Julius Caesar invaded
southern Britain in 55 and 54 BC and wrote in De
Bello Gallico that the population of southern Britannia
was extremely large and shared much in common with the Belgae of the
Low Countries. Coin evidence and the work
of later Roman historians have provided the names of some of the
rulers of the disparate tribes and their machinations in what was
Britannia. Until the Roman Conquest of
Britain, Britain's British population was relatively stable,
and by the time of Julius Caesar's first invasion, the
British
population of what was old Britain was speaking a Celtic language
generally thought to be the forerunner of the modern Brythonic languages. After Julius
Caesar abandoned Britain, it fell back into the hands of the
Britons.
The Romans began their second conquest of Britain in 43 AD,
during the reign of Claudius. They annexed the whole of modern
England and Wales over the next forty years and periodically
extended their control over much of lowland Scotland.
During the early years of the 5th century the transfer of Roman
troops to the continent and the general crisis afflicting the
empire led to the breakdown of imperial control of Britain, opening
the way for new power struggles between the inhabitants of the
erstwhile Roman province and invading Gaels from Ireland, Picts from Scotland
and Anglo-Saxons from northern Europe.
