This meant that a powerful anti-Roman party was gaining wider control of southern Britain.įor Claudius, a successful invasion would bring glory and popularity. Hostile to Roman influence, the Catuvellaunian brothers Caratacus and Togodumnus had been leading attacks on the Atrebates and extending their area of influence westwards from their homelands north of the Thames. The army took this as a failure, and a source of embarrassment and shame.Īs a pretext for invasion, Claudius may have used the expulsion from Britain of the pro-Roman king, Verica of the Atrebates, by the Catuvellauni. His imperial predecessor, Caligula, had prepared for an invasion, but then abandoned the enterprise, in AD 41. The invasion of Britain was one of the ways Claudius set out to prove himself. Other tribes, such as the Catuvellauni, who were based further north and east, remained wary or opposed. Silchester (Hampshire) developed as a town with organised streets, its people importing Roman wine, olive oil and other products. Some of the British tribes, such as the Atrebates of central southern Britain, developed political and trading relationships with Rome and adopted some Roman ways. In the century after Caesar, contact between Britons and Romans increased. Although these campaigns did not intend or result in conquest, he extracted tribute from some of the British tribes and gained knowledge of southern Britain’s natural resources and their potential value to Rome. During that time, in 55 and 54 BC, Caesar undertook two military expeditions to Britain. Julius Caesar came to know of its peoples during his wars in Gaul between 58 and 50 BC, which brought much of what are now France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Switzerland under Roman control. The Romans had known about Britain long before they decided to invade. The tribes each controlled their own extensive territories and resources, and they did not always live in peace with one another. Many peoples lived in Britain, in large, independent tribal groups, led by powerful kings and queens. Before the Romans invaded, the islands of Britain had no single political or cultural identity.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |