Background AD43-61
AD 41-54
Claudius
Aulus Plautius
Aulus Plautius left much of lowland
Britain mostly 'conquered' and under imperial control when he went to receive his
honours, an ovation, in Rome. He was replaced by a new governor brought in in
AD47, Publius Ostorius Scapula - a tough military man. It seems likely that the initial
cause of the rebelliousness and later revolt of the Iceni may have been due to
this man in
some part: the disarming of the Iceni and other tribes - this was a political misjudgement.
However, after Claudius'
invasion, when the whole of the army had marched on Colchester, the
real conquest began. Rome had its client states in East Anglia
(Prasutagus of the Iceni,) and in Hampshire/Sussex (Verica &
Cogidubnus controlling Atrebates/Regni/Belgae) and so felt secure on
these fronts and able to push away from Camulodunum by
sending the Legions out to the furthermost limits of control.
Legio XX remained in Colchester, Legio IX pushed
north and established a base in Lincoln (in the centre of the Iceni
it must be said), Legio XIV went northwest into the Midlands
and Legio II went west under Vespasian (well documented for
his 30 battles and 20 conquered hill forts) and after hard fighting,
subduing the Durotriges and Dumnonii, eventually established his
legionary headquarters in Exeter. [Richborough port was established
at this time as a supply base.] The next task was to conquer Wales...
Ostorius Scapula
The Iceni had willingly acceded
to Roman rule but Ostorius, Plautius' replacement in AD48, found all
was not well on the frontier; Caratacus, Cunobelin's anti-Roman son
had fled to the west. Intent on stamping out resistance as he
conquered further north and west, past the unofficial boundary of
the province left by Plautius as defined by the rivers Trent and
Severn, Ostorius disarmed the Iceni and Trinovantes. He didn't want
a mass of armed, perhaps untrustworthy, tribes of behind him. They
rebelled but were put down by Ostorius.
As the Romans advanced so they
built roads for supplies and reinforcements, it was a slow business. Under Ostorius' rule the pugnacious Caratacus had
been rebel-rousing and causing lots of trouble for the Legions first
in Wales, where he lost his wife and children, and then the
northwest. Eventually seeking sanctuary in Brigantes' land he was handed over by
a (threatened) pro-Roman
Queen Cartimandua of the Brigantes; Ostorius Scapula returned with his
prize to Rome; he had done a lot for the empire and died, worn out
by guerrilla struggle, in AD52. Ostorius' control was good and he
accomplished many things during his tenure including the creation of
Camulodunum as a Colonia with veterans and Verulamium as a
Municipum of Latin citizens, London was just a Vicus at
that time.
AD 54-68 Nero
Aulus Gallus
Aulus Didius Gallus, his
replacement, was an
impressive soldier and former consul with many campaigns behind him but he had
troubles to face in Britannia too - with the confederation of the
Brigantes and Venutius (husband of Cartimandua). The conquest
advance stalled and Gallus' consolidated his position strengthening
the forts and quelling Wales and building a fort a Wroxeter where
Legio XIV arrived. Around AD54 Claudius died under
suspicious circumstances and Nero became Emperor. Nero had little
interest in Britain but nevertheless appointed a new governors to
Britannia, Q.
Veranius in AD57 then C.
Seutonius Paullinus in AD58 determined to conquer Wales.
Seutonius Paullinus
There had been fighting on the
Welsh border for a decade or more against the tribes of the
Ordovices and Silures in AD58; he subdued them finally turning his
attention to Anglesey and the Decangli in AD59. Anglesey was
breadbasket to some tribes, rich in copper and a haven for all
Druids and Romans didn't like them or their rituals. Seutonius
forces crossed the Menai Strait and fought the Druids et al .
The Romans wiped out all of them including the "funereal clad women
with blazing torches" and a fort
was built. Just at this time news arrived of the Boudiccan revolt.
Read
Tacitus' account
of Boudiccan revolt
Read Cassius Dio's
on Boudiccan revolt
Boudicca
As mentioned above, the disarming
of the tribes was one cause of simmering discontent compounded by many other things.
While the Legions had been away securing the north and west
Camulodunum had been founded as a Colonia and settled with
veterans from Legio XX. These men had been given, or more
likely appropriated, the best Trinovante and Iceni farmland for
themselves and their families. Their treatment of the locals, whom
they had conquered, were treated worse than slaves and exploited,
humiliated, oppressed. These things, and more, eventually exploded in AD60 with the Boudiccan
revolt. It was
Presutagus' death that precipitated the revolt...
He had been king of the Iceni and
husband to Boudicca and bequeathed half of his estate to his wife
and half to Nero - it was a big mistake for he had not done it
correctly. He thought to preserve the
monarchy for his family but with his death, in Roman eyes, died his
'treaty' with Rome and, of course, Rome did not like kings! Officials came to seize his property but
Boudicca, his widow, resisted and was flogged; her daughters were raped - and so
it began - Britannia almost lost to Rome. Nero had been worried
about Britannia but on hearing the news of the rebellion he was
horrified, he was on the verge of deciding to pull out altogether.
Someone had made a big mistake.
The Legions were dispersed across the land - Legio II in
Exeter, Legio IX in Lincoln and XX and XIV with
Paulinus in Anglesey. Camulodunum was undefended, there was no fort
there, no garrison, no discipline, the veterans were deemed all that
was necessary. All the building effort had gone into civic buildings
especially the huge temple dedicated to the deified Claudius, a real
anathema to the Trinovantes who saw it as a 'citadel of tyranny' to
quote an documentary source. Boudicca seized her opportunity.
Colchester was taken by hordes of angry tribesmen, half-timbered
houses went up in flames, the temple was the last refuge for the
Roman citizens and veterans, they were wiped out. Legate
Petillius Cerealis , legate of Legio IX up in Lincoln
received news of the rebellion but as he rushed to aid Colchester
ran into an ambuscade and lost a vexillation of maybe 2000 men, he
retreated.
Paullinus, fighting in Anglesey,
wasted no time in starting the 250 mile/2 week journey back to
save the southeast. He had Legio XX and XIV and headed
for London. Legio II was called from Exeter but their
temporary leader, Poenius Postumus, refused to come to their aid.
Short of this legion Paullinus realised that he did not have enough
men to defend London when he arrived and abandoned the trading town
to its fate. Boudicca charged with success and blood-lust fell on
London and Verulamium. It was slaughter, it's said,
70,000 dead soldiers and allies were lost. Paullinus however, was a
shrewd leader and chose a site for a last stand which he chose. It
was somewhere near Coventry we assume. His men lined up against a
masse of Britons and was perhaps outnumbered 20:1. The Britons
assumed they would win and even brought their animals, wagons and
families to the battlefield to spectate. Roman discipline and
armament won the day - 80,000 plus dead Britons were killed.
In the subsequent weeks and
months reinforcements arrived from Germany and the whole of the
rebel areas were destroyed, razed to the ground. The coward Postumus
fell on his sword, Boudicca resorted to poison. The Roman grip on
the province tightened and they built more forts but now there were
serious consequences for the Britons. The Iceni and Trinovantes had
not sown crops in AD60 and 80,000+ breadwinners were lost to the
tribes.
A new Procurator, C. Julius
Classicianus was appointed to London after his predecessor Catus
fled to Gaul. Classicianus was to be a great man with a different
attitude to Britannia for he was a provincial from Germany. He had
no fear of Paullinus who was recalled to Rome on some pretext and
replaced by P. Turpilianus as new governor of Britannia in the
latter part of AD61.
See if you can trace the
Romans Roads in your area.
The
nearest stretch of Roman Road to me, living in Herne, is that which
runs from Sturry/Fordwich through Hoath to Hillborough and on to
Reculver. This road presumably carried traffic from the old Roman
fort of Regulbium (Reculver) to Canterbury (Durovernum).
Click East Kent map left, for Roman roads.
What were
the roads made of, when were they built and why?
Roman roads were built for moving men and
supplies around the empire. From the bridgehead at Richborough the
first
road was built to Canterbury, from Canterbury to Rochester, to
London, then St. Albans and then on to Colchester. In east Kent
additional roads were built from Canterbury to Reculver, to Lympne
and later to Dover.
Roman roads very often followed ancient
trackways and local boundaries but sometimes ignored things
like barrows. In the 1st century the Romans built 10,000 miles of
road. Engineers took 3 or 4 days to build one mile of road. Forts
were built at strategic points along the route as the area was
quelled consolidated.
The tribes of Kent were pro-Roman
so road building must have gone on at a pace without too much
hindrance. After
roads were constructed milestones were laid down. Distances were
measured in Roman miles. (milia passum m.p.) The roads helped
the Romans to calculate land areas and hence, taxes. A list of roads
was created by Antonine, Itinerarium Antonini Augusti, in
the 2nd or 3rd century.
Simply a road was constructed in
the following manner.
A ditch was dug on either
side of the proposed road.
Boulders were and the
spoil from the ditches was piled on the road.
This built up layer was
called the agger.
Next the edges of the
ditches would be lined with kerbstones.
Flat stones were now laid
for the road surface.
Lastly an infill of gravel
was used to level the surface.
There are alternate versions
depending on the available materials...
This
from:
http://www.dl.ket.org/latin3/mores/techno/roads/construction.htm#top
"The field engineer, assisted
by a stake man aligned the road with a groma and ran levels with
chorobates. A plough
was used to loosen the soil and mark the trench (fossa) margins.
Workmen dug trenches for a roadbed with a depth of 6 to 9 feet.
The
earth bed was tamped
firm. The foundation of lime mortar or sand was laid to form a
level base (pavimentum). Next came stones of about 4 to 5 in. in
diameter, cemented together with mortar or clay (statument).
This layer could be anywhere from 10 inches to 2 feet deep.
The next course (rudus) was 9
to 12 inches of concrete filled with shards of pottery or stone.
Atop this layer was the nucleus, a concrete made of gravel or
sand and lime, poured in layers with each layer compacted with a
roller. This layer was one foot at the sides and 18" at the
crown of the road. The camber was to allow good drainage.
The top course was the summum
dorsum, polygonal blocks of stone that were 6 inches or more
thick and carefully fitted atop the still moist concrete. When a
road bed became overly worn, this top course was removed, the
stones turned over and replaced. A road was 9 to 12 feet wide
which allowed 2 chariots to pass in each direction . Sometimes
the road was edged with a high stone walkway. Milestones
indicated the distance. A cart, fitted with a hodometer was used
to measure distances. Later maps detailed routes, miles towns,
inns, mountains and rivers. The first roads were quite straight
going over hills rather than around them."
* groma = device with 4
plumb lines for creating straight lines across the landscape
as seen in "What the Romans did for us - Adam Hart-Davis."
* hodometer device for measuring distances as described by
Vitruvius.
as seen in "What the Romans did for us - Adam Hart-Davis."
* chorobate = early form of spirit level
Or this: http://www.unrv.com/culture/roman-road-construction.php
"First the two parallel
trenches were built on either side of the planned road, with the
resulting earthworks, stone, etc., being dumped and built up in
the space between the two ditches. The Agger, as this was
called, could be up to 6 ft. (1.8 m) high and 50 ft. (15 m)
wide. Alternatively it could be very slight or almost
non-existent as was the case with most minor roads.
Next, the diggers would make
a shallow 8 to 10 foot wide depression down the length of the
agger, and line the edges with kerb stones to hold the entire
construction in place. The bottom of this depression would then
be lined with a series of stone fillers. 6 to 8 inch stones
would form the foundation layer, with fist sized stones placed
on top. In early roads the remaining gap would then be filled in
with course sand to fill between the stones and to cover them by
approximately 1 ft. Later roads may have used Roman volcanic
concrete to mix the entire mixture together making the whole
structure more solid. The road surface was then laid down using
large, tight fitting, flat stones that could be found and
transported locally. These larger surface stones would be cut to
fit when possible to make the surface as smooth and seamless as
possible.
Bridle paths were then dug
and smoothed, leaving the earth unpaved for horse travel. The
roads were built for infantry, and it was easier on horse hooves
to walk alongside the stone roads. Though the Romans did use
horseshoes, they were tied on to the hooves, not nailed, making
them unstable. Additionally, during the construction, forests
and obstacles on either side of the road could be cleared to a
considerable distance to guard against ambush attempts."
