Until the Romans arrived in 55AD, the inhabitants of Britain had what we call an oral history, in which knowledge and culture were disseminated verbally. When the Romans came they brought not only the Latin language but also the art of writing to the British Isles. Latin remained an important tool of communication long after the Romans left in 410AD; it continued to be the language of the established Church until the Reformation, and remained important within academic and legal arenas until the 14th Century when it was replaced by English as the main means of communication. It is important to note that English only superseded Latin in specialist areas when it had appropriated much of its vocabulary. For this reason the language of the educational, legal and ecclesiastical spheres still contains a high degree of Latinate vocabulary while the jargon of specialist fields such as medicine and botany still contains Latin loanwords. For more detailed explanations of how Latin influenced English, see development of the English language.
Depictions of Roman Britain
