A Brief History of early Bath

ign="center">After the Roman invasion of Britain came the Saxon
Roman Bathinvasion. In 577 AD the Saxons were victorious at the
Legend has it that Bath was Founded in 860BC by thebattle of Dyrhan where they then went on to capture
soon to be King Bladud, father of King Lear. The storyBath.
goes that Bladud had caught leprosy and wasIn the 9th century Bath became one of Alfred the
banished from court and sent to look after pigs. TheGreats network of fortified towns. They were
pigs too suffered from Leprosy but Bladud noticeddesigned so that in the event of an invasion by the
that after they rolled around in the hot mud they wereDanes all the local men could gather at the fortified
cured. Bladud copied the pigs and found that he to hadtowns to repeal they invasion. By the 10th century the
been cured thanks to the Bath mud. After he becametown was flourishing and in 973 Edgar the first king of
king he founded the city on the site of the spring thatall England was crowned here.
cured him.Middle ages
It�s not known exactly when the city wasDuring the 1088 rebellion rebels sacked Bath and
founded or when the healing properties of its waterburned its monastery to the ground, though the town
first came to light. We do know that the Romans builtsoon recovered. In the 12th century a great abbey
a temple here in around 50 AD. They dedicated thewas created which dominated the town.
temple to Sul, the Celtic goddess of hot springs andDuring the middle ages the town was still popular with
Minerva the Roman goddess of healing. By the ADthose seeking treatment for their ills with people
60s a town had started to form which became knowcoming from far and wide to bath in the hot spring. A
as Aquae Sulis, the waters of Sul.leper hospital was set up just out side of the town. In
By the 4th Century the Roman civilisation began to1189 Bath was give its first charter, granting the people
decline and in 407 AD Roman troops left Britain forof Bath certain rights.
good. Little is know of what happened to the town inThis article was written on behalf of The Royal Hotel
the immediate aftermath of the Roman withdrawal.a Bath Hotel providing accommodation in Bath.
Saxon Bath