Roman conquest

The roman conquest

It was in 43 AD, under Emperor Claudius, that the Roman conquest of Britain actually began.
Military operations stretched over a period of three years, with the Romans eventually gaining control of the Central and Southeastern regions. This time, the Romans met with little resistance from the Celts, whose tribal system had gradually weakened. The only significant opposition was the uprising led by Boudicca (61 AD), the widow of one of the Celtic chiefs.
It took several decades for the Romans to extend their control to the northern edge of the island, where they eventually built a great defensive wall, stretching over almost 120 kilometres, from the North Sea to the Irish Sea. They called it Hadrian’s Wall, after the Roman Emperor Hadrian who ordered its construction. It marked the Empire’s northern frontier, the region where Roman military control was weakest while riots and revolts were more frequent. In fact, the Romans never managed to penetrate into the mountains of Wales and Scotland, while the area south of Hadrian’s Wall became the Roman province of Britannia and stayed under Roman rule for nearly 400 years.
The Romans built a vast network of roads over the length and breadth of Roman Britain: four great highways spread from London to the North, the Northwest, the West and the Southwest. Numerous minor roads connected cities, towns, ports and important administrative and military sites. The Romans also imported their farming techniques, habits and lifestyle. They introduced Roman fashion in dressing and ornaments. They built Roman houses, baths, temples and even theatres. They equipped houses with a system of centralised heating and water supplies, floors paved in mosaics and walls of painted stucco.
The effects of Roman presence, however, were not permanent. Today few signs of Roman rule survive. Although many Latin inscriptions have been found, we know that Latin did not spread among the native population and that it did not replace the Celtic language, as it did in Gaul. Its use was probably limited to members of the upper classes. The same applies to Christianity, introduced by Roman soldiers and spread by monks and preachers (for example, the Benedictine monk Augustine, who arrived in Kent in 597 at the instigation of Pope Gregory I) among the local Celtic tribes, as well as in modern-day Scotland and Ireland. In fact, in spite of the many conversions, Christianity never totally replaced pagan rites and beliefs.