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Romanisation

During that era Roman traditions won widespread acceptance in much of the country. Yet, unlike in most of Western Europe, the Latin of the Romans did not replace the native language of the people.

It did, however, have an impact upon it, for Brythonic absorbed Latin words for items like fort, windows, rooms and books, words which were passed on to Welsh.

Roman art had an impact too, replacing the Celtic art of the Britons. Among members of the upper classes at least, there was a readiness to accept that they themselves were Roman, especially after AD 214 when the Emperor, Caracalla, granted Roman citizenship to all free men throughout the Empire.

Yet in much of the country Roman influence was slight. In hill villages such as Trer Ceiri, the inhabitants were probably only in contact with the Empire on their rare visits to the vicus at Caernarfon, the market and civil settlement which lay outside the walls of the Caernarfon fort of Segontium.

Elsewhere, contact could well have been closer. Britons no doubt found employment at the gold mines of Dolaucothi, the tile manufactory at Holt and the ironworks at Ariconium.


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