Mireia Moreno Cabañas

ACTIVITY 3

Surf the net and try to investigate the following:

1. One notorious setting (region, area, etc.) of Roman influence in Great Britain.

2. One of the first Anglo-Saxon settlements that you find of interest.

3. Once you have traced your chosen "setting", explain the significance of such
settings, and imagine the kind of study or investigation you would like to carry out
in the area if you were given the chance to visit it. Pick up one setting, i.e.: "Malvern
Hills", Sutton, Canterbury, Kent, Bath, Tintagel, Cornwall, etc., etc., etc.,

4. Find out about the role of scribes and/or authors in old English and/or Middle
English verse and try to explain their importance in the preservation of the literary
tradition.

 The Roman influence in Great Britain

The city of Bath, in the county of Somerset, is renowned for being one of the most
important sites with remains of Roman influence on the island of Great Britain. The very
name of the city has its origin in the Roman baths that still stand in the center of the city,
and that previously gave the name to the spa-town, Aquae Sulis, translated from Latin as
“the waters of Sulis” (“Bath Architecture”). Likewise, this name came from the Celtic
Sulis, a deity worshiped in the town as a healing divinity that fed the waters of their baths
so they could cure any physical or spiritual illness or suffering. With the arrival of the
Romans to the area, a syncretism took place between this local goddess and the wise
Minerva, Roman deity of Wisdom. Therefore, a temple dedicated to Sulis Minerva was
built in the city, as the main religious place of the town, and uniting the worshiping
traditions of the Celtic Dobunni tribe that were settled in the area and the new Roman
conquerors (“The Roman Temple”).

In this case, such a temple could be of great help in understanding the type of religions
that were carried out at that time. The synchronism of some Celtic gods already known
in the region with other Roman deities coming from the conquering peoples probably
served as a way to balance the invasion and to make it be seen in a more amiable rather
than violent way by the inhabitants (“The Roman Temple”); they were not imposing their

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religion on them, but rather uniting them so that they could practice it in harmony. For
example, it is known that Minerva was also associated with other Celtic deities, such as
Senua or Brigantia, because of their similarities in their persona. At the same time, most
Roman gods already came from the tradition of Greek religion, having very similar deities
among them but renaming them after other important aspects of their life, such as the
planets; for instance, Mars would be the counterpart of the Greek Ares, and the Roman
Pluto identifies with the deity Hades. In this occasion, the main deity, Minerva, comes
from the Greek goddess Athena, and this is also represented in the temple mentioned
above, since its pediment features a Gorgon’s head in its centre. According to Greek
mythology, after killing the Gorgon Medusa, Perseus gave her head to Athena, who used
it on her shield; although in this case it is a male Gorgon, it is believed that this image
was altered so it would combined both Celtic and classical styles (“Temple Pediment and
Gorgon’s Head”). So, if only for its connection with Roman mythology, I think this type
of temples are quite interesting to study, as they can show how they connected the ancient
religions to relate them and not to be lost, while studying the different gods that prevailed
at that time and their preponderance in the lives of the inhabitants of the city.

The Roman Temple: https://www.romanbaths.co.uk/roman-temple-0

 Firsts Anglo-Saxons settlements

Right after the end of the Roman occupation, different European tribes decided to settle
in some eastern areas of the British island, especially from Germany and Scandinavia.
Among the areas affected by these invasions was the Kent area, where these peoples —
known as the ‘Anglo-Saxons’ began to gain power and dominance over the existing
inhabitants there; according to the common belief, the origin myth for Kent places two
Jutes, Hengist and Horsa, as the first governors, who defeated the British already there
and took control of the area. Among the different proofs that we have to demonstrate the
presence of the Anglo-Saxons in this region, I would like to highlight the discovery of
numerous cemeteries dated around this period, especially Buckland, a large burial space
believed to be in use for centuries. The complete cemetery had probably held more than
500 graves, and its discovery was probably a great achievement, especially because of
the repercussions it would have in terms of learning more about the people who lived
there. As they could verify, the bodies were buried fully clothed and prepared for the

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afterlife, with the chambers filled with many goods, and richly furnished (“Exploring
Kent’s Past).

As is evident, an exhaustive study of this type of settlement can reveal much about the
way of life of those who lived at that time. To begin with, one can learn more about their
complexion, body type and lifestyle by examining the corpses in the graves, which would
help to determine their living and physical conditions. In the same way, cemeteries are a
great place to discover additional information about the religious traditions and customs
of the time. For example, the fact that they were buried prepared for an ‘afterlife’ showed
a belief in the existence of life after death, and how they depended on what they achieved
in life to determine what they would have in death. This custom is quite similar to the
Egyptian tradition, where the dead had to be buried with all the treasures they possessed
in order to pay for a passage to the land of the dead, where they could dwell in peace; or
it can even be compared to the Greek practice, where people were buried with two coins,
one in each eye, in order to lower the ferryman who was to carry the dead down the river
Styx to the underworld. In any case, such treasures found in the tombs would serve the
experts to know more about the life, not only the death, of the Anglo-Saxon inhabitants
of the time, the type of objects they possessed, and therefore, how they lived in general.

Buckland cemetery:
https://webapps.kent.gov.uk/KCC.ExploringKentsPast.Web.Sites.Public/SingleResult.a
spx?uid=%27mke6969%27

 The importance of the scribes

Before the advent of the printing press in 1476, if a text was to survive, it had to be copied
by hand, making scribes essential in the survival of literary works. Without scribes, most
of Old and Middle English literature would have disappeared. To begin with, the main
role for the scribes was that it was them who helped transition English literature from oral
performance to written form. It is important to remember that most Old English poetry
was originally oral, composed and recited by scops—what we nowadays would consider
poets—and memorized through performance, but not store anywhere else; scribes were
the ones responsible for recording these oral traditions so they would not get lost in time.
The most famous surviving Old English works—such as Beowulf, The Wanderer, and
The Seafarer—come from a handful of manuscripts copied by scribes. Therefore, it is

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safe to say that without them, much of Anglo-Saxon poetry would have been lost to time,
and that it was thanks to their work that the survival of these heroic stories was ensured.

Hereafter, with the Norman Conquest in 1066, the English language underwent a
transformation that led to what we know as the Middle English period. This time, scribes
played a significant role in standardizing spelling and grammar, even though there was
no known uniform system yet for it. Just as with the Old English, it is thanks to the scribes
that many important texts of this period can be studied nowadays, such as Sir Gawain
and the Green Knight, The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer, and Langland’s Piers Plowman,
since they were the ones that dedicated their time on copying them multiple times so they
would not get lost.

Thus, as far as the Old English and the Middle English period are concerned, the work of
the scribes was essential for us to be able to enjoy such early and important works in the
history of England today. This in turn allows us to learn more about the society and way
of thinking of the time, showing aspects as important to them as the code of honour
followed by the knights in Beowulf or in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

Bibliography:

“Bath Architecture.” Visit Bath, https://visitbath.co.uk/inspire-me/about-bath/history-

English Heritage (2014) English Heritage Archaeological Monographs [data-set]. York:

“Exploring Kent’s Past” Kent County Council,

“Temple Pediment and Gorgon’s Head” Roman Baths, www.romanbaths.co.uk/temple-

“The Roman Temple” Roman Baths, www.romanbaths.co.uk/roman-temple-0