Two Questions, both about Rome...

Vixagoras

Banned
Question #1 - What would it take to see some kind of British Romance as the dominant language in England?


Question #2 - Gaius Julius Civilis seems to have come close to attaining Gallic independence from Rome... how might this have been achieved?
 

scholar

Banned
The British Romance Language centers were the first ones overtaken by Germanic settlers and invaders, so if you could find a way to make those centers stronger and more prosperous or the invaders less numerous, you would be well under way for making England a romance language area. Perhaps an earlier devastation of Gaul in the third century results in more people fleeing to Britain, which is kept in relatively decent order by the local military. Historically, Britain was always a relatively powerful and populated frontier region, but whenever a civil war occurred the fighting legions would be stripped of the province and most would not return. As a result the male latin population never really grew up and remained in the region, and those who learned the language most effective - the soldiers - would not remain in the region to disperse their language to the population thoroughly. As a result, Latin was an urban affair, while the countryside remained Celtic. When the urban centers suffered in the late antiquity crisis that began the middle ages, the roman language fell into disuse, particularly when Germanic languages became a rising vernacular.

Gaius Julius Civilis was not close to attaining a permanent Gallic Independence, but rather was able to exploit the collapse of the Julio-Claudian dynasty in the year of the four emperors to obtain temporary independence. This independence was not unified, and almost immediately broke down into infighting. As soon as the Roman Empire was restored, Gallic independence was doomed. Civilis is important not for almost obtaining independence, but for improving the situation of Gallo-Romans in the new Roman world order. If you want Gallic independence you need the entirety of Rome to completely collapse, but that is not likely to occur right now. Rome was strong, even though the institution of Emperor was weakened by Nero, and once someone competent came to the throne the state was sure to be restored. A more true example of possible Gallic independence would be the Empire of the Gallic Provinces in the third century crisis, but this was not about creating a Gallic state, but rather a Roman Empire limited to the provinces of Gaul.
 
Have a more Romanized barbarian tribe take over Britain - like the Vandals or Franks - once imperial control disappears. Or have one of the petty Romano-British states unite under a single authority and defend the island from the Picts, Saxons, etc. Or avoid the Plague of Justinian and you would have a much larger Romanized population that the Saxons would rule over. Of course this is no guarantee that British Romance would survive - it could easily decline and disappear like the Romance dialects in Pannonia, North Africa and Moselle at a later date while enriching the Anglo-Saxon language with Romance loanwords.
 
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