Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T04:50:07.110Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Piracy in Late Roman Britain: a Perspective from the Viking Age

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 2010

Andrew Pearson
Andrew Pearson
Affiliation:
Gwaelod-y-Garth, Cardiff, [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper is concerned with the nature of the contacts between late Roman Britain and the seafaring peoples of the continental North Sea coast. Evidence for Germanic piracy during this period is extremely slight, with the consequence that notions about its character are poorly defined. However, this paper argues that there is a basic similarity between these barbarian attacks and those of the late eighth- and early ninth-century Vikings against England, Ireland and northern France. The Vikings are much better evidenced, both in terms of written sources and the archaeological record: this makes it possible to offer a model for the nature, scale and consequences of Germanic piracy in late Roman Britain.

Keywords

Roman BritainGermanybarbariansVikingspiracymilitaryNorth Sea
Type
Articles
Information
Britannia , Volume 37 , November 2006 , pp. 337 - 353
Copyright
Copyright © Andrew Pearson 2006. Exclusive Licence to Publish: The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Barrow, J. 2000: ‘Survival and mutation: ecclesiastical institutions in the Danelaw in the ninth and tenth centuries’, in Hadley, D.M. and Richards, J.D. (eds), Cultures in Contact: Scandinavian Settlement in England in the Ninth and Tenth Centuries, Turnhout, 155–78CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bartholomew, P. 1984: ‘Fourth-century Saxons’, Britannia 15, 169–85CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bateson, J.D. 1973: ‘Roman material from Ireland: a reconsideration’, Proc. Royal Irish Acad. 76C, 21–97Google Scholar
Biddle, M., and Kjølbye-Biddle, B. 1992: ‘Repton and the Vikings’, Antiquity 66, 36–51CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Biddle, M., and Kjølbye-Biddle, B. 2001: ‘Repton and the “great heathen army”, 873–4’, in Graham-Campbell, J., Hall, R., Jesch, J. and Parsons, D. (eds), Vikings and the Danelaw. Select Papers from the Proceedings of the Thirteenth Viking Congress, Oxford, 45–96Google Scholar
Breeze, D. 1984: ‘Demand and supply on the Northern frontier’, in Miket, R. and Burgess, C. (eds), Between and Beyond the Walls: Essays on the Prehistory and History of North Britain in Honour of George Jobey, Edinburgh, 264–76Google Scholar
Brooks, N. 1979: ‘England in the ninth century: the crucible of defeat’, Trans. Royal Historical Society 5 29, 1–20CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brooks, N. 1984: The Early History of the Church of Canterbury: Christ Church from 597 to 1066, LeicesterGoogle Scholar
Campbell, J. 1979: ‘The Scandinavian Viking-age burials of England — some problems of interpretation’, in Rahtz, P., Dickinson, T. and Watts, L. (eds), Anglo-Saxon Cemeteries: The Fourth Anglo-Saxon Symposium at Oxford, Oxford, 379–82Google Scholar
Carver, M.O. 1990: ‘Pre-Viking traffc in the North Sea’, in McGrail, S. (ed.), Maritime Celts, Frisians and Saxons, London, 117–25Google Scholar
Casey, P.J. 1994: Carausius and Allectus: The British Usurpers, LondonGoogle Scholar
Cotterill, J. 1993: ‘Saxon raiding and the role of the late Roman coastal forts of Britain’, Britannia 24, 227–41CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coupland, S. 1998: ‘From poachers to gamekeepers: Scandinavian warlords and Carolingian kings’, Early Medieval Europe 7, 85–114CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crawford, D.J. 1976: ‘Imperial estates’, in Finley, M. (ed.), Studies in Roman Property, Cambridge, 35–70CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crickmore, J. 1984: Romano-British Urban Defences, BAR British Series 127, OxfordCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crumlin-Pedersen, O. 1990: ‘The boats and ships of the Angles and Jutes’, in McGrail, S. (ed.), Maritime Celts, Frisians and Saxons, London, 98–116Google Scholar
Cunliffe, B. 1968: Fifth Report on the Excavations of the Roman Fort at Richborough, Kent, Research Report of the Society of Antiquaries of London 23, LondonCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dark, K. 2000: Britain and the End of the Roman Empire, StroudGoogle Scholar
Davies, J.L. 1984: ‘Soldiers, peasants and markets in Wales and the Marches’, in Blagg, T.F.C. and King, A.C. (eds), Military and Civilian in Roman Britain: Cultural Relationships in a Frontier Province, Oxford, 93–128Google Scholar
Dumville, D. 2002: ‘Vikings in the British Isles: a question of sources’, in Jesch, J. (ed.), The Scandinavians. From the Vendel Period to the Tenth Century, San Marino, 209–50Google Scholar
Eggers, H.J. 1951: Der römische import im freien Germanien, HamburgGoogle Scholar
Elton, H. 1996: Frontiers of the Roman Empire, LondonGoogle Scholar
Engelhardt, C. 1865: Nydam Mosefund 1859–1863Google Scholar
Esmonde Cleary, A.S. 1989: The Ending of Roman Britain, LondonGoogle Scholar
Evans, J. 1984: ‘Settlement and society in North-East England in the fourth century’, in Wilson, P.R., Jones, R.F.J. and Evans, D.M. (eds), Settlement and Society in the Roman North, Bradford, 43–8Google Scholar
Faulkner, N. 2000: The Decline and Fall of Roman Britain, StroudGoogle Scholar
Fellows-Jensen, G. 2001: ‘In the steps of the Vikings’, in Graham-Campbell, J., Hall, R., Jesch, J. and Parsons, D. (eds), Vikings and the Danelaw. Select Papers from the Proceedings of the Thirteenth Viking Congress, Oxford, 279–88Google Scholar
Fincham, G. 2002: Landscapes of Imperialism. Roman and Native Interaction in the East Anglian Fenland, BAR British Series 338, OxfordCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frere, S. 1984: ‘British urban defences in earthwork’, Britannia 15, 63–74CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frere, S. 1987: Britannia: a History of Roman Britain, LondonGoogle Scholar
Fulford, M.G. 1985: ‘Roman material in barbarian society c. 200 BC-c. AD 400’, in Champion, T.C. and Megaw, J.V.S. (eds), Settlement and Society: Aspects of West European Prehistory in the First Millennium BC, Leicester, 91–108Google Scholar
Graham-Campbell, J. (ed.) 1992: Viking Treasure from the North West: the Cuerdale Hoard in its Context, LiverpoolGoogle Scholar
Graham-Campbell, J. 1995: The Viking Age Gold and Silver of Scotland, EdinburghGoogle Scholar
Guest, P. 2002: ‘Manning the defences: the development of Romano-British urban boundaries’, in Aldhouse-Green, M. and Webster, P. (eds), Artefacts and Archaeology: Aspects of the Celtic and Roman World, Cardiff, 76–89Google Scholar
Hadley, D.M. 2000: The Northern Danelaw: its Social Structure, c. 800–1100, LondonGoogle Scholar
Halsall, G. 2000: ‘The Viking presence in England? The burial evidence reconsidered’, in Hadley, D.M. and Richards, J.D. (eds), Cultures in Contact: Scandinavian Settlement in England in the Ninth and Tenth Centuries, Turnhout, 259–76CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haywood, J. 1991: Dark Age Naval Power: a Reassessment of Frankish and Anglo-Saxon Activity, LondonGoogle Scholar
Haywood, J. 1995: The Penguin Historical Atlas of the Vikings, HarmondsworthGoogle Scholar
Hedeager, L. 1977: ‘A quantitative analysis of Roman imports in Europe north of the Limes (0–400 AD), and the question of Roman-Germanic exchange’, in Kristiensen, K. and Paludan-Müller, C. (eds), New Directions in Scandinavian Archaeology, Copenhagen, 191–216Google Scholar
Higham, N. 1992: Rome, Britain and the Anglo-Saxons, LondonGoogle Scholar
Hodgson, N. 1995: ‘Were there two Antonine occupations of Scotland?’, Britannia 26, 29–49CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holm, P. 1986: ‘The slave trade of Dublin: ninth to twelfth centuries’, Peritia 6, 317–45CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hornsby, W., and Laverick, J.D. 1932: ‘The Roman signal station at Goldsborough, near Whitby, Yorks.’, Archaeological Journal 89, 203–19CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hornsby, W., and Staunton, R. 1912: ‘The Roman fort at Huntcliffe near Saltburn’, JRS 2, 215–32Google Scholar
Johnson, S. 1976: The Roman Forts of the Saxon Shore, LondonGoogle Scholar
Jones, B., and Mattingly, D. 1990: An Atlas of Roman Britain, LondonGoogle Scholar
Jones, M. 1993: The End of Roman Britain, New YorkGoogle Scholar
Keynes, S. 1997: ‘The Vikings in England c.790–1016’, in Sawyer, P. (ed.), The Oxford Illustrated History of the Vikings, Oxford, 48–82Google Scholar
Laser, R., and Voss, H.-U. (eds) 1994: Corpus der römischen Funde im europäischen Barbaricum. Deutschland (3 vols), BonnGoogle Scholar
Lucas, A.T. 1967: ‘The plundering and burning of churches in Ireland from the seventh to sixteenth centuries’, in Rynne, E. (ed.), North Munster Studies: Essays in Commemoration of Monsignor Michael Moloney, Limerick, 172–229Google Scholar
Mason, D.J. 2003: Roman Britain and the Roman Navy, StroudGoogle Scholar
Millett, M. 1990: The Romanisation of Britain, CambridgeGoogle Scholar
Morris, J. 1973: The Age of Arthur: a History of the British Isles from 350–650, LondonGoogle Scholar
Myres, J.N.L. 1986: The English Settlements, OxfordGoogle Scholar
Nelson, J. (ed.) 1991: The Annals of St Bertin, ManchesterGoogle Scholar
Nelson, J. 1997: ‘The Frankish Empire’, in Sawyer, P. (ed.), The Oxford Illustrated History of the Vikings, Oxford, 19–47Google Scholar
O'Corráin, D. 1997: ‘Ireland, Wales, Man and the Hebrides’, in Sawyer, P. (ed.), The Oxford Illustrated History of the Vikings, Oxford, 83–109Google Scholar
O'Sullivan, D., and Young, G. 1995: English Heritage Book of Lindisfarne, LondonGoogle Scholar
Pearson, A.F. 2002: The Roman Shore Forts. Coastal Defences of Southern Britain, StroudGoogle Scholar
Pearson, A.F. 2003: The Construction of the Saxon Shore Forts, BAR British Series 349, OxfordCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pearson, A.F. 2005: ‘Barbarian piracy and the Saxon Shore: a reappraisal’, Oxford Journal of Archaeology 24 (1), 73–88CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pelteret, D.A. 1995: Slavery in Early Mediaeval England: from the Reign of Alfred until the Twelfth Century, New YorkGoogle Scholar
Philp, B.J. 1958: ‘Discoveries at Reculver 1955–57’, Archaeologia Cantiana 72, 160–6Google Scholar
Poulton, R., and Scott, E. 1993: ‘The hoarding, deposition and use of pewter in Roman Britain’, in Scott, E. (ed.), Theoretical Roman Archaeology: First Conference Proceedings, Aldershot, 115–32Google Scholar
Rance, P. 2001: ‘Attacotti, Deisi and Magnus Maximus: the case for Irish federates in late Roman Britain’, Britannia 32, 243–50CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rauh, N.K. 2003: Merchants, Sailors and Pirates in the Roman World, StroudGoogle Scholar
Redknap, M. 2000: The Vikings in Wales: an Archaeological Quest, CardiffGoogle Scholar
Reece, R. 1988: My Roman Britain, CirencesterGoogle Scholar
Reuter, T. 1985: ‘Plunder and tribute in the Carolingian Empire’, Trans. Royal Historical Society 5 35, 75–94CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reuter, T. (ed.) 1992: The Annals of Fulda, ManchesterCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Richards, J.D. 2000: Viking Age England, StroudGoogle Scholar
Richards, J. 2001: Blood of the Vikings, LondonGoogle Scholar
Richards, J.D., Jecock, M., Richmond, L., and Tuck, C. 1995: ‘The Viking barrow cemetery at Heath Wood, Ingleby, Derbyshire’, Medieval Archaeology 39, 51–70CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Richmond, I.A. 1955: Roman Britain, HarmondsworthGoogle Scholar
Rivet, A.L.F. 1969: ‘Social and economic aspects’, in Rivet, A.L.F. (ed.), The Roman Villa in Britain, London, 173–216Google Scholar
Robertson, A.S. 1988: Coins and the Archaeologist, LondonGoogle Scholar
Salway, P. 1991: Roman Britain, OxfordGoogle Scholar
Salway, P. 1993: The Oxford Illustrated History of Roman Britain, LondonGoogle Scholar
Sawyer, P. 1962: The Age of the Vikings, LondonGoogle Scholar
Sawyer, P. (ed.) 1997: The Oxford Illustrated History of the Vikings, OxfordGoogle Scholar
Shetelig, H. (ed.) 1940–1945: Viking Antiquities in Great Britain and Ireland (6 vols), OsloGoogle Scholar
Styles, T. 2001: ‘Scandinavian elements in English place-names: some semantic problems’, in Graham-Campbell, J., Hall, R., Jesch, J. and Parsons, D. (eds), Vikings and the Danelaw. Select Papers from the Proceedings of the Thirteenth Viking Congress, Oxford, 289–98Google Scholar
Swift, E. 2000: The End of the Western Roman Empire: an Archaeological Investigation, StroudGoogle Scholar
Thompson, E.A. 1960: ‘Slavery in early Germany’, in Finley, M.I. (ed.), Slavery in Classical Antiquity: Views and Controversies, Cambridge, 191–203Google Scholar
Thompson, E.A. 1965: The Early Germans, OxfordGoogle Scholar
Todd, M. 1975: The Northern Barbarians 100 BC-AD 300, LondonGoogle Scholar
Trafford, S. 2000: ‘Ethnicity, migration theory, and the historiography of the Scandinavian settlement of England’, in Hadley, D.M. and Richards, J.D. (eds), Cultures in Contact: Scandinavian Settlement in England in the Ninth and Tenth Centuries, Turnhout, 17–42CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wacher, J. 1995: The Towns of Roman Britain, OxfordGoogle Scholar
Wamers, E. 1983: ‘Some ecclesiastical and secular insular metalwork found in Norwegian Viking graves’, Peritia 2, 277–306CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wheeler, R.E.M. 1954: Rome Beyond the Imperial Frontiers, LondonCrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, D.A. 1961: Litus Saxonicum: the British Saxon Shore in Scholarship and History, Madison, WisconsinGoogle Scholar
White, R., and Barker, P. 1998: Wroxeter: Life and Death of a Roman City, StroudGoogle Scholar
Whittaker, C.R. 1994: Frontiers of the Roman Empire: a Social and Economic Study, BaltimoreGoogle Scholar
Wilson, D.M. 1976: ‘The Scandinavians in England’, in Wilson, D.M. (ed.), The Archaeology of Anglo-Saxon England, London, 393–403Google Scholar