The Secret History Of The Roman Roads Of Britain

Author : M.C. Bishop
Publisher : Pen and Sword
Page : 322 pages
File Size : 45,8 Mb
Release : 2014-02-28
Category : History
ISBN : 9781473837478

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The Secret History of the Roman Roads of Britain by M.C. Bishop Pdf

There have been many books on Britain's Roman roads, but none have considered in any depth their long-term strategic impact. Mike Bishop shows how the road network was vital not only in the Roman strategy of conquest and occupation, but influenced the course of British military history during subsequent ages. The author starts with the pre-Roman origins of the network (many Roman roads being built over prehistoric routes) before describing how the Roman army built, developed, maintained and used it. Then, uniquely, he moves on to the post-Roman history of the roads. He shows how they were crucial to medieval military history (try to find a medieval battle that is not near one) and the governance of the realm, fixing the itinerary of the royal progresses. Their legacy is still clear in the building of 18th century military roads and even in the development of the modern road network. Why have some parts of the network remained in use throughout?The text is supported with clear maps and photographs. Most books on Roman roads are concerned with cataloguing or tracing them, or just dealing with aspects like surveying. This one makes them part of military landscape archaeology.

Author : M.C. Bishop
Publisher : Pen and Sword
Page : 234 pages
File Size : 54,5 Mb
Release : 2014-02-28
Category : History
ISBN : 9781848846159

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The Secret History of the Roman Roads of Britain by M.C. Bishop Pdf

There have been many books on Britain's Roman roads, but none have considered in any depth their long-term strategic impact. Mike Bishop shows how the road network was vital not only in the Roman strategy of conquest and occupation, but influenced the course of British military history during subsequent ages. ??The author starts with the pre-Roman origins of the network (many Roman roads being built over prehistoric routes) before describing how the Roman army built, developed, maintained and used it. Then, uniquely, he moves on to the post-Roman history of the roads. He shows how they were crucial to medieval military history (try to find a medieval battle that is not near one) and the governance of the realm, fixing the itinerary of the royal progresses. Their legacy is still clear in the building of 18th century military roads and even in the development of the modern road network. Why have some parts of the network remained in use throughout??The text is supported with clear maps and photographs. ??Most books on Roman roads are concerned with cataloguing or tracing them, or just dealing with aspects like surveying. This one makes them part of military landscape archaeology.

Author : Guy de la Bédoyère
Publisher : Thames & Hudson
Page : 288 pages
File Size : 51,7 Mb
Release : 2014-02-03
Category : History
ISBN : 9780500771846

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Roman Britain: A New History by Guy de la Bédoyère Pdf

“Lucid and engaging . . . should take pride of place on the bookshelf of specialists and non-specialists interested in Roman Britain.” —Minerva This illuminating account of Britain as a Roman province sets the Roman conquest and occupation of the island within the larger context of Romano-British society and how it functioned. The author first outlines events from the Iron Age period immediately preceding the conquest in AD 43 to the emperor Honorius’s advice to the Britons in 410 to fend for themselves. He then tackles the issues facing Britons after the absorption of their culture by an invading army, including the role of government and the military in the province, religion, commerce, technology, and daily life. For this revised edition, the text, illustrations, and bibliography have been updated to reflect the latest discoveries and research in recent years. The superb illustrations feature reconstruction drawings, dramatic aerial views of Roman remains, and images of Roman villas, mosaics, coins, pottery, and sculpture.

Author : Anne Kolb
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Page : 442 pages
File Size : 43,5 Mb
Release : 2019-07-22
Category : History
ISBN : 9783110638332

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Roman Roads by Anne Kolb Pdf

This volume aims to present the current state of research on Roman roads and their foundations in a combined historical and archaeological perspective. The focus is on the diverse local histories and the varying degrees of significance of individual roads and regional networks, which are treated here for the most important regions of the empire and beyond. The assembled contributions will be of interest to historians, archaeologists and epigraphers, since they tackle matters as diverse as the technical modalities of road-building, the choice of route, but also the functionality and the motives behind the creation of roads. Roman roads are further intimately related to various important aspects of Roman history, politics and culture. After all, such logistical arteries form the basis of all communication and exchange processes, enabling not only military conquest and security but also facilitating the creation of an organized state as well as trade, food supply and cultural exchange. The study of Roman roads must always be based on a combination of written and archaeological sources in order to take into account both their concrete geographical location and their respective spatial, cultural, and historical context.

Author : Tony Sullivan
Publisher : Pen and Sword History
Page : 220 pages
File Size : 44,6 Mb
Release : 2023-06-30
Category : History
ISBN : 9781399088602

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The History of Roman Legion VI Victrix by Tony Sullivan Pdf

This is the first in depth study on the history of Legio VI Victrix in Britain. Brought over from Germany in 122 to assist in the building of Hadrian’s Wall the Sixth Legion remained in Britain until the end of Roman rule. The book will investigate the changing military organization, weapons and warfare as well as the many auxiliary units posted in the north of Britain. We will meet members of the Sixth Legion known from inscriptions and literary sources. From lowly legionaries helping to build Hadrian’s or the Antonine Wall to Pertinax, tribune of the Sixth, and destined to become Emperor. Case studies will include a praefectus castrorum, Lucius Artorius Castus, along with the legionary bases at York and Corbridge. The men of the Sixth witnessed the tumultuous, and often bloody, history of Roman Britain: the border shifting back and forth under Antoninus; barbarian incursions and army mutinies under the murderous Commodus; the bloody civil war against Septimius Severus and the subsequent invasion of Caledonia. In the last century of Roman rule, the Sixth supported several rival emperors from Constantine the Great, Magnus Maximus until finally Constantine III. The journey will end with a discussion of the likely fate of the Sixth in the early fifth century after the end of Roman authority. A must read for anyone interested in the evolution of the Roman legion, the empire or Roman Britain in particular.

Author : Adam Parker
Publisher : Amberley Publishing Limited
Page : 158 pages
File Size : 42,5 Mb
Release : 2023-02-15
Category : History
ISBN : 9781398105119

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Treasures of Roman Yorkshire by Adam Parker Pdf

Adam Parker looks at some of the fascinating treasures that have been unearthed around the beautiful county of Yorkshire.

Author : Thomas Codrington
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 374 pages
File Size : 55,9 Mb
Release : 2018-05-30
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 1720495459

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Roman Roads in Britain by Thomas Codrington Pdf

Author : Tony Sullivan
Publisher : Pen and Sword History
Page : 210 pages
File Size : 55,8 Mb
Release : 2024-05-02
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9781399064439

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The Roman Emperors of Britain by Tony Sullivan Pdf

This book provides a unique take on the history of Roman Britain from Julius Caesar’s first invasion to the end of Roman authority. In 55 BC, on a stretch of beach near Deal in East Kent, the Romans’ first invasion was in great danger of being pushed back into the sea by a host of Britons defending the beach. The eagle bearer of the Tenth Legion jumped into the surf and urged his comrades to follow him, a pivotal moment in Julius Caesar’s first invasion. It was to be another ninety years before Claudius finally subdued part of the island and paraded in triumph into the stronghold at Camulodunum. Roman authority quickly expanded, from Vespasian’s dramatic campaign against the hillforts of southern Britain to Hadrian’s famous Wall in the north. This book will cover not the reign of Emperors but what posts they held in Britain prior to their achieving the throne. Titus served as a tribune directly after the Boudiccan revolt. Pertinax served in three posts: equestrian tribune of the Sixth Legion; praefectus of an auxiliary unit; and finally as a governor of Britannia. It will cover the civil war between Clodius Albinus and Septimius Severus and the later campaigns into Scotland. The upheavals of the third century and the breakaway regimes of Postumus and Carauius, ‘the pirate king’. In the fourth century Britain continued to produce usurpers and tyrants but only one managed to unite the empire, Constantine I. His namesake, Constantine III, was to be the last emperor to lead troops from Britain to Gaul, leaving the province to fend for itself into the fifth century.

Author : Lynn Pearson
Publisher : Amberley Publishing Limited
Page : 178 pages
File Size : 44,7 Mb
Release : 2022-02-15
Category : Design
ISBN : 9781398107731

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Street Furniture by Lynn Pearson Pdf

A fascinating journey through the history of street furniture in the UK, written by a leading authority on the topic. Milestones, sign posts, benches and lamp posts are all included alongside fascinating obscure examples.

Author : Simon Elliott
Publisher : Pen and Sword Military
Page : 260 pages
File Size : 53,5 Mb
Release : 2021-03-15
Category : History
ISBN : 9781526765734

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Roman Britain's Missing Legion by Simon Elliott Pdf

“Examines all the possible fates of the famous IX legion . . . takes you on a fascinating detective journey through all the corners of the Roman Empire.” —History . . . The Interesting Bits! Legio IX Hispana had a long and active history, later founding York from where it guarded the northern frontiers in Britain. But the last evidence for its existence in Britain comes from AD 108. The mystery of their disappearance has inspired debate and imagination for decades. The most popular theory, immortalized in Rosemary Sutcliffe’s novel The Eagle of the Ninth, is that the legion was sent to fight the Caledonians in Scotland and wiped out there. But more recent archaeology (including evidence that London was burnt to the ground and dozens of decapitated heads) suggests a crisis, not on the border but in the heart of the province, previously thought to have been peaceful at this time. What if IX Hispana took part in a rebellion, leading to their punishment, disbandment and damnatio memoriae (official erasure from the records)? This proposed ‘Hadrianic War’ would then be the real context for Hadrian’s ‘visit’ in 122 with a whole legion, VI Victrix, which replaced the ‘vanished’ IX as the garrison at York. Other theories are that it was lost on the Rhine or Danube, or in the East. Simon Elliott considers the evidence for these four theories, and other possibilities. “A great and fascinating read . . . a page turner . . . The book offers some interesting and intriguing ideas around the fate of the Ninth.” —Irregular Magazine “An historical detective story pursued with academic rigour.” —Clash of Steel “A seminal and landmark study.” —Midwest Book Review

Author : Arthur C Wright
Publisher : Frontline Books
Page : 266 pages
File Size : 49,6 Mb
Release : 2023-01-30
Category : History
ISBN : 9781399088015

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The Battles That Created England 793-1100 by Arthur C Wright Pdf

In popular imagination the warfare of the Early Middle Ages is often obscure, unstructured, and unimaginative, lost between two military machines, the ‘Romans’ and the ‘Normans’, which saw the country invaded and partitioned. In point of fact, we have a considerable amount of information at our fingertips and the picture that should emerge is one of English ability in the face of sometimes overwhelming pressures on society, and a resilience that eventually drew the older kingdoms together in new external responses which united the ‘English’ in a common sense of purpose. This is the story of how the Saxon kingdoms, which had maintained their independence for generations, were compelled to unite their forces to resist the external threat of the Viking incursions. The kingdoms of East Anglia, Mercia, Northumbria, Kent, Essex, Sussex, and Wessex were gradually welded into one as Wessex grew in strength to become the dominant Saxon kingdom. From the weak Æthelred to the strong Alfred, rightly deserving the epithet ‘Great’, to the strong, but equally unfortunate, Harold, this era witnessed brutal hand-to-hand battles in congested melees, which are normally portrayed as unsophisticated but deadly brawls. In reality, the warriors of the era were experienced fighters often displaying sophisticated strategies and deploying complex tactics. Our principal source, replete with reasonably reliable reportage, are the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, comprehensive in collation though subject to oral distortion and mythological excursions. The narrative of these does not appear to flow continuously, leaving too much to imagination but, by creating a complementary matrix of landscapes, topography and communications it is possible to provide convincing scenery into which we can fit other archaeological and philological evidence to show how the English nation was formed in the bloody slaughter of battle.

Author : Tony Sullivan
Publisher : Pen and Sword Military
Page : 234 pages
File Size : 45,5 Mb
Release : 2022-07-20
Category : History
ISBN : 9781399084055

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The Roman King Arthur? by Tony Sullivan Pdf

The 2004 film, King Arthur, starring Clive Owen and Keira Knightley, introduced the audience to Lucius Artorius Castus as the basis to the much later legend of King Arthur. The book analyses the theories behind the film which link this second to third century Roman officer with the medieval Arthurian legends and a possible historical figure in post-Roman Britain. This first full academic study of Artorius Castus offers a number of potential timeframes and details his career through a turbulent and bloody period of Roman history, serving as primus pilus of V Macedonia and praefectus of the Sixth Legion in northern Britain. Turning to the historical narrative of the film it covers the archaeological and literary evidence for the break down of Roman Britain, arrival of Germanic peoples and emergence of petty kingdoms and new cultural identities. The penultimate chapter lays out the evidence for and against a historical Arthur, offering suggestions as to his identity, location of his battles and the possible political, military, social and cultural situation he lived and fought in. This is an entertaining and informative picture of two fascinating figures, one firmly historical, the other shrouded in myth and legend. The book leaves the reader with a clear picture of the lives of a Roman career officer and later dark-age warrior and the different worlds in which they lived. Anyone interested in the Roman period, post-Roman Britain and the possibilities for a historical Arthur should enjoy this book. “A fascinating investigation into the historical figure of Lucius Artorius Castus, camp prefect of VI Victrix based at Eboracum, York”. Dave Grainger, Legio VI Victrix, re-enactment group, York. “A welcome addition to modern discussions the roman army officer Lucius Artorius Castus which seeks to place him within an appropriate timescale and very properly disputes the links that have been suggested between this ‘real’ Roman army officer and the later and very much more fictional king Arthur”. Professor Nick Higham, historian and author

Author : Simon Elliott
Publisher : Pen and Sword Military
Page : 193 pages
File Size : 48,9 Mb
Release : 2024-01-18
Category : History
ISBN : 9781399069878

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Great Battles of the Early Roman Empire by Simon Elliott Pdf

Dr Simon Elliott describes eight of the greatest, most decisive of the Roman Empire of the first to third centuries. The list includes battles fought from the highlands of Scotland and the forests of Germany to the deserts of the Middle East. They show how the vaunted Roman legions adapted to extremes of terrain and climate as well as a wide array of very different foes, from the wild Caledonian tribes to the sophisticated, combined-arms armies of Sassanid Persia with their war elephants and superb cavalry. Some of the battles even pit the Roman legions against their own kind in brutal civil wars. After an introductory chapter on the Imperial Roman army, detailing its organization, equipment, tactics and doctrine, the author moves on to describing each battle in detail. He sets the strategic context and background of the chosen engagement before analysing the size and composition of the opposing forces, also detailing the nature of the enemy faced. The manoeuvres leading up to the battle are described, followed by deployment and the course of the fighting itself. Finally, the aftermath and implications of the battles outcome are assessed. The well-researched and engaging text is supported by clear maps.

Author : Tony Sullivan
Publisher : Pen and Sword History
Page : 290 pages
File Size : 44,8 Mb
Release : 2022-07-20
Category : History
ISBN : 9781399015332

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The Battles of King Arthur by Tony Sullivan Pdf

The ninth century Historia Brittonum is the first source that mentions Arthur and lists twelve battles, including the famous Badon Hill. Much ink has been spilt debating the identity and location of Arthur. This book will demonstrate that some of the battles can indeed be located with some confidence. Rather than fit a specific theory as to his identity the battles are placed in the fragmenting provincial, political and military context of the late fifth and early sixth century Britain. At a time of rapid changes in cultural identity and a significant increase in Germanic material culture and migration. These battles might be expected to be found along borders and in zones of potential conflict. Yet this is not what is discovered. In addition the simplistic idea of Romano-Britons holding back invading Anglo-Saxons is found wanting. Instead we discover a far more nuanced political and cultural situation. One with increasing evidence of continuation of land use and the indigenous population. The most Romanised and urbanised regions of the south and east are the very areas that experienced the arrival of Germanic settlement. The conclusion gives the reader a new insight into what sort of man Arthur was and the nature of the battles he fought.

Author : Chris Gosden,Chris Green,Anwen Cooper,Miranda Creswell,Victoria Donnelly,Tyler Franconi,Zena Kamash,Sarah Mallet
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 497 pages
File Size : 45,6 Mb
Release : 2021
Category : History
ISBN : 9780198870623

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English Landscapes and Identities by Chris Gosden,Chris Green,Anwen Cooper,Miranda Creswell,Victoria Donnelly,Tyler Franconi,Zena Kamash,Sarah Mallet Pdf

"The project on which the book was based synthesized all the major available sources of information on English archaeology for the period from 1500 BC to AD 1086, providing an overview of the history of the English landscape from the Bronze Age to the Norman invasion. The result is the first account of the English landscape over a crucial 2500-year period when people created many of the features still visible today. It also provides a celebration of many centuries of archaeological work, especially the intensive investigations that have taken place since the 1960s, when frequent large-scale work has transformed our understanding of England's past"--Publisher's description.