Roman Britain

Oxford History of England #1

by R.G. Collingwood

There are two sides to Roman Britain, the British side and the Roman side...in this volume we do justice to both these sides. From the point of view of England, the Roman period seems an isolated and somewhat unintelligible episode in the history of our country. In the history of Rome, is cuts a slightly better figure, because Roman Britain does form part of the Roman Empire as an organic whole.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, British Literature, Roman Britain, Ancient History, Classics

168 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1936

About the author

Robin George Collingwood was an English philosopher and historian. Collingwood was a fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford, for some 15 years until becoming the Waynflete Professor of Metaphysical Philosophy at Magdalen College, Oxford.

Reviews

[Lauren Albert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Towards the end of the book, Collingwood writes, “In this matter, indeed, there is some excuse for the belief that an increase of knowledge has led only to a growth of ignorance.” Sadly, this was clearly the case not only for me but for Collingwood in the second half of the book. The first half, which related the Roman attempts on, and conquest of, Britain was excellent. The second half, which went on to try to relate in microscopic detail the later invasions by the Saxons and others left me completely confused. It didn’t seem that Collingwood was less so.

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written, but you have a constant sense that the scholarship has moved on since 1936. Of its time and some distracting discussions of round skulled peoples and long skulled peoples. Hmm. I have the complete Oxford History of England on my shelves and feel the need to read them all…. eventually.