Roman villas in northwestern Gaul (modern France) functioned as colonial economic centers. Most villas did not resemble the luxurious, aristocratic country retreats of the Mediterranean region. Their owners were absentee investors (or the emperor himself), managed by local Gauls whose families were rewarded after the Gallo-Roman wars.
It is difficult for archeologists to define a villa; the recovered residences varied in size and style (often determined by economic function). However, all sites designated as "villas" contain Roman architectural elements found in homes (such as mosaics, porticos, columns and square grounds plans).
At first the new Roman masters physically changed very little in Gaul, simply refining the rural economic system in an already intensely farmed landscape. These refinements took the form of technological improvements and enhancing the economic structure (which included the transport of goods and raw materials to larger markets).
Gauls (Celts)
The Gauls (Celts who lived in Gaul) were a culture rather than a race, nation or empire. They were skilled in metalworking and cattle-raising. The culture began to dominate France around 800 BCE, replacing the existing culture (but not the people).
The Celtic landscape resembled a countryside, with open fields instead of woods; however, Celtic fields were smaller (often square). More fields were used for pasture than for crops because of the need for cattle, sheep and forage. The Gauls intensely managed the forest for wood and forest products; the Romans enhanced the system without dramatically altering it.
Villages and hamlets were denser in the countryside during the Roman period; the population (equal to that at the time of Louis XIV) was about 20 million.Yorke 2001, p. 11. At this time, Roman Britain's population of four to six million equaled later-medieval numbers.Yorke 2001, p. 7. Homes were better constructed than most houses built during the Middle Ages; they were built with local materials: timber uprights with plaited wicker, coated with clay, straw, and animal hair.Yorke 2001, p. 19.
Roman conquest and colonization
Julius Caesar and his Roman legions succeeded in their conquest of Gaul from 57 to 52 BCE at the invitation of Gauls in Marseille, who asked the Romans to come to their defense.
The Romans occupied and managed their empire with a minimum of administrators, no police force and an army primarily located on the frontiers (much like the French colonial empire of the 17th and 18th centuries. A few Roman natives lived in major towns, but most governmental and economic functions were carried out by local Gauls. This "minimalist empire" left most people and institutions untouched. New Roman settlements were relatively few; if one paid their taxes and kept the peace, life did not change much during the early centuries of occupation.
The primary early-Roman modifications were technological improvements and links to a market economy, which often meant new Roman roads and supplies for the Roman army. The major technological addition was a bigger plough (possibly invented in Gaul), which could break up the heavier soil. This new plough cut deeper into the soil, and the ploughman could regulate its depth. It was usually pulled by four to eight oxen, and had three parts: Coulter: Knife-like vertical iron blade Ploughshare: Blade which cut horizontally through grass roots Mouldboard: Turned the soil to one side
The results of these innovations were longer fields (suitable for large estates) and population growth (with the additional food produced).
Roman investors (possibly living in North Africa) bought and sold land, using local Gallic lords to manage the new villa system. These managers built the villas we find today, which historians call a romanitas (Romanized Gallic villa). These Gauls created a wide variety of homes, from two-room cottages to palaces more in keeping with the Roman ideal of life (evidenced in mosaics, columns and other typically Roman features). This romanitas was the passport to a new world of consumer goods, prestige and advancement: urban luxury in the countryside.
Locations Originally, historians believed Roman villas to be primarily near urban centers and major roads; their view of the villas stressed their economic autonomy, since transport over land was expensive and slow (even with the improvement of Roman roads throughout Gaul).
Today, scholars believe that the villas were linked to a broader empire economy through a system of secondary (and tertiary) Roman roads. These roads were sometimes built (or maintained) by villa owners, especially if the road crossed an owner's land. Owners often hired surveyors, geologists and labourers for the work.
Villa sites were places of previous occupation over hundreds (and possibly thousands) of years to reuse stone, water sources, raw materials and transportation links (roads and waterways). In pre-Roman Gaul, tribal areas were divided into parcels approximately the size of a parish (pagi). Each pagus usually had a village at its center, and sometimes Iron Age settlements relocated closer to a Roman road.
An adequate water source was the primary site-location factor for a villa. Deep wells were often dug to ensure enough drinking and cleaning water for the family, laborers and livestock. Clean water was also essential for watermills and (eventually) baths, the Roman indicator of a fully civilized life.
Types Archaeologists have had difficulties defining villas, since there were a number of local, regional and functional variations. Villa sizes ranged from two rooms to several acres (for rambling houses). The word "villa" sometimes refers to an architectural style with residential, urban Roman features such as porticos and columns.York 2001, p. 6.Dyson 2003, p. 19.
Most villas were food-production operations made up of cultivated fields, meadows and forest, with timber use important. Watermills, cowsheds, corn driers, wine cellars and kilns were typical farm buildings. Villas produced wool, leather and tallow in addition to food. Hunting, fowling and fishing were sources of protein.Johnson 2004, p. 7. Beef was important in northern France, and pork in the south; sheep were more common outside the villas.Dyson 2003, p. 66. The transport of produce overland was once thought to be too expensive, but amphorae and delicate ceramics were carried across North Africa (causing archeologists to reconsider ancient logistics).Dyson 2003, p. 61.
Although Romans used barges (towed up rivers by oxen, horses, or slaves) on the Rhone River, it is unknown if the same system was used on the smaller rivers of Lower Normandy. Right-of-way would need to be secured by the state, and a clear riverside track would need to be maintained.
Some Roman villas engaged in industrial production in addition to food and other essentials. These included:Johnston 2004, p. 29. Tile works: The correct type of clay and a sizable forest (for fuel) were required. Most French forests in existence today existed during the Gallo-Roman period. Horse farms Health spa: Containing a large swimming pool (or bath) Salt works: On the coast, usually owned by the emperor Pottery kilns: Similar requirements to tile works, producing amphorae and mass-produced table and kitchenware (such as the popular red ware—terra sigilata—for long-distance trade. Local ceramics for cooking, eating and religious figurines were also produced for consumption.Dyson 2003, p. 50. Stone quarries: The hard work demanded slave labor (often criminals), requiring soldiers and tighter security.Dyson 2003, p. 50-52. Mining: Precious metals were eventually controlled by the emperor. Community entrepreneurs or private associations controlled most other mines, but all mining (including quarries) was noted for its life-shortening slave work. Most mines were short-lived, located near small villages. Imperial estates: The civil service or the army administered the emperor's villas.Johnston 2004, p. 30.
All villas paid predetermined income and inheritance taxes (tributum) in cash. Materials sold to the army (most commonly leather and corn), were processed on-site. The results were then sent through the empire's posting stations (mansion) to the northern frontier. All industrial villas bought food, iron for tools, wood and other materials locally, hiring local labor.
Labor Slave-based villas existed in large numbers (especially after the wars of conquest), but were not dominant; free peasants and tenant farmers working for villas were common as well.Dyson 2003, p. 46. The primary source of slaves was war, but abandoned-property owners were also rounded up and treated as slaves.Johnston 2004, p. 8.
Slaves were considered expensive assets, and treated accordingly. Sometimes several hundred slaves served a medium-sized villa. They were treated as thinking, self-motivated “instruments” with a variety of skills. Owners were firm but tolerant, admonishing and encouraging with small rewards. Women specialized in a number of jobs: cooks, hairdressers, weavers and laundresses.Rossi 1999, p. 22.
After periods of political upheaval, a father's job legally bound his son to the same work. The Roman institution of slavery in the empire also provided other options. Many were freed for good service, an incentive. There were also opportunities to earn bonuses and buy freedom. A promising young slave might attend the children's lessons; an owner could cultivate his own secretaries, accountants, administrators, and tutors and rent them out. The emperor's slaves were insiders in the wealth system, and could become wealthy themselves.Thomas 1996, p. 106.
By the end of the second century BCE, 80 percent of the population consisted of emancipated slaves or their descendants. After the wars of expansion, as the slave pool dried up villas converted to tenant or employed laborers. By the end of the empire most slaves worked in domestic service as the owners’ private staff, rather than as laborers on the estates.
Architecture Over five centuries, the villa took on many forms. It sometimes began as a simple cottage, which became embedded in a complex of additions; large investor colonial villas were also designed and built, fully formed. Near the empire's end, villas became smaller and more numerous.Johnston 2004, p. 15
The classic great villa consisted of a main house with a veranda (or porch) overlooking two rows of buildings (or wings). These were often not parallel, diverging to enhance the effect of distance. The rooms were connected by the veranda, which acted as a hall. Each room had a different function, and all offered little privacy. Some villas were several rooms deep and lit by a clerestory, or dormer windows. Thick walls indicate villas which could have been two or three stories tall, with attics for storage.Johnston 2004, p. 17-18.
Although fireplaces with hoods have been found, most heating was by braziers burning charcoal or coal. Rarely, a central room was heated by hypocausts (under-floor hot air from fires beneath the house). The venting ran up the walls of the villa, emptying under the roof eaves. This source of venting made the home appear to be on fire because of the smoke billowing from the roof edges and walls.Johnston 2004, p. 18.
Kitchens were unsophisticated, featuring a masonry hearth with a charcoal fire. Coals would have been scraped into a pile, and a portable grill would hold a pot to simmer or grill meat. Kitchens were often near baths, since both required water; they were detached (or at the end of a building) due to the risk of fire. Some kitchen fireplace ovens used refractory brick, which allowed heat to be gradually released into an adjoining room (a library, study or storage room for drying split wood or wine being artificially aged). Kitchen ceilings were high, again to reduce the fire risk.Johnston 2004, p. 19.Rossi 1999, p. 19.