Lesson video

Hello there and welcome to today's history lesson.

I'm Mr Moss, I'm really passionate about history and I'm also really looking forward to teaching you.

With you today you need to bring your looking eyes, your listening ears and your thinking brains.

As well as that having something to write with and write on, and someone or something to talk to would also be really helpful.

Alright then, let's get straight into today's history lesson.

In this history lesson we're going to be thinking about the changes to life brought about by Roman settlement in Britain.

The outcome will be, I can describe how life changed in Britain due to Roman settlement.

And this notion of change across time or change after significant historical events is really important for us to consider as historians, because life in Britain really did change after the Romans arrived.

Here are some key words for us for today's lesson.

My turn, your turn.

Romano-British.

Ivory Bangle Lady.

Brilliant, I love to hear you say this back to me and keep an eye and an ear out for those in today's lesson.

So Romano-British, there's like two words combined there, doesn't it? The culture that developed in Britain after the ancient Roman conquest is called Romano-British culture.

It's this combination of Roman and the British culture that was there coming together.

Ivory Bangle Lady was an ancient Roman with North African family whose skeleton was found in York in Britain.

We're going to be considering the movement of people across the Roman Empire and how Ivory Bangle Lady ended up in York today.

We are going to split our lesson into two learning cycles.

Remember that today we're thinking about the changes to life brought about by Roman settlement in Britain.

We're going to begin by considering what happened when the Romans first invaded and then how much did life change under Roman rule.

So let's get on with reviewing what happened when the Romans first invaded Britain.

So the Emperor Claudius finally managed to invade the island of Britannia in 43 CE and bring it into the Roman Empire, and you can see here from this map showing the size of Roman Empire before Claudius's invasion of Britannia, you can see Britain there not quite in red yet.

It was still a very large empire but Britain was then incorporated into it.

I remember that Claudius wanted to bring Britain into the empire to show that he was a strong Emperor, and so that he could have military triumphs back in Rome to prove that he was not weak like Caligula before him.

The Roman legionaries used clever tactics to defeat the Celtic tribes that lived in Britain at this time.

Remember the legionaries were strong and smart soldiers who had access to a variety of weapons and tactics such as the testudo, the tortoise, where they would use their scutums, their shield, to protect themselves from the attacking Celtic tribes people.

When the Romans invaded Celtic leaders had to decide whether to fight or make peace, and we can see from these two images here an illustration of armies fighting, the Romans fighting the Celts, and then an illustration of a Celtic ruler making peace with an Emperor.

This is an artistic interpretation of what it may have looked like.

Some rulers then fought back but some Celtic tribes people became client rulers who effectively worked alongside the Romans, paid the money for their protection and for there to be no violence against their people.

We're going to be talking more about this now.

If we look here at our timeline we can see the 100 years leading up to 43 CE was Celtic Britain and then we have the Claudius invading Britain.

We then had this long period of Roman occupation in Roman Britain about 350 years or so up until just after 410 CE when the ancient Romans left Britain.

So they occupied Britain and built this Romano-British culture over a 350 year period.

When the Emperor Claudius invaded Britain in.

Celtic tribe leaders had to decide whether to fight or make peace.

Which date is my correct date? 430 CE, 43 CE or 4 CE? Select the correct date now.

Off you go.

Great job team.

When Emperor Claudius invaded Britain in 43 CE, remember he became Emperor in 41, Celtic tribe leaders had to decide whether to fight or make peace and become client rulers.

Some Celtic tribe leaders fought back against the Romans.

We can see here a painting of men from tribes in Britannia.

The Romans considered these people to be barbarians.

Caratacus for instance was taken to Rome in chains.

He fought the Romans all over Britain but was eventually defeated and then was taken back to Rome to be paraded as their captive.

Boudica led the rebellion of the Iceni tribe.

She had many victories against the Romans.

She burnt down Camulodunum, a key town and killed many Romans and did the same with Londinium.

Eventually she was defeated by a number of Roman legions in the Battle of Watling Street.

Rather than being captured and taken back to Rome in chains like Caratacus, she used poison to commit suicide so she didn't befall the fate of being put in chains.

We can see here we've added these onto our timeline.

We have here in 61 CE Boudica's rebellion that was eventually defeated.

Tribe leaders who agreed to pay the Romans and follow their rules and pay taxes were allowed to keep control of their land as long as they didn't fight back and they followed the Roman laws and rules.

These were known as client rulers.

True or false? The ancient Romans took control of all the land in Britain when they invaded.

Well if we think carefully about what we just learned we know that this is false.

Let's see if we can justify our answer.

Which of these A or B justifies our answer of this being false? The Romans allowed all Celtic leaders to keep control of their land, or Celtic leaders paid money to the Romans to keep control of their land? Select the correct justification now.

Great job team.

Well it's not that the Romans allowed all Celtic leaders to keep control of the land because we know they didn't.

Some Celtic leaders fought back, were taken away in chains or killed.

Some Celtic leaders though did pay money and follow the Roman laws and rules and paid taxes so they could keep control of their land and not have to suffer any violence from the Romans.

Remember these were known as client rulers.

So the ancient Romans didn't take control of the land.

They allowed some Celtic rulers who bent the knee to keep control of their land and become client rulers working for the Romans.

So for our practise task now what I'd like you to do is tell your learning partner or someone around you what happened to Celtic leaders in Britain when the ancient Romans first invaded after 43 CE.

What happened when they first invaded? You could use these words and phrases to help you.

Celtic tribes.

Decision.

Caratacus.

Boudica.

Make peace.

Consider what we've looked at and the two paths that Celtic leaders may have had to choose.

Tell your learning partner now then what happened to Celtic leaders in Britain when the ancient Romans first arrived.

Off you go.

Brilliant job team.

I loved hearing what you told your partners there and what you told me.

You've clearly picked up so much knowledge throughout the course of this lesson in this unit about the Romans.

So you could have included when the ancient Romans first invaded, the Celtic tribes had to make an important decision.

They could fight the ancient Romans like Caratacus and Boudica did, and perhaps you even added some detail there about Caratacus fighting the Romans all over Britain but being defeated and taken to Rome in chains, or Boudica having some successes in unifying certain Celtic tribes but eventually being defeated at the Battle of Watling Street and committing suicide by poison.

Or they could try and make peace.

They would have to pay money to the Romans to keep control of their land.

They would have to pay taxes and also follow Roman rules and laws effectively becoming client rulers so that the Romans would not be violent towards them and defeat them and their people.

How did you do that? Did you include those in your answers when telling me or your partner? Do you need to add any more detail? Pause the video now, see if you need to add any more detail or share some extra facts that you may have.

Off you go.

So we've considered what happened when the Romans first invaded and those key decisions that the Celtic leaders had to make either by fighting back, or by bending the knee and becoming client rulers where they paid the Romans and also followed their laws and rules.

We now want to move on to consider how much did life change under Roman rule and this notion of change throughout time is really important to us as historians because things in Britain did certainly not stay the same after the Romans arrival.

So Britain stayed as part of the ancient Roman Empire for more than 350 years and during this time a lot changed in Britain, and we're going to be considering those changes now.

Historians describe Britain under Roman rule as, our key word, Romano-British.

This combination of Roman and British culture coming together.

Say that word for me, Romano-British.

So there is this 350 year period of Romano-Britain.

The ancient Romans were in Britain for more than 350 years then.

We can see here that we had Celtic Britain before the arrival of the Romans.

The Romans invaded in 43 CE didn't they, when Claudius invaded and then we have up until 410 CE when the Romans left.

So we have about this 350 year period of Roman Britain or Romano-British culture.

We want to think about how over time gradually the Romans had an impact on the British culture that was already there.

Britain stayed as part of the ancient Roman Empire for more than 1000 years, 550 years or 350 years.

Select the correct answer and complete the sentence now.

Off you go.

Well done you've clearly been paying attention and looked at our timeline before.

Britain stayed as part of the ancient Roman Empire for more than 350 years, and during this time we know Romano-British culture developed.

So let's think about some of the changes that occurred during this time.

Religion in Britain stayed the same in some ways and changed in other ways.

The Celts could continue with their own beliefs.

Remember they were polytheistic and believed in many different gods, as long as they respected the Roman gods and goddesses too.

This was very important for the Romans.

This occurred all across this huge Roman Empire.

They allowed the locals to continue their local customs as long as they also respected and praised in many cases the Roman gods and goddesses too.

A major change that happened under Roman rule involved the Celtic religious leaders known as Druids.

These Druids were very important within Celtic culture.

It was believed that they were able to contact the Celtic gods and goddesses as well as people's ancestors and therefore Druids played a central role within Celtic communities and society.

The Romans wiped out the Druids in 60 CE at a place called Anglesey as they feared the Druids could get the Celts to join together and rebel against them.

The Druids were the one group of people that could unify all of the Celtic tribes against the Romans, and indeed the Druids were against Roman rule.

The Romans feared this so in about 60 CE they killed many of the Druids in a place called Anglesey in Wales where the Druids often met.

Celtic gods were combined with Roman gods.

The Romans did this across many parts of the Empire.

They found similarities between local deities and their own.

Here we have a photo of a bronze head of a statue of Sulis Minerva at the Roman Baths.

Sulis being a local Celtic goddess but linked in many ways to the Roman goddess Minerva so they created a new deity to be praised within Romano-Britain.

Here we have Sulis Minerva.

This is an example of something that historians would call Romano-British.

This combination of Roman and British culture coming together and creating this unique goddess that could be praised by Romans in Britain or Britons in Roman Britain.

Which of the following were changes to Celtic religion in Britain during Roman rule? A, The Druids were wiped out.

B, The Celts could worship their own gods.

C, Celtic gods were combined with Roman ones.

Or D, The ancient Roman gods had to be respected.

Which of these were changes to Celtic religion in Britain during Roman rule? Select all of those changes now.

Off you go.

Brilliant job team.

So we know in 60 CE the Druids were wiped out and this was quite a big change within Celtic religion at the time.

The Celts could worship their own gods? Well that's not a change is it? That's something they were able to continue doing as long as they respected the Roman gods too.

This is definitely a change though.

This is something that we would call Romano-British.

The Celtic gods were combined with Roman ones such as Sulis Minerva in Bath.

And the ancient Roman gods had to be respected, this was certainly a change.

This was something new to Britain during this time.

How did you do there? Did you manage to find all those changes? Great job.

People in the Roman Empire often moved around within it, and we have here a map showing in our orangey-red colour the Roman Empire when it was at its largest.

You can see Britain being part of it.

Historians know that some soldiers at Hadrian's Rule right in the far north borders there of the Roman Empire were from North Africa.

We can see here Hadrian's Rule right in the far north of the British territory here and North Africa here.

So this shows that migration and movements of people within the Empire across huge distances were common within the Roman Empire.

It wasn't only soldiers though who came to Britain.

The skeleton of a lady found buried in the north of England was descended from people in North Africa too.

She is known as Ivory Bangle Lady.

Can you say that for me? Ivory Bangle Lady.

She's known as Ivory Bangle Lady because her skeleton was found buried with an ivory bangle and it's believed that she and her family came from North Africa.

She was buried in York in the north of England.

So not only soldiers but people too moved across the huge expanses of the Roman Empire.

Who is correct about people travelling to Britain during Roman Rule? Let's look at two statements here and decide.

We have Lucas and we have Sam.

Lucas says Ivory Bangle Lady and Roman soldiers came from North America.

Sam says Ivory Bangle Lady and Roman soldiers came from North Africa.

Consider the map that we looked at and the places that you know the Roman Empire expanded to.

Who is correct here? Lucas or Sam? Off you go.

Brilliant job.

Well we don't think Lucas is correct because he said North America which was not part of the Roman Empire but North Africa certainly was, and we have evidence of Ivory Bangle Lady as well as Roman soldiers from Hadrian's Wall coming from North Africa and migrating across the Roman Empire to be in Britain.

So Sam is correct.

This also then was a huge change.

People coming from elsewhere within the Roman Empire to be in Britain at this time.

One of the things that changed the most and most drastically when the ancient Romans ruled Britain was the buildings.

We can see here in our image here we have a reconstruction of what a Celtic roundhouse would have looked like.

The types of buildings that the Romans introduced when they arrived were very different to the Celtic hillfort settlements and the wattle and daub roundhouses with thatched roofs that the Celts would have lived in previously.

The Romans built new towns in stone and paved streets and public entertainments like amphitheatres.

We can see here in this image the number of roads connecting key settlements, key Roman settlements that were built.

These were roads that were built to last, paved in stone.

These towns were connected by lots of new Roman roads then that were built and we can see here also structures like Hadrian's Wall that were also built.

Rich ancient Romans could afford to build huge villas in the countryside and we have evidence left of this.

Archaeologists have found places like Chedworth Villa.

In Chedworth Villa we have wonderful examples of mosaics that have remained.

They were full of things that the Celts had never seen before such as these mosaics and underfloor heating systems and decorated paintings.

These underfloor heating systems were known as hypocaust and they allowed for underfloor heating as well as the heating of water.

They were found in expensive lavish villas as well as public baths like in the city of Bath.

So can you select the images that show things the ancient Romans built in Britain? The things the ancient Romans built? We have paved roads, roundhouses and amphitheatres.

Pause the video now and select the things the ancient Romans built.

Off you go.

Great job team.

So the Romans built paved roads which hadn't been previously built by the Celts.

Roundhouses though were of Celtic design weren't they? Those roundhouses with wattle and daub and thatched roofs and amphitheatres were built by the Romans.

They're an important part of Roman society and community where entertainment such as gladiators and theatrical events and plays would occur.

This is an image of the amphitheatre found outside or what they think the amphitheatre found outside of what is now modern Cirencester would have looked like.

So for our practise task now what I'd like us to do is talk to a partner about the changes the Romans made to each of these things in Britain.

We have three key areas I'd like to talk about.

Think about everything that we've learned so far in both our learning cycles.

Changes to religion, changes to buildings and changes also to settlements.

You could use these words and phrases below to help you.

Think of them as your star words, your key words.

We have the words Druids, Sulis Minerva, gods and goddesses, wattle and daub, roundhouses and hillforts, mosaics, villas, hypocaust systems, paved roads, amphitheatre and forums. So talk to your partner now.

What changes have happened in religion, building and settlements after the Romans arrived in Britain? Off you go.

Fantastic job.

You've clearly learned so much throughout the course of this lesson and really considered deeply those changes that occurred within Romano-British culture after the Romans arrived.

I heard some incredible facts being told about the fact that the Druids in 60 CE were killed by the Romans, many of them killed.

The fact that we had this combination of Celtic and Roman gods like Sulis Minerva.

The fact that choices and decisions had to be made by Celtic rulers.

The fact that Celtic gods and goddesses could still be praised, their polytheistic faith could still be praised as long as they respected the Roman gods and goddesses.

The fact that the building styles changed so much.

Those wattle and daub roundhouses, those thatch roofs were no longer used.

Stone was used for building settlements and villas.

Much larger settlements were built like the towns of modern Cirencester as opposed to Hillforts.

They could be decorated with mosaics and also paintings.

They could include hypocaust systems that the Celts had never used before to heat water and also heat floors.

They brought about many paved roads to connect these incredible settlements.

They built amphitheatres for entertainment and forums in the towns where communities could meet and events could occur.

Great job team.

So what I'd like you to do now is to complete the table by writing sentences using that information that you just spoke to your learning partner about, giving two or three examples of changes that the Romans made in each area.

The key areas are religion, buildings and settlements.

You can write two or three sentences, some notes to describe how changes the Romans brought about and this creation of Romano-British culture.

Pause the video now and complete the table.

Off you go.

Great job.

Amazing.

I'm so impressed.

You've clearly learned so much and are really thinking like historians to consider how things have changed during this time period, during this 350 year period of Roman occupation in Britain.

So your answers could have looked like this.

In religion you could have included the Druids being wiped out in 60 CE in Anglesey, the fact that the Druids were really important religious leaders within Celtic communities and they caused a bit of a headache for the Romans because the Druids wanted the Celts to fight back and they could have unified the Celtic tribes.

We could also have included the fact that the Celts could worship their own gods and goddesses but that they had to respect the Roman ones too.

Often they combined gods to make new ones like Sulis Minerva.

Sulis being that Celtic god and Minerva being that Roman god, that combination.

We have evidence of this found in Bath, this new combined deity.

Within building the Celts built wattle and all round houses but the Romans like Emperor Hadrian built huge walls in stone and aqueducts in stone for fresh water.

Rich Romans were able to build villas with mosaics and hypocaust systems. They built far larger permanent settlements like that in modern Cirencester where thousands of people could live rather than those temporary hillforts that people might go to or the Celts would have gone to during times of war.

And finally settlements.

The Celts built hillforts but Romans built bigger towns connected by those paved roads, those stoned roads which we still have evidence of today.

Roman towns had forums, markets and amphitheatres and were much larger and permanent and built of stone.

Did you manage to include all of those things there? Great job if you did.

Brilliant job in history today.

We've been looking at the changes to life brought about by Roman settlement in Britain.

The ancient Romans conquered the Celtic tribes in Britain in 43 CE.

Some Celts resisted like Caratacus and Boudica but most eventually followed Roman ways of life.

Some things like religion changed to become Romano-British.

Other things like buildings changed a lot.

The ancient Romans built roads to connect new towns with aqueducts supplying fresh water.

Expensive villas had mosaics and hypocaust heating systems. So as we can see some things changed a little but other things changed a great deal during the 350 year Roman occupation of Britain.

Keep up the great history learning and I'll see you again soon.