document_title: Roman Britain

question_text: queen of the iceni who revolted against the romans codycross

question_tokens: queen of the iceni who revolted against the romans codycross

text: Roman Britain

text: History[edit]

text: Early contact[edit]

text: Britain was known to the Classical world; the Greeks, Phoenicians and Carthaginians traded for Cornish tin in the 4th century BC.[11] The Greeks referred to the Cassiterides, or "tin islands", and placed them near the west coast of Europe.[12] The Carthaginian sailor Himilco is said to have visited the island in the 5th century BC and the Greek explorer Pytheas in the 4th. However, it was regarded as a place of mystery, with some writers refusing to believe it existed at all.[13]

text: The first direct Roman contact was when Julius Caesar undertook two expeditions in 55 and 54 BC, as part of his conquest of Gaul, believing the Britons were helping the Gallic resistance. The first expedition was more a reconnaissance than a full invasion and gained a foothold on the coast of Kent but was unable to advance further because of storm damage to the ships and a lack of cavalry. Despite the military failure it was a political success, with the Roman Senate declaring a 20-day public holiday in Rome to honour the unprecedented achievement of obtaining hostages from Britain and defeating Belgian tribes on returning to the continent.[14]

text: The second invasion involved a substantially larger force and Caesar coerced or invited many of the native Celtic tribes to pay tribute and give hostages in return for peace. A friendly local king, Mandubracius, was installed, and his rival, Cassivellaunus, was brought to terms. Hostages were taken, but historians disagree over whether any tribute was paid after Caesar returned to Gaul.[15]

text: Caesar conquered no territory and left no troops behind but he established clients and brought Britain into Rome's sphere of influence. Augustus planned invasions in 34, 27 and 25 BC, but circumstances were never favourable,[16] and the relationship between Britain and Rome settled into one of diplomacy and trade. Strabo, writing late in Augustus's reign, claimed that taxes on trade brought in more annual revenue than any conquest could.[17] Archaeology shows that there was an increase in imported luxury goods in southeastern Britain.[18] Strabo also mentions British kings who sent embassies to Augustus and Augustus's own Res Gestae refers to two British kings he received as refugees.[19] When some of Tiberius's ships were carried to Britain in a storm during his campaigns in Germany in 16 AD, they came back with tales of monsters.[20]

text: Rome appears to have encouraged a balance of power in southern Britain, supporting two powerful kingdoms: the Catuvellauni, ruled by the descendants of Tasciovanus, and the Atrebates, ruled by the descendants of Commius.[21] This policy was followed until 39 or 40 AD, when Caligula received an exiled member of the Catuvellaunian dynasty and planned an invasion of Britain that collapsed in farcical circumstances before it left Gaul.[22][23] When Claudius successfully invaded in 43 AD, it was in aid of another fugitive British ruler, Verica of the Atrebates.

text: Roman invasion[edit]

text: The invasion force in 43 AD was led by Aulus Plautius,[24] but it is unclear how many legions were sent. The Legio II Augusta, commanded by future emperor Vespasian, was the only one directly attested to have taken part.[25] The IX Hispana,[26] the XIV Gemina (later styled Martia Victrix) and the XX (later styled Valeria Victrix)[27] are known to have served during the Boudican Revolt of 60/61, and were probably there since the initial invasion. However this is not certain because the Roman army was flexible, with units being moved around whenever necessary. The Legio IX Hispana may have been permanently stationed with records showing it at Eboracum (York) in 71 and on a building inscription there dated 108, before being destroyed in the east of the Empire, possibly during the Bar Kokhba revolt.[28]

text: The invasion was delayed by a troop mutiny until an imperial freedman persuaded them to overcome their fear of crossing the Ocean and campaigning beyond the limits of the known world. They sailed in three divisions, and probably landed at Richborough in Kent, although at least part of the force may have landed near Fishbourne, West Sussex.[29]

text: The Catuvellauni and their allies were defeated in two battles: the first, assuming a Richborough landing, on the river Medway, the second on the river Thames. One of their leaders, Togodumnus, was killed, but his brother Caratacus survived to continue resistance elsewhere. Plautius halted at the Thames and sent for Claudius, who arrived with reinforcements, including artillery and elephants, for the final march to the Catuvellaunian capital, Camulodunum (Colchester). Vespasian subdued the southwest,[30] Cogidubnus was set up as a friendly king of several territories,[31] and treaties were made with tribes outside direct Roman control.

text: Roman rule is established[edit]

text: After capturing the south of the island, the Romans turned their attention to what is now Wales. The Silures, Ordovices and Deceangli remained implacably opposed to the invaders and for the first few decades were the focus of Roman military attention, despite occasional minor revolts among Roman allies like the Brigantes and the Iceni. The Silures were led by Caratacus, and he carried out an effective guerrilla attack campaign against Governor Publius Ostorius Scapula. Finally, in 51, Ostorius lured Caratacus into a set-piece battle and defeated him. The British leader sought refuge among the Brigantes, but their queen, Cartimandua, proved her loyalty by surrendering him to the Romans. He was brought as a captive to Rome, where a dignified speech he made during Claudius's triumph persuaded the emperor to spare his life. However, the Silures were still not pacified, and Cartimandua's ex-husband Venutius replaced Caratacus as the most prominent leader of British resistance.[32]

text: In 60–61, while Governor Gaius Suetonius Paulinus was campaigning in Wales, the southeast of Britain rose in revolt under the leadership of Boudica. Boudica was the widow of the recently deceased king of the Iceni, Prasutagus. The Roman historian Tacitus reports that Prasutagus had left a will leaving half his kingdom to Nero in the hope that the remainder would be left untouched. He was wrong. When his will was enforced, Rome responded by violently seizing the tribe's lands in full. Boudica protested. In consequence, Rome punished her and her daughters by flogging and rape. In response, the Iceni, joined by the Trinovantes, destroyed the Roman colony at Camulodunum (Colchester) and routed the part of the IXth Legion that was sent to relieve it. Suetonius Paulinus rode to London (then called Londinium), the rebels' next target, but concluded it could not be defended. Abandoned, it was destroyed, as was Verulamium (St. Albans). Between seventy and eighty thousand people are said to have been killed in the three cities. But Suetonius regrouped with two of the three legions still available to him, chose a battlefield, and, despite being heavily outnumbered, defeated the rebels in the Battle of Watling Street. Boudica died not long afterwards, by self-administered poison or by illness.[33][34][35] During this time, the Emperor Nero considered withdrawing Roman forces from Britain altogether.[36]

text: There was further turmoil in 69, the "Year of the Four Emperors". As civil war raged in Rome, weak governors were unable to control the legions in Britain, and Venutius of the Brigantes seized his chance. The Romans had previously defended Cartimandua against him, but this time were unable to do so. Cartimandua was evacuated, and Venutius was left in control of the north of the country. After Vespasian secured the empire, his first two appointments as governor, Quintus Petillius Cerialis and Sextus Julius Frontinus, took on the task of subduing the Brigantes and Silures respectively.[37][38] Frontinus extended Roman rule to all of South Wales, and initiated exploitation of the mineral resources, such as the gold mines at Dolaucothi.

text: In the following years, the Romans conquered more of the island, increasing the size of Roman Britain. Governor Gnaeus Julius Agricola, father-in-law to the historian Tacitus, conquered the Ordovices in 78. With the XX Valeria Victrix legion, Agricola defeated the Caledonians in 84 at the Battle of Mons Graupius, in northern Scotland.[39] This was the high-water mark of Roman territory in Britain: shortly after his victory, Agricola was recalled from Britain back to Rome, and the Romans retired to a more defensible line along the Forth–Clyde isthmus, freeing soldiers badly needed along other frontiers.

text: For much of the history of Roman Britain, a large number of soldiers were garrisoned on the island. This required that the emperor station a trusted senior man as governor of the province. As a result, many future emperors served as governors or legates in this province, including Vespasian, Pertinax, and Gordian I.

text: Occupation and retreat from southern Scotland[edit]

text: There is no historical source describing the decades that followed Agricola's recall. Even the name of his replacement is unknown. Archaeology has shown that some Roman forts south of the Forth–Clyde isthmus were rebuilt and enlarged, although others appear to have been abandoned. Roman coins and pottery have been found circulating at native settlement sites in the Scottish Lowlands in the years before 100, indicating growing Romanisation. Some of the most important sources for this era are the writing tablets from the fort at Vindolanda in Northumberland, mostly dating to 90–110. These tablets provide vivid evidence for the operation of a Roman fort at the edge of the Roman Empire, where officers' wives maintained polite society while merchants, hauliers and military personnel kept the fort operational and supplied.

text: Around 105, however, there appears to have been a serious setback at the hands of the tribes of the Picts of Alba: several Roman forts were destroyed by fire, with human remains and damaged armour at Trimontium (at modern Newstead, in SE Scotland) indicating hostilities at least at that site. There is also circumstantial evidence that auxiliary reinforcements were sent from Germany, and an unnamed British war of the period is mentioned on the gravestone of a tribune of Cyrene. However, Trajan's Dacian Wars may have led to troop reductions in the area or even total withdrawal followed by slighting of the forts by the Picts rather than an unrecorded military defeat. The Romans were also in the habit of destroying their own forts during an orderly withdrawal, in order to deny resources to an enemy. In either case, the frontier probably moved south to the line of the Stanegate at the Solway–Tyne isthmus around this time.

text: A new crisis occurred at the beginning of Hadrian's reign (117): a rising in the north which was suppressed by Quintus Pompeius Falco. When Hadrian reached Britannia on his famous tour of the Roman provinces around 120, he directed an extensive defensive wall, known to posterity as Hadrian's Wall, to be built close to the line of the Stanegate frontier. Hadrian appointed Aulus Platorius Nepos as governor to undertake this work who brought the Legio VI Victrix legion with him from Germania Inferior. This replaced the famous Legio IX Hispana, whose disappearance has been much discussed. Archaeology indicates considerable political instability in Scotland during the first half of the 2nd century, and the shifting frontier at this time should be seen in this context.

text: In the reign of Antoninus Pius (138–161) the Hadrianic border was briefly extended north to the Forth–Clyde isthmus, where the Antonine Wall was built around 142 following the military reoccupation of the Scottish lowlands by a new governor, Quintus Lollius Urbicus.

text: The first Antonine occupation of Scotland ended as a result of a further crisis in 155–157, when the Brigantes revolted. With limited options to despatch reinforcements, the Romans moved their troops south, and this rising was suppressed by Governor Gnaeus Julius Verus. Within a year the Antonine Wall was recaptured, but by 163 or 164 it was abandoned. The second occupation was probably connected with Antoninus's undertakings to protect the Votadini or his pride in enlarging the empire, since the retreat to the Hadrianic frontier occurred not long after his death when a more objective strategic assessment of the benefits of the Antonine Wall could be made. The Romans did not entirely withdraw from Scotland at this time, however: the large fort at Newstead was maintained along with seven smaller outposts until at least 180.

text: During the twenty-year period following the reversion of the frontier to Hadrian's Wall, Rome was concerned with continental issues, primarily problems in the Danubian provinces. Increasing numbers of hoards of buried coins in Britain at this time indicate that peace was not entirely achieved. Sufficient Roman silver has been found in Scotland to suggest more than ordinary trade, and it is likely that the Romans were reinforcing treaty agreements by paying tribute to their implacable enemies, the Picts.

text: In 175, a large force of Sarmatian cavalry, consisting of 5,500 men, arrived in Britannia, probably to reinforce troops fighting unrecorded uprisings. In 180, Hadrian's Wall was breached by the Picts and the commanding officer or governor was killed there in what Cassius Dio described as the most serious war of the reign of Commodus. Ulpius Marcellus was sent as replacement governor and by 184 he had won a new peace, only to be faced with a mutiny from his own troops. Unhappy with Marcellus's strictness, they tried to elect a legate named Priscus as usurper governor; he refused, but Marcellus was lucky to leave the province alive. The Roman army in Britannia continued its insubordination: they sent a delegation of 1,500 to Rome to demand the execution of Tigidius Perennis, a Praetorian prefect who they felt had earlier wronged them by posting lowly equites to legate ranks in Britannia. Commodus met the party outside Rome and agreed to have Perennis killed, but this only made them feel more secure in their mutiny.

text: The future emperor Pertinax was sent to Britannia to quell the mutiny and was initially successful in regaining control. However, a riot broke out among the troops. Pertinax was attacked and left for dead, and asked to be recalled to Rome, where he briefly succeeded Commodus as emperor in 192.

text: 3rd century[edit]

text: The death of Commodus put into motion a series of events which eventually led to civil war. Following the short reign of Pertinax, several rivals for the emperorship emerged, including Septimius Severus and Clodius Albinus. The latter was the new governor of Britannia, and had seemingly won the natives over after their earlier rebellions; he also controlled three legions, making him a potentially significant claimant. His sometime rival Severus promised him the title of Caesar in return for Albinus's support against Pescennius Niger in the east. Once Niger was neutralised however, Severus turned on his ally in Britannia — though it is likely that Albinus saw he would be the next target and was already preparing for war.

text: Albinus crossed to Gaul in 195, where the provinces were also sympathetic to him, and set up at Lugdunum. Severus arrived in February 196, and the ensuing battle was decisive. Although Albinus came close to victory, Severus's reinforcements won the day, and the British governor committed suicide. Severus soon purged Albinus's sympathisers and perhaps confiscated large tracts of land in Britain as punishment.

text: Albinus had demonstrated the major problem posed by Roman Britain. In order to maintain security, the province required the presence of three legions; but command of these forces provided an ideal power base for ambitious rivals. Deploying those legions elsewhere, however, would strip the island of its garrison, leaving the province defenceless against uprisings by the native Celtic tribes and against invasion by the Picts and Scots.

text: The traditional view is that northern Britain descended into anarchy during Albinus's absence. Cassius Dio records that the new Governor, Virius Lupus, was obliged to buy peace from a fractious northern tribe known as the Maeatae. The succession of militarily distinguished governors who were subsequently appointed suggests that enemies of Rome were posing a difficult challenge, and Lucius Alfenus Senecio's report to Rome in 207 describes barbarians "rebelling, over-running the land, taking loot and creating destruction". In order to rebel, of course, one must be a subject — although the Maeatae clearly did not consider themselves such. Senecio requested either reinforcements or an Imperial expedition, and Severus chose the latter, despite being 62 years old.

text: Archaeological evidence shows that Senecio had been rebuilding the defences of Hadrian's Wall and the forts beyond it, and Severus's arrival in Britain prompted the enemy tribes to sue for peace immediately. The emperor had not come all that way to leave without a victory, however, and it is likely that he wished to provide his teenage sons Caracalla and Geta with first-hand experience of controlling a hostile barbarian land.

text: An invasion of Caledonia led by Severus and probably numbering around 20,000 troops moved north in 208 or 209, crossing the Wall and passing through eastern Scotland on a route similar to that used by Agricola. Harried by punishing guerrilla raids by the northern tribes and slowed by an unforgiving terrain, Severus was unable to meet the Caledonians on a battlefield. The emperor's forces pushed north as far as the River Tay, but little appears to have been achieved by the invasion, as peace treaties were signed with the Caledonians. By 210 Severus had returned to York, and the frontier had once again become Hadrian's Wall. He assumed the title Britannicus but the title meant little with regard to the unconquered north, which clearly remained outside the authority of the Empire. Almost immediately, another northern tribe, the Maeatae, again went to war. Caracalla left with a punitive expedition, but by the following year his ailing father had died and he and his brother left the province to press their claim to the throne.

text: As one of his last acts, Severus tried to solve the problem of powerful and rebellious governors in Britain by dividing the province into Britannia Superior and Britannia Inferior. This kept the potential for rebellion in check for almost a century. Historical sources provide little information on the following decades, a period known as the Long Peace. Even so, the number of buried hoards found from this period rises, suggesting continuing unrest. A string of forts were built along the coast of southern Britain to control piracy; and over the following hundred years they increased in number, becoming the Saxon Shore Forts.

text: During the middle of the 3rd century, the Roman Empire was convulsed by barbarian invasions, rebellions and new imperial pretenders. Britannia apparently avoided these troubles, although increasing inflation had its economic effect. In 259 a so-called Gallic Empire was established when Postumus rebelled against Gallienus. Britannia was part of this until 274 when Aurelian reunited the empire.

text: Around the year 280, a half-British officer named Bonosus was in command of the Roman's Rhenish fleet when the Germans managed to burn it at anchor. To avoid punishment, he proclaimed himself emperor at Colonia Agrippina (Cologne) but was crushed by Marcus Aurelius Probus. Soon afterwards, an unnamed governor of one of the British provinces also attempted an uprising. Probus put it down by sending irregular troops of Vandals and Burgundians across the Channel.

text: The Carausian Revolt led to a short-lived Britannic Empire from 286 to 296. Carausius was a Menapian naval commander of the Britannic fleet; he revolted upon learning of a death sentence ordered by the emperor Maximian on charges of having abetted Frankish and Saxon pirates and having embezzled recovered treasure. He consolidated control over all the provinces of Britain and some of northern Gaul while Maximian dealt with other uprisings. An invasion in 288 failed to unseat him and an uneasy peace ensued, with Carausius issuing coins and inviting official recognition. In 293, the junior emperor Constantius Chlorus launched a second offensive, besieging the rebel port of Gesoriacum (Boulogne-sur-Mer) by land and sea. After it fell, Constantius attacked Carausius's other Gallic holdings and Frankish allies and Carausius was usurped by his treasurer, Allectus. Julius Asclepiodotus landed an invasion fleet near Southampton and defeated Allectus in a land battle.[40][41][42][43]

text: Diocletian's reforms[edit]

text: As part of Diocletian's reforms, the provinces of Roman Britain were organized as a diocese subordinate to a praetorian prefect resident with an emperor and from 318 a prefect based at Augusta Treverorum (Trier), Julius Bassus, prefect to Constantine's son Crispus. Prior to this appointment, two was the canonical number of prefects (not counting those of usurpers). The territorial prefectures first appear circa 325. Four are listed in 331. It is certain that the diocesan vicar was based at Londinium as the principal city of the diocese, as it had been for 250 years;[citation needed] that Londinium and Eboracum continued as provincial capitals; and that the territory was divided up into smaller provinces for administrative efficiency and presence as the governors, heretofore mainly judicial and administrative officials, assumed more financial duties (as the procurators of the Treasury ministry were slowly phased out in the first three decades of the 4th century). The governors were stripped of military command (a process completed by 314), which was handed over to duces. Civilian and military authority would no longer be exercised by one official, with rare exceptions until the mid-5th century, when a dux/governor was appointed for Upper Egypt. The tasks of the vicar were to control and coordinate the activities of governors; monitor but not interfere with the daily functioning of the Treasury and Crown Estates, which had their own administrative infrastructure; and act as the regional quartermaster-general of the armed forces. In short, as the sole civilian official with superior authority, he had general oversight of the administration, as well as direct control, while not absolute, over governors who were part of the prefecture; the other two fiscal departments were not.

text: The early-4th century Verona List, the late-4th century work of Sextus Rufus, and the early-5th century List of Offices and work of Polemius Silvius all list four provinces by some variation of the names Britannia I, Britannia II, Maxima Caesariensis, and Flavia Caesariensis; all of these seem to have initially been directed by a governor (praeses) of equestrian rank. The 5th-century sources, however, list a fifth province named Valentia and give its governor and Maxima's a consular rank.[44] Ammianus mentions Valentia as well, describing its creation by Count Theodosius in 369 after the quelling of the Great Conspiracy. Ammianus considered it a re-creation of a formerly lost province,[45] leading some to think there had been an earlier fifth province under another name, and leading others to place Valentia beyond Hadrian's Wall, in the territory abandoned south of the Antonine Wall.

text: Reconstructions of the provinces and provincial capitals during this period partially rely on ecclesiastical records. On the assumption that the early bishoprics mimicked the imperial hierarchy, scholars use the list of bishops for the 314 Council of Arles. Unfortunately, the list is patently corrupt: the British delegation is given as including a Bishop "Eborius" of Eboracum and two bishops "from Londinium" (one de civitate Londinensi and the other de civitate colonia Londinensium).[48] The error is variously emended: Bishop Ussher proposed Colonia,[49] Selden Col. or Colon. Camalodun.,[50] and Spelman Colonia Cameloduni[51] (all various names of Colchester);[53] Gale[54] and Bingham[55] offered colonia Lindi and Henry[56] Colonia Lindum (both Lincoln); and Bishop Stillingfleet[57] and Francis Thackeray read it as a scribal error of Civ. Col. Londin. for an original Civ. Col. Leg. II (Caerleon).[47] On the basis of the Verona List, the priest and deacon who accompanied the bishops in some manuscripts are ascribed to the fourth province.

text: In the 12th century, Gerald of Wales described the supposedly metropolitan sees of the early British church established by the legendary SS Fagan and "Duvian". He placed Britannia Prima in Wales and western England with its capital at "Urbs Legionum" (Caerleon); Britannia Secunda in Kent and southern England with its capital at "Dorobernia" (Canterbury); Flavia in Mercia and central England with its capital at "Lundonia" (London); "Maximia" in northern England with its capital at Eboracum (York); and Valentia in "Albania which is now Scotland" with its capital at St Andrews.[58][59] Modern scholars generally dispute the last: some place Valentia at or beyond Hadrian's Wall but St Andrews is beyond even the Antonine Wall and Gerald seems to have simply been supporting the antiquity of its church for political reasons. A common modern reconstruction places the consular province of Maxima at Londinium, on the basis of its status as the seat of the diocesan vicar; places Prima in the west according to Gerald's traditional account but moves its capital to Corinium of the Dobunni (Cirencester) on the basis of an artifact recovered there referring to Lucius Septimius, a provincial rector; places Flavia north of Maxima, with its capital placed at Lindum Colonia (Lincoln) to match one emendation of the bishops list from Arles;[62] and places Secunda in the north with its capital at Eboracum (York). Valentia is placed variously in northern Wales around Deva (Chester); beside Hadrian's Wall around Luguvalium (Carlisle); and between the walls along Dere Street.

text: 4th century[edit]

text: Constantius Chlorus returned in 306, despite his poor health, aiming to invade northern Britain, with the provincial defences having been rebuilt in the preceding years. Little is known of his campaigns with scant archaeological evidence, but fragmentary historical sources suggest he reached the far north of Britain and won a major battle in early summer before returning south. He died in York in July 306 with his son Constantine I at his side. Constantine then successfully used Britain as the starting point of his march to the imperial throne, unlike the earlier usurper, Albinus.

text: In the middle of the century, for a few years the province was loyal to the usurper Magnentius, who succeeded Constans following the latter's death. After the defeat and death of Magnentius in the Battle of Mons Seleucus in 353, Constantius II dispatched his chief imperial notary Paulus Catena to Britain to hunt down Magnentius's supporters. The investigation deteriorated into a witch-hunt, which forced the vicarius Flavius Martinus to intervene. When Paulus retaliated by accusing Martinus of treason, the vicarius attacked Paulus with a sword, with the aim of assassinating him, but in the end he committed suicide.

text: As the 4th century progressed, there were increasing attacks from the Saxons in the east and the Scoti (Irish) in the west. A series of forts was already being built, starting around 280, to defend the coasts, but these preparations were not enough when a general assault of Saxons, Scoti and Attacotti, combined with apparent dissension in the garrison on Hadrian's Wall, left Roman Britain prostrate in 367. This crisis, sometimes called the Barbarian Conspiracy or the Great Conspiracy, was settled by Count Theodosius with a string of military and civil reforms.

text: Another imperial usurper, Magnus Maximus, raised the standard of revolt at Segontium (Caernarfon) in north Wales in 383, and crossed the English Channel. Maximus held much of the western empire, and fought a successful campaign against the Picts and Scots around 384. His continental exploits required troops from Britain, and it appears that forts at Chester and elsewhere were abandoned in this period, triggering raids and settlement in north Wales by the Irish. His rule was ended in 388, but not all the British troops may have returned: the Empire's military resources were struggling after the catastrophic battle of Adrianople in 378. Around 396 there were increasing barbarian incursions into Britain, and an expedition — possibly led by Stilicho — brought naval action against the raiders. It seems peace was restored by 399, although it is likely that no further garrisoning was ordered; and indeed by 401 more troops were withdrawn, to assist in the war against Alaric I.

text: End of Roman rule[edit]

text: The traditional view of historians, informed by the work of Michael Rostovtzeff, was of a widespread economic decline at the beginning of the 5th century. However, consistent archaeological evidence has told another story, and the accepted view is undergoing re-evaluation, though some features are agreed: more opulent but fewer urban houses, an end to new public building and some abandonment of existing ones, with the exception of defensive structures, and the widespread formation of "dark earth" deposits indicating increased horticulture within urban precincts.[63] Turning over the basilica at Silchester to industrial uses in the late 3rd century, doubtless officially condoned, marks an early stage in the de-urbanisation of Roman Britain.[64] The abandonment of some sites is now believed to be later than had formerly been thought. Many buildings changed use but were not destroyed. There were growing barbarian attacks, but these were focused on vulnerable rural settlements rather than towns. Some villas such as Great Casterton in Rutland and Hucclecote in Gloucestershire had new mosaic floors laid around this time, suggesting that economic problems may have been limited and patchy, although many suffered some decay before being abandoned in the 5th century; the story of Saint Patrick indicates that villas were still occupied until at least 430. Exceptionally, new buildings were still going up in this period in Verulamium and Cirencester. Some urban centres, for example Canterbury, Cirencester, Wroxeter, Winchester and Gloucester, remained active during the 5th and 6th centuries, surrounded by large farming estates.

text: Urban life had generally grown less intense by the fourth quarter of the 4th century, and coins minted between 378 and 388 are very rare, indicating a likely combination of economic decline, diminishing numbers of troops, problems with the payment of soldiers and officials or with unstable conditions during the usurpation of Magnus Maximus 383–87. Coinage circulation increased during the 390s, although it never attained the levels of earlier decades. Copper coins are very rare after 402, although minted silver and gold coins from hoards indicate they were still present in the province even if they were not being spent. By 407 there were no new Roman coins going into circulation, and by 430 it is likely that coinage as a medium of exchange had been abandoned. Pottery mass production probably ended a decade or two previously; the rich continued to use metal and glass vessels, while the poor probably adopted leather or wooden ones.

text: Sub-Roman Britain[edit]

text: Towards the end of the 4th century Britain came under increasing pressure from barbarian attacks, and there were not enough troops to mount an effective defence. After elevating two disappointing usurpers, the army chose a soldier, Constantine III, to become emperor in 407. He crossed to Gaul but was defeated by Honorius; it is unclear how many troops remained or ever returned, or whether a commander-in-chief in Britain was ever reappointed. A Saxon incursion in 408 was apparently repelled by the Britons, and in 409 Zosimus records that the natives expelled the Roman civilian administration. However, Zosimus may be referring to the Bacaudic rebellion of the Breton inhabitants of Armorica since he describes how, in the aftermath of the revolt, all of Armorica and the rest of Gaul followed the example of the Brettaniai. A letter from Emperor Honorius in 410 has traditionally been seen as rejecting a British appeal for help, but it may have been addressed to Bruttium or Bologna.[65] With the imperial layers of the military and civil government gone, administration and justice fell to municipal authorities, and local warlords gradually emerged all over Britain, still utilizing Romano-British ideals and conventions. Laycock has investigated this process and emphasised elements of continuity from the British tribes in the pre-Roman and Roman periods, through to the native post-Roman kingdoms.[66]

text: In British tradition, pagan Saxons were invited by Vortigern to assist in fighting the Picts and Irish, though Germanic migration into Roman Britannia may have begun much earlier. There is recorded evidence, for example, of Germanic auxiliaries supporting the legions in Britain in the 1st and 2nd centuries. The new arrivals rebelled, plunging the country into a series of wars that eventually led to the Saxon occupation of Lowland Britain by 600. Around this time, many Britons fled to Brittany (hence its name), Galicia and probably Ireland. A significant date in sub-Roman Britain is the Groans of the Britons, an unanswered appeal to Aetius, leading general of the western Empire, for assistance against Saxon invasion in 446. Another is the Battle of Deorham in 577, after which the significant cities of Bath, Cirencester and Gloucester fell and the Saxons reached the western sea.

text: Most scholars reject the historicity of the later legends of King Arthur, which seem to be set in this period, but some such as John Morris think there may be some truth to them.

text: Trade[edit]

text: During the Roman period Britain's continental trade was principally directed across the Southern North Sea and Eastern Channel, focusing on the narrow Strait of Dover, though there were also more limited links via the Atlantic seaways.[67][68][69] The most important British ports were London and Richborough, whilst the continental ports most heavily engaged in trade with Britain were Boulogne and the sites of Domburg and Colijnsplaat at the mouth of the river Scheldt.[67][68] During the Late Roman period it is likely that the shore forts played some role in continental trade alongside their defensive functions.[67][70]

text: Exports to Britain included: coin; pottery, particularly red-gloss terra sigillata (samian ware) from southern, central and eastern Gaul, as well as various other wares from Gaul and the Rhine provinces; olive oil from southern Spain in amphorae; wine from Gaul in amphorae and barrels; salted fish products from the western Mediterranean and Brittany in barrels and amphorae; preserved olives from southern Spain in amphorae; lava quern-stones from Mayen on the middle Rhine; glass; and some agricultural products.[67][68][71][72][73][74][75][76][77] Britain's exports are harder to detect archaeologically, but will have included metals, such as silver and gold and some lead, iron and copper. Other exports probably included agricultural products, oysters and salt, whilst large quantities of coin would have been re-exported back to the continent as well.[67][75][76][78]

text: These products moved as a result of private trade and also through payments and contracts established by the Roman state to support its military forces and officials on the island, as well as through state taxation and extraction of resources.[67][78] Up until the mid-3rd century, the Roman state's payments appear to have been unbalanced, with far more products sent to Britain, to support its large military force (which had reached c. 53,000 by the mid-2nd century), than were extracted from the island.[67][78]

text: It has been argued that Roman Britain's continental trade peaked in the late 1st century AD and thereafter declined as a result of an increasing reliance on local products by the population of Britain, caused by economic development on the island and by the Roman state's desire to save money by shifting away from expensive long-distance imports.[75][77][78][79] Evidence has, however, been outlined that suggests that the principal decline in Roman Britain's continental trade may have occurred in the late 2nd century AD, from c. 165 AD onwards.[67] This has been linked to the economic impact of contemporary Empire-wide crises: the Antonine Plague and the Marcomannic Wars.[67]

text: From the mid-3rd century onwards, Britain no longer received such a wide range and extensive quantity of foreign imports as it did during the earlier part of the Roman period; however, vast quantities of coin from continental mints reached the island, whilst there is historical evidence for the export of large amounts of British grain to the continent during the mid-4th century.[67][76][80][81][82][83][84][85][86][87][88] During the latter part of the Roman period British agricultural products, paid for by both the Roman state and by private consumers, clearly played an important role in supporting the military garrisons and urban centres of the northwestern continental Empire.[67][76][82] This came about as a result of the rapid decline in the size of the British garrison from the mid-3rd century onwards (thus freeing up more goods for export), and because of 'Germanic' incursions across the Rhine, which appear to have reduced rural settlement and agricultural output in northern Gaul.[67][82]

text: Economy[edit]

text: Mineral extraction sites such as the Dolaucothi gold mine was probably first worked by the Roman army from c. 75, and at some later stage passed to civilian operators. The mine developed as a series of opencast workings, mainly by the use of hydraulic mining methods. They are described by Pliny the Elder in his Natural History in great detail. Essentially, water supplied by aqueducts was used to prospect for ore veins by stripping away soil to reveal the bedrock. If veins were present, they were attacked using fire-setting and the ore removed for crushing and comminution. The dust was washed in a small stream of water and the heavy gold dust and gold nuggets collected in riffles. The diagram at right shows how Dolaucothi developed from c. 75 through to the 1st century. When opencast work was no longer feasible, tunnels were driven to follow the veins. The evidence from the site shows advanced technology probably under the control of army engineers.

text: The Wealden ironworking zone, the lead and silver mines of the Mendip Hills and the tin mines of Cornwall seem to have been private enterprises leased from the government for a fee. Although mining had long been practised in Britain (see Grimes Graves), the Romans introduced new technical knowledge and large-scale industrial production to revolutionise the industry. It included hydraulic mining to prospect for ore by removing overburden as well as work alluvial deposits. The water needed for such large-scale operations was supplied by one or more aqueducts, those surviving at Dolaucothi being especially impressive. Many prospecting areas were in dangerous, upland country, and, although mineral exploitation was presumably one of the main reasons for the Roman invasion, it had to wait until these areas were subdued.

text: Although Roman designs were most popular, rural craftsmen still produced items derived from the Iron Age La Tène artistic traditions. Local pottery rarely attained the standards of the Gaulish industries although the Castor ware of the Nene Valley was able to withstand comparison with the imports. Most native pottery was unsophisticated however and intended only for local markets.

text: By the 3rd century, Britain's economy was diverse and well established, with commerce extending into the non-Romanised north. The design of Hadrian's Wall especially catered to the need for customs inspections of merchants' goods.

text: Government[edit]

text: Under the Roman Empire, administration of peaceful provinces was ultimately the remit of the Senate, but those, like Britain, that required permanent garrisons were placed under the Emperor's control. In practice imperial provinces were run by resident governors who were members of the Senate and had held the consulship. These men were carefully selected, often having strong records of military success and administrative ability. In Britain, a governor's role was primarily military, but numerous other tasks were also his responsibility such as maintaining diplomatic relations with local client kings, building roads, ensuring the public courier system functioned, supervising the civitates and acting as a judge in important legal cases. When not campaigning he would travel the province hearing complaints and recruiting new troops.

text: To assist him in legal matters he had an adviser, the legatus juridicus, and those in Britain appear to have been distinguished lawyers perhaps because of the challenge of incorporating tribes into the imperial system and devising a workable method of taxing them. Financial administration was dealt with by a procurator with junior posts for each tax-raising power. Each legion in Britain had a commander who answered to the governor and in time of war probably directly ruled troublesome districts. Each of these commands carried a tour of duty of two to three years in different provinces. Below these posts was a network of administrative managers covering intelligence gathering, sending reports to Rome, organising military supplies and dealing with prisoners. A staff of seconded soldiers provided clerical services.

text: Colchester was probably the earliest capital of Roman Britain, but it was soon eclipsed by London with its strong mercantile connections. The different forms of municipal organisation in Britannia were known as civitas (which were subdivided, amongst other forms, into colonies such as York, Colchester, Gloucester and Lincoln and municipalities such as Verulamium), and were each governed by a senate of local landowners, whether Brythonic or Roman, who elected magistrates concerning judicial and civic affairs.[89] The various civitates sent representatives to a yearly provincial council in order to profess loyalty to the Roman state, to send direct petitions to the Emperor in times of extraordinary need, and to worship the imperial cult.[89]

text: Demographics[edit]

text: Roman Britain had an estimated population between 2.8 million and 3 million people at the end of the second century. At the end of the fourth century, it had an estimated population of 3.6 million people, of whom 125,000 consisted of the Roman army and their families and dependents.[90]

text: The urban population of Roman Britain was about 240,000 people at the end of the fourth century.[90] The capital city of Londinium is estimated to have had a population of about 60,000 people.[91][92] Londinium was an ethnically diverse city with inhabitants from across the Roman Empire, including natives of Britannia, continental Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.[93] There was also cultural diversity in other Roman-British towns, which were sustained by considerable migration, both within Britannia and from other Roman territories, including North Africa,[94] Roman Syria, the Eastern Mediterranean, and continental Europe.[95]

text: Town and country[edit]

text: During their occupation of Britain the Romans founded a number of important settlements, many of which still survive. The towns suffered attrition in the later 4th century, when public building ceased and some were abandoned to private uses. Though place names survived the deurbanised Sub-Roman and early Anglo-Saxon periods, and historiography has been at pains to signal the expected survivals, archaeology shows that a bare handful of Roman towns were continuously occupied. According to S.T. Loseby,[96] the very idea of a town as a centre of power and administration was reintroduced to England by the Roman Christianising mission to Canterbury, and its urban revival was delayed to the 10th century.

text: Roman towns can be broadly grouped in two categories. Civitates, "public towns" were formally laid out on a grid plan, and their role in imperial administration occasioned the construction of public buildings.[97] The much more numerous category of vici, "small towns" grew on informal plans, often round a camp or at a ford or crossroads; some were not small, others were scarcely urban, some not even defended by a wall, the characteristic feature of a place of any importance.[98]

text: Cities and towns which have Roman origins, or were extensively developed by them are listed with their Latin names in brackets; civitates are marked C

text:
Alcester (Alauna)
Alchester
Aldborough, North Yorkshire (Isurium Brigantum) C
Bath (Aquae Sulis)
Brough (Petuaria) C
Buxton (Aquae Arnemetiae)
Caerleon (Isca Augusta)
Caernarfon (Segontium)
Caerwent (Venta Silurum) C
Caister-on-Sea C
Canterbury (Durovernum Cantiacorum) C
Carlisle (Luguvalium) C
Carmarthen (Moridunum) C
Chelmsford (Cesaromagus) C
Chester (Deva Victrix)
Chester-le-Street (Concangis)
Chichester (Noviomagus Reginorum)[99] C
Cirencester (Corinium) C
Colchester (Camulodunum) C
Corbridge (Coria) C
Dorchester (Durnovaria) C
Dover (Portus Dubris)
Exeter (Isca Dumnoniorum) C
Gloucester (Glevum) C
Great Chesterford (the name of this vicus is unknown)
Ilchester (Lindinis) C
Leicester (Ratae Corieltauvorum) C
Lincoln (Lindum Colonia) C
London (Londinium) C
Manchester (Mamucium)
Newcastle upon Tyne (Pons Aelius)
Northwich (Condate)
St Albans (Verulamium) C
Silchester (Calleva Atrebatum) C
Towcester (Lactodurum)
Whitchurch (Mediolanum)
Winchester (Venta Belgarum) C
Wroxeter (Viroconium Cornoviorum) C
York (Eboracum) C

text: Religion[edit]

text: Pagan[edit]

text: The druids, the Celtic priestly caste who were believed to originate in Britain,[100] were outlawed by Claudius,[101] and in 61 they vainly defended their sacred groves from destruction by the Romans on the island of Mona (Anglesey).[102] However, under Roman rule the Britons continued to worship native Celtic deities, such as Ancasta, but often conflated with their Roman equivalents, like Mars Rigonemetos at Nettleham.

text: The degree to which earlier native beliefs survived is difficult to gauge precisely. Certain European ritual traits such as the significance of the number 3, the importance of the head and of water sources such as springs remain in the archaeological record, but the differences in the votive offerings made at the baths at Bath, Somerset, before and after the Roman conquest suggest that continuity was only partial. Worship of the Roman emperor is widely recorded, especially at military sites. The founding of a Roman temple to Claudius at Camulodunum was one of the impositions that led to the revolt of Boudica. By the 3rd century, Pagans Hill Roman Temple in Somerset was able to exist peaceably and it did so into the 5th century.

text: Pagan religious practices were supported by priests, represented in Britain by votive deposits of priestly regalia such as chain crowns from West Stow and Willingham Fen.[103]

text: Eastern cults such as Mithraism also grew in popularity towards the end of the occupation. The London Mithraeum is one example of the popularity of mystery religions among the soldiery. Temples to Mithras also exist in military contexts at Vindobala on Hadrian's Wall (the Rudchester Mithraeum) and at Segontium in Roman Wales (the Caernarfon Mithraeum).

text: Christianity[edit]

text: It is not clear when or how Christianity came to Britain. A 2nd-century "word square" has been discovered in Mamucium, the Roman settlement of Manchester.[105] It consists of an anagram of PATER NOSTER carved on a piece of amphora. There has been discussion by academics whether the "word square" is actually a Christian artefact, but if it is, it is one of the earliest examples of early Christianity in Britain.[106] The earliest confirmed written evidence for Christianity in Britain is a statement by Tertullian, c. 200 AD, in which he described "all the limits of the Spains, and the diverse nations of the Gauls, and the haunts of the Britons, inaccessible to the Romans, but subjugated to Christ".[107] Archaeological evidence for Christian communities begins to appear in the 3rd and 4th centuries. Small timber churches are suggested at Lincoln and Silchester and baptismal fonts have been found at Icklingham and the Saxon Shore Fort at Richborough. The Icklingham font is made of lead, and visible in the British Museum. A Roman Christian graveyard exists at the same site in Icklingham. A possible Roman 4th century church and associated burial ground was also discovered at Butt Road on the south-west outskirts of Colchester during the construction of the new police station there, overlying an earlier pagan cemetery. The Water Newton Treasure is a hoard of Christian silver church plate from the early 4th century and the Roman villas at Lullingstone and Hinton St Mary contained Christian wall paintings and mosaics respectively. A large 4th century cemetery at Poundbury with its east-west oriented burials and lack of grave goods has been interpreted as an early Christian burial ground, although such burial rites were also becoming increasingly common in pagan contexts during the period.

text: The Church in Britain seems to have developed the customary diocesan system, as evidenced from the records of the Council of Arles in Gaul in 314: represented at the Council were bishops from thirty-five sees from Europe and North Africa, including three bishops from Britain, Eborius of York, Restitutus of London, and Adelphius, possibly a bishop of Lincoln. No other early sees are documented, and the material remains of early church structures are far to seek.[108] The existence of a church in the forum courtyard of Lincoln and the martyrium of Saint Alban on the outskirts of Roman Verulamium are exceptional.[96] Alban, the first British Christian martyr and by far the most prominent, is believed to have died in the early 4th century (although some date him in the middle 3rd century), followed by Saints Julius and Aaron of Isca Augusta. Christianity was legalised in the Roman Empire by Constantine I in 313. Theodosius I made Christianity the state religion of the empire in 391, and by the 5th century it was well established. One belief labelled a heresy by the church authorities — Pelagianism — was originated by a British monk teaching in Rome: Pelagius lived c. 354 to c. 420/440.

text: A letter found on a lead tablet in Bath, Somerset, datable to c. 363, had been widely publicised as documentary evidence regarding the state of Christianity in Britain during Roman times. According to its first translator, it was written in Wroxeter by a Christian man called Vinisius to a Christian woman called Nigra, and was claimed as the first epigraphic record of Christianity in Britain. However, this translation of the letter was apparently based on grave paleographical errors, and the text, in fact, has nothing to do with Christianity, and in fact relates to pagan rituals.[109]

text: Environmental changes[edit]

text: The Romans introduced a number of species to Britain, including possibly the now-rare Roman nettle (Urtica pilulifera),[110] said to have been used by soldiers to warm their arms and legs,[111] and the edible snail Helix pomatia.[112] There is also some evidence they may have introduced rabbits, but of the smaller southern mediterranean type. The European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) prevalent in modern Britain is assumed to have been introduced from the continent after the Norman invasion of 1066.[113]

text: Legacy[edit]

text: During their occupation of Britain the Romans built an extensive network of roads which continued to be used in later centuries and many are still followed today. The Romans also built water supply, sanitation and sewage systems. Many of Britain's major cities, such as London (Londinium), Manchester (Mamucium) and York (Eboracum), were founded by the Romans, though the original Roman settlements were abandoned not long after the Romans left.

text: However, unlike many other areas of the Western Roman Empire, the current majority language is not a Romance language - or a language descended from the pre-Roman inhabitants.[114]


document_title: List of FIFA World Cup finals

question_text: when was the last time a non european team won the world cup

root

text: List of FIFA World Cup finals

text: List of finals[edit]

text:
Key to the list of finals

Match was won during extra time

Match was won on a penalty shoot-out

tag: table

text: The "Year" column refers to the year the World Cup was held, and wikilinks to the article about that tournament. The wikilinks in the "Final score" column point to the article about that tournament's final game. Links in the "Winners" and "Runners-up" columns point to the articles for the national football teams of the countries, not the articles for the countries.

tag: ul

text:
List of finals matches, their venues and locations, the finalists, and final scores

Year

Winners

Final score[2]

Runners-up

Venue

Location

Attendance

References

1930

Uruguay

4–2

 Argentina

Estadio Centenario

Montevideo, Uruguay

80,000

[7][8]

1934

Italy

  2–1[n 3]

 Czechoslovakia

Stadio Nazionale PNF

Rome, Italy

50,000

[9][10]

1938

Italy

4–2

 Hungary

Stade Olympique de Colombes

Paris, France

45,000

[11][12]

1950[n 4]

Uruguay

2–1[n 5]

 Brazil

Estádio do Maracanã

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

199,854[13]

[14][15]

1954

West Germany

3–2

 Hungary

Wankdorf Stadium

Bern, Switzerland

60,000

[16][17]

1958

Brazil

5–2

 Sweden

Råsunda Stadium

Solna, Sweden

51,800

[18][19]

1962

Brazil

3–1

 Czechoslovakia

Estadio Nacional

Santiago, Chile

69,000

[20][21]

1966

England

  4–2[n 6]

 West Germany

Wembley Stadium

London, England

93,000

[22][23]

1970

Brazil

4–1

 Italy

Estadio Azteca

Mexico City, Mexico

107,412

[24][25]

1974

West Germany

2–1

 Netherlands

Olympiastadion

Munich, West Germany

75,200

[26][27]

1978

Argentina

  3–1[n 7]

 Netherlands

Estadio Monumental

Buenos Aires, Argentina

71,483

[28][29]

1982

Italy

3–1

 West Germany

Santiago Bernabéu

Madrid, Spain

90,000

[30][31]

1986

Argentina

3–2

 West Germany

Estadio Azteca

Mexico City, Mexico

114,600

[32][33]

1990

West Germany

1–0

 Argentina

Stadio Olimpico

Rome, Italy

73,603

[34][35]

1994

Brazil

  0–0[n 8]

 Italy

Rose Bowl

Pasadena, United States

94,194

[36][37]

1998

France

3–0

 Brazil

Stade de France

Saint-Denis, France

80,000

[38][39]

2002

Brazil

2–0

 Germany

International Stadium

Yokohama, Japan

69,029

[40][41]

2006

Italy

  1–1[n 9]

 France

Olympiastadion

Berlin, Germany

69,000

[42][43]

2010

Spain

  1–0[n 10]

 Netherlands

Soccer City

Johannesburg, South Africa

84,490

[44][45]

2014

Germany

  1–0[n 11]

 Argentina

Estádio do Maracanã

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

74,738

[46][47]

2018

France

4–2

 Croatia

Luzhniki Stadium

Moscow, Russia

78,011

Upcoming finals

Year

Team 1

v

Team 2

Venue

Location

Attendance

References

2022

Lusail Iconic Stadium

Lusail, Qatar

2026

TBD

United States

text: Results[edit]

text:
Results by nation

National team

Wins

Runners-up

Total finals

Years won

Years runners-up

 Brazil

5

2

7

1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002

1950, 1998

 Germany

4

4

8

1954, 1974, 1990, 2014

1966, 1982, 1986, 2002

 Italy

4

2

6

1934, 1938, 1982, 2006

1970, 1994

 Argentina

2

3

5

1978, 1986

1930, 1990, 2014

 France

2

1

3

1998, 2018

2006

 Uruguay

2

0

2

1930, 1950

–

 England

1

0

1

1966

–

 Spain

1

0

1

2010

–

 Netherlands

0

3

3

–

1974, 1978, 2010

 Czechoslovakia

0

2

2

–

1934, 1962

 Hungary

0

2

2

–

1938, 1954

 Sweden

0

1

1

–

1958

 Croatia

0

1

1

–

2018

text:
Results by confederation

Confederation

Appearances

Winners

Runners-up

UEFA

28

12

16

CONMEBOL

14

9

5

text: Footnotes[edit]

text:
Jump up ^ This follows FIFA's consideration that the national teams of West Germany/Germany, Czechoslovakia/Czech Republic, Yugoslavia/Serbia and Montenegro/Serbia, and USSR/Russia are combined respectively for record-keeping.[3]

Jump up ^ Technically the 1958 final was also between two first timers, but Brazil's 1950 group game defeat is generally counted as a previous "final" appearance for the team.

Jump up ^ Score was 1–1 after 90 minutes.[9][10]

Jump up ^ The 1950 FIFA World Cup did not have a final, rather, the tournament was decided by a 4-team round robin phase.

Jump up ^ Not the final but the decisive match of the final group stage.

Jump up ^ Score was 2–2 after 90 minutes.[22][23]

Jump up ^ Score was 1–1 after 90 minutes.[28][29]

Jump up ^ Score was 0–0 after 120 minutes. Brazil won 3–2 on penalties.[36][37]

Jump up ^ Score was 1–1 after 120 minutes. Italy won 5–3 on penalties.[42][43]

Jump up ^ Score was 0–0 after 90 minutes.[44][45]

Jump up ^ Score was 0–0 after 90 minutes.[46][47]

tag: ol


document_title: Transformers: The Last Knight

question_text: who plays merlin in transformers the last night

text: Transformers: The Last Knight

text: Plot[edit]

text: In 484 AD, King Arthur and his knights struggle in a devastating battle against the Saxons. Meanwhile, Merlin begs for help from the Knights of Iacon, a group of twelve Transformers who have hidden on Earth. They give Merlin an alien staff and combine themselves into a huge robotic dragon named Dragonstorm to help Arthur triumph over the Saxons, but not before warning Merlin that a great evil will one day come for the staff.

tag: p

text: In the present, five years after the Hong Kong battle, all Transformers are declared outlaws by all governments on Earth, and the Transformer Reaction Force (TRF) is formed from the fallen Cemetery Wind faction to kill them, despite more Transformers continuously arriving on Earth. All the while, enormous metallic horns begin to rise from different parts of the world. In a part of war-torn Chicago, a group of children find a ship with a knight inside before being caught by a TRF drone. Izabella, a survivor of the Battle of Chicago, saves the children along with her Transformers companions Sqweeks and Canopy. The drone mistakes Canopy for a Decepticon and kills him before Bumblebee and Cade Yeager, who is also being hunted by the TRF, arrive and rescue the others. Cade finds the knight in the ship, who attaches a metallic talisman to his arm. The Decepticon Barricade observes this act and reports the discovery to Megatron. After a brief standoff with the TRF, Cade and Bumblebee return to their junkyard in South Dakota where the remaining Autobots are taking refuge from the TRF; Izabella and Sqweeks stow away with them.

text: TRF member and former Autobot ally William Lennox brokers a deal between the TRF and Megatron so he can find Cade and recover the talisman. In exchange, Megatron demands the release of a squad of Decepticons; Nitro Zeus, Mohawk, Onslaught, and Dreadbot. Meanwhile, in deep space, Optimus Prime crash-lands on Cybertron, discovering that it is heading directly for Earth. He encounters Quintessa, the self-proclaimed creator of the Transformers, who brainwashes Optimus and renames him "Nemesis Prime". Quintessa tasks him with recovering the staff from the Knights, who had stolen it from her after betraying her. She then reveals that Earth is actually Cybertron's ancient enemy, Unicron, and she intends to drain its life force using the staff so that Cybertron can be restored.

text: Back on Earth, Megatron and the TRF locate Cade, his coworker Jimmy, Izabella, Sqweeks, and the Autobots thanks to a tracker that had been planted on Bumblebee during the standoff. This forces them to flee to a nearby abandoned town. In the ensuing battle, Dreadbot, Onslaught, Mohawk, and several TRF soldiers are killed, forcing Megatron, Nitro Zeus, and Barricade to retreat. While fighting off a unit of TRF drones, Cade is approached by Cogman, a Transformer envoy who takes him and Bumblebee to England to meet his master, Sir Edmund Burton. There, Burton arranges a meeting between Cade and Viviane Wembly, an Oxford professor, who had been kidnapped by the Autobot Hot Rod (who gains an alternate form along the way) under Burton's orders. Burton introduces himself as the last living member of the "Witwiccan" order, an ancient brotherhood dedicated to guarding the secret history of Transformers on Earth. He reveals that Cade's talisman indicates he is the Last Knight of Iacon and that Viviane is Merlin's last descendant, as well as revealing that Viviane must find and use his staff to prevent the impending destruction of Earth by Cybertron. MI6 and the TRF arrive at Burton's mansion, forcing the group to flee.

text: After escaping from MI6, the TRF, and Barricade, Cade, Viviane, Bumblebee, and Cogman follow clues left by Viviane's late father and take the museum submarine HMS Alliance (after Burton shuts the attraction down and reveals that the submarine itself is actually a Transformer) into the sea to find the Cybertronian Knights' sunken ship; the TRF pursue them with submarines of their own. Burton meets with the Prime Minister to dispatch the military to Stonehenge, which he deduces is Unicron's access point. In the ship, Cade and Viviane discover the tomb of Merlin and the staff. Viviane activates the staff, which causes the ship to rise towards the surface. The TRF confronts the group and attempts to take the staff from them, before Optimus intervenes and forces them to hand over the staff. Bumblebee chases after Optimus and the two Autobots fight each other at the top of the ship. Before Optimus can kill Bumblebee, the mute Autobot finally speaks, freeing Optimus from Quintessa's control. Suddenly, Megatron, revealed to be conspiring with Quintessa, arrives to steal the staff and flees while the Knights arrive and attack Optimus for his presumed betrayal. Cade stops the Knights with the talisman, which transforms into King Arthur's sword Excalibur. The Knights yield to Cade, and he urges Optimus to fight for Earth once more.

text: As Cybertron anchors itself to Earth, Megatron, Nitro Zeus, and Barricade deliver the staff to Quintessa, who begins draining the life force of Earth from Unicron. Burton and the British military intervene, and Megatron shoots Burton, who dies with Cogman by his side. The Autobots arrive to join the TRF, Cade, Viviane, Izabella, and Sqweeks. They land on Cybertron and battle the Decepticons and Quintessa's minions, the Infernocons. After Optimus kills the Infernocons, the Autobots reach the chamber where the staff and Quintessa are. Optimus defeats Megatron by kicking him through the chamber's wall, sending him flying to Earth, while Bumblebee kills Nitro Zeus. Together, Optimus and Bumblebee seemingly kill Quintessa. Viviane removes the staff, stopping Cybertron's destruction of Earth but leaving both worlds connected. Optimus declares that humans and Transformers must now work together to rebuild their worlds and sends a message calling any surviving Autobots to come home.

text: In a mid-credits scene, scientists inspect one of Unicron's horns in a desert. Quintessa, who survived and is now disguised as a human, arrives and offers them a way to destroy Unicron.

text: Cast[edit]

text: Humans[edit]

text:
Mark Wahlberg as Cade Yeager, a single father and inventor, who helped the Autobots during the events of Age of Extinction.
Josh Duhamel as William Lennox, a former NEST commander and U.S. Army Ranger captain, who partnered with the Autobots prior to the events of Age of Extinction, and now a U.S. Army Colonel and reluctant member of the Transformer Reaction Force (TRF).
Stanley Tucci as Merlin, King Arthur's wizard and Viviane's ancestor.[12] Tucci was originally reported to be reprising his role as Joshua Joyce from Age of Extinction.[13]
Anthony Hopkins as Sir Edmund Burton, 12th Earl of Folgan, an astronomer and historian who knows about the history of the Transformers on Earth.[14][15][16]
Laura Haddock as Viviane Wembly, a Professor of English Literature at the University of Oxford and a polo player, who turns out to be a descendant of Merlin.[17][18][19] Minti Gorne portrays a younger Viviane.
Isabela Moner as Izabella, a street-wise tomboy who was orphaned with Sqweeks and Canopy, her only friends, until meeting Cade.[20][21]
Jerrod Carmichael as Jimmy, a young man from South Dakota whom Cade hired through a want ad.[22]
Santiago Cabrera as Santos, a former Delta Force operative and commander of the TRF, who seeks to eradicate every Transformer and their human allies regardless of faction.[23][24][18][25]
John Turturro as Seymour Simmons, a former government agent with Sector Seven and NEST turned successful writer who hides out in Cuba, and was allied with the Autobots prior to the events of Age of Extinction.[26]
Glenn Morshower as General Morshower, the director of NEST in Revenge of the Fallen and Dark of the Moon who now supervises TRF operations.
Liam Garrigan as King Arthur, the legendary knight who first fought with the Knights of Iacon.[27]

text: Additionally, Mitch Pileggi,[28]Tony Hale, and Gil Birmingham appear as a TRF group leader, a JPL engineer, and Chief Sherman, respectively. Nicola Peltz has a vocal cameo as Tessa Yeager, Cade's daughter, who helped the Autobots during the events of Age of Extinction,[29] while Shia LeBeouf is seen as Sam Witwicky in a photograph spotted in Burton's mansion who allied with the Autobots in prior events of Age of Extinction.[30] Tyrese Gibson was cast to return as Robert Epps, but was unable to appear in the film due to scheduling conflicts with The Fate of the Furious.[31]

text: Transformers[edit]

text: Autobots[edit]

text:
Peter Cullen voices Optimus Prime, the leader of the Autobots, who transforms into a blue and red 2014 Western Star 5700 Custom semi-trailer truck while searching for the truth about his Creators.[32]
Erik Aadahl voices Bumblebee, an Autobot scout and Optimus Prime's second-in-command, who transforms into a custom-built yellow and black 2016 Chevrolet Camaro.[33][34]
Jim Carter voices Cogman, a polite sociopathic, human-sized he serves as the faithful butler to Sir Edmund Burton, and while despite not even having a larger robot mode, he transforms into an Aston Martin DB11 in the toyline.[35][36][37][38][39]
Omar Sy voices Hot Rod, an Autobot who transforms into a Citroën DS, before upgrading into a 2017 Lamborghini Centenario LP770-4. He is brother-in-arms with Bumblebee and speaks in a thick French accent.[40][35][41]
Ken Watanabe voices Drift, a Samurai-motif Autobot tactician and former Decepticon who transforms into a black and red 2017 Mercedes-AMG GT R.[42]
John Goodman voices Hound, a trigger-happy Autobot commando and field medic who transforms into an olive green Mercedes-Benz Unimog military tactical ambulance.[43]
John DiMaggio voices Crosshairs, a cocky Autobot paratrooper and sniper who transforms into a green and black 2016 Chevrolet Corvette C7 Stingray, equipped with a custom split-spoiler. His ego lends him a misplaced belief in his future command of the Autobots. [44]
Reno Wilson voices Sqweeks, a small Autobot and Izabella's closest friend who can't transform and only says "Chihuahua" due to prior damage.[45]
Tom Kenny voices Wheelie, a former Decepticon turned Autobot who survived the Chicago battle in Dark of the Moon, and transforms into a blue monster truck toy.
Steve Buscemi voices Daytrader, a Cybertronian scavenger who transforms into a cloaked rusty Mercedes-Benz LK Model 1920 dump truck.[46] He is held in disregard by the Autobots for being annoying despite his skill in finding good material.
Steven Barr voices Topspin, an Autobot Wrecker who resides in Cuba with Simmons that once transformed into a #48 Hendrick Motorsports Lowe's/Kobalt car. In the film he is credited as "Volleybot" and grew a metallic beard that resembles his fallen comrade, Leadfoot.
Mark Ryan voices "Bulldog", an Autobot veteran of World War I and World War II, and a sentry for Burton's castle, who transforms into an army Mark IV tank and suffers from 'robot dementia'.[47]

text: An uncredited actor voices Canopy, an Autobot refugee and a friend of Izabella who camouflages into a shielding pile of rubble.[48] Additionally, an elderly Autobot that transforms into a Hawker Hurricane fighter plane cameos at Burton's castle, whose voice actor is also uncredited. A Transformer who turns into the HMS Alliance appears, though not seen in robot mode. Trench, an Autobot who resembles the Constructicon Scrapper and transforms into an excavator, makes a cameo at Cade's junkyard.

text: Dinobots[edit]

text:
Grimlock, the leader of the Dinobots, who transforms into a mechanical horned, fire-breathing Tyrannosaurus.[18]
Slug, the savage Dinobot destroyer who transforms into a mechanical spiked and bestial Triceratops.[49]
Mini-Dinobots, the Mini versions of Grimlock, Slug, and Strafe.[50]

text: Decepticons[edit]

text:
Frank Welker voices Megatron, the reborn leader of the Decepticons, who possessed a KSI Drone in Age of Extinction and transforms into a Cybertronian jet.[51][52]
John DiMaggio voices Nitro Zeus, a Decepticon hunter who transforms into an JAS 39 Gripen Fighter Jet.[53]
Jess Harnell voices Barricade, a Decepticon scout who survived the Chicago War in Dark of the Moon. He transforms into a 2016 Ford Mustang police car, featuring a new robot mode.[54]
Reno Wilson voices Mohawk, a Decepticon foot soldier who transforms into a Confederate P51 Combat Fighter Motorcycle.[55]
Dreadbot, a Decepticon thug who transforms into a rusty Volkswagen Type 2.[56][57]

text: Uncredited actors both voice Onslaught, a Decepticon tactician who transforms into a green Western Star 4900SF tow truck,[58][53] and Berserker, a monstrous Decepticon commando who transforms into a Chevy Tahoe emergency vehicle,[53] each speaking only a single line. Starscream's severed head is shown being boasted by Daytrader, and later held by Megatron. In Sir Edmund Burton's castle, a picture of Shockwave is seen; both Shockwave and Soundwave are briefly mentioned by Viviane.

text: Others[edit]

text:
Gemma Chan as Quintessa, a Cybertronian Sorceress, the "Prime of Life" and the creator of Cybertronians who wants to destroy Unicron and rebuild Cybertron.[59]
Various uncredited actors voice the Knights of Iacon, a group of twelve Cybertronian Knights who protects the Staff and merge to form the three-headed dragon, Dragonstorm. They include Dragonicus, Stormreign, Steelbane, and Skullitron.[60]
Infernocons, Quintessa's demon-like guardians who combine to form Infernocus.[59]
Unicron, a giant planet-destroying Transformer who is mentioned at various points throughout the film; six of his mechanical horns are seen on Earth.

text: Production[edit]

text: Development[edit]

text: In March 2015, Deadline.com reported that Paramount Pictures was in talks with Oscar winner Akiva Goldsman (A Beautiful Mind) to pitch new ideas for the Transformers franchise's future installments. The studio intends to do what James Cameron and 20th Century Fox have been doing in planning three Avatar sequels, and what Disney has done to revive Star Wars, with sequels and spin-offs. Paramount wants to have their own cinematic universe for Transformers, similar to Marvel's/Disney's Marvel Cinematic Universe (which had been one of Paramount's previous film series), and DC Comics/Warner Bros.' DC Extended Universe. Goldsman is the head of the future projects, and worked with franchise director Michael Bay, executive producer Steven Spielberg, and producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura to organize a "writers' room" that incubates ideas for potential Transformers sequels, prequels and spin-offs. The writers' room members include: Christina Hodson, Lindsey Beer, Andrew Barrer, and Gabriel Ferrari (Ant-Man), Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead), Art Marcum & Matt Holloway, Zak Penn (Pacific Rim: Uprising), Jeff Pinkner (The Amazing Spider-Man 2), Ken Nolan, and Geneva Robertson-Dworet.[61] Kirkman left the room after just one day to undergo throat surgery.[62] In July 2015, Akiva Goldsman and Jeff Pinkner were announced as the fifth Transformers film's screenwriters.[63] However, on November 20, due to Goldsman's commitments creating a writers' room for G.I. Joe and Micronauts properties, Paramount began to negotiate with Art Marcum and Matt Holloway (Iron Man), as well as Ken Nolan (Black Hawk Down), to write the film. Lindsey Beer and Geneva Robertson-Dworet were also brought aboard for writing duties.[64]

text:
"I think I brought the concern to the movie studio and certainly to the writers. Perhaps...Transformers 5 and 6 movies will go back more to its roots. There was an occasion where one line [in Transformers: Age of Extinction] which Optimus Prime had, I did not want to say. It was my gut instinct and certainly my commitment to the character... not to say the line. But I was told to say. You can't fight the big boys. I think you all know what that line was."

 — Peter Cullen on a question from a fan on the future of the franchise from Sac-Anime 2015[65]

tag: div

text: After Transformers: Age of Extinction, Bay had decided not to direct any future Transformers films. But in early January 2016, in an interview with Rolling Stone, he stated that he would return to direct the fifth film, and that it will be his last Transformers film.[66] Paramount Pictures spent $80 million on production in Michigan, in return for $21 million in state incentives, under agreements entered into before the state legislature eliminated the film office incentive program in July 2015.[67] In April 2016, Paramount hired cinematographer Jonathan Sela.[68] On May 17, Bay revealed the official title of the film to be The Last Knight on his Instagram account, where he also posted a production video showing a close-up of Optimus Prime's face with purple eyes instead of blue, and his face mostly discolored.[69] The official Twitter account showed a 19-second short video in morse code that translates to "I'm coming for you May 31".[70] On May 31, it was revealed that Megatron would return in the sequel.[51]

text: Casting[edit]

text: In December 2014, Mark Wahlberg confirmed that he would return in the sequel.[71] In February 2016, there were casting calls for new lead and supporting roles in Los Angeles and London, and Peter Cullen was announced as returning to voice Optimus Prime.[72] Approximately 850 cast and crew were hired, 450 of whom were Michigan residents, equating to 228 full-time positions.[73] Additionally, 700 extras were hired from among Detroit residents, as part of Paramount's incentive deal with the state.[74] On April 13, TheWrap reported that Isabela Moner was in talks to star as Izabella.[20] The site also reported that Bay was eyeing Jean Dujardin, Stephen Merchant, and Jerrod Carmichael for supporting roles.[75][76] On May 17, 2016, it was confirmed that Josh Duhamel would reprise his role in the film, and Jerrod Carmichael was cast.[77][22] In June 2016, Anthony Hopkins, Mitch Pileggi, Santiago Cabrera, and Laura Haddock joined the cast, and Tyrese Gibson stated that he will return as Robert Epps.[78][79][28][17][14] In August 2016, Liam Garrigan was confirmed to play King Arthur, a different version from his role as the same character on the television series Once Upon a Time.[27] On September 4, 2016, Stanley Tucci confirmed his return.[13] On October 14, 2016, Bay announced that John Turturro would reprise his role as Seymour Simmons from the first three films, and that John Goodman would return to voice Hound.[26] A month before the film's release, Bay revealed that the character Cogman would be voiced by Downton Abbey actor Jim Carter, at the request of co-writer Matt Holloway, who is a fan of the series.[37] On June 9, 2017, Reno Wilson confirmed via Twitter that he would have a voice role in the film.[80] On June 16, 2017, Gibson revealed that despite closing a deal for the film, he was unable to appear as Epps due to scheduling conflicts with The Fate of the Furious.[31]

text: Filming[edit]

text: Principal photography began on May 25, 2016, in Havana, Cuba, with a few scenes shot by a "small team".[81][82][83] Filming continued on June 6, 2016, in Phoenix, Arizona, and on June 19, 2016, in Detroit, Michigan, under the working title E75,[72][73][84] with additional filming taking place in Chicago, Illinois.[85] In Detroit, filming took place in the Michigan Motion Pictures Studio, Packard Plant, Michigan Central Station, Cafe D'Mongo's Speakeasy, and MGM Grand Detroit.[86] Production moved to Europe on August 21, and filming commenced on August 22 in Scotland and Wales. In England, filming took place in North Yorkshire, Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland, London, Gosport and Stonehenge. Between August and October, filming occurred in Ireland, and Preikestolen, Trolltunga and Atlanterhavsveien in Norway.[87][88][89]

text: In early September 2016, filming took place in Alnwick Castle in Alnwick Northumberland in England, including car chase scenes.[90] Production continued at St Aidan's Church, Seahouses, where Walhberg spent an hour inside the church and reportedly donated £200. Rev Father Des McGiven said: "I didn't even know he was in church until he left. One of my parishioners, Danielle Love, recognised him and explained who he was. It's great that we had him in for the service, and we appreciate his generosity towards our church." Car chases were also filmed at the monument area of Newcastle upon Tyne, where Josh Duhamel was filming, while Wahlberg and Sir Anthony Hopkins continued at Alnwick, Seahouses and the Bamburgh Region of Northumberland.[91] In late September 2016, filming was spotted in Gosport, Hampshire at the Royal Navy Submarine Museum. On October 5, 2016 filming was spotted at St Bartholomew-the-Great, London. London filming wrapped on October 27, 2016.[92] Principal photography wrapped on December 4, 2016.[93]

text: Effects[edit]

text: As with previous Transformers installments, Industrial Light & Magic served as the main visual effects company for Transformers: The Last Knight. In early 2016, the company showed Bay an underwater rendering of a crash-landed alien spaceship and a new dump-truck Transformer with a cloak.[66]

text: Music[edit]

text: On September 27, it was confirmed that Steve Jablonsky would return to write the score, having composed the music for the first four films. The score was released digitally on the film's original release date, Friday June 23, 2017, and a limited-edition two-disc CD set of 3,000 units will be released by La-La Land Records on July 11, 2017. Unlike the previous films' scores, which contained anywhere from fourteen to twenty-three tracks, the film's soundtrack contains thirty-four tracks, amounting to over two hours of music.

text: On the score, Jablonsky said, "I met with Michael before he started shooting 'Transformers: The Last Knight.' He showed me some amazing concept art and explained how the story connects the history of Transformers all the way back to the times of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. I loved the idea because it gave me the opportunity to explore new musical ideas. The storyline allowed me to write melodies that are a bit more 'classical' than I've written for the other Transformers films, which was a lot of fun for me. Another important aspect of the story revolves around massive skyscraper-sized 'horns from hell' that start emerging from the Earth. They look like gigantic animal horns, but no one knows what they are or why they have appeared. I wanted to create an unsettling sense of mystery and tension with the music."The film also featured the song Torches by X Ambassadors. [94]

text: Release[edit]

text: Transformers: The Last Knight was released on June 21, 2017, after being moved up from its original June 23 release date.[95][96][97] The teaser trailer of the film was released on December 5, 2016, and was later attached to Rogue One.[98]

text: Marketing[edit]

text: The first teaser trailer aired on Monday, December 5, during ESPN's Monday Night Football, and was released online shortly thereafter. With 24 hours of its release, the trailer garnered a record-breaking 93.6 million views from social media platforms, such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram, making it the third-highest-viewed trailer of 2016, falling behind Disney's Beauty and the Beast remake (127.6 million views) and Universal's Fifty Shades Darker (114 million views in 24 hours), but surpassing Marvel Studios' Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 trailer, which scored 81 million views in its first 24 hours online.[99] Following the trailer's release, the film trended on all major social media sites, including YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit. It was Weibo's No. 1 trending topic in China, where the preview was viewed 16 million times its first day of release.[100] Television spots for the film started airing ahead of the Super Bowl spot on February 3, 2017. An extended TV spot for the Super Bowl aired during Super Bowl LI, on February 5, 2017.[101] On March 11, 2017, a new TV spot and clip were shown at Nickelodeon's 2017 Kids' Choice Awards. A new trailer aired with the release of Beauty and the Beast on March 17, 2017, while the third trailer was released on April 13, 2017.[102] The international trailer was released on May 17th, 2017, and a smaller trailer was released shortly after, on June 4, 2017. After that, various TV spots were released.

text: Home media[edit]

text: Transformers: The Last Knight was released on Digital HD on September 12, 2017, and on Blu-ray, Blu-ray 4K, Blu-ray 3D and DVD on September 26, 2017 in the United States. It was also released in a collection with the four previous films.

text: Reception[edit]

text: Box office[edit]

text: Transformers: The Last Knight grossed $130.2 million in the United States and Canada and $475.3 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $605.4 million, against a production budget of $217 million.[9] It is the lowest grossing film of the Transformers film series.

text: In North America, The Last Knight was originally projected to gross $70–75 million from 4,069 theaters over its first five days, which would have been the lowest debut of the franchise.[103] However, after the film grossed a franchise-low $15.7 million on its first day (including $5.5 million from Tuesday night previews), opening estimates were lowered to $60–65 million. On Thursday, it grossed $8.1 million, potentially dropping the five-day debut to under $60 million.[104] It ended up having an opening weekend of $44.6 million, the lowest debut of the franchise by $25 million (and lowest since the first film's $70.5 million). The film's five-day gross of $68.4 million was also lower than every three-day opening of the previous four films.[105] The film grossed $16.9 million in its second weekend, dropping 62.2% and finishing third at the box office,[106] and $6.4 million in its third, dropping an identical 62.2% and finishing 5th.[107] The film closed from theatres on August 24, 2017 with only $130 million domestic, failing to recoup it's $217 million budget, thus making it the lowest grossing domestic film of the Transformers film series.

text: Internationally, The Last Knight opened in its first 42 foreign territories alongside its United States debut, including major markets China, the UK, Russia, Australia, Germany, Italy, South Korea and Hong Kong, and was projected to have an opening of $167–200 million.[5][6] Due to its predecessor's success in China, expectations were high for the film in the country. Box office observers and trackers believed the film would open to $80–100 million,[6] and end its run there with anywhere between $290[108] to $400 million.[109] The film ended up having a global debut of $265.3 million ($196.2 million from overseas), including $123.4 million from China, representing 63% of the film's foreign opening. In the film's second week in China, it fell 76% and had a running cume of $147.6 million.[110] As of August 6, 2017[update], the film's largest markets outside North America are: China ($228.84 million), South Korea ($19.24 million), Russia ($15.89 million), Germany ($15.42 million), Mexico ($15.33 million), U.K. ($12.19 million), Brazil ($13.70 million), Indonesia ($11.71 million), Japan ($15.69 million) and France ($10.99 million). In India, the film was given an adult certificate and, hence, it was not successful at the Indian box office (4.87 million) as compared to Age of Extinction (10.23 million) and other Transformers movies (3.01 million TF1, 2.80 million ROTF, 6.88 million DOTM).[111]

text: Critical response[edit]

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 15% based on 201 reviews, with an average rating of 3.3/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Cacophonous, thinly plotted, and boasting state-of-the-art special effects, The Last Knight is pretty much what you'd expect from the fifth installment of the Transformers franchise."[112] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 28 out of 100 based on 46 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[113] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.[105]

text: Mike Ryan of Uproxx gave the film a negative review, criticizing its running time and incoherent plot, writing: "I have no proof Transformers: The Last Knight will kill your brain cells, but I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that it does and I’d proceed with caution just in case. But I can say with absolute certainty that after watching, your head will hurt."[114] Alonso Duralde of TheWrap was also critical of the film's sloppiness, saying, "...fear not, fans of the franchise: if you’re here for the director’s trademark chaos editing (where fights go from points A to D to Q), toxic masculinity (and female objectification), comedy scenes rendered tragic (and vice versa), and general full-volume confusion, you’ll get all those things in abundance."[115]

text: Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave a rare zero-star review to the film (as he did to the previous films), saying "Every time Michael Bay directs another Transformers abomination (this is the fifth), the movies die a little. This one makes the summer's other blockbuster misfires look like masterpieces."[116]

text: Variety gave the film a lukewarm review stating, "The fifth time may not quite be the charm, but the latest entry in Michael Bay's crunched-metal robot-war mega-series is badder, and therefore better."[117]

text: The New Yorker acknowledged the film's flaws but noted there was almost something impressive about them, saying: "The absolute tastelessness of Bay’s images, their stultifying service to platitudes and to merchandise, doesn’t at all diminish their wildly imaginative power."[118]Times Of India gave the movie 2.5 stars out of 5 stars.[119]

text: Controversy[edit]

text: On September 21, 2016, shooting for a particular scene took place in Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxfordshire in England, the home of Sir Winston Churchill, the British Prime Minister during World War II. The mansion was dressed as a Nazi swastika-draped headquarters for Adolf Hitler for filming. This evoked both anger and criticism for being "symbolically disrespectful to Churchill", according to Colonel Richard Kemp, who said Churchill "will be turning in his grave",[120] while Tony Hayes of the UK Veterans Association stated that surviving World War II ex-servicemen and women would be "appalled".[121] Churchill's grandson and British Parliament member Sir Nicholas Soames dismissed the controversy entirely, stating, "They’ve no idea what my grandfather would have thought!"[122] Churchill was buried less than a mile away, at St Martin's Church, Bladon.[123]

text: Sequel and spin-off[edit]

text: A spin-off/prequel, entitled Bumblebee: The Movie which stars Hailee Steinfeld and John Cena is set for release on December 21, 2018. The movie's working title is 'Brighton Falls' and will wrap up shooting in November 2017, while a direct sequel to The Last Knight, the yet-to-be-titled Transformers 6 is scheduled to be released on June 28, 2019.[95][124][11]