What Happened to Britain's Romance Language?

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 3:00: Breton, Franks, Ostrogoths, Roman Britain
2. 3:00 – 6:00: Franks, Brian Ward Perkins, Roman Britain
3. 6:00 – 9:00: Franks, Londinium, Roman Britain
4. 9:00 – 12:00: Roman Britain, The Anglo-Saxon World
5. 12:00 – 15:00: Franks, Ostrogoths
6. 15:00 – 17:33: Franks, Ostrogoths, Visigoths

Notable quotes from "What Happened to Britain's Romance Language?"

• 410 AD meaning they were there for roughly 400 years And yet in the former borders of Roman Britain we find not a romance language but rather a Germanic language English and a…

  about Roman Britain · at 1:08

• Spain and Portugal were all conquered and ruled by Germanic tribes as Rome collapsed The Franks Visigothths Ostrogoths Lombards etc In each of these cases these Germanic…

  about Franks · at 1:58

• Consider subscribing if you'd like to keep up with more content like this in the future As Brian Ward Perkins discussed in his 2000 paper Why did the Anglo-Saxons not become…

  about Brian Ward Perkins · at 4:18

• Society The presence of Roman civilization was strongest in the southeast and cities like Londinium and Kamudo Dunham But as you moved outside the cities and especially as you…

  about Londinium · at 8:30

• Kingdoms and a more intense rejection of all things Romano British As is discussed in the book The Anglo-Saxon World by Nicholas J Haim and Martin J Orion Once brought into…

  about The Anglo-Saxon World · at 11:53

• Is also worth noting that many of the tribes that became dominant on the continent like the Visigoths Franks and Ostrogoths had been romanized to a certain extent even before…

  about Visigoths · at 15:16

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• Brian Ward Perkins — Person · 1 mention · first at 4:22

Books & papers

• The Anglo-Saxon World — Book · 1 mention · first at 11:59

Concepts & topics

• Franks — Concept · 7 mentions · first at 2:03
• Roman Britain — Concept · 4 mentions · first at 1:14
• Ostrogoths — Concept · 3 mentions · first at 2:06
  And ruled by Germanic tribes as Rome collapsed The Franks Visigothths Ostrogoths Lombards etc In each of these cases these Germanic peoples gradually dropped their native…
• Breton — Concept · 2 mentions · first at 2:25
  Do this in England furthermore the plot thickens with the Welsh as well as the Cornish and the Breton across the channel are the descendants of the British Romans or Romano…
• Visigoths — Concept · 1 mention · first at 15:19
• Linguistic Latin — Concept · 1 mention

Places & events

• Londinium — Place · 1 mention · first at 8:34

Full transcript with timestamps

0:01 a great historical question is why isn't English a romance language like French Italian and Spanish the romance languages are the languages that evolved from Latin after the Roman Empire fell We see them as you would expect in the former boundaries of the Roman Empire mostly though not entirely the western half of the empire because the eastern half predominantly spoke Greek throughout its existence We mentioned French Italian and Spanish but other examples include Portuguese Romanian and a variety of regional languages like Sardinian and Roman All of these languages were derived from the Latin the Romans spoke when they ruled over the lands that these languages come from However there are a few regions where Latin did not survive in spite of the fact that they were once Latin-speaking members of the Western Roman Empire Perhaps the two most mysterious examples we find on the island the Romans called

0:57 Britannia Britain The Romans began to conquer Britain in 43 AD and ruled over much of the southern half or most of what is today England and Wales until 410 AD meaning they were there for roughly 400 years And yet in the former borders of Roman Britain we find not a romance language but rather a Germanic language English and a Celtic language Welsh What happened to British Latin the answer might at first seem obvious Soon after the empire abandoned Britain in 410 the island was invaded and settled by people from modern-day Denmark northern Germany and the lands collectively referred to as the Anglo-Saxons The Anglo-Saxons were Germanic peoples who spoke Germanic languages which became old English Of course they would bring their language with them Is it not that simple well the problem is that Germanic peoples also invaded and settled much of the rest of the Western Roman Empire France Italy

1:58 Spain and Portugal were all conquered and ruled by Germanic tribes as Rome collapsed The Franks Visigothths Ostrogoths Lombards etc In each of these cases these Germanic peoples gradually dropped their native Germanic language and adopted the local Latin So the question is why didn't the Anglo-Saxons do this in England furthermore the plot thickens with the Welsh The Welsh as well as the Cornish and the Breton across the channel are the descendants of the British Romans or Romano Britain whom the Anglo-Saxons never managed to conquer Being unconquered you would expect them to keep speaking Latin But no they seem to have factory reset themselves and returned to speaking Brethic the Celtic language that was spoken in Britain before the Romans even came there which evolved into the modern Welsh Cornish and Breton languages Now you may be thinking but isn't there a lot of Latin in English yes a huge

2:58 amount But most of it actually entered indirectly 600 years after these events when the Normans who spoke the Norman dialect of old French invaded England and their language heavily mixed with old English There is a larger presence of Roman British Latin and Welsh but nowhere near enough to make it a romance language Latin would of course continue to be used by the church and scholars in such things in Britain for many centuries to come But the vulgar Latin meaning the Latin used by common people in daily life that was spoken in Roman Britain all but disappeared within a few centuries of the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in a way that deviates from the norm What happened here ladies and gentlemen hello and welcome to Fire of Learning Answering this question is complicated because written records from this time period are relatively scarce Therefore everything we're about to say should be taken with a grain of salt

3:54 because we don't have the full picture In fact not even most of it However when Britain is compared to the other regions from which it is different a few key differences are seen that probably explain what happened Perhaps the best comparison is Gaul much of which became France Before we get into that we would like to ask you to give this video a like if you do in fact like it and consider subscribing if you'd like to keep up with more content like this in the future As Brian Ward Perkins discussed in his 2000 paper Why did the Anglo-Saxons not become more British Gaul and Britain had many things in common Prior to being conquered by the Romans they were inhabited by similar cultures who spoke similar Celtic languages When Rome conquered them both areas became romanized The Gauls became Gallow Romans The Britain became Romano Britain terms used by historians Among the many other aspects of Roman

4:52 civilization that spread here was the use of Latin When the Western Roman Empire began to collapse in the fourth and fifth centuries things here became unstable And in the fifth century both regions were invaded by fairly similar Germanic peoples the Anglo-Saxons in Britain and the Franks in France However the two diverg at this point In Gaul resistance to the Frankish invaders was not quite as intense nor longlasting The Franks were quickly able to assume control of a large portion of Gaul The Gallow Romans and Franks would begin to cooperate and their societies and cultures began to merge As a result the French take the name of their country from the Franks and their language from the Gallow Romans The French regard both the great galish king Versenetics and the great Frankish king Clovis as forefathers of their nation However the line between Romano Britain and Germanic newcomer in Britain remained very stark

5:49 There was much less blending of cultures here These peoples often found themselves opposed to each other throughout much of the early Middle Ages each resisting the influence of the other And to this day they still consider themselves separate peoples the English and the Welsh and Cornish Traditionally it was believed that the difference in outcomes was because Gaul as well as Iberia and Italy were each invaded by a proportionally small number of Germanic warriors who established themselves as dominant minorities over the Roman majorities but inevitably slowly melted into the cultures of the majorities including in terms of language whereas Britain was invaded by a much larger proportion of Anglo-Saxons who violently pushed the Britons out of their lands altogether and established their society without them But it is not known with certainty how many Anglo-Saxons actually arrived in Britain

6:42 throughout this period And the evidence instead seems to point to smaller numbers than was previously assumed Regardless this explanation does not work throughout Britain because some areas in the center or west of Britain that became culturally and linguistically Anglo-Saxon were definitely not settled by a large overwhelming number of Anglo-Saxons Only small groups who ruled over the native Britain as a dominant minority like on the continent As it seems unlikely that the answer is simply that the Britain were just kicked out by the Saxons we have to examine life in Britain at the time more closely for the full explanation As you may recall from our videos on the histories of France Spain and Italy even though the Western Roman government collapsed in the fifth century Roman society carried on in many ways for centuries after in many former regions of the empire When the Germanic Franks took over Gaul they did so by

7:37 integrating themselves into the large complex sophisticated Roman society that was already in place and ruled it much as the Romans had alongside the native Romans Gradually they did become absorbed into the local culture of the majority to the point of becoming Romans themselves In many ways as we also see in Italy not only did the Ostrogothic King Seotaric the Great speak Latin but he was referred to as Prinkaps by the Roman aristocracy implying the imperial authority of the emperors dressed like a Roman and acted like a Roman in many ways In a sense they regarded themselves as heirs of Roman civilization rather than a totally new order However Britain was never romanized to quite the same extent as these other regions Even at its height it was always a sort of distant rural less developed frontier society The presence of Roman civilization was strongest in the southeast and cities like Londinium and

8:36 Kamudo Dunham But as you moved outside the cities and especially as you moved north or west even staying within Roman territory you would have increasingly seen the native Celtic Britons living much as their ancestors did before Roman arrival Such people made up the majority of Roman Britain's population While we don't have any exact figures most of the population seems to have favored the Celtic brethonic language in daily life and a significant portion probably could not even speak Latin at least not well Latin was mainly the language of the educated elite the military and with the adoption of Christianity especially religion Because the presence of Roman civilization in Britain had always been weaker Roman Britain collapsed relatively more quickly and more significantly The Romano Britain were subjected to constant raids by their neighbors and eventually each other The Roman military was often occupied on the

9:33 continent unable to help The economy fell apart Archaeological evidence suggests Roman infrastructure had deteriorated to a significant extent with many Romano Britain living among ruins in the fifth century Others had begun to abandon the cities and towns altogether and move back into simpler settlements like the old pre- Roman Celtic hillforts Many of those who could flee to the continent did so Because of this breakdown the remnant sub Roman society was not nearly as powerful or influential in Britain as it was on the continent and therefore integrating into it offered far fewer benefits and less prestige It may be that when the Anglo-Saxons arrived their culture was able to arise as the prestigious dominant culture in Britain in a way that did not happen on the continent because Roman British society was in such bad shape The Anglo-Saxons were initially the more organized more powerful people Though they do not seem

10:33 to have driven the majority of the Romano British population off rather than integrate into their existing society they seem to have essentially bulldozed it to an extent and reshaped it according to their customs and practices and naturally occupied the majority of elite positions within this new society thereby placing pressure on the Britain to conform to their way of doing things including in terms of language Even more pressure in fact than the distant Romans had ever placed on the Britons As Ward Perkins noted because Roman civilization had collapsed here earlier the Britain were also perhaps a bit hardier and more self-sufficient than the Galler Romans At the empire's height Britain was actually generally heavily garrisoned But this changed as the empire began to collapse and soldiers were moved out of Britain towards conflicts affecting the core of the empire With less ability to

11:25 rely on the Roman military they had been forced to learn to be self-sufficient and defend themselves even before the Anglo-Saxon invasion Thus they were willing to put up a much longer and more bitter fight against the invaders The stiffer resistance spread more hostility and disdain between these peoples and thus they each rejected the cultures and languages of the other more intensely thus leading to a stronger emphasis on Anglo-Saxon ways in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and a more intense rejection of all things Romano British As is discussed in the book The Anglo-Saxon World by Nicholas J Haim and Martin J Orion Once brought into Anglo-Saxon society the Britain became secondclass citizens They were less protected by Anglo-Saxon legal systems and had fewer rights and opportunities The penalty for committing a crime against a Britain was lower than a Saxon The use of British vulgar Latin and brethonic for that

12:23 matter would have suggested association with the lower status and hostile Romano British which many Anglo-Saxons and aspirational Britain in Anglo-Saxon society would have wanted to avoid On the continent distinctions between Germanic and Roman peoples were made and they often lived under different laws Romans weren't allowed to marry Visigothths or Ostrogoths for quite some time for example but it was not quite as intense Relations were much more amicable and cooperative and the Germanic rulers were much more receptive to the native culture and thus cultural blending and the loss of these distinctions became inevitable At first the clashing of Anglo-Saxon and Romano British religion played out in a distinctively identical way to language Not only did the Saxons reject British Christianity but they probably pushed the Britons within their domains to give up Christianity and follow the customs

13:20 of Germanic paganism This is also a deviation from what happened on the continent Although many Germanic invaders did favor a different type of Christianity called Aryanism which they did try to impress on the Romans in some cases there was not much in the way of pushing the Romans to become Germanic pagans When the Saxons did convert to Christianity around 600 AD it was primarily because of influence from the Irish and the Pope not the Britain In essence in Gaul the Roman society that the Franks were taking over had remained highly complex and organized and its native elite were more willing to grant them power and cooperate with them It was simply more practical to integrate themselves into the existing society which called for going native to a certain extent and doing things as they had always been done including in terms of language As time passed the distinctions between Frank and Galler

14:16 Roman disappeared and the bilingual Franks just started exclusively using the more common Latin language that was to become French In Britain the complex society had broken down to the point where the Anglo-Saxons became the more organized dominant and prestigious culture and thus they made much less effort to integrate into the existing society instead replacing it with their own with themselves and all the powerful positions Because the Britain were much less tolerant of Germanic rule and put up much more of a fight against them the Saxons probably suppressed their culture even more significantly There was less of a situation of give and take and more of an us versus them situation where people had to conform to Anglo-Saxon ways or be left behind For the record Latin would heavily influence English because of the influence of the broader world which spoke it and the romance languages that developed from it But

15:09 there are very few words in English at all which come from brethonic in spite of the close contact of the cultures It is also worth noting that many of the tribes that became dominant on the continent like the Visigoths Franks and Ostrogoths had been romanized to a certain extent even before coming to power This was less true of the Anglo-Saxons This explains the predominance of old English But why did Latin disappear from Wales and Cornwall and Britney again it seems Brethonic was always the common language the majority of the population knew and used throughout the centuries of Roman rule in Britain Whereas Latin was the language of the elite connected to Rome and of the military Britain's connection to Rome was now withered and the Roman military was gone As such there was less emphasis on retaining the minority language that Latin was for the Britons for daily use Latin may have become more

16:04 established among the common people in the southeast prior to the Anglo-Saxon invasion but not so much outside it namely in what became Wales and Cornwall As we discussed these regions had been part of the empire but they had always been significantly less developed and romanized than even the southeast of Britain Here Latin's presence had always been weaker and its disappearance even quicker It was from the regions where Bthonic was more common that the Britain who migrated to Britany and much like the Saxons from whom they were fleeing pushed their language on the native population had originated In Gaul Italy and Iberia Latin had become more entrenched among the common people making its retention easier And so the final question is how long did British vulgar Latin survive the answer to this question is not known but it seems that it probably did not persist long past the 8th century In case YouTube did not

16:58 notify you we made two videos earlier this year One being a documentary on the cryptids of Australia the other being a video discussing the secret plans that Russia and Napoleon tried to make to take over India together Links to those videos will be in the description We hope you enjoyed this video If so we invite you to come check out the rest of Fire of Learning and to subscribe to see more videos like this in the future To support the channel further there is a link to our Patreon in the description A special thanks once again to our current supporters listed here This video was made without the use of AI Thank you for watching

Questions about this episode

What is discussed in "What Happened to Britain's Romance Language?"?

In order: 0:00 Breton, Franks, Ostrogoths, Roman Britain; 3:00 Franks, Brian Ward Perkins, Roman Britain; 6:00 Franks, Londinium, Roman Britain; 9:00 Roman Britain, The Anglo-Saxon World; 12:00 Franks, Ostrogoths; 15:00 Franks, Ostrogoths, Visigoths.

What is mentioned in this Fire of Learning episode?

9 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Franks, Roman Britain, Ostrogoths, Breton, Brian Ward Perkins, Londinium. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "What Happened to Britain's Romance Language?"?

The episode runs 18 min; the transcript is about 2,896 words in 19 timestamped sections.

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