Why did the Romans Cross the Channel? (On Roman Invasion of Britian)

This post caters to the study of the Complementary Course “Evolution of Literary Movements”, assigned for students of BA English programme at CMS College.

BC 3000 to AD 455: Pre English

            1. The Iberians

            2. The Celts

3. The Romans

      I.          Rome

Rome has such a deep rooted impact in history and culture. A few proverbs are enough to prove it:

Rome was not built in a day

All roads lead to Rome

When in Rome, be a Roman

Rome is the capital city of Italy.

Rome: a place of history. The practice ground of various systems of governance: monarchy, republic, imperialism (colonialism)

The recorded history of Rome goes back to BC 8^th c.

1.    1.      Roman Kingdom

The twins Romulus and Remus, descendants of the Trojan prince Aeneas are supposed to be the founders of Rome.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romulus_and_Remus

After being under the system of kingship, Rome transforms as a republic.

2.        Roman Republic

BC 6^th C: establishment of the Roman republic. Authority for the magistrates, senate and military.

Triumvirate system: the play “Julius Caesar” speaks of this.

BC 51 – 45: Slow emergence of power under Julius Caesar

BC 44: Assassination of Julius Caesar. Octavian or Octavius Caesar enters into power.

BC 31: annexation of Egypt (war with Cleopatra and Mark Antony: portrayed in Shakespeare’s “Antony and Cleopatra”)

BC 27: Roman senate grants overarching power to Octavian and gives him the new title “Augustus”. He is the Augustus Caesar mentioned in the Bible, who orders a census at the time of Jesus’ birth.

1.     3.   Roman Empire (1500 years)

Pax Romana

Later emperors: Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Vespasian, Domitian, Trajan, Commodus, Diocletian

AD 324: Constantine: establishment of a new capital city: Byzantium (renamed Constantinople). Byzantium is featured in two poems of W B Yeats. Till then, a few places of Rome had the status of being the capital at one time or the other.

Adopted Christianity (earlier, Christianity was a persecuted religion)

Emperor Theodosius I: (Died in AD 395): division of the Empire into East and West

AD 496: Western Roman Empire erodes in power

Eastern Roman Empire remains in power till 1453, when it fell to the Ottoman Turks

    II.          Roman Invasion of Britain

In our study of the Celts, we mentioned three tribes: Gaelic (Goidelic), Brythons, Belgae.

The Belgaes maintained cordial relations with their kinsmen in Northern Gaul in the European mainland.

Julius Caesar of Rome conquered these Celtic territories in Gaul, and then he had an eye on the British Isles.

BC 55: First Roman expedition to Britain under Julius Caesar. But Caesar was defeated.

BC 54: Caesar returned and subdued the Celts. The defence put in by the legendary King Cassivelanus (of the tribe of Cattivelauni) was swept away by the Romans who emerged as conquerors.

Julius Caesar had to return to Rome, where he was assassinated.

King Cunobelin of Colchester (the Cymbeline of Shakespeare’s play) had cultivated the friendship of the first and second Roman emperors Augustus and Tiberius. The third Roman emperor Caligula (AD 37 – 41) issued orders for a conquest of Britain, but that did not take place. Three years later, in AD 43, Rome conquered Britain under the orders of the Roman emperor Claudius (AD 41 – 54). By AD 50, Rome brought Kent, Colchester and the southern and eastern areas of Britain under control.

The Celtic tribes in the northern and western areas put in stiff resistance. The Romans had initial difficulty to conquer the people in these mountainous terrains and swamp filled forests. By AD 60, the Romans managed to bring under control the low lying island of Anglesey. The Druid priests of the Celts were mercilessly killed.

Archaeology Magazine

Boudicca, Queen of the Iceni

The march forward to further north was cut short when they had to return to Norfolk in the south, where there was a rebellion by the Celtic tribe of Iceni. The people had long put up with the cruelty of the Roman soldiers, but they had to resist when the cruelty was directed against their queen Boudicca, and hence the rebellion. This too was put down by the Romans. The Iceni were massacred, and Queen Boudicca and her daughters commited suicide. 

After this, there were no major challenge for the Romans. The savage north continued to be a problem but the Roman method of conquest was by making military roads on which forts were built. The wild West were subjugated after 35 years of occupying Britain.

Bringing the Picts and Scots of the North under control was another problem. Therefore the northern frontier was marked off by a huge wall erected on the orders of Emperor Hadrian in AD 123. The ruins of this Hadrian’s Wall can be seen even today.

The Roman governor Agricola ordered a line of forts between Glasgow and Edinburgh. This came to be known as Antoine’s Wall. Both these walls helped the Romans to keep out inroads from the north.

With all rebellion hushed down, the Romans establish themselves as the third and last conquerors in the Pre English period, and start their administrative establishment in Britain.