No Roman Britain?

We've discussed Roman Germany, and Roman Ireland, before, of course. So let's invert it.

Suppose Claudius never invades Britain? What becomes of the island? Well, in OTL the southeast was becoming increasingly Romanized, with the incipient urbanization we saw in Pre-Roman Gaul, increased coinage, tribal leaders minting coins with the word Rex on them, etc. So my guess is one of the tribes end up subduing the southern half of the island.

And then comes the 3rd century crisis. The King of Britannia is young, and charismatic. But the growing centralization of his state has caused unrest, and a few of those weird people, the Chrisitans, have started apearing. And he has visions of becoming not just a King, but an Emperor. And so, Artouiros sets sets sail across the Channel.

Okay, it's a vague musing while I study for finals, but I'm curious if people have thoughts.
 
We've discussed Roman Germany, and Roman Ireland, before, of course. So let's invert it.

Suppose Claudius never invades Britain? What becomes of the island? Well, in OTL the southeast was becoming increasingly Romanized, with the incipient urbanization we saw in Pre-Roman Gaul, increased coinage, tribal leaders minting coins with the word Rex on them, etc. So my guess is one of the tribes end up subduing the southern half of the island.

And then comes the 3rd century crisis. The King of Britannia is young, and charismatic. But the growing centralization of his state has caused unrest, and a few of those weird people, the Chrisitans, have started apearing. And he has visions of becoming not just a King, but an Emperor. And so, Artouiros sets sets sail across the Channel.

Okay, it's a vague musing while I study for finals, but I'm curious if people have thoughts.

The problem with this scenario is that the ancient Celts (at least in Britain and Ireland...we have less evidence from the Continent, and laws there may have differed) practiced a form of Gavelkind inheritance, in which the lands of the king were divided, at his death, among his sons. This encouraged the division of kingdoms into smaller and smaller units, and militated against consolidation into larger units. Kingdoms might be united for a brief time, during the lifetime of one king, but at his death it would all fall apart.

So the most likely scenario is that Britain does urbanize and adopt some Roman influences (possibly writing, as well as much of Roman material culture). But the basic Celtic society remains unchanged, and the island never unites. When the Anglo-Saxons come...if butterflies don't prevent that from happening...they find a disunited Britain not unlike the one they found in OTL. However, the Celts might put up a better fight simply because they would have remained a martial people (in OTL, the Romans pretty much disarmed the Britons and all defense was in the hands of the legions, so when the legions left, the Britons had no recent experience of warfare and weren't very good at it), and constant warfare between rival kingdoms would have honed their military skills to a high level.
 
Wasnt the reasons Caesar and Claudius invaded because of the constant looming threat Britain holds over Gaul?

Even some of maritime Gallic tribes moved across the Channel into a much better defensible area from which to raid from. I think the Romans knew that they had to neutralize the island for the Atlantic coast to be safe.
 
Wasnt the reasons Caesar and Claudius invaded because of the constant looming threat Britain holds over Gaul?

Even some of maritime Gallic tribes moved across the Channel into a much better defensible area from which to raid from. I think the Romans knew that they had to neutralize the island for the Atlantic coast to be safe.

That was one of the reasons that Caesar gave for his invasion of Britain in his COMMENTARIES ON THE GALLIC WARS. However, in the interim between Caesar and Claudius, the "threat" from Britain had failed to materialize. The Britons were quite content to trade with the Romans across the channel, and there is no evidence of raiding.

Claudius, who had no military experience prior to becoming Emperor, needed a military victory in order to cement his position as Emperor. Britain was actually a relatively rich country...gold, silver, iron, tin, and copper to be exploited, and a net exporter of grain...and was perceived to be an easy prize. So Claudius decided to take it.
 
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