The failure and disintegration of the ancient Christianized Britannia was influenced

by factors such as the continuing violence of non-Romanized Celtic groups, the non-
belligerent character of Germanic groups (Anglos, Saxons and Jutes) and the increasing
dissolution of the Roman administration as well as its own anarchy.

In the times of the Roman withdrawal, between 400 and 800 AD, “(…) new groups of people
had begun settling in Britain, people who had never before lived within the confines of the
Roman world (…) It was Germanic peoples from across the channel who began making their
way to Britain, mostly in small family groups, a boat-load or two at a time”1. As a
consequence of Germanic migratory flows, changes and transculturation became inevitable.
New social structures began to emerge and ancient Roman costumes began dispersing.
Bearing this in mind, it is worth questioning: ¿What can be said about culture and politics in
Romanised Britain? ¿What was preserved and removed? ¿What was the impact of new
Germanic invasions in Celtic’s daily life during this time period? These are exceptionally
difficult questions to answer due to the lack of written material regarding this historic period.

In this essay I will try to show that this period marked a before and after in the culture
and politics of the Celtic-speaking British peoples, which will transcend what we will
later call Great Britain and Ireland.

Firstly, it is important to mention that after the Romans left at the start of the 5th century AD,
the region of Southern Britain split into several British kingdoms, such as Dumnonia, Dyfed,
Dineirth, Maelgwn, among others. About their extensions and mightiness we don’t have too
much knowledge besides Gildas gives us; a churchman’s writings sometime during the sixth
century, that strongly condemns the acts of his contemporaries, both lay and religious. He
refers to all these kingdoms as cruel, tyrannical, greedy and explains that they live in sin;
“Britain has kings, but they are tyrants; they have judges, but they aren’t wicked”2. In spite
of the above, the existence of Christianity during this post-Roman period stands out in each
one of the kingdoms that point out, as, for example, when he speaks about Vortipor, ruler of
Dyfed in South West Wales: “Waste not (I beseech thee) the residue of thy life in offending
God (…). Turn away (according to the psalmist) from evil, and do good, seek peace and
ensue it, because the eyes of our Lord will be cast upon thee, when thou doest righteousness,
and his ears will be then open unto thy prayers, and he will not destroy thy memory out of
the land of the living (…)”3. From his text, we conclude that the mission of Gildas is to call
attention to contemporary kings and their immoral practices so that a reform of the Church
can take place during the post-Roman period.

1
Robin Fleming, Britain after Rome: The Fall and Rise, 400 – 700 (London: Penguin, 2011), p. 30.
2
Gildas, On the Destruction of Britain, paragraph 27, available in Sourcebook Fordham University,
<https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/gildas-full.asp> [accessed 8 February 2018]
3 Gildas, Destruction of Britain, paragraph 31.
In comparison to the southern kingdoms, to the north, there were the Northern Kingdoms
such as Gododdin, a kingdom located north of Britain and southeast of Scotland that
flourished in post-Roman Britain. The extension of the kingdom is not known exactly and
what we know is thanks to the Welsh poem attributed to Aneirin. This poetry allows us to
know the history of the Kingdom of Gododdin between the 5th and 6th centuries. More than
anything, it allows us to know the mentality of the people who was very spiritual and that in
the 6th century there was a season of storm against pagans, Gaels and Picts. This scenario
promoted the warlike character of these kingdoms as well as their desire to die in war in an
honest manner, because those who die in the slaughter will be honored, adored and
remembered by future generations.

Finally, the political system adopted both in the south of Britain and the North was a system
of kingdoms that stood out for their warlike and religious character, and for the search for a
life that transcends beyond material barriers. Based on the information we obtain from Gildas
and Aneirin, we deduce that in both regions of Britannia it existed a society of kingdoms that
lived without a central government or an organized state, without trade or currency, or any
architecture outside of wooden constructions and earth. In addition, in both regions you can
see a social structure based on heroism and military aristocracy whose main interest is war,
which provides loot and prestige.

Secondly, it is worth mentioning the cultural changes that took place during this
period. As we have noticed, a transcendental characteristic of this period is the violent nature
of the time. The struggle for their subsistence stresses that the most important thing of man
is their spirit, dignity, and their glory. It is in this sense that religion as a cultural aspect
acquires great relevance. The Christianization of Britain was not something easy. As Barbara
York says: “Conversion to Christianity was not simply a matter of substituting one religion
for another because the two forms of religion were different (…) the focus is quite different,
because the emphasis is on achieving salvation (…)”4. In the end, it was a process of
adaptation to the ancient pagan Celtic customs and traditions.

However, in Britain, under a system of urbanization, churches governed by bishops were

installed, some of which survived after the retreat of Romans. For instance, the former Roman
town Cerwent was a center of Royal Power (later known as the Kingdom of Gwent after
Roman occupation) and had Celtic Christianity as their religion. As Robin Fleming points
out, “By the fifth century the Church had developed an elaborate and highly articulate
ecclesiastical hierarchy comprised of a myriad religious: deacons, priests and bishops, who
worked in the world (…) we catch glimpses of all of these characters in western Britain. (…)
We know little of substance about them, but it is clear, nonetheless, that the British Church,

4 Barbara Yorke, The Conversion of Britain: Religion, Politics and Society in Britain, c. 600-800. (Harlow:
2006), p. 100.
like all other Churches, were ruled by them”5.

In spite of that, and through a different process, most of the population that was on the East
side of Britain were peasants, living in rural backwaters, so that their conversion process was
later in time, and the result of the work of different Romanized bishops and elites who were
dedicated to the religious conversion of towns, for instance, Kent (located in the southeast of
England), place where Saint Augustine worked hard to announce the King (and convince,
with success) of the salvation of their lands. As Bede says, “Their conversion the king so far
encouraged, as that he compelled none to embrace Christianity, but only showed more
affection to the believers, as to his fellow-citizens in the heavenly kingdom”6.

Beyond the borders of Britain, in Ireland, there were a large number of tribes that at
no point of time were neither part of the Roman domain nor the period of Urbanization. Thus,
Christianity became part of them thanks to the work of Christian missionaries, such as
Palladio and St. Patrick.

Palladio was sent from Rome around year 431 AD with the mission of evangelizing
and protecting the incipient Christian communities that existed in the area (product of
existing trade relations between Ireland and the Gallias) against the risk of heresy that had
been becoming common on the other side of the Island (which Gildas criticizes). St. Patrick
on the other hand (who is considered the patron saint of Ireland), felt in his soul the duty to
evangelize towns and the people that once made him suffer and serve as a slave. The old
Churches from Saint Patrick’s era were readjusted on a monastic basis. Each tribal group had
its own monastery as a center of their religious life. The
abbots came from Royal or aristocrat families, which
show, again, now in Ireland, a society based on
aristocracy and prestige, even in regard to the religious
field. So, as it was common at the time, the effectiveness
of the apostolate of St. Patrick was essential to win the
upper class of society, mainly because of the exemplary
character that had been replicating in different regions of
Britain and Ireland.

To reinforce the previous idea, it is important to

highlight the importance of the Book of Kells, also known
as the Great Gospel of St. Columba, outstanding figure
among the Gaelic missionary monks who introduced
Book of Kells, Manuscripts & Archives
Christianity to Scotland at the beginning of the Middle Research Library, Trinity College
Ages, an illustrated manuscript with ornamental motifs, Dublin.

5 Robin Fleming, Britain after Rome, p. 126.

6 Bede, The ecclesiastical History of the English Nation (London: J. M. Dent & Sons, Ltd.), p. 37.
made by Celtic monks around the year 800 in Kells, a town in Ireland.

Thirdly, in accordance with the abovementioned, it is worth stating that linguistic and
material changes also emerged regarding the cultural sphere between 400-800 A.D. This was
explained by the intensive contact among the Germanic groups (mainly the Anglo-Saxons)
that began invading the territories left by
the Romans. Although the Anglo-Saxons
did not use the Celtic language, they highly
contributed to the formation of the British
culture and had a strong impact in the area.
Most of the interactions between
communities emerged due to the
increasing interest in the evangelizing
mission from both sides of the island. The
Hunterston Brooch emblem stands as a
clear example of this as it faithfully depicts
the existing interactions among peoples
and contains elements that we normally
find in Ireland and in the Anglo-Saxons
kingdoms, such as Northumbria. Hunterston Brooch, c. 700. National Museum of Scotland.
Furthermore, as Stevenson argues “There is no feature of design in the decoration of this
brooch which is not also found in the decoration of the Celtic manuscripts of the Gospels. Its
art is therefore the Celtic art of the Christian period. (…) The omnipresent influence of Saxon
objects so manifest in these works can easily be explained by contacts which existed in the
7th century (…)”7.

Due to these multicultural interactions the development of language emerges as a highly

interesting topic. Britannia suffered drastic changes regarding language, which was strongly
influenced by Latin, at least initially. Welsh, Cornish and Breton dialects were formed as a
consequence of the increasing differentiation and cultural interaction among communities.
For instance, Welsh language separated from Cornish, Breton and Cumbric just as Charles–
Edwards describe: “Dialects come to be distinct when some sound-changes affect only one
area or group within the territory and population of the language”8. This suggests that local
costumes -and mainly the development of language- highly define and distinguish these
communities from each other within a specific region.

A modo de conclusión, podemos señalar que todo este periodo de grandes cambios fue muy
importante para los pueblos britanos de habla celtaporque al dejar de estar gobernados por el

7
Robert B. K. Stevenson, “The Hunterston Brooch and its significance”, reprinted from Medieval Archaeology,
Vol. XVIII (1974). P. 28.
8 Charles-Edwards, T. M., Wales and the Britons, 350-1064 (Oxford, 2012), p. 23
Imperio Romano, se vieron en la obligación de forjar su propia política. La gran pregunta
fue: Que sistema política adoptar? A partir de Gildas y Aneirin, nos damos cuenta que la
ambicion en la guerra y las ansias de querer ser recordados, permitieron la formación de un
política fuertemente jerarquizada y organizada en base a reinos. A su vez, fue un periodo de
constante desarrollo en cuanto a lo cultural, esto porque, debemos reconocer que la
mantención del Cristianismo en Britania y la influencia del latin no fue una cuestión de azar,
sino que fue producto de un proceso de evangelización que paralalemente comenzó a darse
en diferentes sectores de la Isla y de una interaccion multicultural constante entre celtas y
germanos, lo que a su vez permitio distinguir el lenguaje de los britanos, de los pueblos del
norte, del oeste, etc.

Bibliography

- Robin Fleming, Britain after Rome: The Fall and Rise, 400 – 700 (London: Penguin,
2011),
- Gildas, On the Destruction of Britain, available in Sourcebook Fordham University,
<https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/gildas-full.asp> [accessed 8
February 2018]
- Barbara Yorke, The Conversion of Britain: Religion, Politics and Society in Britain,
c. 600-800. (Harlow: 2006),
- Bede, The ecclesiastical History of the English Nation (London: J. M. Dent & Sons,
Ltd.),
- Robert B. K. Stevenson, “The Hunterston Brooch and its significance”, reprinted
from Medieval Archaeology, Vol. XVIII (1974).
- Charles-Edwards, T. M., Wales and the Britons, 350-1064 (Oxford, 2012).
- National Museum of Scotland, available in: https://www.nms.ac.uk/
- Book of Kells, Manuscripts & Archives Research Library, Trinity College Dublin,
available in: https://www.tcd.ie/visitors/book-of-kells/.