Abstract
Relations between Britain and the Continent did not begin when Julius Caesar’s men landed in 55 bc. The links between Britain and the Continent in prehistory, however, are disputed in every single period, creating no firm ground upon which it is possible to erect conclusions, save that the inhabitants of the British Isles have always come from the Continent and that developments in the archipelago have been far from uniform. In the Iron Age, links led to developments in southern Britain which were similar to those of northern Gaul (France) and the Low Countries. It is unclear how far these were due to demographic (population) movements, whether in the form of invasions or of peaceful migrations, and how far it was, rather, a question either of a more limited immigration, essentially of an elite, or of trade. The nature of the evidence makes definite statements somewhat problematic, while it is clear that, as there was uniformity neither in southern Britain nor in nearby areas of the Continent, it is dangerous to seek for a single causal explanation. ‘Belgic’ culture was associated with the development of proto-towns, the use of coins and the existence of ‘states’ with monarchical patterns of government, such as is found in the area of Essex under the Trinovantes.1
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© 1994 Jeremy Black
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Black, J. (1994). Rome and the Anglo-Saxons. In: Convergence or Divergence?. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-23345-8_2
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