Another Millennium of British History Quiz

Answer: Verica

Judging from coins dating from his reign, Verica was the leader of the Atrebates tribe who lived in what is now Hampshire. As leader of a tribe friendly to the Roman Empire, Verica was considered rex (king) by the Empire. Circa 40 CE, Caratacus, leader of the neighbouring Catuvellauni tribe, conquered Verica's Atrebates and expelled Verica from Britain. Verica appealed to Rome for help in regaining his lost lands. The Emperor Claudius was only too happy to come to the aid of Verica as an excuse to expand the boundaries of the Roman Empire, and invaded Britain in 43CE.

After the invasion, Verica disappears from the historical record, so we have no idea whether or not he was restored to power. The next leader of the Atrebates that we hear about is Cogidubnus. Since Verica would have been well up in years it is highly likely that he died shortly before, during or after the Roman invasion of Britain and was succeeded by Cogidubnus.

Eppillus was Verica's older brother, whom he succeeded as king c15CE, and Cunobellinus was the father of Caratacus.

Answer: Hadrian' s Wall

The Vallum Aelium is better known today as Hadrian's Wall. Construction on the wall began in 122CE and it was completed by 129CE. It was the first of two fortified boundary walls built in Britain during the Roman occupation (the other is the Antonine Wall - the Vallum Antonium, which is in present-day Scotland). Hadrian's Wall (so-called because it was built during the reign of the Roman Emperor Hadrian) stretches for 117km (73 miles) between what is now Wallsend near Newcastle on the River Tyne in the east to Bowness-on-Solway in the west, and UNESCO, which declared it a World Heritage Site in 1987, considers it the most important monument built by the Romans in Britain.

It was not unusual for the Romans to build fortified walls to mark boundary lines and also to prevent invasion by hostile tribes. Such walls were erected all over the former Roman Empire. In the case of Hadrian's Wall, the hostile folks were the Picts, the first century inhabitants of what we call Scotland and the Romans called Caledonia.

Watling Street, which still exists in places, was originally a trackway used by the Celts of ancient Britain and it ran between what is now Canterbury and St. Albans. The Romans paved the trackway and extended it to run from London to Dover.

The London Wall, built in the late second/early third century, was put in place to protect London and its all-important port. The wall was maintained until at least the 18th century and defines the boundaries of the one-square mile City of London.

The Romans called Bath Aquae Sulis. It was originally a hot spring sacred to the Celtic goddess Sulis. The Romans established the baths and dedicated them to their own goddess Minerva, whom they identified with Sulis, and the town grew up around the baths. The warm waters were considered to have healing properties, then and now.

Answer: The Temple of Mithras

The mystery cult of Mithras is presumed to have originated in Anatolia, in present-day western Turkey. Mithras was popular with Roman soldiers and temples of Mithras have been found all over the former Roman empire. The Mithraic temples were all built underground which accounts for their preservation. The London temple dates from the third century CE. The cult was secretive and little information about it survives.

All Roman towns, in Britain and elsewhere, had a forum, which was the public square, and every town had a villa occupied by the local governor and his family. The London Wall information can be found in the answer to question 2.

Answer: Silver Communion plate

In February, 1975, a hoard of silver Communion vessels was discovered in a recently-ploughed field in Water Newton, Cambridgeshire, the site of the Roman town called Durobrivae. The find constitutes the earliest-known examples of Christian liturgical silver found in the Roman empire.

The hoard consists of nine vessels (chalices and patens), several silver votive plaques and a gold disc. Because the pieces were made at different times and in different places it is not possible to determine when they were buried in the field, although it was probably in response to a specific persecution of Christians prior to 321CE, when the Emperor Constantine legalized Christianity and made it the preferred religion of the Roman Empire, or to a period of political instability.

Many of the vessels and the plaques are engraved with symbols commonly used by early Christians, and two of the bowls and one plaque have inscriptions in Latin. One of these inscriptions reads: "I, Publianus, honour your sacred shrine, trusting in you, O Lord." Other pieces bear the names Amcilla, Innocentia and Viventia, who were probably members of the congregation and donors of the pieces that are inscribed with their names.

Answer: 410 CE

By the dawn of the fifth century CE the barbarians were at the gates of Rome and in order to protect Rome itself, troops were withdrawn from all over the empire. The last Roman soldiers sailed away from the shores of Britannia in 410CE, leaving the population to defend itself against the incursions of the Germanic tribes - the Jutes, the Angles and the Friesans from Europe and the Picts and the Scots in the north. Rome fell to Alaric, leader of the Visigoths, in August 410CE. By 476CE, it was game over for the western part of the empire.

The eastern half, headquartered in Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul) managed to hang on until 1453 when it fell to the forces of the Ottoman Empire.

Answer: St. Augustine

Augustine was a Benedictine monk chosen by Pope Gregory I to lead a mission to Kent with the aim of converting the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity. King Aethelbert of Kent was married to Bertha, daughter of Charibert I, the Christian king of Paris, and herself a Christian. It was hoped that she would be able to exert some influence over her pagan husband. Augustine landed on the Isle of Thanet in Kent in 597 and succeeded in converting Aethelbert and many of his subjects. On Christmas Day, 597, Augustine presided at the mass baptism of over 1,000 of Aethelbert's subjects. Augustine also established sees in London and Rochester as well as building a monastery in Canterbury and a school to train Anglo-Saxon priests and missionaries. He is known as the Apostle to the English. He died in 604CE.

Columba, an Irishman who brought Christianity to Scotland, settled on the Isle of Iona in 563CE. St. Govan was a Welsh hermit who died in 586CE in Pembrokeshire in what is now Dyfed, and St. Aidan, aka the Apostle of Northumbria, was a seventh century bishop who founded a monastery on Lindisfarne, also known as Holy Island.

Answer: Whitby

The Synod (Greek for assembly) was called by King Oswy (or Oswui) of Northumberland. There were two forms of Christianity extant in Britain at the time, using Roman and Celtic liturgical traditions. Their different ways of calculating the date of Easter meant that it was celebrated at different times, and Oswy wanted a uniform method settled upon! Colman, Bishop of Iona presented the Celtic case and Wilfred, Bishop of Lindisfarne, spoke in favour of the Roman tradition. Oswy, who had the final say, made his decision in favour of the Roman method.

Filey, Scarborough and Bridlington are also towns in northeastern England.

Answer: Mercia

Mercia corresponds roughly to the current Midlands, although it reached over to the east coast. Offa was the first ruler to be officially named "King of the English". His name lives on in Offa's Dyke, the earthworks built to denote the boundary between Mercia and Wales. Parts of the dyke are still visible today, and the border between England and Wales still follows much the same line. In 1971, the Offa's Dyke National Trail was opened and walkers come from all over the world to hike the 283km (177 miles) length of Offa's Dyke. Although Mercia no longer exists as a geographical entity, the name is still used in such organizations as the West Mercia Constabulary (the combined police forces of Herefordshire, Shropshire and Worcestershire), two regiments in the British army (the Mercia Regiment and the Royal Mercian and Lancastrian Yeomanry), and in ATV's Midlands broadcast centre, Mercia Television.

The other three options were also Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.

Answer: York

The invasion force was called 'The Great Heathen Army' in 'The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles' and they came from Scandinavia, primarily from Denmark. (Note: we call them Vikings; they called themselves Norsemen and viking - the Scandinavian word for seafaring - was what they did!) York was taken by Danes under the leadership of a Swede named Ivar Ragnarsson (nicknamed Ivar the Boneless) and they named it Jorvik, which means 'Horse Bay'. Jorvik remained an independent Danish kingdom until 954 and its last Danish ruler was Eric Bloodaxe (what charming names these fellows have!)

In 1976 excavations uncovered well-preserved remains of the Danish settlement and the Jorvik Viking Centre has been established on the site.

In Roman times Carlisle, Chester and Doncaster were known as Luguvalium, Deva and Danum respectively.

Answer: ill-advised

The epithet was a pun based on his name. Aethelred meant 'noble council'and 'unraed' meant 'without council' or 'ill-advised'. The king was only 14 or so when he came to the throne and he was originally guided by his mother. His reign was plagued by Viking invasions and Aethelred tried to buy them off by paying 'Danegeld', an early form of protection money. Aethelred is credited in the Wantage Code of 997 with the introduction of a form of trial by jury, which decreed that twelve thegns or thanes (minor noblemen) should investigate crimes committed in their areas.