The Anglo Saxons came as the Romans were leaving followed by many migrant farming settlers during the following two centuries, while the Scot’s plundered Northern England across the Wall, as the farming communities slowly demolished it for the pre cut stone to build homes and dry stone walls.

Then the Danes plundered the East Coast for a while in the Ninth Century eventually settling in the coastal regions around York and the southern dales.

While the Vikings after years of raiding the Northumbrian Coast eventually stayed and settled in the Northern Dales and the Cumbrian Lake District.

The influence of these Scandinavian Invaders heard in the local derelicts spoken on Tyneside and in the Northumbrian Border Hills and visibly noticed in the place names such as dale, thwaite, fell, beck and force being Norse for valley, clearing, hill, steam and waterfall.

Then last but not least the Normans invaded in 1066 and stayed after William the Conquer won at the Battle of Hastings. William ordering the compilation of the Doomsday Book in 1086, which formed the first census of the counties, shires, towns and family names throughout southern England.

Constantine the Great

Constantine the Great, the Roman emperor responsible for promoting Christianity and arguably the most influential figure in the growth of the Church, is to be the focus of a major international exhibition in York.     The Yorkshire Museum
 

It was in York, then called Eboracum, that 1700 years ago, in the year 306, Constantine was proclaimed emperor by his troops on the death of his father, the Emperor Constantius, while both were on a military campaign to defeat the Picts.
 

The Yorkshire Museum has brought together more than 270 beautiful and fascinating objects and works of art of the period from 36 different museums and private collections across the UK and Europe.  The Yorkshire Museum
 

The anniversary of Constantine’s proclamation, on 25 July, 306, will also be marked by a special service of commemoration at York Minster at around midday on 25 July, 2006.
 

The exhibition will show how wealthy the empire was at the time and will tell how Constantine’s greatness as a leader meant there was a prolonged period of prosperity during his rule which continued after his death. It will also give an insight into what it meant to be an emperor in late Roman times and will demonstrate Constantine’s power and military might. Mosaics from late Roman villas, painted plasterwork, sculptures, textiles, silverware, games, weapons, coins, jewellery and even furniture will offer a rich visual feast, evidencing the wealth and magnificence of the age.
 

Constantine’s influence on Christian history arose out of conflict. Inspired, it is said, by a vision of a Christian symbol on the eve of battle at Milvian Bridge outside Rome in 312, when he defeated a persistent usurper, Maxentius, Constantine associated the Christian deity with the victory (while he continued to honour the Roman sun god, Sol Invictus). Christianity and other religions were thereafter tolerated, not persecuted as hitherto. In due course the Church was given legal rights and large financial settlements.
 

Constantine built St Peter’s in Rome, at the heart of today’s Vatican City, as well as other churches in the city and in Constantinople, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem. Legend has it that his mother, Helena (later made a saint) found the True Cross on which Christ died during her visit to Palestine.
 

In 325 Constantine presided over the first ecumenical council at Nicaea (now Iznik) in Turkey, at which the words of the Nicene Creed, which are still repeated today with little change, were agreed. When he died in 337, Constantine had ruled for more than 30 years, during which time he reunited the divided Roman Empire, reorganised the army, restored the civil powers of government and the Senate, and created Constantinople as the ‘New Rome’ for the empire on the site of the Greek city of Byzantium, now the capital of Turkey, Istanbul.
 

Curator of the Constantine exhibition Elizabeth Hartley, of York Museums Trust, said: “We have loans of international importance from Britain and Europe for our exhibition. They provide a unique opportunity for visitors to explore the history and the richness of the late Roman world. Constantine is accepted as one of the greatest emperors of the Roman Empire whose ability and vision reshaped the world in which we live. His destiny meant that his story began here in York, and his extraordinary achievements give us a worthy subject to celebrate."

Roman Britain and After

After over 300 years of peace in the early fifth century they had withdrawn back to Rome the Empires Capital which was under threat from other foes intent on building their own Empire. This left Britain unprotected from the Scots to the North beyond the Wall and the Angles and Saxons across the channel to the South.

The Anglo Saxons  came as the Romans were leaving followed by many migrant farming settlers during the following two centuries, while the Scot’s to the North plundered Northern England across the then border. As the farming communities slowly demolished the old boundary line, Hadrian’s Wall for the pre cut stone to build homes and mark off territorial boundaries with dry stone walls.  

Then the Danes plundered the East Coast for a while in the Ninth Century eventually settling in the coastal regions around York and the southern dales. While the Vikings after years of raiding the Northumbrian Coast eventually stayed and settled in the Northern Dales and the Cumbrian Lake District.

Then last but not least the Normans invaded in 1066 and stayed after William the Conquer won the Battle of Hastings. William was the first to bring organized Taxation to Britain by ordering the compilation of the Doomsday Book in 1086.

The Doomsday Book formed the first census of the counties, shires, towns and family names throughout southern England. The Counties north of York and over the border were not part of his Empire  and remained uncounted until the first official census at the start of the nineteenth century some seven hundred years later.