The Ancient History of Roman Britain

Hello and welcome to World History Encyclopedia. My name is Kelly and today's video is all about the contact between the Roman Empire and Britain between 43 and 410 CE. Don't forget the easiest way to support us is by giving this video a thumbs up, subscribing to our channel and hitting that bell icon for notifications so you don't miss out on any new uploads. World History Encyclopedia is a non-profit organization and you can find us on Patreon, a brilliant site where you can support our work and receive exclusive benefits in return. Your support helps us create videos twice a week, so make sure to check it out via the pop-up in the top corner of the screen or via the Patreon link down below. Britain was known to the Romans as early as the 4th century BCE through stories told by Phoenician and Greek sailors who traded there for tin but had no direct contact until Julius Caesar crossed the channel and landed there in 55 BCE. He was not equipped for any full-scale engagement though and his ships had been damaged in a storm, so he withdrew returning in 54 BCE when he was able to establish diplomatic relations with the leaders of some of the tribes. He left without building any fortifications or assigning a garrison to the region and although later Roman leaders like Augustus Caesar were aware of Britain, none of the plans to bring it directly under Roman control panned out until the reign of Claudius in 43 CE. The contacts Julius Caesar had established tied certain tribes like the Catevillani and Atravartis to Rome who supported them in return for trading rights. Rome was not really interested in how the Britons governed themselves but maintained a balance of power between the tribes to ensure stable trade relations. In the early 40s, Verica, the king of the Atravartis, was defeated by Caratacus, king of the Catevillani and had to flee Britain. The emperor Caligula mounted an invasion force to reinstate Verica but never launched it and so it fell to his successor Claudius who most likely used Verica as an excuse for a full-scale invasion headed by the general and senator Aulus Plautius. The Roman legions landed in southern Britain, possibly near modern-day Kent, and met the Catevillani at the Battle of Medway, defeating them decisively. Roman generals including the future emperor Vespasian then led their various legions on campaigns of conquest subduing other tribes. Claudius was succeeded by Nero who continued his policies in Britain. Some tribes that had resisted Roman domination were by this time cooperating with Roman officials including the Iceni led by their king Prasatagus. When Prasatagus died in 60 or 61, his will divided his kingdom between his daughters and emperor Nero. The Romans were not interested in half a kingdom though and demanded it all. When Prasatagus's wife Boudicca objected, she was flogged, her daughters raped and the whole kingdom taken. The Romans seemed to have thought that was the end of the matter but Boudicca rallied her people and neighboring tribes and led an uprising destroying the cities of Colchester, London and St Albans before she was defeated by the governor Gaius Suetonius Pallinus at the Battle of Watling Street. She is said to have committed suicide to avoid capture. Although Boudicca's revolt is the most famous, the Romans were busy putting down others and extending their control north and west between 47 and 78 when a new governor Agricola arrived. Agricola began building forts in 79 and led successful campaigns against the Britons afterwards, building roads to ensure swift troop movements and establishing outposts that would later become villages. In 83, he moved north into Caledonia, modern Scotland, and defeated the Picts under their leader Calgacus at the Battle of Mons Graupius. According to the historian Tacitus, who was Agricola's son-in-law, 10,000 Picts died in the battle while Romans losses numbered 360, though these numbers have been challenged by modern historians. After the battle, Agricola withdrew south without establishing a garrison in Caledonia and so his victory was meaningless as the Picts retook whatever ground had been won. Agricola was recalled to Rome by the Emperor Domitian in 84, who seems to have been jealous of his victories and none of his successors made any headway in conquering the northern region of Britain. Neither Scotland nor Ireland was ever taken by the Romans. By this time, Roman presence in Britain was widespread and many Britons began adopting Roman customs, dress, and religious beliefs. The cities and villages destroyed during campaigns or revolts were rebuilt and more roads constructed. London, burned to the ground by Boudicca, was rebuilt as an administrative capital with a governor's palace, a bridge over the Thames, and a grand Roman forum. Latin was the language of these political centers which ambitious Britons had to learn if they wanted access to the high-paying positions Roman bureaucracy offered. The years between 84 and 122 saw a steady Romanization of Britain and a consolidation and strengthening of boundaries, including Hadrian's wall built across the north dividing the province of Roman Britain from the land of the Picts. Hadrian's successor Antoninus Pius built a wall further north, the Antonine Wall, in circa 140, but the territory between the two couldn't be maintained and the Antonine Wall was abandoned by the 160s, setting the northern boundary at Hadrian's Wall. Under the emperor Septimius Severus, the province was divided into Britannia Superior, southern Britain, and Britannia Inferior, northern Britain, following Severus's 197 CE victory over the pretender Clodius Albinus, who had declared himself emperor in Britain and rallied troops to his cause. Severus believed that dividing the region into two separate administrative provinces would decrease the chances of further unrest like Albinus's revolt. Severus launched another campaign north of Hadrian's Wall in 209, but guerrilla tactics by the Picts resulted in heavy losses and Severus was never able to draw the Picts into open battle. He retreated back into Roman Britain and again Hadrian's Wall became the northern boundary. The crisis of the third century between 235 and 284 CE, which include rampant inflation, economic depression, invasions of Rome's provinces, and rapid succession of emperors, led to the so-called Breakaway Empires, when the Roman Empire split into the Palmyrene Empire in the east and the Gallic Empire in the west, with the Roman Empire between them. The Roman governor Posthumus declared himself emperor of the Gallic Empire, which included Britain, in 260, and held it until his assassination in 269, after which his son reigned until the Gallic forces were defeated by the Emperor Aurelian in 274, and the territories restored to the Roman Empire. Emperor Diocletian restored the empire, resolving the crisis of the third century, and instituting reforms, including the Tetrarchy, dividing the responsibilities of rule between two senior emperors and two juniors, and eventually dividing the empire into east and west. He made Britain a diocese of Rome governed by Vicarius, a deputy stationed at London and Aboricum, with the region divided up into smaller administrative areas for stricter control and governance. These measures still did not ensure stability as the Corossian Revolt of 286 to 296, in which the Roman commander Corossius declared himself emperor of Britain and Gaul, again removed Britain from the empire until it was restored by Constantius Coloris, one of the Tetrarchs appointed by Diocletian. As emperor, Constantius conducted military campaigns in Britain in 306, again trying to push the boundary north above Hadrian's Wall, along with his son Constantine, later Constantine the Great, but in spite of at least one victory, nothing was accomplished by this. Beginning in circa 280, forts had been built along the of Britain to defend against attacks by Saxon pirates, but by the fourth century, these had proven ineffective, and in 367, the north of Britain was invaded by Saxons and Picts, while Irish invaders arrived in the west. The garrison at Hadrian's Wall deserted their posts, and the region spun out of Rome's control until order was restored in 368. Invasions by Picts, Irish and Saxons continued however, and at the same time, Rome was dealing with its own problems as the boundaries of the empire were threatened or overrun by barbarian tribes. Rome began pulling troops from Britain to deal with these invasions, and by 410, when the Visigoth king Alaric I sacked Rome, Roman troops in Britain had been withdrawn completely. Roman magistrates quickly followed the troops, leaving the people of Britain to fend for themselves. How do you think Britain would have developed differently without the Roman conquest? 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