Professor Peter Heather

I would have thought it's extremely likely the sort of Serf, tenant, peasant class is just there. This is why what happens to the Roman British elite is so important because they're the people who are interacting more directly with the Saxon intruders. So it's kind of competition, cultural competition between them and the Anglo-Saxon intruders. Those relations won't have been hostile everywhere.

I would have thought it's extremely likely the sort of Serf, tenant, peasant class is just there. This is why what happens to the Roman British elite is so important because they're the people who are interacting more directly with the Saxon intruders. So it's kind of competition, cultural competition between them and the Anglo-Saxon intruders. Those relations won't have been hostile everywhere.

I would have thought it's extremely likely the sort of Serf, tenant, peasant class is just there. This is why what happens to the Roman British elite is so important because they're the people who are interacting more directly with the Saxon intruders. So it's kind of competition, cultural competition between them and the Anglo-Saxon intruders. Those relations won't have been hostile everywhere.

They don't preclude some of the old Romano-British elite making its way into the new elite. I mean, that one line in the Dover Cemetery, absolutely clear. We've got a local person who made it in. Interestingly, in the Wessex royal genealogy, there's one figure with a Celtic name. So who is he and what is going on there?

They don't preclude some of the old Romano-British elite making its way into the new elite. I mean, that one line in the Dover Cemetery, absolutely clear. We've got a local person who made it in. Interestingly, in the Wessex royal genealogy, there's one figure with a Celtic name. So who is he and what is going on there?

They don't preclude some of the old Romano-British elite making its way into the new elite. I mean, that one line in the Dover Cemetery, absolutely clear. We've got a local person who made it in. Interestingly, in the Wessex royal genealogy, there's one figure with a Celtic name. So who is he and what is going on there?

And then the late 7th century law code of Aina, who is king of Wessex in the 690s, does recognize that there are British landowners within the Wessex kingdom. But it gives them only half the social value of their Anglo-Saxon counterparts. In other words, as one colleague has put it, there's a kind of apartheid culture going on there.

And then the late 7th century law code of Aina, who is king of Wessex in the 690s, does recognize that there are British landowners within the Wessex kingdom. But it gives them only half the social value of their Anglo-Saxon counterparts. In other words, as one colleague has put it, there's a kind of apartheid culture going on there.

And then the late 7th century law code of Aina, who is king of Wessex in the 690s, does recognize that there are British landowners within the Wessex kingdom. But it gives them only half the social value of their Anglo-Saxon counterparts. In other words, as one colleague has put it, there's a kind of apartheid culture going on there.

And having this lower social value would tend to lead to your diminution.

And having this lower social value would tend to lead to your diminution.

And having this lower social value would tend to lead to your diminution.

Yes. So I think there will have been a lot of local alliances, but they are unequal alliances. And I think the end result would be that only a relatively small number of the old Romano-British elite would really make it into full acceptance in the sort of early medieval Anglo-Saxon world.

Yes. So I think there will have been a lot of local alliances, but they are unequal alliances. And I think the end result would be that only a relatively small number of the old Romano-British elite would really make it into full acceptance in the sort of early medieval Anglo-Saxon world.

Yes. So I think there will have been a lot of local alliances, but they are unequal alliances. And I think the end result would be that only a relatively small number of the old Romano-British elite would really make it into full acceptance in the sort of early medieval Anglo-Saxon world.

Yeah, you're fighting an existential struggle for control of the real estate, very nice real estate, of central and southern England, all this kind of agricultural, good agricultural land. A bit wet, but...

Yeah, you're fighting an existential struggle for control of the real estate, very nice real estate, of central and southern England, all this kind of agricultural, good agricultural land. A bit wet, but...

Yeah, you're fighting an existential struggle for control of the real estate, very nice real estate, of central and southern England, all this kind of agricultural, good agricultural land. A bit wet, but...

Yes, and that's an important point, which we probably should have mentioned earlier. One thing that really confirms that we're dealing with a flow of increasing momentum rather than big moves is the political structure that we see in the pages of Bede when it emerges, because actually it's very fluid. And it continues to be fluid.

Yes, and that's an important point, which we probably should have mentioned earlier. One thing that really confirms that we're dealing with a flow of increasing momentum rather than big moves is the political structure that we see in the pages of Bede when it emerges, because actually it's very fluid. And it continues to be fluid.