Romano-British civilization is crumbling.
The English are moving in.
The Jutes have invaded Kent and are getting established.
Jutish and Saxon yeomen came looking for land.
They now cultivate land from which they have driven out the Britons.
A few remaining Romano-Britons pick their way between jostling Jutes.
At Canterbury, the Jutes have made earth and wood repairs to the half-ruined walls of Roman Durovernum.
A crumbling Roman road leads into the city.
Farmers drive oxcarts to the market.
Spear-wielding guards at the city gate are impressed by Roman coins.
The moss-grown ruin of a rich man's town house has become an inn.
Trade is mostly in kind so money has high value.
This is the third past period visited so far in a single short story. The details, when listed, are more than expected.
9 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
And those Romano-Britons were DISDAINFULLY trying to avoid contact with those smelly uncouth savages!
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: they -were- savages when compared to the Romans! 8-).
Incidentally, historical conceptions of the Anglo-Saxon migrations have gone through several summersaults since Poul wrote that story... and are now right back where they were in the 1950's, with an Anglo-Saxon mass migration largely replacing the Romano-British population in the areas of original settlement.
Ancient DNA sampling has shown that fairly conclusively.
I smile; I was always on that side of the historical controversy, and by gum I was right.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
The Anglo-Saxons were indeed savages! More so than some of the other barbarians who were invading the falling Roman Empire.
I am not in the least surprised the Anglo-Saxons exterminated 90 percent or more of the Romano-Briton population in the territories they seized. Human beings, unfortunately, are like that. You and PA were right!
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: not quite 90%, but over 80% in many of the areas of initial settlement, and their genes were over 50% in most places in England proper.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
IOW, the invading Anglo-Saxons killed the males and grabbed the women! Albeit some of the boys might have been spared to be slaves.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: pretty much, in the initial areas, where it was probably unsafe to leave many British males around.
OTOH, in the later, western parts of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, there were "Welsh" communities, legally recognized but legally inferior -- lower weregilds, for instance.
And it was in those areas that the percentage of slaves in the population was highest, as late as Domesday Book; over 25% of the total in many areas, as late as the 1080's.
(When it was lower than it was in 1066, probably. The Anglo-Normans tended to move away from chattel slavery because they didn't like the high supervisory overhead in time and attention.)
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I can see why the Normans moved away from chattel slavery to serfdom and, later, rent paying tenants. Far less need for detailed supervision and high stress and pressure.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: pretty much.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Your Draka should have followed a similar line of development! Their stupid socio/political setup was very high stress and high pressure.
I know, you wanted to try your hand at writing dystopian science fiction!
Ad astra! Sean
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