settlement of Wales was governed by the height of the human habitation line on the mountain sides, and by the presence of coastal plains in the south and southwest.
Before the end of the last Ice Age around ten thousand years ago, Wales and the rest of Britain formed part of the greater European whole and the early migrant inhabitants eked out a meagre living on the tundra or a better one amongst the oak, beech and hazel forests in the warmer periods. Most lived in the southeast of Britain, but small groups foraged north and west, leaving 250,000-year-old evidence in the form of a human tooth in a cave near Denbigh in north Wales and a hand axe unearthed near Cardiff. It wasn't until the early part of the Upper Paleolithic age that significant communities settled in Wales, with evidence that people were living in Wales as early as 20,000 years ago. Traces of these people have been found in caves near St. Asaph. During the Middle Stone Age (The Mesolithic period), about 10,000 BC the people tended to live around the mouths of rivers and along the seashore, and their food consisted of fish and shellfish but also of birds and small animals. Traces of these people have been found near Prestatyn. These people originated in North Africa. This civilization was far behind those of central France or northern Spain, and remained on Europe's cultural fringe as the melting ice cut Britain off from mainland Europe around 5000 BC. New people came to Flintshire about 2500 BC (The Neolithic Period) and they grew crops and kept herds or flocks of animals. Skilled in agriculture and animal husbandry, the Neolithic people also began to clear the lush forests covering Wales below 2000 feet, enclosing fields, constructing defensive ditches around their villages and mining for flint. They appear to choose to live on hilltop sites not far from the coast. These pre-Celtic peoples were the builders of Stonehenge, the cairns and megaliths which dot the English and Welsh countryside, and were builders of hill forts. Not much is known of these folks, but it is generally accepted that it is their genetic stock which comprised the bulk of the population at the time of the arrival of the Celtic culture around 1000-400 BC. About 2000 BC during the Bronze Age (circa 5,000 - 500 BC), a new group of people came to Britain and they have been called 'Beaker-folk' because of their fine pottery. They probably introduced copper working to the British Isles. These people were semi-nomadic sheep and cattle herders and probably had no settled homes. They buried their dead in mounds called tumuli or barrows and there are about 140 of these Bronze Age tumuli in Flintshire. Through their extensive trade networks, the inhabitants of Wales and the rest of Britain gradually adopted new techniques, changing to more sophisticated use of metals and developing a well-organized social structure. The established aristocracy engaged in much tribal warfare, as suggested by large numbers of earthwork forts built in this and the immediately succeeding period - the chief examples being at Holyhead Mountain on Anglesey and the Bulwalks at Chepstow. The earliest of the hill forts in Wales - at Dinorben - has been dated to about 1000 BC. The term "hill fort" is a rather loose one encompassing a variety of enclosed defensive structures, generally built on prominent, easily defended hill tops. These enclosures, some 600 of which have been found in Wales, range in size from large communal sites of over 15 acres to small rings which probably encircled a single farmstead. Archaeological finds at the few hill forts that have been thoroughly excavated allow us to draw a few tentative conclusions about the lives of these late Bronze Age and Iron Age inhabitants. Although the presence of grain mills indicates that some harvesting of that foodstuff was carried on, by far the largest amount of remains is that of animal bones, a pretty clear mark of the level of importance given to stock-husbandry.

Expansion of Celts

The Bronze Age peoples had been in Britain about 1000 years when the Celts arrived. The Celts were a fair-haired Aryan race who came out of the east, probably from the Danube basin around 1200 BC. In the 6th century BC they spread into Spain and Portugal. They were pioneers of ironworking, reaching their peak in the period from the 5th century BC to the Roman Conquest. By 300 BC they were the dominant race of the western world, having imposed their Iron Age culture from the Bosphorus to the Atlantic. (The Iron Age began in the 7th century BC). These people were farmers and raised cattle. However they never established an empire, but remained a grouping of warlike tribes, connected by a family of languages and a polytheist religion with its druidical priesthood. They first arrived in Britain about 1200 BC in small numbers but it was not until about 500 BC that they came to Flintshire. Familiar with Mediterranean civilization through trading routes, they introduced superior methods of metal-working that favoured iron rather than bronze, from which they forged not just weapons but also coins. Gold was used for ornamental works - the first recognizable Welsh art - heavily influenced by the symbolic, patterned La Tène style still thought of as quintessentially Celtic.
The Celts are credited with introducing the basis of modern Welsh. The original Celtic tongue was spoken over a wide area, gradually dividing into Goidelic (or Q-Celtic) now spoken in Ireland and Scotland, and Brythonic (P-Celtic) spoken in Wales, Cornwall and later exported to Brittany in France. The Celtic languages arrived in Britain around 1000BC, brought by the people known as Keltoi (Greeks) or Celtai (Romans). Cornish, Welsh and Breton arose from a group of languages known as Brythonic (Gaelic - Irish, Scots and Manx - derive from Goidelic). With increasing incursions of Germanic peoples, the Celts were driven to the north, and west. After the Battle of Chester in c 613, the Welsh found themselves cut off from their compatriots. At around this time, the word 'Cymry' first appears in a poem (Cymry meaning the Welsh), and at the same time we can begin to talk of Welsh as opposed to Brythonic.
Iron being a harder metal was stronger and knives and axes made from it were sharper and retained their edges longer. These gave them a distinct advantage over the Bronze weapons of the residents. In the 1st century BC they were defeated by the Roman Empire and by the Germanic tribes on the continent and were confined largely to Britain, Ireland, and northern France. Their domination in the British Isles ended following the Roman invasion in AD 43. The Decangli Celtic tribe were living in North Wales from about 100 BC.
The Celtic nobility became Romanised and in places retained some local administration powers on behalf of the Romans. After the Romans left in the late 4th century AD the Celts returned to power but were then displaced by the pagan Anglo-Saxons. Celtic culture was diluted under the Romans but remained largely intact in Wales. Their religion was controlled by the Druids, who to protect their power forbade any written language. The Celts transmitted their culture orally, never writing down history or facts. This accounts for the extreme lack of knowledge about them prior to their contact with the classical civilizations of Greece and Rome. Having left no written records themselves it is not always easy to sort out. The bulk of what is written about them comes from observations made by their enemies or by those who would somehow rule them. Therefore all knowledge was committed to memory and it took 20 years of learning to become a Druid. The language they spoke survives in the Welsh and Gaelic tongues of modern Britain. It is highly probable that the Celts of Britain were a mixture of the fair-skinned invaders and the shorter and darker Bronze Age folk, with whom they intermarried.

The average lifespan for men was 30 and 20 for women. Women tended to marry at around 14, often dying in childbirth, with about 50% of the children dying before reaching 12. The Celts built round, thatched houses with walls of wattle and daub in the lowlands and of dry stone in the highland areas. They built or rebuilt Bronze Age hill forts for refuge in times of trouble into which men and beasts could retreat when threatened. Examples in our area are Moel-y-Gaer at Rhosesmor, Moel Fenlli behind Mold, and Moel Arthur and Pen-y-Cloddiau near Nannerch. They were in use from about 500 BC until about 500 AD.

The regions of Wales were developing along tribal lines by the time the advent of iron ushered in a new cultural change. The Ordovices in the north east and the Silures in the south east are but two of these early tribes, the names of which are not their own but those given them by late Roman invaders. The earliest iron artefact in Wales is a sword dating to about 600 BC, but by 400 BC iron was being smelted and crafted into tools all over the British Isles.

The tribes of Wales developed regional styles of working iron, gold, and other metals, following the exquisite western European style known as La Tene (after the village of La Tene in Switzerland). At the same time as iron was introduced to Britain a new crop of settlers arrived from northern Europe. These were the Celts, whose cultural influence cannot be overstated. Traditional history has viewed the Celts as fierce conquerors who swept away the vestiges of earlier cultures and took complete control of Welsh society. A more balanced and likely theory is that the actual number of Celtic newcomers was low, and though they managed to dominate the culture of the earlier inhabitants of Wales, they did so without changing the overall physical or racial characteristics. So the Welsh of today are more likely to owe their physiognomy, if not their culture, to the Beaker People rather than the later Celts.

WHO WERE THE CELTS?
The Iron Age is the age of the Celt in Britain. Over the 500 or so years leading up to the first Roman invasion a Celtic culture established itself throughout the British Isles. Who were these Celts? The Celts as we know them today exist largely in the magnificence of their art and the words of the Romans who fought them. The trouble with the reports of the Romans is that they were a mix of reportage and political propaganda. It was politically expedient for the Celtic peoples to be coloured as barbarians and the Romans as a great civilizing force. And history written by the winners is always suspect.

Where did they come from? What we do know is that the people we call Celts gradually infiltrated England and Wales over the course of the centuries between about 500 and 100 BC. There was probably never an organized Celtic invasion; for one thing the Celts were so fragmented and given to fighting among themselves that the idea of a concerted invasion would have been ludicrous. The Celts were a group of peoples loosely tied by similar language, religion, and cultural expression. They were not centrally governed, and quite as happy to fight each other as any non-Celt. They were warriors, living for the glories of battle and plunder. They were also the people who brought iron working to Britain.

Celtic family life. The basic unit of Celtic life was the clan, a sort of extended family. The term "family" is a bit misleading, for by all accounts the Celts practiced a peculiar form of child rearing; they didn't rear them, they farmed them out. Children were actually raised by foster parents. The foster father was often the brother of the birth-mother. Clans were bound together very loosely with other clans into tribes, each of which had its own social structure and customs, and possibly its own local gods.

Housing. The Celts lived in huts of arched timber with walls of wicker and roofs of thatch. The huts were generally gathered in loose hamlets. In several places each tribe had its own coinage system.

Farming. The Celts were farmers when they weren't fighting. One of the interesting innovations that they brought to Britain was the iron plough. Earlier ploughs had been awkward affairs, basically a stick with a pointed end harnessed behind two oxen. They were suitable only for ploughing the light upland soils. The heavier iron ploughs constituted an agricultural revolution all by themselves, for they made it possible for the first time to cultivate the rich valley and lowland soils. They came with a price, though. It generally required a team of eight oxen to pull the plough, so to avoid the difficulty of turning that large a team, Celtic fields tended to be long and narrow, a pattern that can still be seen in some parts of the country today.

The lot of women. Celtic lands were owned communally, and wealth seems to have been based largely on the size of cattle herd owned. The lot of women was a good deal better than in most societies of that time. They were technically equal to men, owned property, and could choose their own husbands. They could also be war leaders, as Boudicca (Boadicea) later proved. Language. There was a written Celtic language, but it developed well into Christian times, so for much of Celtic history they relied on oral transmission of culture, primarily through the efforts of bards and poets. These arts were tremendously important to the Celts, and much of what we know of their traditions comes to us today through the old tales and poems that were handed down for generations before eventually being written down.

Druids. Another area where oral traditions were important was in the training of Druids. There has been a lot of nonsense written about Druids, but they were a curious lot; a sort of super-class of priests, political advisors, teachers, healers, and arbitrators. They had their own universities, where traditional knowledge was passed on by rote. They had the right to speak ahead of the king in council, and may have held more authority than the king. They acted as ambassadors in time of war, they composed verse and upheld the law. They were a sort of glue holding together Celtic culture. The Isle of Anglesey seems to have been held in special esteem by the Celtic-Welsh druids.

Religion. From what we know of the Celts from Roman commentators, who are, remember, witnesses with an axe to grind, they held many of their religious ceremonies in woodland groves and near sacred water, such as wells and springs. The Romans speak of human sacrifice as being a part of Celtic religion. One thing we do know, the Celts revered human heads. Celtic warriors would cut off the heads of their enemies in battle and display them as trophies. They mounted heads in doorposts and hung them from their belts. This might seem barbaric to us, but to the Celt the seat of spiritual power was the head, so by taking the head of a vanquished foe they were appropriating that power for themselves. It was a kind of bloody religious observance.

The Celts at War. The Celts loved war. If one wasn't happening they'd be sure to start one. They were scrappers from the word go. They arrayed themselves as fiercely as possible, sometimes charging into battle fully naked, dyed blue from head to toe, and screaming like banshees to terrify their enemies. They took tremendous pride in their appearance in battle, if we can judge by the elaborately embellished weapons and paraphernalia they used. Golden shields and breastplates shared pride of place with ornamented helmets and trumpets. The Celts were great users of light chariots in warfare. From this chariot, drawn by two horses, they would throw spears at an enemy before dismounting to have a go with heavy slashing swords. They also had a habit of dragging families and baggage along to their battles, forming a great milling mass of encumbrances, which sometimes cost them a victory, as Queen Boudicca would later discover to her dismay. As mentioned, they beheaded their opponents in battle and it was considered a sign of prowess and social standing to have a goodly number of heads to display. The main problem with the Celts was that they couldn't stop fighting among themselves long enough to put up a unified front. Each tribe was out for itself, and in the long run this cost them control of Britain.

If the physical makeup of the Welsh people owes more to the Beaker People, Welsh culture is largely a Celtic one. The warlike Celts, with their reverence for martial heroism, left an indelible mark on the folk tales and cultural myths of Wales.

The End Of The Roman Britain - 410A.D

The beginning of the end
of the Roman empire:

The current state of Roman Empire:

Before examining the final chapter in Roman Britain, it is important set the scene of the Roman Empire as a whole.

By the time Theodosius died in 395 the Roman Empire was well and truly divided into two halves. Theodosius' two sons, Arcadius and Honorius inherited the realm. Honorius was on the throne from 395 to 423 and had inherited a stable structure both within the empire and on it's borders. But, as we shall see, his time in office was not an easy one and turned the empire into a divided and broken mess that would never recover. Although there had been indications before that the empire would not be everlasting, it was now that the final death knolls were to be sounded. For Britain, this resulted in a complete collapse of society and the end of Roman rule.

At this time, Britain was in a stable and prosperous condition. It was under the rule of the Gallic empire, but still maintained contact with Rome, which still had ultimate control.

The lifestyle of the people of Britain had become a mixture of different cultures. There was the basic Celtic influence, which had been diluted with Roman and Gallic influences, and, to a lesser extent, others from the other provinces of the Roman Empire.

Arcadius and Honorius were emperors in name only. They were just figureheads for the empire. The true power lay with their chief ministers. This was more pronounced in the western division of the empire than the east.

The overall minister in charge of the west was Flavius Stilicho. Originally a member of the tribe of the Vandals, he had risen to power, largely by marrying Theodosius' adopted daughter, Serena, reputed to be a menacing character in her own right. This coupled with the claim that Theodosius had made a deathbed statement that Stilicho was to supervise his two sons. To strengthen the bond between himself and Honorius, he persuaded his daughter, Maria, to marry the new emperor.

The western division of the empire had depleted funds due to the separation of the original empire into two halves. The western part had an army that was made up of both Romans and a large number of conscripts from the provinces. The reason for this may be due largely to the fact that having the empire split in two, with the major contingent of the army in the west, meant a heavy military presence coupled with a vastly reduced income.

By the start of the fifth century, it was clear that changes had to me made if the heart of the empire was to exist. It was in 402 that troops began to be withdrawn from Britain. This fact is supported by the reduction of Roman coins in Britain from 402 onwards. Britain had to import coins at this stage as the last mint had been closed down under the rule of Maximus.

Britain is cut off from the Rome

Despite the size of his armies, Honorius withdrew garrisons from Britain to fight invasions at the borders of the European provinces. Britain was in a difficult predicament at this time. The barbarians had made significant advances into Gaul, thereby cutting Britain off from the main body of the empire. The only route to Britain now was by sea from Spain, but It was impractical as the sea was patrolled by barbarian ships and the coast of Britain had pirates from Ireland patrolling the coastal area as well.

But Britain was not going to give in so easily. The current ruler Constantine III dispatched troops into Gaul to fend off the invading Germans. The battles were ferocious and lengthy, with the end result of Constantine controlling a large part of Gaul by the end of 407. From there his son, Constans move south and took Spain in a very short time. By 409, Constantine had regained a large part of the western European empire. With the amount of land under the control of Constantine, Honorius had no option than to accept him as a joint leader. Britain as once again under Roman control, via the Gallic prefecture.

This did not last, with the land taken by Constantine in a case of civil war by 409. During this time, the Germans took their chance and moved into Gaul, ransacking and plundering the province as they went. The act of physically coming between Britain and Rome allowed the barbarians to once again land on British shores. They had been raiding since 408, but now this invasion was on a grand scale. By 410 Constantine had lost Britain. The Romans could not spare the time or the manpower to retake Britain. They were too busy fighting off offensives in Europe.

The end of the Roman empire

The final days:

The year was 410 AD. and Britain was now free of occupying forces and would remain so for over 650 years. There still remains one major question. Why was Britain not invaded from outside again? By 411 Honorius had made significant advances into territories taken from the Romans by the barbarian attacks prior to 410. Yet he made no attempt to bring Britain back under Roman rule. This had been a time of unrest, with rebellions and executions, until Honorius brought the situation under control and had restored some form of order to the remains of the empire. By 413 the fighting had receded and Honorius had retaken parts of Gaul and Spain. Britain was in a time of peace compared to the unrest on the continent. From their point of view, It is likely that the British leaders knew that if Britain came under Roman rule again, they would become figureheads, rubber stamping decisions made in another land. From Honorius' angle, he had one major problem that involved him not only as Emperor, but also on a personal basis. To launch another invasion on Britain, he would need to take control of Gaul completely. Gaul could not be fully occupied as Honorius' half sister, Galla Placidia had been captured by Alaric He used her as a lever to try to make a deal with Rome. Honorius could not completely retake Gaul until he had managed to get her back. Without a complete recapture of Gaul, he could not come across the channel to Britain. Then a change of approach occurred. Athaulf married Placidia and actually became Honorius' son in law. This could be seen as an attempt to unite the Goths and the Romans under one roof and share power instead of the two sides being in a perpetual state of conflict. The uniting of the two nations never took place and it was not until the death of Athaulf that Pladicia was returned to Honorius. When this happened the Spanish made a pact with the Romans to help them drive the barbarians out in return for military support. Despite these victories, the Roman Empire was decaying badly. It was in a fight for survival now. There were more pressing matters that needed greater attention than the recapture of Britain. This situation continued until it finally came to an end in 454 when the last emperor, Julius Nepos was murdered.

The Roman Conquest (43A.D)

The reasons behind the invasion of the emperor ClaudiusI in ad 43 are complex. King Verica seems to have been driven from his kingdom by Caratacus and Togodumnus, two sons of Cunobelin, and had fled to Rome. This event provided a casus belli (justification for war) for the whole of south-eastern Britain was now under a single rule which, if hostile to Roman interests, might cause local trouble in northern Gaul. More important for Rome was Britain's natural resources such as slaves and skins, and especially metals: tin, lead, and silver in particular. The key reason, however, was Claudius's personal need for military prestige. He had become emperor only in ad 40, as the result of a coup which led to the death of his nephew Caligula . He had been discovered hiding behind curtains in the palace by members of the Praetorian Guard who gave the throne to this most unmilitary of rulers. If he were to establish himself as a strong ruler, Britain recommended itself, as it could be suggested that the conquest of the island had been part of the uncompleted programme of Caesar and Augustus.

Aulus Plautius, a trusted ex-consul and governor of Pannonia in the region of modern Austria, Hungary, and the north of former Yugoslavia, was put in charge of the expeditionary force. The legions crossed from Boulogne in late spring and established a base at Richborough, Kent, from which they fought their way north to the Thames; Togodumnus was killed in a skirmish but Caratacus fought on. Plautius followed instructions, sending for Claudius, who arrived around the beginning of September and was able to stage an entry to the enemy capital, Camulodunum. On his return the Senate voted him a triumphal arch “because he was the first to bring barbarian peoples across the ocean under the sway of the Roman people”. Colchester became a legionary fortress for the 20th Legion. The tombstone of one of its officers, the centurion Marcus Favonius Facilis, is in Colchester Museum. The other legions fanned out over lowland Britain: the 2nd advanced westwards along the south coast under the command of Vespasian (one day to be emperor), establishing a base in the client kingdom of the Regni at Fishbourne, near Chichester, but ultimately making Exeter its main fortress. The 14th Legion aimed north-west along the line of Watling Street to the point where it touches the Fosse Way at High Cross, near Leicester. The 9th Legion proceeded north to the area of Lincoln, although its early fortress was at Longthorpe, near Peterborough, leaving the lands of the Iceni in East Anglia as another client kingdom.

When Aulus Plautius's term of office ended in ad 47, superficially over half the conquest had been completed but it was to be almost a century before the north and west of Britain were under effective military control and a regular system of towns had been established in the south allowing the establishment of civilian self-government. Ostorius Scapula, the second governor of Britain, made considerable advances in eastern Wales and was able to secure the capture of Caratacus in ad 51. Caratacus was displayed in Claudius's triumph but his dignified bearing made a great impression on the Romans and his life was spared. Another event of his period of office was a revolt among the Iceni, who objected to being disarmed under the provisions of the Lex Iulia de vi publica (which forbade civilians to carry arms). This presaged the great Boudiccan revolt ten years later. By this time the governor was Suetonius Paullinus (ad 58-61), a specialist in mountain warfare who was campaigning in north Wales by taking Anglesey, when the Iceni and Trinovantes rose under the leadership of a warrior-queen Boudicca.

The rebels stormed the colonia, a settlement for retired legionaries which had replaced the fortress at Colchester, as well as the settlement established by merchants at the bridgehead across the Thames in London. Their wrath was, however, directed as much at those Britons whom they regarded as collaborators; Verulamium, the capital of the Catuvellauni, which had been given the high status of a self-governing town (municipium) was likewise burnt to the ground. Although Suetonius Paullinus took some time to confront and defeat Boudicca, the revolt does not seem to have spread south of the Thames, partly thanks to the client king of the Regni, Tiberius Claudius Cogidubnus (or, more probably, Togidubnus), who, in the words ofTacitus , “remained loyal down to our own time” and is called on an inscription at his capital, Chichester, “Great King of Britain”.

The Landings of Caesar in Britain, 55 and 54 BC

The First Invasion:
In the first century BC, Britain was settled by Iron Age societies, many with long-term roots in Britain.

Caesar probably planned an expedition to Britain in 56 BC, a year when the Armorican tribes in the coast of Britanny revolted against the Romans with aid from the tribes of southern Britain. The operation was further delayed by battles with the Morini and Menapi, Belgic tribes who controlled the Straits of Dover.

Finally, on August 26, 55 BC, two Roman Legions (about 10,000 soldiers) under Caesar's personal command crossed the channel in a group of transport ships leaving from Portus Itius (today's Boulogne). By the next morning (August 27), as Caesar reports, the Roman ships were just off the chalky cliffs of Dover, whose upper banks were lined with British warriors prepared to do battle. The Romans therefore sailed several miles further northeast up the coastline and landed on the flat, pebbly shore around Deal.

The Britons met the legionaries at the beach with a large force, including warriors in horse-drawn chariots, an antiquated fighting method not used by the Roman military. After an initial skirmish, the British war leaders sought a truce, and handed over hostages.

Four days later, however, when Roman ships with 500 cavalry soldiers and horses also tried to make the channel crossing, they were driven back to France by bad weather. The same storm seriously damaged many of the Roman ships on the beach at Deal. This quirk of fate resulted in Caesar's initial landing force having no cavalry, which seriously restricted the mobility of the 55 BC operations. It was also disastrous for the planned reconnaissance since the legionary soldiers were forced to repair the ships and were vulnerable to the British forces who began new attacks.

Thus immobilized, the Roman legions had to survive in a coastal zone which they found both politically hostile, and naturally fertile. The need to procure food locally resulted in scouting and foraging missions into the adjacent countryside. Caesar reports abundant grain crops along a heavily populated coastline; and frequent encounters with British warriors in chariots. After repairing most of the ships, Caesar ordered a return to Gaul, thus curtailing the reconnaissance of 55 BC.

Second Invasion :

The next year saw the Romans organize a much larger expedition to Britain, with a total of 800 ships used to transport five legions and 2000 cavalry troops, plus horses and a large baggage train. They sailed from Boulogne at night on July 6, and landed unopposed the next day on the beach between Deal and Sandwich.

Upon seeing the large size of the Roman force, the Britons retreated inland to higher ground. Caesar immediately marched inland with most of his troops to the Stour River, about 12 miles from the beach landing camp. At daybreak on the 8th of July, 54 BC, the Romans encountered British forces at a ford on the Stour (later the town of Canterbury). The Romans easily dispersed the Britons, who retreated to a hill fort or stronghold (oppidum), which from Caesar's description, is probably the hill fort at Bigbury, a site with earthwork and ditch enclosures mile and a half from the river ford. The Seventh Roman legion attacked the hillfort but were blocked out by trees piled in the entrance by the Britons. To advance, the Roman troops filled in the outer ditch with earth and brush, making a ramp across it, and then capturing the fort.

Bad news came for the Romans, however, shortly thereafter from the beach camp at Deal. An overnight storm had driven most of the Roman ships on shore. The main body of troops returned to the beach, to find at least forty boats completely wrecked. Security precautions required Caesar's army to spend ten long days building a land fort within which the entire fleet of 760 ships was transported. This, the second catastrophe for Roman ships in as many years caused by storms on the open beach, could have been averted had Caesar sailed only a few miles further up the coast to the protected harbor at Richborough (where the Romans landed when they next invaded Britain, in 43 AD).

[Fig.1: Tribes in Northern Gaul during Caesar's excursions to Britain, 55-54 BC.]

During this ten day hiatus, a large British force was briefly united under a single commander, Cassivellaunus, who ruled the Catuvellauni tribe on the north side of the River Thames. The army of Cassivellaunus met the Romans again at the Stour crossing. The Britons used chariot warfare, with two horses pulling a driver and warrior, the latter hurling javelins, then dismounting at close quarters to fight infantry-style. After a hard-fought battle, the Romans eventually drove back the Britons, and then pursued Cassivellaunus toward the Thames.

In the wooded terrain north of the River Thames, Cassivellaunus adopted scorched-earth, guerrilla-warfare methods, destroying local food sources and using chariots to harrass the Roman legions. But neighboring tribes who resented the domination by Cassivellaunus, including the Trinovantes and their allies the Cenimagni, Segontiaci, Ancalites, Bibroci and Cassi (the latter five tribes, known to us only through Caesar's account) then went over to the Romans.

Caesar thus learned from native informants the location of the secret stronghold of Cassivellaunus, probably the hill fort at Wheathampstead, located on the west bank of the River Lea, near St. Albans. Even as the Roman army under Caesar were massing outside his fort's gates, however, Cassivellaunus made the bold move of ordering his allies in Kent to attack the Roman beach camp at Deal. This attack failed, and Cassivellaunus then gave up. Yet the terms of surrender he negotiated with the Romans seem to have been moderate, as Caesar had learned of mounting problems back in Gaul, and wanted to return there. The Roman legions left Britain in early September, 54 BC. They were not to return again for 97 years, when the Claudian invasion of AD 43 began the active Roman conquest of Britain. Caesar's two expeditions, meanwhile, provided basic information on the terrain, inhabitants, and political, economic and military customs of Britain, our only direct historical record for that time period.

Roman Britain-55B.C-410A.D

The Roman Invasion:

Julius Caesar attempted to invade Britain:
In 26th August 55 B.C. Julius Caesar, then general of the Roman armies in Gaul, decided that it would be a good move to try a little summer invasion of Britain.

Julius Caesar crossed the Channel with a force of around 10,000 soldiers. They landed on the beach at Deal and were met by a force of Britons. The Romans eventually took the beach and waited for cavalry back up to arrive from France.The Celts in Gaul had been receiving aid from their close relations in southern England. British Celts may even have fought with related tribes in Gaul against the Romans. Certainly J. C. complained that defeated Gauls would slip away to Britain to regroup. Tackling the British Celts made sense in the battle to secure Gaul for Rome.

Caesar's invasion proved successful but inconclusive. Landing in present day Kent, he did battle with several tribes that summer till the- 31st Augusts ,55BC .

Julius Caesar's second invasion of Britain:
The following summer July - Sept 54BC he crossed the Channel with a force of around 27,000 infantry and cavalry. They landed again at Deal and were unopposed - the Britons had retreated to higher ground. The Romans marched inland and met a large force of Britons led by Cassivellaunus north of the River Thames. After a hard battle the Romans defeated the Britons and some tribal leaders surrendered to the Romans. Cassivellanus ordered crops to be burned and made guerrilla attacks on Roman forces. But the Romans were too strong and Cassivellanus was forced to surrender. In September Caesar was forced to return to Gaul (France) to deal with problems there and the Romans left Britain.

Remember that British "kings" at this time were really no more than tribal chiefs. There was no such thing as a unified "Britain", and there was no such thing as a unified Celtic army to meet the Roman advance.
One important social change that occurred at this time was that kingship became hereditary, rather than a post awarded to the best war leader. This change was to have disastrous consequences; several princes fled to Rome to appeal for help in succession squabbles. Rome was happy to use this as a convenient excuse for invasion.


May 43AD;Romans Invaded Britain:
A Roman force of about 40,000 led by Aulus Plautius landed in Kent. They defeated a force of Britons led by Caretacus and began taking the South-East of Britain. Caratacus escaped and fled to Wales where he set up a resistance base.

Autumn 43AD;Claudius arrived with reinforcements:
The Roman emperor Claudius arrived in Britain with reinforcements.Needing a public relations coup to secure his tenuous position , he decided to revive the dream of expanding the Empire to the British Isles.Colchester (Camulodunum) was taken and eleven tribal Kings surrendered to the Romans.

The pretext was conveniently provided by Caratacus, king of the Catavellauni tribe. Caratacus invaded the territories of the Atrebates, whose king, Verica, fled to Rome and appealed for help. Claudius was quite happy to respond and he appointed Aulus Plautius Governor of Britain before returning to Rome.

43 - 47AD;Conquest of the South:
The Romans,Aulus Plautius, continued their conquest and by 47AD had conquered the whole of South Britain, Severn and Wash; established good relations with the Regni, Iceni and Brigantes beyond the province, and claimed Britain as part of the Roman Empire.

47 - 50AD; London Founded:
London (Londinium) was founded and a bridge built across the river Thames. A network of roads was built across the south of Britain.

London became the hub at the centre of a major network of roads built primarily to serve troop movement and administrative communication. Not entirely by accident they also served the expansion of trade that quickly made London the most important town, and eventually the capital, of the new province of Brittania.

51AD;Caratacus defeated and captured:
Caratacus' guerrilla force was joined by other tribes who resisted Roman conquest. and confronted the Romans near the River Severn. However, Caratacus was defeated. He escaped again and sought shelter with the Brigantes tribe. However their Queen, Cartimandua betrayed him to the Romans. Caratacus, his family and other rebels were taken prisoner and sent to Rome. In Rome Caratacus was pardoned by Claudius and allowed to live out his days in Italy.

60 - 61AD;Boudicca leads revolt against the Romans:

Prasatugas, King of the Iceni tribe who had signed a peace treaty with the Romans, died. His wife, Boudicca intended to honour the treaty, but after the local Roman authorities seized Prasatugas's property and raped his two daughters, Boudicca retaliated by signing a treaty with Trinovantes who were hostile to the Romans.

Boudicca is said to have been very tall with striking red hair that hung to her hips. Her army of Iceni tribesmen and women captured and burned Colchester, London, St Albans and caused the governor of Britain, Suetonius Paulinus, to raise the biggest force he could. Boudicca's army were eventually cornered and massacred. Boudicca poisoned herself to evade capture.

63AD;Joseph of Arimathea visited Britain:
Joseph of Arimathea, one of Jesus's disciples, was sent to Britain to convert the people to Christianity.
75 - 77AD Roman Conquest of Britain completed:
The Romans defeated the last of the resistant tribes in the North making all of Britain Roman.

77 AD Life in Roman Britain:
Under Roman rule the English adopted Roman customs, law, religion. Many of the English were taken by the Romans as slaves. The Romans built many roads, towns, bath houses and buildings. Trade and industry flourished under Roman rule.

79AD Agricola invaded Scotland:
The Governor of Britain, Agricola, attempted to conquer Scotland for Rome but was unsuccessful.

122AD Hadrian's Wall built:
The Emperor Hadrian visited Britain and ordered that a wall be built between England and Scotland to keep the rebellious Scottish tribes out. Construction of the wall began in 122 and was completed by 139.

142AD Antonine Wall Built:
The Romans made another attempt to conquer southern Scotland and after making some gains built another wall across the land between the Forth and the Clyde. It was abandoned in 160AD.

216AD Britain divided into two provinces:
In order to better control Britain the Romans divided the land into two provinces. The South was known as Britannia Superior and the North Britannia Inferior.

260 - 274AD The Gallic Empire:
The Roman general Postumus rebelled against Rome and established himself as Emperor of France (Gaul) and Britain (Britannia).

22nd June 304AD St Alban Martyred:
Alban became the first Christian Martyr in Britain. The Emperor Diocletian ordered that all Christians should be persecuted. St Alban, a recent convert to Christianity changed places with a local priest who was wanted by the Romans. When he was discovered he was executed at Verulamium (St Albans).

312AD Christianity the official religion of the Empire:
The Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity and made Christianity legal throughout the Roman Empire.

360sAD Attacks from Picts, Scots, Franks, Saxons:
Roman Britain was attacked by tribal groups of Picts, Scots, Franks and Saxons. Reinforcements were sent to Britain and the attacks were repelled.

388 - 400AD Romans begin to leave Britain:
The Roman Empire was being attacked by many different barbarian tribes and soldiers stationed in Britain were recalled to Rome.

410 Last Romans leave Britain:
All Romans had been recalled to Rome and the Emperor Honorious told the people of Britain that they no longer had a connection to Rome and that they should defend themselves.

Prehistoric England - 4000BC - 43AD

Prehistoric England - 4000BC - 43AD

This period in England's history is referred to as Prehistory as there are no written records covering these times. The information available has been pieced together like a jigsaw from archaeological finds. Like a real jigsaw, pieces are sometimes incorrectly placed or are missing altogether, which results in a constantly changing tapestry of bygone times.

The first people to arrive in England were hunter-gatherers who arrived from mainland Europe around 8,000 BC. As the name suggests these first Britons lived off the wealth of the land including the native elk, wild cattle and pigs, whilst presumably attempting to avoid the bears and wolves which also roamed the heavily wooded interior.

It was not until about 4000 BC that a party of 'young farmers' arrived from southern Europe bringing with them perhaps the first phase in man-made environmental disasters. The ancient practise of deforestation was instigated as trees, woods and forests were cleared to create land to accommodate domesticated plants and animals. These 'young farmers' proved to be so effective at genetically modified breeding (crops and livestock) that the population of England rocketed to approximately one million by 1400 BC.

Following the 'young farmers' other visitors from Europe came - Belgae, Celts and Gauls arrived starting the trend for the multi-cultural Britain of today. In particular it is the arrival of the Celts in Britain that provokes thoughts of a period of time shrouded in mystery and myth. The artistic style of these Iron Age people, twisting and bending animal, plant and human forms, are common across Europe. The Shaman or priests of the Celts known as Druids proved an irritant to the Romans when they arrived in 43 AD - today Druids still welcome the summer solstice each year at Stonehenge.

This brief review has condensed the past several thousand years to just a few sentences. Historians have tended to further segregate these times based upon the materials of manufacture of the people's favourite hunting or fighting implements, namely:

c. 4000 - 2000 BC	Neolithic (New Stone) Age
c. 2000 - 750 BC	Bronze Age
c. 750 BC - 43 AD	Iron Age

Useful Links

Prehistoric, Bronze Age and Iron Age Scotland

Prehistoric, Bronze Age and Iron Age Wales

Peoples of Britain

The Britons have been largely a mixed race; and the people with whom they mingled must have modified to some--and perhaps to a large--extent their physique, their customs, and their language.

1- The Iberians,Mediterranean ,and Alpine went to Britain at the down of British history,several thousand years B.C

2-Between 700 and 600 B.C a large Celtic movement from northern Germany and Netherlands begun to cross the sea to Britain.

3- From 43A.D till 410A.D Britain was occupied by Romans but their number was small and they untermarried very little with the native population.

4-The Roman occupation was broken by the arrival of Anglo-Saxons from south Denmark and north Germany .The Celt fled to Ireland ,Wales and Scotland.

5-The Vikings from Scandinavia invaded England in the 9th century and settled mainly in the East of Britain .

6-The Normans led the last invasion of Britain in A.D 1066, and Duke of Normandy because the King of England.