BRITAIN

A popular concept of history is that, after the fall of the Roman empire, there ensued Dark Ages. However, in terms of the light or darkness of historical knowledge, that pattern does not follow with Britain.

According to the Encyclopedia Britanica, very little is known about Britain before the Romans came, and even from Roman times we have only a framework. "Britain emerged into the light of true history only after the Saxon settlements in the 5th century A.D."

England was itself a complicated ethnic and cultural mix. When the Angles, Saxons and Jutes (the three who are said to have mixed to form the English people) invaded Britain, more than one civilization had come and gone before them. The Celts, some of them driven from Gaul by the Romans, had had a culture there. They had mixed with peoples who came before them. Then came the Romans themselves. The Romans no longer ruled in Britain when the invaders came, but their influence remained.

There were invaders after the ones who later became the English. The English were nearly overrun by Danes in the 7th century. They were conquered by Normans in 1066.

The Normans themselves were an odd mix. Scandinavians who had earlier conquered a northwestern corner of France (now called Normandy), they spoke French. The upper classes of England spoke French for generations after the Norman Conquest.

Who, then, were the English? They became an ethnic group in time, but they were a mix.

And they did not assimilate the whole island. Scotland remained culturally and ethnically distinct, as did Wales. Cornwall became part of England, but it had its own past and its own indigenous people--as did other parts of England. And of course, Ireland, the island next door, remained Irish. Ireland, Scotland and Wales remained refuges of the descendants of the Celts, who had once ruled Britain,Gaul and other nearby areas of Europe.

When the Angles, Saxons and Jutes entered England, they brought with them a culture of their own. They entered, however, a land that had recently been ruled by a more advanced, or at least a more organized civilization: the Roman Empire.

For those interested in political form and organization, or for those who beat a drum for democracy as opposed to monarchy, this could be construed to be a drama. Would the unschooled, unwashed heathen from the northern woods be beguiled into giving up their rudimentary, home-style democratic form of self government by the old and honored example of the Roman Empire and its Emperorship?

The Empire had undergone an evolution of its own over the past four to five centuries. The old Roman Republic, with its somewhat democratic forms, had long since been dispatched by the Caesars. In its place was an absolute monarchy. The Emperor was considered to be divine in pre-Christian days. After Christianity became the official state religion,the Emperorship was supported by the Church.

By the time the Germanic tribes arrived in Britain, Roman Imperial power had ceased to operate on the island. The Empire was devouring itself, drowning in its own blood. Coups and civil wars were the order of the day. But much of the Roman presence and establishment remained.

In general, the barbarians that came into the territories of the Roman empire--Gaul, Italy, etc.-- sought not to destroy the Empire, but to join it. Their greatest leaders sought to be Emperor. They sought to keep the empire intact, to rule it themselves.

The Angles, Saxons and Jutes, when they came into Britain, did not know that there had ever been a Roman Republic. To them, Rome was ruled by an Emperor, and that was that. And since they were so far from the seat of power--Rome--and were not seeking to move towards that seat in a hostile way, it is unlikely that they had pretensions to assuming Emperorship or any other form of rule over the Empire. They may have been seeking a place to live, or seeking to enter a place more civilized than the north woods they came from. They may have been seeking booty or plunder or a limited form of dominion in that out of the way part of the world. But it would seem that universal empire was not one of the things they were seeking at that time.

They brought with them a form of government that was very much at odds with the super-centralized form that characterized the Empire, and they did not rush to give up their old ways.
The Roman historian Tacitus decribed that form of government in his treatise, "Germania:"

"Affairs of smaller moment the chiefs determine: about matters of
higher consequence the whole nation deliberates; yet in such a sort, that
whatever depends upon the pleasure and decision of the people, is examined
and discussed by the chiefs. Where no accident or emergency intervenes,
they assemble upon stated days...
"From their excessive liberty this evil and default flows, that
they meet not at once, nor as men commanded and afraid to disobey; so that
often the second day, nay often the third, is consumed through the slowness
of the members in assembling. They sit down as they list, promiscuously,
like a crowd, and all armed. It is by the priests that silence is
enjoined, and with the power of correction the priests are then invested.
Then the king or chief is heard, as are others, each according to his
precedence in age, or in nobility, or in warlike renown, or in eloquence;
and the influence of every speaker proceeds rather from his ability to
persuade than from any authority to command. If the proposition displease,
they reject it by an inarticulate murmur: if it be pleasing, they brandish
their javlins. The most honorable manner of signifying their assent, is to
express their applause by the sound of their arms.
"... In the same assemblies are also chosen their chiefs or rulers,
such as administer justice in their villages and boroughs. To each of
these are assigned an hundred persons chosen from amongst the populace, to
accompany and assist him, men who help him at once with their authority and
their counsel."

Matters of guilt or innocence in criminal proceedings were also dealt with in such assemblies.

In this can be seen some germs of: (a)democratic government, (b)representative government, (c) the jury system, (d) administrative organization and delegation of duties.