Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

BORCOVICIUM

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V04, Page 587 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

BORCOVICIUM (HOUSESTEAOS) enclosures of 50 or 6o acres, surrounded by strong walls of which traces can still be seen in the See also:

lower courses of the See also:north and See also:east See also:town-walls of See also:Chester, in the See also:abbey gardens at See also:York, and on the See also:south See also:side of See also:Caerleon. The See also:auxiliary castella were hardly a tenth of the See also:size, varying generally from three to six acres according to the size of the See also:regiment and the need for stabling. Of these upwards of 70 are known in See also:England and some 20 more in See also:Scotland. Of the See also:English examples a few have been carefully excavated, notably Gellygaer between See also:Cardiff and See also:Brecon, one of the most perfect specimens to be found anywhere in the See also:Roman See also:empire of a Roman fort dating from the -end of the 1st See also:century A.D.; Hardknott, on a See also:Cumberland See also:moor over-See also:hanging Upper Eskdale; and Housesteads on See also:Hadrian's See also:wall. In Scotland excavation has been more active, in particular at the forts of Birrens, Newstead near See also:Melrose, Lyne near See also:Peebles,. Ardoch between See also:Stirling and See also:Perth, and See also:Castle See also:Cary, Rough Castle and See also:Bar See also:Hill on the wall of See also:Pius. The See also:internal arrangements of all these forts follow one See also:general See also:plan. But in some • of them the internal buildings are all of See also:stone, while in and substantially built storehouses with buttresses and dry basements (viii.). These filled the See also:middle third of the fort. At the two ends were See also:barracks for the soldiers (i.-vi., xiii.-xviii.). No space was allotted to private See also:religion or domestic See also:life. The shrines which voluntary worshippers might visit, the public See also:bath-See also:house, and the cottages of the soldiers' wives, See also:camp followers, &c., See also:lay outside the walls.

Such were nearly all the Roman forts in See also:

Britain. They differ somewhat from Roman forts in See also:Germany or other provinces, though most of the See also:differences arise from the different usage of See also:wood and of stone in various places. Forts of this See also:kind were dotted all along the military roads of the Welsh and See also:northern hill-districts. In See also:Wales a road ran from Chester past a fort at Caer-hyn (near See also:Conway) to a fort at See also:Carnarvon (Segontium). A similar road ran along the south See also:coast from Caerleon-on-See also:Usk past a fort at Cardiff and perhaps others, to See also:Carmarthen. A third, roughly parallel to the See also:shore of See also:Cardigan See also:Bay, with forts at Llanio and Tommen-y-mur (near Irestiniog), connected the northern and See also:southern roads, while the interior was held by a See also:system of roads and forts not yet well understood but discernible at such points as Caer-gai on See also:Bala See also:Lake, Castle Collen near See also:Llandrindod See also:Wells, the Gaer near Brecon, Merthyr and Gellygaer. In the north of Britain we find three See also:principal roads. One led due north from York past forts at Catterick See also:Bridge, Piers Bridge, Binchester, Lanchester, Ebchester to the wall and to Scotland, while branches through Chester-le-See also:Street reached the See also:Tyne Bridge (Pons Aelius) at See also:Newcastle and the Tyne mouth at South See also:Shields. A second road, turning north-See also:west from Catterick Bridge, mounted the Pennine See also:Chain by way of forts at Rokeby, Bowes and See also:Brough-under-Stainmoor, descended into the See also:Eden valley, reached Hadrian's wall near See also:Carlisle (Luguvallium), and passed on to Birrens. The third route, starting from Chester and passing up the western coast, is more complex, and exists in duplicate, the result perhaps of two different schemes of road-making. Forts in plenty can be detected along it, notably See also:Manchester (See also:Mancunium or Mamucium), Ribchester (Bremetennacum), See also:Brougham Castle (Brocavum), Old See also:Penrith (Voreda), and on a western See also:branch, Watercrook near See also:Kendal, Waterhead near the hotel of that name on See also:Ambleside, Hardknott above Eskdale, See also:Maryport (Uxellodunum), and Old Carlisle (possibly Petriana). In addition, two or three See also:cross roads, not yet sufficiently explored, maintained communication between the troops in See also:Yorkshire and those in See also:Cheshire and See also:Lancashire.

This road system bears See also:

plain marks of having been made at different times, and with different objectives, but we have no See also:evidence that any one See also:part was abandoned when any other was built. There are signs, however, that various forts were dismantled as the See also:country See also:grew quieter. Thus, Gellygaer in South Wales and Hardknott in Cumberland have yielded nothing later than the opening of the 2nd century. Besides these detached forts and their connecting roads, the north of Britain was defended by Hadrian's wall (See also:figs. 2 and 3). The See also:history of this wall has been given above. The actual See also:works are threefold. First, there is that which to-See also:day forms the most striking feature in the whole, the wall of stone 6–8 ft. thick, and originally perhaps 14 ft. high, with a deep ditch in front, and forts and " mile castles " and turrets and a connecting road behind it. On the high See also:moors between Chollerford andGilsland its traces are still plain, as it climbs from hill to hill and winds along perilous precipices. Secondly, there is the so-called " Valium," in reality no vallum at all, but a broad See also:flat-bottomed ditch out of which the See also:earth has been See also:cast up on either side into See also:regular and continuous mounds that resemble ramparts. Thirdly, nowhere very clear on the See also:surface and as yet detected only at a few points, there are the remains of the " See also:turf wall," constructed of sods laid in regular courses, with a ditch in front. This turf wall is certainly older than the stone wall, and, as our See also:ancient writers mention two wall-builders, Hadrian and Septimius $everus, the natural inference is that Hadrian built his wall of turf and See also:Severus reconstructed it in stone.

The reconstruction probably followed in general the See also:

line of Hadrian's wall in See also:order to utilize the existing ditch, and this explains why the turf wall itself survives only at See also:special points. In general it was destroyed to make way for the new wall in stone. Occasionally (as at Birdoswald) there was a deviation, and the older See also:work survived. 600FFI MO,+O NORM MOO.O OF V ALLUM Of VALLVN souni This See also:conversion of earthwork into stone in the See also:age of Severus can be paralleled from other parts of the Roman empire. The meaning of the vallum is much more doubtful. See also:John See also:Hodgson and See also:Bruce, the See also:local authorities of the 19th century, supposed that it was erected to defend the wall from southern insurgents. Others have ascribed it to See also:Agricola, or have thought it to be the wall of Hadrian, or even assigned it to pre-Roman natives. The two facts that are clear about it are, that it is a Roman work, no older than Hadrian (if so old), and that it was not intended, like the wall, for military See also:defence. Probably it is contemporaneous with either the turf wall or the stone wall, and marked some limit of the See also:civil See also:province of Britain. Beyond this we cannot at See also:present go. formidable garrisons, sheltered from barbarians and in easy See also:con- tact with the Roman empire, stretched the lowlands of southern and eastern Britain. Here a civilized life grew up, and Roman culture spread.

This part of Britain became Romanized. In the lands looking on to the See also:

Thames See also:estuary (See also:Kent, See also:Essex, Middle- See also:sex) the See also:process had perhaps begun before the Roman See also:conquest. It was continued after that event, and in two ways. To some extent it was definitely encouraged by the Roman See also:government, which here, as elsewhere, founded towns peopled with Roman citizens—generally discharged legionaries—and endowed them with See also:franchise and constitution like those of the See also:Italian munici- palities. It See also:developed still more by its own automatic growth. The coherent See also:civilization of the See also:Romans was accepted by the Britons, as it was by the Gauls, with something like See also:enthusiasm. Encouraged perhaps by sympathetic Romans, spurred on still more by their own instincts, and led no doubt by their nobles; they began to speak Latin, to use the material resources of Roman civilized life, and in See also:time to consider themselves not the unwilling subjects of a See also:foreign empire, but the See also:British members of the Roman See also:state. The steps by which these results were reached can to some extent be dated. Within a few years of the Claudian invasion a colonia, or muni- cipality of time-expired soldiers, had been planted in the old native See also:capital of See also:Colchester (See also:Camulodunum), and though it served at first mainly as a fortress and thus provoked British hatred, it came soon to exercise a civilizing in- fluence. At the same time the British town of See also:Verulamium (St Albans) was thought sufficiently Romanized to deserve the municipal status of a munici See also:plum, which at this See also:period differed little from that of a colonia. Romanized Britons must now have begun to be numerous. In the See also:great revolt of See also:Boadicea (6o) the nationalist party seem to have mas- sacred many thousands of them along with actual Romans.

Phoenix-squares

Fifteen or twenty years later, the See also:

movement increases. Towns See also:spring up, such as See also:Silchester, laid out in Roman See also:fashion, furnished with public buildings of Roman type, and filled with houses which are Roman in fittings if not in plan. The See also:baths of Bath (See also:Aquae Sulis) are exploited. Another colonia is planted at See also:Lincoln (Lindum), and a third at See also:Gloucester (Glevum) in 96. A new " See also:chief See also:judge " is appointed for increasing civil business. The tax-gatherer and recruit- See also:ing officer begin to make their way into the hills. During the 2nd century progress was perhaps slower, hindered doubt- less by the repeated risings in the north. It was not till the 3rd century that country houses and farms became See also:common in most parts of the civilized See also:area. In the beginning of the See also:STALL uFGDASncN FPT ON DtTON NORTH geemeni.. (Rncheserr) ,'gH.biinncirm From Social England, by permission of See also:Cassell & Co., Ltd. 4th century the skilled artisans and builders, and the See also:cloth and See also:corn of Britain were equally famous on the See also:continent. This probably was the age when the prosperity and Romanization of the province reached its height.

By this time the town populations and the educated among the country-folk spoke Latin, and Britain regarded itself as a Roman See also:

land, inhabited by Romans and distinct from See also:outer barbarians. The civilization which had thus spread over See also:half the See also:island was genuinely Roman, identical in kind with that of the other western provinces of the empire, and in particular with that of northern See also:Gaul. But it was defective in quantity. The elements which compose it are marked by smaller size, less See also:wealth and less splendour than the same elements elsewhere. It was also uneven in its See also:distribution. Large tracts, in particular See also:Warwickshire and the adjoining midlands, were very thinly inhabited. Even densely peopled areas like north Kent, the See also:Sussex coast, west See also:Gloucestershire and east See also:Somerset, immediately adjoin areas like the See also:Weald of Kent and Sussex where Romano-British remains hardly occur. The See also:administration of the civilized part of the province, while subject to the See also:governor of all Britain, was practically entrusted to local authorities. Each Roman See also:municipality ruled itself and a territory perhaps as large as a small See also:county which belonged to it. Some districts belonged to the Imperial Domains, and were administered by agents of the See also:emperor. The See also:rest, by far the larger part of the country, was divided up among the old native tribes or cantons, some ten or twelve in number, each grouped See also:round some country town where its See also:council (ordo) met for cantonal business. This cantonal system closely resembles that which we find in Gaul.

It is an old native See also:

element recast in Roman See also:form, and well illustrates the Roman principle of local government w[ST by See also:devolution. See also:GATE In the general framework of Romano-British life the two chief features were the town, and the See also:villa. The towns of the province, as we have already implied, fall into two classes. Five See also:modern cities, Colchester, Lincoln, York, Gloucester and St Albans, stand on the sites, and in some fragmentary fashion See also:bear the names of five Roman municipalities, founded by the Roman government with special charters and constitutions. All of these reached a considerable measure of prosperity. None of them rivals the greater municipalities of other provinces. Besides them we trace a larger number of country towns, varying much in size, but all possessing in some degree the characteristics of a town. The chief of these seem to be cantonal capitals, probably developed out of the See also:market centres or capitals of the See also:Celtic tribes before the Roman conquest. Such are Isurium Brigantum, capital of the See also:Brigantes, 12 M. north-west of York and the most northerly Romano-British town; Ratae, now See also:Leicester, capital of the Coritani; Viroconium, now Wroxeter, near See also:Shrewsbury, capital of the Cornovii; Venta Silurum, now Caerwent, near See also:Chepstow; Corinium, now See also:Cirencester, capital of the Dobuni; Isca Dumnoniorum, now See also:Exeter, the most See also:westerly of these towns; Durnovaria, now See also:Dorchester, in See also:Dorset, capital of the Durotriges; Venta Belgarum, now See also:Winchester; Calleva Atrebatum, now Silchester, lo m. south of See also:Reading; Durovernum Cantiacorum, now Canter-See also:bury; and Venta Icenorum, now Caistor-by-See also:Norwich. Besides these country towns, Londinium (See also:London) was a See also:rich and important trading town, centre of the road system, and the seat of the See also:finance officials of the province, as the remarkable See also:objects discovered in it abundantly prove, while Aquae Sulis (Bath) was a See also:spa provided with splendid baths, and a richly adorned See also:temple of the native See also:patron deity, Sul or Sulis, whom the Romans called See also:Minerva. Many smaller places, too, for example, Magna or Kenchester near See also:Hereford, Durobrivae or See also:Rochester in Kent, another Durobrivae near See also:Peterborough, a site of uncertain name near See also:Cambridge, another of uncertain name near Chesterford, exhibited some measure of town life. As a specimen we may take Silchester, remarkable as the one tewn in the whole Roman empire which has been completelyand systematically uncovered.

As we see it to-day, it is an open space of Too acres, set on a hill with a wide prospect east and south and west, in shape an irregular hexagon, Snchester. enclosed in a See also:

circuit of a mile and a half by the massive ruins of a See also:city wall which still stands here and there some 20 ft. high (fig. 4). Outside, on the north-east, is the grassy hollow of a tiny See also:amphitheatre; on the west a line of earthworks runs in wider circuit than the walls. The area within the walls is a vast expanse of cultivated land, unbroken by any vestige of antiquity; yet the See also:soil is thick with See also:tile and potsherd, and in hot summers the unevenly growing corn reveals the remains of streets beneath the surface. Casual excavations were made here in 1744 and 1833 ; more systematic ones intermittently between 1864 and 1884 by the Rev. J. G. Joyce and others; finally, in May 189c, the See also:complete uncovering of the whole site was begun by Mr G. E. See also:Fox and others. The work was carried on with splendid perseverance, and the uncovering of the interior was completed in 1908. The chief results concern the buildings.

Though these have vanished wholly from the surface, the See also:

foundations and lowest courses of their walls survive fairly perfect below ground: thus the plan of GATE the town can be minutely recovered, and both the See also:character of the buildings which make up a See also:place like Calleva, and the character of Romano-British buildings generally, become plainer. Of the buildings the chief are: I. See also:Forum.—Near the middle of the town was a rectangular See also:block covering two acres. It comprised a central open See also:court, 132 ft. by 140 ft. in size, surrounded on three sides by a See also:corridor or See also:cloister, with rooms opening on the cloister (fig. 5). On the See also:fourth side was a great See also:hall, with rooms opening into it from behind. This hall was 270 ft. See also:long and 58 ft. wide; two rows of Corinthian columns ran down the middle, and the See also:clerestory roof may have stood 50 ft. above the See also:floor; the walls were frescoed or lined with See also:marble, and for See also:ornament there were probably statues. Finally, a corridor ran round outside the whole block. Here the local authorities had their offices, See also:justice was administered, traders trafficked, citizens and idlers gathered. Though we cannot apportion the rooms to their precise uses, the great hall was plainly the See also:basilica, for meetings and business; the rooms behind it were perhaps See also:law courts, and some of the rooms on the other three sides of the quadrangle may have been shops. Similar municipal buildings existed in most towns of the western Empire, whether they were full municipalities or (as probably Calleva was) of lower See also:rank. The Callevan Forum seems in general simpler than others, but its basilica is remarkably large.

Probably the British See also:

climate compelled more indoor life than the sunnier south. 2. Temples.—Two small square temples, of a common western-provincial type, were in the east of the town; the See also:cella of the larger measured 42 ft. sq., and was lined with Purbeck marble. A third, circular temple stood between the forum and the south gate.

End of Article: BORCOVICIUM

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
BORAX (sodium pyroborate or sodium biborate)
[next]
BORDA, JEAN CHARLES (1733-1799)