Roman Conquest of Britain

I

Introduction

Roman Conquest of Britain, invasion and eventual conquest of Iron Age Britain by the Romans, which began in the mid-1st century bc and was largely complete by the mid-1st century ad. Through the Roman conquest, the native Celtic population was subjugated and Britain became part of the Roman Empire; the country under Roman rule is known as Roman Britain.

II

First Contacts

The first surviving account of contacts between Britain and the Continent is the narrative by Julius Caesar of his military expeditions to Britain in 55 bc and again in 54 bc. These took place against the backdrop of the conquest of Gaul and a primary military aim was to prevent the Britons from making common cause with the Gauls, possibly to establish a Roman protectorate on the near part of the island.

Caesar's inability to locate a safe anchorage for his ships and failure to anticipate high tides (resulting in serious damage to his fleets on each occasion) emphasizes the limitation of Roman knowledge at this time. Caesar was also surprised that the Britons used chariots in fighting and that they dyed their bodies with woad. However, he was able to obtain intelligence from Gauls who had contacts with Britain; among them was King Commius of the Atrebates, who would later found a dynasty in what is now Sussex and Hampshire. His Gaulish sources, for example, told him that the priestly caste known as the Druids had originated in Britain and been taken from thence to Gaul. Caesar was able to add his own observations and his account sheds light on a quarrelsome tribal society. Mandubracius, a ruler of the Trinovantes, whose kingdom lay north of the Thames in what is now Essex, fled to Caesar as a result of an attack by Cassivellaunus, who seems to have been the most powerful ruler in Britain at this time. It is not certain whether he belonged to another faction in the same tribe or whether he was ruler of the neighbouring people in the Hertfordshire region, the Catuvellauni. One result of Caesar's invasion was to re-establish Mandubracius, but more long lasting were the treaty relationships which Caesar was able to impose, the annual tribute he demanded, presumably the opening up of Britain to Roman traders.

During the century after Caesar occasional mentions of Britain in Roman sources suggest diplomatic activity and even half-hearted thoughts of conquest. These can be supplemented by the evidence of native tribal coinages often inscribed with the names of kings. Distinctive issues include those of the Dobunni (Gloucestershire), Durotriges (Dorset), Iceni (East Anglia), and Corieltauvi (Leicestershire, Lincolnshire). The most important, however, are those of the Catuvellauni and Trinovantes north of the Thames where Tasciovanus and Cunobelinus (Shakespeare's Cymbeline) struck coins both at Verulamium (St Albans, Hertfordshire) and Camulodunum (Colchester, Essex). To the south of the Thames sons of Commius ruled the Atrebates: Tincommius, Eppillus (a few of whose issues carry the name of Calleva, the native settlement [oppidum] underlying Roman Silchester), and Verica, whose main mint may have been at Selsey in West Sussex. This money was struck in gold, silver, and bronze. The use of Latin names on coinage shows advances towards a monetary economy, while the range of themes, including portraits derived from those of Augustus and Tiberius, Roman deities, lions and sphinxes, illustrates increasing cultural influences. These can also be seen in imports of wine amphorae, of silver and bronze vessels, and of other objects which have been excavated in the tombs of chieftains at Camulodunum as well as at Welwyn (Hertfordshire) and Aylesford (Kent).

III

Conquest and Rebellion

The reasons behind the invasion of the emperor Claudius I in ad 43 are complex. King Verica seems to have been driven from his kingdom by Caratacus and Togodumnus, two sons of Cunobelin, and had fled to Rome. This event provided a casus belli (justification for war) for the whole of south-eastern Britain was now under a single rule which, if hostile to Roman interests, might cause local trouble in northern Gaul. More important for Rome was Britain's natural resources such as slaves and skins, and especially metals: tin, lead, and silver in particular. The key reason, however, was Claudius's personal need for military prestige. He had become emperor only in ad 40, as the result of a coup which led to the death of his nephew Caligula. He had been discovered hiding behind curtains in the palace by members of the Praetorian Guard who gave the throne to this most unmilitary of rulers. If he were to establish himself as a strong ruler, Britain recommended itself, as it could be suggested that the conquest of the island had been part of the uncompleted programme of Caesar and Augustus.

Aulus Plautius, a trusted ex-consul and governor of Pannonia in the region of modern Austria, Hungary, and the north of former Yugoslavia, was put in charge of the expeditionary force. The legions crossed from Boulogne in late spring and established a base at Richborough, Kent, from which they fought their way north to the Thames; Togodumnus was killed in a skirmish but Caratacus fought on. Plautius followed instructions, sending for Claudius, who arrived around the beginning of September and was able to stage an entry to the enemy capital, Camulodunum. On his return the Senate voted him a triumphal arch “because he was the first to bring barbarian peoples across the ocean under the sway of the Roman people”. Colchester became a legionary fortress for the 20th Legion. The tombstone of one of its officers, the centurion Marcus Favonius Facilis, is in Colchester Museum. The other legions fanned out over lowland Britain: the 2nd advanced westwards along the south coast under the command of Vespasian (one day to be emperor), establishing a base in the client kingdom of the Regni at Fishbourne, near Chichester, but ultimately making Exeter its main fortress. The 14th Legion aimed north-west along the line of Watling Street to the point where it touches the Fosse Way at High Cross, near Leicester. The 9th Legion proceeded north to the area of Lincoln, although its early fortress was at Longthorpe, near Peterborough, leaving the lands of the Iceni in East Anglia as another client kingdom.

When Aulus Plautius's term of office ended in ad 47, superficially over half the conquest had been completed but it was to be almost a century before the north and west of Britain were under effective military control and a regular system of towns had been established in the south allowing the establishment of civilian self-government. Ostorius Scapula, the second governor of Britain, made considerable advances in eastern Wales and was able to secure the capture of Caratacus in ad 51. Caratacus was displayed in Claudius's triumph but his dignified bearing made a great impression on the Romans and his life was spared. Another event of his period of office was a revolt among the Iceni, who objected to being disarmed under the provisions of the Lex Iulia de vi publica (which forbade civilians to carry arms). This presaged the great Boudiccan revolt ten years later. By this time the governor was Suetonius Paullinus (ad 58-61), a specialist in mountain warfare who was campaigning in north Wales by taking Anglesey, when the Iceni and Trinovantes rose under the leadership of a warrior-queen Boudicca.

The rebels stormed the colonia, a settlement for retired legionaries which had replaced the fortress at Colchester, as well as the settlement established by merchants at the bridgehead across the Thames in London. Their wrath was, however, directed as much at those Britons whom they regarded as collaborators; Verulamium, the capital of the Catuvellauni, which had been given the high status of a self-governing town (municipium) was likewise burnt to the ground. Although Suetonius Paullinus took some time to confront and defeat Boudicca, the revolt does not seem to have spread south of the Thames, partly thanks to the client king of the Regni, Tiberius Claudius Cogidubnus (or, more probably, Togidubnus), who, in the words of Tacitus, “remained loyal down to our own time” and is called on an inscription at his capital, Chichester, “Great King of Britain”.

IV

The Romanization of Britain

That this was the last challenge to Roman rule was due more to a wise policy of reconciliation than to repression. The chief finance officer (procurator) of Britain in ad 61, Caius Julius Classicianus, a man of Gaulish origin married to the daughter of a leading pro-Roman chieftain from Trier, sent confidential reports to the emperor Nero which resulted in the recall of Paullinus. Later governors—even successful soldiers like Quintus Petillius Cerialis (ad 71-74), who campaigned in Yorkshire, and Sextus Julius Frontinus (ad 74-78), who completed the conquest of Wales—are likely to have been involved in the Romanization of Britain, especially the establishment of towns, and Froninus himself was later to be a successful curator of aqueducts in Rome and the author of a surviving treatise on the subject. Thanks to the encomium written by his son-in-law, the historian Tacitus, we know more about Gnaeus Julius Agricola (78-84), who not only advanced Roman arms into Scotland but is also credited with encouraging education for the upper classes, the use of the Latin language, the construction of temples, forums, and town-houses as well as the baths and banquets which were considered essential to a civilized Roman, though the tough moralist Tacitus affects to describe these as features of enslavement. Part of the dedicatory inscription of the town hall of Verulamium, which can be dated to ad 79, has survived.

By the end of the 1st century, the military establishment of Britain had assumed a form which was to be maintained for two centuries. There were three legions, the 2nd Augusta at Caerleon; the 20th at Chester; and the 9th at York (replaced in the reign of Hadrian by the 6th). There were smaller auxiliary forts scattered through Wales, the Pennines, and along a line between the Solway and Tyne rivers with outposts into southern Scotland. The position was consolidated by the Emperor Hadrian, who visited Britain in ad 122 and, with his friend, the new governor Aulus Platorius Nepos, ordered the building of a frontier wall 80 Roman miles long running between the Tyne and Solway (seeHadrian's Wall). It was to be furnished with small forts every Roman mile and between any two milecastles a pair of turrets. This impressive frontier line, intended partly as a symbol of the divide between Graeco-Roman civilization and the outer darkness of the barbarian, was nevertheless of great practical use as a barrier. Hadrian's successor Antoninus Pius also took an interest in Britain. His governor Quintus Lollius Urbicus conducted campaigns in southern Scotland and, after the victory celebrated on coins struck in 143, he moved the frontier line south to the Forth-Clyde isthmus, perhaps to save manpower for the Antonine Wall which was not only less elaborate but was only half the length of Hadrian's Wall. In the event it was never completely satisfactory and was given up 20 years later by Marcus Aurelius.

Hadrian's sojourn in Britain seems to have added considerable impetus to urban life. During his reign a vast new basilica, perhaps modelled on the Basilica Ulpia in Rome, was constructed in London. Other towns were similarly endowed, notably Wroxeter, the capital of the Cornovii, where the dedicatory inscription dated ad 130 survives. The cities of the 2nd century had other public buildings such as baths (best preserved at Wroxeter and Leicester), amphitheatres (such as that to be seen outside Silchester), and theatres (like that at Verulamium). In addition private houses were built by wealthy citizens who had them embellished with wall paintings and mosaics (examples of which are preserved in Verulamium, Cirencester, and Leicester museums). By the end of the century, walls and gates were being provided as symbols of prestige as much as for defence.

In fact Britain was not immune from the problems of the Roman Empire in general. At the end of the 2nd century, the emperor Commodus was murdered (ad 193) and in the resulting power vacuum various provincial armies put forward their own nominees for the throne. The British legions had their governor Clodius Albinus made emperor, though ultimately he was defeated at the battle of Lyons in 197 by Septimius Severus, the nominee of the Pannonian legions. Severus seems to have taken considerable interest in Britain; perhaps in order to prevent future concentrations of troops which could threaten the security of the government, he divided Britain into two provinces. There was also an external threat to Britain from beyond the northern frontier and in 208 he decided that a campaign in Scotland would be useful training for his sons Caracalla and Geta. His base was York, where he raised the civilian settlement south of the River Ouse to the status of colonia, and it was in the palace here that he died in 211.