Roman Norfolk

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This is part of a series on the History of Norfolk

Roman Norfolk began after the first contact by Julius Caesar in his expeditions of 55 and 54 BC and the eventual invasion of England by Emperor Claudius in 43 AD. After this century of co-operation, during which the Roman client states held power, the infighting and other troubles led to the Roman invasion in 43 AD. The Iceni were in power in Norfolk during that period from 55 BC to 43 AD and further problems between them led to eventual war between Boudica and the invading Romans.

Contents

Norfolk pre 55 BC

A shipwreck was discovered in 2010 off the coast of south Devon which is dated to around 900 BC just before time of the transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age and is believed to have been coming to Britain from Europe. [1] No hull remains were recovered, however the cargo found so far consisted of 259 Copper ingots, 27 tin ingots, 3 gold bracelets several slingshots and a bronze leaf sword which in those days was an extremely valuable cargo. [1] [2]

Although Bronze Age production was still under way when the Iron Age arrived in Britain around 600 BC the change to Iron implements soon came. The Celts arrived in around 400 BC and brought with them the first Iron Age tools for farming. [3] These tools and other implements such as axes allowed more efficient methods of cutting and ploughing and so heavier soils could be turned allowing agriculture to spread.

This influx of Celts brought significant changes to the religious practices as well. It is about this time that the peoples of Britain first began to call themselves Britons. From around 350 BC we find the start of burials as worship or offerings to the gods.

The first written records of Britain were produced by a Greek man called Pytheas of Massilia (Marseilles) who sailed completely around the coast of Britain between 330 and 320 BC. It is here that we learn of the Cornish tin trade with the Mediterranean and he also says that Britons were "peacable but formidable in war" as well as describing horse drawn chariots which the Britons used in battle.

By 200 BC the two metals were still being worked alongside and it is from this time we find some of the most interesting pieces.

Gold coins made in Gaul and other parts of France around 100 BC have been found and coin production started in Britain around 70–80 BC.

The people of Norfolk and the Iceni had a wide reaching trade with other parts of Britain as well as the European continent prior to the attempted invasion in 55 BC. It is estimated that there may have been as many as 10 large boat trade journeys every week from the east coast. [4] Norfolk people would have exported and imported items from Celtic countries including Spain and France and the Mediterranean. [5] By 55 BC the Roman Empire stretched from its western borders just across the English Channel in Gaul all the way to Artaxata in the east which is now called Artashat, Armenia near to the Mount Ararat in far east Turkey (level with the eastern Iranian border). The empire encompassed the whole of the Mediterranean spreading as far north as Scandinavia to Africa and Egypt in the south.

Client state

After the Romans conquered Britain in 43 AD forts and roads were constructed around Norfolk as the Roman army became established. After a minor rebellion by the Iceni in 47 AD, king Prasutagus was allowed to rule independently as a client king. On his death in 60 AD Roman rule was imposed on the territory and his widow Boudicca led a rebellion in which the towns of Colchester ( Camulodunum ), London (Londinium) and St. Albans ( Verulamium ) were sacked. [6]

Boudica and the Iceni revolt

Background

Prasutagus was the king of the Iceni who inhabited what is now Norfolk. They initially were not part of the territory under direct Roman control having voluntarily allied themselves to Rome after Claudius' conquest in AD 43. The Iceni guarded their independence and revolted in AD 47 when the governor Publius Ostorius Scapula threatened to disarm them. [7] Prasutagus lived a long life of conspicuous wealth and, in hope of preserving his line, made the Roman emperor co-heir to his kingdom along with his wife Boudica and their two daughters.

Unfortunately for Boudica and the Iceni normal Roman practice was to incorporate a client state into the Roman Empire upon the client king's death. That plus the Roman Law which only allowed male heirs to inherit power sealed the fate of both the Iceni and Norfolk. When Prasutagus died the Romans moved in to take power and seize their assets. Boudica was flogged, her daughters were raped and the Romans took property and land to pay for the debt that Prasutagus had built up as, upon his death, his subjects had become liable for the outstanding monies.

Retribution

Boudica's march

Roman rule

A 1905 map of Roman Britain, showing how the coastline of Norfolk has changed since Roman times. Public Schools Historical Atlas - Roman Britain 400.jpg
A 1905 map of Roman Britain, showing how the coastline of Norfolk has changed since Roman times.

Following the defeat of Boudicca, the Romans imposed their own order on the region, with an administrative centre established at Venta Icenorum (near the present Caistor St. Edmund), a smaller town being built at Brampton and other settlements developed at river crossings or road junctions. The mostly rural population lived in scattered homesteads, villages or more affluent Roman villas. The level of the sea fell during Roman times and the swampy region to the west of Norfolk slowly dried. The land was then able to be converted into fertile farmland where sheep-rearing and salt production could be established. [6]

Forts

Burgh Castle is an impressive Roman ruin in Norfolk Burgh Castle - geograph.org.uk - 154039.jpg
Burgh Castle is an impressive Roman ruin in Norfolk

Settlements

Fortification against the Saxons

The Saxon Shore forts were built by the Romans in the third century AD as a defence against Saxon raiders. In Norfolk the ruins of the fort built at Burgh Castle (possibly Roman Gariannonum ), guarding the estuary across from the island of Flegg, still remain, but there is now little remaining of the forts at Brancaster ( Branodunum ) built on the north coast, and at Caister-on-Sea on the east coast, and close by to Burgh Castle. After the last of the armies of Rome left Britain in 410 AD, most of the visible remains of Roman Britain slowly disappeared. [6]

Related Research Articles

Boudica 1st century AD queen of the British Iceni tribe

Boudica or Boudicca, also known as Boadicea or Boudicea, and in Welsh as Buddug, was a queen of the British Celtic Iceni tribe who led an uprising against the conquering forces of the Roman Empire in AD 60 or 61. According to Roman sources, shortly after the uprising failed, she poisoned herself or died of her wounds, although there is no actual evidence of her fate. She is considered a British folk hero.

Celts Ethnolinguistic group

The Celts are a collection of Indo-European peoples in parts of Europe and Anatolia identified by their use of the Celtic languages and other cultural similarities. Historic Celtic groups included the Gauls, Celtiberians, Gallaecians, Galatians, Britons, Gaels, and their offshoots. The relationship between ethnicity, language and culture in the Celtic world is unclear and controversial. In particular, there is dispute over the ways in which the Iron Age inhabitants of Britain and Ireland should be regarded as Celts.

Roman Britain Part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire

Roman Britain is the period in classical antiquity when large parts of the island of Great Britain were under occupation by the Roman Empire. The occupation lasted from AD 43 to AD 410. During that time, the territory conquered was raised to the status of a Roman province.

AD 44 (XLIV) was a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Crispus and Taurus. The denomination AD 44 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

AD 61 (LXI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Turpilianus and Caesennius. The denomination AD 61 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

Roman conquest of Britain 1st century AD invasion of Britain by the Romans

The Roman conquest of Britain was a gradual process, beginning in AD 43 under Emperor Claudius and being largely completed by 87 when the Stanegate was established as the northern frontier.

Iceni

The Iceni or Eceni were a Brittonic tribe of eastern Britain during the Iron Age and early Roman era. Their territory included present-day Norfolk and parts of Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, and bordered the area of the Corieltauvi to the west, and the Catuvellauni and Trinovantes to the south. In the Roman period, their capital was Venta Icenorum at modern-day Caistor St Edmund.

Prasutagus was king of a British Celtic tribe called the Iceni, who inhabited roughly what is now Norfolk, in the 1st century AD. He is best known as the husband of Boudica.

Defeat of Boudica Battle that took place in Roman-occupied Britain in AD 60 or 61

The decisive battle ending the Boudican Rebellion took place in Roman Britain in AD 60 or 61 between an alliance of British peoples led by Boudica and a Roman army led by Gaius Suetonius Paulinus. Although heavily outnumbered, the Romans decisively defeated the allied tribes, inflicting heavy losses on them. The battle marked the end of resistance to Roman rule in Britain in the southern half of the island, a period that lasted until 410 AD. Historians are dependent on Roman historians Tacitus and Dio Cassius for the only accounts of the battle.

The British Iron Age is a conventional name used in the archaeology of Great Britain, referring to the prehistoric and protohistoric phases of the Iron Age culture of the main island and the smaller islands, typically excluding prehistoric Ireland, which had an independent Iron Age culture of its own. The parallel phase of Irish archaeology is termed the Irish Iron Age. The Iron Age is not an archaeological horizon of common artefacts, but is rather a locally diverse cultural phase.

Roman client kingdoms in Britain

The Roman client kingdoms in Britain were native tribes which chose to align themselves with the Roman Empire because they saw it as the best option for self-preservation or for protection from other hostile tribes. Alternatively, the Romans created some client kingdoms when they felt influence without direct rule was desirable. Client kingdoms were ruled by client kings. In Latin these kings were referred to as ex sociusque et amicus, which translates to "king and ally and friend." The type of relationships between client kingdoms and Rome was reliant on the individual circumstances in each kingdom.

History of Norfolk

Norfolk is a rural county in the East of England. Knowledge of prehistoric Norfolk is limited by a lack of evidence — although the earliest finds are from the end of the Lower Paleolithic period. Communities have existed in Norfolk since the last Ice Age and tools, coins and hoards such as those found at Snettisham indicate the presence of an extensive and industrious population.

Venta Icenorum

Venta Icenorum was the civitas or capital of the Iceni tribe, located at modern-day Caistor St Edmund in the English county of Norfolk. The Iceni inhabited the flatlands and marshes of that county and are famous for having revolted against Roman rule under their queen Boudica in the winter of AD 61.

<i>When the Eagle Hunts</i>

When the Eagle Hunts is a 2002 novel by Simon Scarrow, set in 44 AD during the Roman invasion of Britain. It is the third book in the Eagles of the Empire series.

Events from the 1st century in Roman Britain.

<i>Boudica</i> (film)

Boudica is a British television film released in 2003. Starring Alex Kingston, Steven Waddington and Emily Blunt, in her film debut, the film is a biopic of the queen of the Iceni tribe, Boudica.

<i>Boadicea and Her Daughters</i> Sculptural group in Westminster, London

Boadicea and Her Daughters is a bronze sculptural group in London representing Boudica, queen of the Celtic Iceni tribe, who led an uprising in Roman Britain. It is located to the north side of the western end of Westminster Bridge, near Portcullis House and Westminster Pier, facing Big Ben and the Palace of Westminster across the road. It is considered the magnum opus of its sculptor, the English artist and engineer Thomas Thornycroft. Thornycroft worked on it from 1856 until shortly before his death in 1885, sometimes assisted by his son William Hamo Thornycroft, but it was not erected in its current position until 1902.

Boudican revolt

The Boudican revolt was an armed uprising by the native Celtic tribes against the Roman Empire. It took place c. 60-61 AD in the Roman province of Britain, and was led by Boudica, the Queen of the Iceni. The uprising was motivated by the Roman failure to honor an agreement they had made with her husband, Prasutagus, regarding the succession of his kingdom upon his death. The revolt ended unsuccessfully, after a decisive Roman victory at the Defeat of Boudica.

References

  1. 1 2 "Shipwreck reveals Bronze Age secrets" (Webnews). Western Morning News. 15 February 2010. Retrieved 29 June 2010.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  2. ↑ Historic England. "Monument No. 1439037". Research records (formerly PastScape). Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  3. ↑ "From the Iron age to the Roman Empire". St Edmundsbury Council. Retrieved 29 June 2010.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  4. ↑ "Communications" . Retrieved 29 June 2010.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  5. ↑ "Celtic Life". Flag Fen Archaeology Park. Retrieved 29 June 2010.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  6. 1 2 3 An Historical Atlas of Norfolk, p.34-5
  7. ↑ Tacitus, Annals 12:31–32

Sources

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