Roman Britain: A New History

by Guy de la Bédoyère

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 and bibliography have been updated to reflect the latest discoveries and research in recent years.

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

288 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2006

About the author

Guy de la Bédoyère is author of a widely admired series of books on Roman history. He appeared regularly on the UK’s Channel 4 archaeology series Time Team and is well known in the United States for his volume The Romans for Dummies. His latest books are Gladius. Living, Fighting, and Dying in the Roman Army (2020), and Pharaohs of the Sun. How Egypt's Despots and Dreamers Drove the Rise and Fall of Tutankhamun's Dynasty (2022). He lives in Grantham, Lincolnshire, UK.

Reviews

[Bethany · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this a lot.

This one is a text book that I purchased to read more on Roman Britain (not for academic purposes, just to read in my spare time).

If you want to know more about Roman Britain (even down to how they built their roads and the materials they used) then I would recommend this one.

[Brian Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a general overview of the latest in British Roman archaeology, this book is superb. Guy de la Bédoyère lays out such a rich spread of information that on this point the book should have 5 stars. Where it falls down is the author's almost total refusal to speculate. On the other hand, he does point out that multiple interpretations of a particular site may be possible - the frustration is that he rarely ever throws his hand in with any one theory.

A case in point: Fishbourne Palace, the most magnificent, biggest, and earliest significant Roman structure found in Britain is mentioned repeatedly through the book, along with the mystery of who its owner might be. Meanwhile, he also happens to mention - repeatedly - that we've no idea where the Roman governor of Britain lived, other than it should be the most magnificent, biggest, and earliest significant Roman structure found in Britain. It's only toward the end of the book that he even dares suggesta connection, and even then it's with the greatest hesitation.

Juxtaposing his caution in interpreting the archaeology is his general acceptance that any Roman document must be true - a general bias within the discipline of Classical Studies that is really underlined here.

Overall, a wonderful book of information, but frustrating in that the author repeatedly hesitates to connect that information into anything more than the most generic narrative.

[Susanne · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book theorizes, in passing, that since we have no Celtic records of Boudicca's existence, perhaps the spin-doctoring Romans invented her (the greater the enemy, the greater the victory).

This really annoyed my inner feminist. We have no Celtic records of *anybody* since the Celts didn't have a written language. If the book had questioned Caradoc's existence along the same lines, I would have entertained the idea. And then politely sent it home (as I don't believe it).

But I won't have the idea of Boudicca's being pretend even in my house, let alone entertain it, because as far as I could tell, the only thing that makes her likely to be fictional is that she's female. (grrrr)

Just because the Romans didn't know how she died doesn't mean she wasn't the leader of the rebellion.

Otherwise, I liked this book. And I think Guy de la Bedoyere is great and highly recommend his works.

EDIT:
So I read this in 2009. Apparently The Author Himself came along in 2011 and attacked me, saying I should have read his book (I did) and that what he really said was, "it was possible [Boudicca was] a minor player whose role was exaggerated by the [Roman] historians" in order to impugn Nero's manhood (beaten by a woman, that type of thing). He goes on to say of his theory, "it is possible, and that is beyond dispute."

This really makes me want to declare Boudicca was an alien.

Hey, it's possible.

Anyhow.

I apologize for misunderstanding his theory of Roman historians fictionalizing her role as making her entirely fictitious.

The theory still smells a bit to me.

And I take back the "I think Guy de la Bedoyere is great" part of my review. He's actually rather rude, apparently.

I originally gave this book 3 stars. Demoting it to 1 now.

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Roman Britain: A New History takes us from late Iron Age in Britain covering the events that led up to the Roman Invasion and then taking us through the events that happened within the Roman Provinces of Britain. Guy de la Bédoyère focuses on the general chronology of events and then focuses in on more specific area of the British provinces, which would become Inferior, Superior, Prima , Secunda, as well with topics for example like Military, Town, Industry etc highlighting the Roman way of doing this as well as pointing out how the local got on board with this. This provides a clear view of process of Romanisation and Guy de la Bédoyère show clearly how thing s changed and evolved over the period. At the same time Guy de la Bédoyère makes it perfectly clear that this after such big events as the Boudican was not a civilization holding down another by force once an area was absorbed into the Empire (something that is a misconception amongst some) as they would simply would not have been able to do accomplish this with the numbers available. At the same though Guy de la Bédoyère does show us how the Romans encouraged people to get on board with the system, through trade, goods, security etc and this clearly explained and laid out.


Guy de la Bédoyère in Roman Britain: A New History clearly keeps the British provinces within the wider picture of the larger Empire showing how events within Britain effected the rest of the Empire, the breakaway states of Carausius, the raising to the purple of Constantine I, Constantine III etc all had profound effects Britain as well as the Empire. Of course the reverse being true as the Campaigns by Septimus Severus etc make abundantly clear. Roman Britain a new history does not shy away topics within the British provinces so it provides a warts and all look at the British provinces so we get to see the the Romans options of the British as well as though catching the humour of the time that has been recorded deliberately and accidentally as in the case of the Vindolanda tablets etc Roman Britain: A New History really gives you a feel for the period as well as laying down a detailed layout that if you don't already know can point you in other direction of information.

Roman Britain: A New History also delves into what happened after the 'AD 411' date where Honorius the then reigning Emperor gives the order to the Provinces of Britannia to 'look to their own defences' this is often taken as the end date for the Roman Provinces and Guy de la Bédoyère makes the point that of course this not the reality everyone in the provinces are still Roman but what you do see is the rapid failure of the more advanced infrastructure, stone working, mass produced pottery etc all start feeling a drop in demand and indeed the infrastructure to support these industries are no longer there in the original forms and the book does a great job of examining this. Guy de la Bédoyère touches on the actions of Ambrious Aurelianus and the after effects as the Saxon's expanded out of the east of Britain. The book is filled with little asides and easter egg as well for example the Welsh recalling that Macsen Wledig aka Magnus Maximus who declared Roman Emperor in AD 383 is recorded as the Welsh first king, that Cornwall Tintagel and the surrounding area still maintained a trade in high statues goods and may be still in direct contact with the Empire at this time but does not say part still which may be the case, the existing grid patterns found at Calleva Atrebatum aka Silchester that are found before the invasion of AD 43 etc

Roman Britain: A New History gives a great overview of the British Roman Provinces as well as placing them in the greater context of the rest of the Empire. At the same time is also delves into the events and activities that took place in the province and impacted it from without. Before going in though it would be handy for you have a broader knowledge of events as the book will presume that you have a basic understanding of Iron Age and Roman culture but this makes for a great book for both those looking for new knowledge and those with an existing knowledge looking a different viewpoint on this as well as different sources of information. Roman Britain delivers and Guy de la Bédoyère gets the topic over in a clear concise way that covers the basics as well as delving into more depth in the chapters! Clear and Concise! Grab it when you can!

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are numerous books on the subject of Roman Britain, but this one wins out by taking into account the latest archaeological evidence and presenting it as even handedly as possible. De la Bedoyere comes at the subject with no spurious theories to peddle and so the book is refreshingly honest in its approach. He deals with the basic history of the province in the first three chapters, the conquest, the consolidation and the decline. What comes across is the author's evident love of the subject and his wish to engage the reader without dumbing the subject down.

The remaining chapters deal with different aspects of the Roman occupation - the military, the economy, the effect on the indiginous population etc etc. The book is full of great photographs, artist's impressions and diagrams that bring the world of Roman Britain to life. What he repeats is how little we really know and how much of what is accepted as fact is merely conjecture. For instance, we don't know the name of one single owner of a Roman Villa in Britain. We're not even sure some sites called 'villas' were actually villas. The whole history of the province has to be pieced together from coinage, inscriptions, the invaluable resource of the Vindolanda letters and mentions in other sources found in other parts of the Empire.

What is striking is the decline after the departure of the last Roman Legions. Within a couple of generations the whole infrastructure had fallen apart, major towns were in ruins and villas demolished and abandoned. There is no clear evidence as to why this happened so quickly. Safe to say that theses Islands would not be affected so fundamentally on every level of society until the Industrial Revolution. The Roman occupation was that radical.

Thoroughly readable, this book is recommended to anyone interested in the history of these Isles.

[Ruth · Rating 2 out of 5]

c2006. Found this to be more of a text book than an easy to read casual read. I should have known when it was proudly stated that there were 285 illustrations, 75 in colour. Too scholarly for me! A lot if the information I seemed to have come across before. I think this is because Bedoyere is a regular member of the Time Team that I seem to watch addictively.

[Frederick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the second book I finished one morning, along with The Viking Anthology. The book is a little dry but it contains valuable information if you are interested in the era when Rome ruled England. I enjoyed it thoroughly and the photographs and illustrations really bring the age of Rome in England alive. I strongly recommend it.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bedoyere lays it all out

It's not just a history! Bedoyere talks about how the Britons lived under Roman rule, mostly based on archeological evidence. Illustrations are amazing. Great book.

[Tor · Rating 4 out of 5]

A detailed and well written book. It can be a bit technical at times, so I would reccomend it to people who are already familiar with the basics concerning the Roman Empire, and Roman Britain.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this an engaging and thorough introduction to the topic. Perhaps like many I had a vague outline of key events: Caesar's initial sortie, Hadrian's conquest, Boudica's revolt, the departure of the Romans - but Bédoyère's book grounded them in a deeper context and provided a wealth of detail.

I think the key success of the book is that it feels 'popular' while still offering a lot more than just a narrative of events and a dramatis personae, all of which is covered in the first three chapters. Tribes in the south of were already in contact with the Roman world before Caesar's famous visit. These contacts grew stronger afterwards as the Romans patronised local cheiftains and familiarised them with Roman ideas of rulership and wealth. Later, after the invasion, it was these tribes who had already become at least partly Romanised that were the easiest to assimilate into the Empire. Beyond the Wall, the Picts were a people so removed from the Classical world that the Roman's traditional tactic of cultural insinuation and patronage was unable to win them much ground.

After this, each chapter focuses on a different aspect of Roman rule: government, the military, urban life, etc. Bédoyère spends a lot of time explaining how we know what we do about the period. As far as written sources go, we have to rely primarily on Tacitus and Cassius Dio. In other words: on the Romans. But the same is also true of archeology. Roman material culture, in the form of large-scale public and military building projects, pottery, mosaics and other objets d'art, have left us a clearer picture of rulers than the people being ruled over. Moreover, much of what we do find is related to the Romany army. Bédoyère points out the difficulties this leaves us with if we want to talk about Roman Britain as a whole based on archaeological evidence. The army represented only a tiny fraction of the population.

The book also has great value as a work of reference. The back cover of my 2013 editions boats of 286 illustrations, and these are often accompanied by short, self-contained profiles. These represent a break in the chapter which the reader can either read or skip past. Want to know how many sestertii make up one denarius? You'll find the answer here.

[Amy Grondin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this one out because sub-Roman Britain is probably my favorite historical period to study, and I decided I should know a little bit more about the culture that predated it. I enjoyed this one, although it took me awhile to get through it because I often read it at night in bed and it was just dry enough that it often sent me to sleep after a few pages. I don't mean that to be a criticism--for this genre, better a dry but accurate and well-researched history than one that has been spiced up by playing too fast and loose with the available evidence. Ultimately, it was readable and serious, while not being overwhelmingly scholarly for an interested-but-inexpert reader like me. I am still more fascinated by the post-Roman period, even though there is even less evidence and even more uncertainty among scholars, but this book will help me better understand what came afterwards.

[Henry · Rating 5 out of 5]

- The roman conquest, the author argues, stems mostly from pride rather than other legitimate reasons for invasion. It’s the latter Roman leader’s own ambition to top earlier leader’s accomplishments that drives the Roman to invade Britons. In fact, since the Romans at the time thought the Britain Island was mystical, majorities of the soldiers didn’t even want to take part of the action

- The author argues that unlike Roman’s account that the Britons were mostly savages, Arthur argues that some of the Britons - depending on their geography - was developed, and influenced by the rest of the world. In fact, Southern Britons, the Londener of yesterday - traded actively with the rest of the world

- On slavery: just like the rest of the SPQR, slavery was active and apparent. Slaves could come from birth, debt, crime or the result of war. Freedman could be granted by the owner often due to loyalty (or sometimes, homosexuality with the owner).

- The SPQR ruling of the Britons was fragmented, since Britons were made of multiple tribes. Due to the geological constraint, SPQR essentially outsourced the ruling to the Britons themselves, which makes SPQR more of a proxy owner of the Britons

- Revolut against the SPQR was visible during the ruling by the Romans

- London’s trading with the rest of the world began even before the Roman conquest

- The Britons, before and during the Roman conquest, are not aligned with each other. Which means that they often have infighting against each other (then, again, before the Roman conquest, the very identity of the Britons as a single entity was never established. In fact, the author argues that the very idea of “Britons” was invented by the Romans to paint a singular picture of the Island)

- … that being said, SPQR was never able to conquer the entire Island. Ireland was never invaded, and people from the north - Scots - were too far away from SPQR’s influence

[Jrwest · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Romans occupied Britain from 43 AD until 410 AD. They brought civilization to an uncivilized society. The Romans built/ introduced a road system, trade system, an administrative system, brought a written language developed towns and cities brought relative peace to a warring populace. They had a huge impact on Britain. It would appear however that very little is known about the Roman era in Britain. Some surving writings exist from Roman historians who probably never visited Britain and wrote about events much after the fact. Much of the history is based upon archeological sites consisting of foundations of building remnants, excavated tombstones and monuments. Not a lot to develop a sense of the lives of Roman Britain's. The author doesn't lend himself to speculation. Although the book provided factual information about what has been discovered, the author doesn't try to give his best guess of how things were. It therefore makes for a bit of a boring read. I thought that I would have learned more about Roman Britain's then I did.

One annoying feature of this book was the writer or editor didn't do a very good job matching the photos or the diagrams with the text which was quite annoying. I would find myself reading the text and looking at the adjoining pictures only to realise when I read the captions that the picture didn't pertain to the text. I can accept some photos being out of sync with the text but this seemed much more than usual.

[Don Siegrist · Rating 3 out of 5]

Britain under the Romans is one of my favorite historical era's so not surprisingly, I found the book very informative. If you are a fan of British history in general you might find the book interesting. If you care for neither, stay away.
I find this era interesting because Britain at this time was on the far reaches off the Empire and was considered a backwater outpost. A Roman assigned here questioned what they had done to deserve such a fate. Before the Romans the Britons had no towns nor written language. It didn't take long for them to enthusiastically adopt a Roman lifestyle; although there were occasional revolts.
The Romans ruled Britain for 400 years, roughly equivalent to the Pilgrams landing in America and our present day. So imagine the shock when the Empire collapsed and the Britons were told in 410 AD by Emperor Honorius that they were now on their own and must defend themselves from the barbarian onslaught. They held out for a generation by themselves but eventually succumbed to the invading Angles and Saxons.
The invaders marveled at the Roman infrastructure of roads, forts and villas but lacked the skills needed to maintain any of it. Within a generation or two it lay in ruins. It would be over a thousand years later before archaeologists began to discover the surviving remnants and piece together the history of Roman Britain. This book provides the most current information on the era.

[Herb Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book as an introduction to Roman Britain. For me the author gets the detail level just right - not too much, not too little. The book draws on the large amount of recent archeological evidence that has come to light regarding the Romans in Britain. The author discusses how ideas regarding this era have had to change in the light of this new evidence. Sources are well documented, there is an extensive bibliography for further reading and a very useful guide to Roman Britain sites to visit around the UK. Chapters are clearly arranged into topics such as Military Installations, Industry and Commerce, Governing Britain and Roman Towns. The text is clear and there are plenty of quality photos and line drawings. All in all, a very concise and interesting introduction to Roman Britain - highly recommended.

[Ivy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yeah... maybe not for beginners. Or really anyone who isn't the author. I felt like I was reading Who's Who of Roman Britain but without any background of who anyone actually was. I read quite a lot of this book and still can't tell you anything about Roman Britain except... they were there? I've read a lot of textbooks, but this one seemed like "Oh, you don't know what I am talking about? Well too bad!"

I feel bad giving a textbook 2 stars, but you know what, this is my goodreads and it was not a good read. I may loose intellectual points on this one, but hey, I wanted to learn and didn't so it can't all be on me.

[Joshua Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perfectly serviceable and intelligent, but not a page turner.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read it again as it is perfect for an A-Level course.

[Ben Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have long loved English literature but only recently felt the desire to dive into English history. This seemed like a good starting point. I don't know if this is standard for histories, but I found the prose very dense and sometimes difficult to follow. I needed to read many paragraphs twice. Sometimes I would read a full section and then ask - "Now what was the point of that?" But I will chalk most of this up to my inexperience.

The reading experience in this era of history can feel choppy at times because any good historian seeking the truth of the matter has to be careful not to draw hasty conclusions. In probably a third of the pages in this book, Bedoyere says things like "We can't be sure, but..." or "The evidence is rather unclear, but..." We have no unbiased sources in texts from this period, and while archeological digs are "unbiased," they are always inconclusive and are even more open to interpretation than the texts.

It's a puzzle that Bedoyere seems to enjoy more than me. I prefer sweeping narratives and the gradual evolution of ideas and language and theology and art. We get a little bit of that in here, but it's just a different type of book. I respect it.

[O Babs · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good overview of a complex subject. Many illustrations -- somewhat like a Dorling Kindersley Eyewitness book (love those! still!) with more text, for an older reader. Written and compiled from an archaeological perspective; as additional material is discovered and interpreted, the text may become dated. The overall arc will probably endure.

[J Grimsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting book published in 2006 but still a little dated when seen from the end of the Roman Empire and the start of what was then call the start of the dark ages. Apart from that it is a great book well illustrated and it gives a useful picture of Roman Britain. I'm no expert but I enjoyed it - I always liked Guy when he was on Time Team.

[David Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good overall read for my trip to Bath, but sadly it didn't have much in the way of new information. A much better general introduction regarding Britain in this period is David Matthinglys Imperial possession.

[Christina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nicely done, relatively comprehensive account of many aspects of Roman Britain. This is a general over view based on archeology and primary spruce written history. Great introductory resource on the subject. I rarely give 5s, so a 4 does not indicate a flaw in the book.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit of a disappointment actually.

[Jari Havela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Splendid. Excellent.

[Wayne Tyson]

Really enjoyable and easy read of a vast subject.

[Jim Swike · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well researched and detailed history. Great book for research and / or term paper on the topic. Enjoy!

[Kim Hayes · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating book that I know I will refer to in the years to come.

[Francine · Rating 5 out of 5]

As expected, really informative. Also as expected, the source of ideas for many future little staycations.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve recently been poring over a lot of Roman Britain History books and have found this one of the best so far. This will be a great ‘go to for reference’ book for me in the future when I want to revisit something the author has included. The writing style makes it very easy to read, and the information is given in a continuously absorbing manner. The illustrations are excellent and best of all I like that the author doesn’t fudge any issues. When the evidence for something is thin on the ground- archaeologically speaking- he states it quite clearly and makes no bones about the resultant speculation being just that –speculation. One of the aspects I love about reading Roman Britain texts is the varied interpretations the author puts on something depending on their own viewpoint.