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Since the American accent question seemed to have legs, here’s mine:
To what extent does British tribal identity survive the Roman occupation? Do we have any idea how long people carried on being Belgae or Iceni, etc?
[i]how long people carried on being Belgae or Iceni, etc?[/i]
Having visited Norfolk recently, where the Iceni strongholds were, I would give it at least another few decades before the locals assimilate into normal UK civilisation.
Do we have any idea how long people carried on being Belgae or Iceni, etc?
Depends on where you are. Southern Britain is almost totally Romanised from southern Wales diagonally up through the country to Hull. But the Romans were happy to incorporate their Gods into the local beliefs, the springs at Bath have statues to both local Pagan and Roman Gods for example, most of the Roman soldiers posted to the UK come from Northern France and what's now Belgium, so they bring their own beliefs and customs that are incorporated. North of that things get a wee bit dicey, but those folks are still trading with the Romans and Roman culture on mainland Europe, so they're still being influenced.
My archaeology prof used to say imagine that in thousands of years archaeologists from the future are digging in Europe and they keep finding Levi's, Heineken bottles and Ikea furniture, they're going to conclude that the same culture existed from Western Russia all the way to Ireland. Same with the Romans
The really interesting shit happens after they leave...
Thanks nickc. I’ve been listening to history podcasts and the sun-Roman period is fascinating. I noticed there didn’t seem to be much of a correlation between what turned up after the Romans withdrew their soldiers and what had been before. But 370 years is a long time. And you do see it in the north a bit, as you say. Are there any good books that cover this?
Marc Morris' "The Anglo-Saxons" is a good place to start, but I guess the author you want is Stuart Laycock he's written a couple of good pop-history studies of post Roman Briton; Britannia -The Failed State, and: Warlords -The Struggle for post Roman Briton. Both are pretty good books about 5th and 6thC Britain from an archaeological perspective.
Edit and I think the central theme of the first of Laycock's books - Britannia argues that in fact the Romans had only a tenuous grasp of control.
When people draw the 'north-south' divide on UK maps it correlates fairly well to the Danelaw boundary.
Marc Morris’ “The Anglo-Saxons” is a good place to start,
Ahhh, I wondered what he did after "Return of the Mack".
I might pick one of those books up for my upcoming flight
Brill. I’ll add those to my to-read pile. Thanks!