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Celts rule ok - or would they

• Message 1. 

  Posted by stalteriisok (U3212540) on Sunday, 28th September 2008

  from what i have read - Celtic britain was ok
  
  the romans invaded in 55/54bc - the years in between and the successful invasion in 44ad seeme to be ok with no bad bits - society carried on
  
  the roman occupation obviously had fantastic plusses - trade roads, civilization and dont forget the wine !!
  
  what would have happened to britain if we had been left alone
  
  no stone buildings maybe - but a stable society surely ??
  
  st
  
  

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• Message 2

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by priscilla (U1793779) on Monday, 29th September 2008

  Look to the more advanced tribal Gaul pre Caesar. There were towns, trade and enough stability to produce fine craft work. On the otherhand there was tribal anatgonistic interaction - and several tribal pacts and Alliances for countering it.
  
  I suspect we had yet to reach that far in settlement organisation. And theirs was in part to do with being close to more advanced neighburs with whom they traded and met. Being an island on the fringe Britain had yet to reach that level.
  
  I like to think it was moving there at its own pace until the Romans moved in and broke the structure. Too much too soon and under another governance does not always help a people forward. I suppose there are parts of Africa and the East that reflect that; British Empire rule had much the same effect.
  
  Regards, P.
  
  

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• Message 3

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  Posted by Mick_mac (U2874010) on Monday, 29th September 2008

  there was tribal anatgonistic interaction -and several tribal pacts and Alliances for countering it.  
  Priscilla,
  
  That reminds me of Europe prior to World War I!

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• Message 4

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  Posted by Tim of Acleah (U1736633) on Monday, 29th September 2008

  Ireland was not invaded by the Romans nor by Germanic tribes. It was, however invaded by the Vikings.
  
  How do you view irish society during that period?
  

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• Message 5

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  Posted by stalteriisok (U3212540) on Monday, 29th September 2008

  what amazes me is that after 400 yrs of the romans we soon slipped back into celtic ways
  
  stone buildings were allowed to decay, government went back to tribal chieftains
  
  the warrior culture took over from the army
  
  back to celtic values in fact
  
  st
  

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• Message 6

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  Posted by Nik (U1777139) on Monday, 29th September 2008

  that is exactly the message I am trying to pass... Romans went there and passed 400 years more or less like tourists that go to some poor but tropical paradise countries and live in luxurius hotels constructed by their countries' tourist companies and with local cheap workforce.
  
  Lets not forget that north and west of Rome few things were done. Ravenna is the first thing that comes to my mind and that came too late, effectively in Eastern Roman times, and it was an one-off. It is true that Romans never built Alexandreias and Antiochias where they went.

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• Message 7

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  Posted by Nik (U1777139) on Monday, 29th September 2008

  However, I have this notion that had it not been for Romans, the Celtics sooner or later would eat their hearts out in inter-fighting till some 2-3 stronger leaders would unite them in some stronger states that being in contact with the whatever Carthagenian or Greek south would accelerate their rythm of development perhaps even in a faster way than under Roman tourists since then it would be a matter of survival/prestige against their southern more civilised enemies/friends. Who knows? Personally I have a very high opinion of Celtics and their potential that I find finally was a bit wasted. The Germanics actually later started from much lower civilisational points.

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• Message 8

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  Posted by Mick_mac (U2874010) on Tuesday, 30th September 2008

  How do you view irish society during that period? 
  The island of Saints and Scholars! Irish society produced many evangelising missionaries and founders of monasteries abroad thereby re-introducing Christianity and learning to Dark Age Britain and the Continent. Many found fame as scholars in the Carolingian court and elsewhere.
  
  Our economy was based mainly on pastoral agriculture. Our towns were monastic and royal centres where trade and commerce was conducted before the advent of the Vikings. There had always been international trade in and out of Ireland. All the Vikings did was found sea-port towns that evolved to consolidate much of that trade in Viking hands.
  
  In Ireland we were in the process of forging the same kind of national monarchy that emerged in Britain and elsewhere. The arrival of the Normans, a militarily superior invader, changed that dynamic and transformed what was a kingship of Ireland into a lordship under a foreign king anxious to control his Irish barons.
  
  Not only would national sovereignty be forcibly usurped by a foreign invader but that invader also sought to subject thge ecclesiastical authorities of Ireland to that of Canterbury.
  
  Our national development was strangled by the Norman conquest. Yes, we continued to evolve as a society but the dynamics of that evolution was henceforth controlled and directed to a greater or lesser extent by a foreign power that was at best unsympathetic and at worst antagonistic to the genius and culture of the Irish people.
  
  

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  Posted by RyanO (U8918008) on Tuesday, 30th September 2008

  ‘How do you view irish society during that period?’
  
  Ireland was very influenced by the Romans. Trade with Roman Britain and Gaul was very important and with that came ideas. Ireland was christianised, writing was introduced and the aristocracy began to dress like Romans.
  
  Nevertheless Irish society remained a pre-Roman tribal society with no Pax-Romana and internecine warfare. The ideal of coalescing became strongly established but the tribal nature of the society militated against centralised control. Brian Boru managed to establish hegemony over the country in the tenth century and proclaimed himself Imperator Scotorum – Emperor of the Irish.
  
  With the Norman invasion the idea of kingship began to fade and Ard Rí/high kings and Bun Rí/sub kings adopted the more contemporary ‘noble’ titles of the Anglo-Normans.
  
  Interestingly the ‘Romanised’ type clothing of the aristocracy remained influential up until the end of the Gaelic order in c.1600.
  
  

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