The transformation of Roman Britain

[authun]

I meant to suggest that British and Saxon had lived in the same communities until then, or maybe British communities next to Saxon communities. But not all Saxons behind a sharply divided frontier, and the British on the other side.

It depends on what you mean by sharply divided frontier. Communities of Britons speaking brittonic within Anglo Saxon kingdoms did exist. The 'eccles' place names are evidence of this and used by the anglo saxons to denote a community of British christians. In this sense, there isn't a line, Britons on one side, AS on the other side. There are other 'wal' type place names which indicate the presence of britons amongst the AS, though these can be confused sometimes with the germanic 'wal' as in a rampart.

Linguistically, the divide is sharper. Evidence of this may be found in place names which are tautological compounds, such as Penhill meaning, Hill Hill. Pen is the british name for a hill. The germanics knew that the British called it 'Pen' but had no idea what it meant, so they added their own 'hill'. These instances indicate that there must have been some contact, otherwise they would not have known the british term 'Pen', but that the contact was not long enough for the AS to learn its meaning.

At some point conflict starts and polarisation grows, driving the British to a choice: become English or leave.

Of the Northumbrian king Ethelfrid, Bede writes:

"For he conquered more territories from the Britons, either making them tributary, or driving the inhabitants clean out, and planting English in their places, than any other king or tribune."

Much is made of the 'driving out' but it should be noted that Bede also states 'either making them tributary'. In other words, some stayed. I think it is highly likley that, until this point, they spoke brythonic but, for those that stayed, this is the point where english started to become the first language.

At least this would appear to be the case in early 7th cent Northumbria. We see a different picture in the south and south east during the 5th and 6th cents.

During the roman period, the south east was the most christianised part of Britian and the western parts hardly christianised at all. However, during the early pagan AS period, the situation became reversed. Christian communities in Kent for example existed as evidenced by the 'eccles' place names but the rise of Christianity amongst the britons is largely in the west with a decline in the south east. It is as if the church moved westwards, leaving some communities behind. Moreover, the church in the west is influenced by the Irish and less by Rome, most probably because direct links with Rome are broken.

best

harry A