If you ask someone today to name the builder of Hadrian's Wall, they would give you a funny look. But historical memory is odd, and right up to the 1800s we forgot who built it.
Until in 1840 John Hodgson, an obscure Northumbrian clergyman, published the LONGEST footnote in history... 1/22
So let's start with the obvious bit: Just HOW did no one know who built Hadrian's Wall?!
Because it was boring, logistical knowledge to the Romans. Nobody really cared. Hadrian didn't. It was there to do a job (keep soldiers busy and keep angry proto-Scottish people from raiding the south). 2/22
This meant that by the time later Romans THEMSELVES started wondering which Emperor built it, nobody was kinda sure. Because a whole bunch of Emperors had done wall-like stuff round there.
So Roman historians pretended they totally definitely knew. And handwaved it as Septimus Severus. 3/22
Severus was a pretty safe bet for these Roman historians.
✅ Had done a lot of campaigning in Britain.
✅ He'd definitely built a bunch of stuff there.
✅ Even died there.
QED. HE built the big frikkin stone wall, they said. STANDS. TO. REASON. 4/22
Europius: "He [Severus] had his last war in Britain, and to fortify the conquered provinces with all security, he built a wall for 132 miles from sea to sea. He died at York, a reasonably old man, in the sixteenth year and third month of his reign."
Europius the Romansplainer, making stuff up 5/22
Anyway. Jump forward to 731AD. Enter Bede.
Bede's in Britain and can see there's actually a few walls here. So he tries to unpick who did what, identifying Antoninus' wall as the one to the far north.
But LOADS of Romans said Severus built a big one. So he must be the big wall guy right? 6/22
Bede thus continues to misreport Hadrian's Wall as SEVERUS' Wall. Bosh. It's now BRITISH historical fact.
And it's not until the 16th century, until people actually start going and, ya know, looking at the stuff there rather than trust Bede, that they begin to question this. 7/22
I believe that over here < faces westwards and waves > they were called 'a microfringe' and were - briefly in all senses of the word - popular with certain females of the species.
One was, in my case at least, forcibly put in mind of the Shakespearean adage, 'More hair than wit'.
Enjoy your threads. Small point but was Hadrian’s Wall maybe primarily a taxation barrier as opposed to a raid-preventing wall? Or was it probably a bit of both?
Just been reading his Wikipedia page.
These 18th/19th century guys would try their hand at anything. Designing churches, working with Davy and Faraday to improve mine safety, dabble in some archeology, write a few guidebooks and poetry.
Oh yeah, and the wall thing.
This is a fantastic thread and the best I read today, thank you very much. My kids walked Hadrian's wall one summer, camping along the way. One ended up studying history at Uni :)
Amazing. Thank you.
I'm reading November 1942 by Peter Englund right now and it seems like every page has 1 or 2 footnotes. Little did I know that he is but an amateur in this game.
This is great and I want to mention it in a blog post I’m doing on a similar issue. Should I link to this Bluesky post or have you written it up anywhere else?
