At the end of our previous installment, the defeated Briton leader, Caratacus, had been betrayed by the Brigantes, and handed over to Rome. However, the rebellious Silures do not seem to have been deterred by the loss of their leader, and continued to resist Roman occupation and engage in hit-and-run guerilla attacks on Roman forces. Such was the tribe’s resistance, that Scapula declared that they would be either exterminated or enslaved and forcibly removed from their lands. But again, this merely served to reinforce their resolve, and they continued to be a bothersome thorn in the side of the Roman Governor and to oppose Rome’s occupation throughout the Claudian period.

Scapula died in 52CE after contracting an illness whilst on campaign. The Silures were still unconquered, and the new Governor, Aulus Didius Gallus, appears to have initially sought to continue the campaign against them. However, after Legio II suffered an unprecedented and highly unexpected defeat in battle against the Silures and their allies, he appears to have largely drawn back from his initial aggression and adopted a more defensive approach, concentrating on further development of the road network and the establishment of new settlements in the province. 

In Rome, 54CE saw the murder of the Emperor Claudius, rumoured to be at the behest of his wife Agrippina, and the ascension of her son Nero to the throne. On British soil, domestic issues in the Brigantes kingdom would result in a rebellion for Gallus to deal with. Up until this point, Cartimandua and her husband Venutius had been loyal and “defended Rome by arms”, but early in Gallus’ tenure as governor they divorced, and Cartimandua quickly remarried her shield-bearer, Vellocatus. Venutius raised forces against Cartimandua and her Roman allies, and Gallus was forced to send troops to quell the rebellion. Venutius’ forces were defeated, but he was spared, and Cartimandua and Vellocatus were allowed to rule as Queen and King.

The ongoing conflict in Wales against the Silures would again come to the fore with the new governorship. Gallus was replaced by Gaius Suetonius Paulinus in 58CE, and Paulinus immediately began to plan for further campaigns in Wales, against both the Silures and the druids, who had a stronghold on Mona (modern day Anglesey). Such campaigns had already proven never to be swift, and Paulinus would find himself far out of the way when his rebellion came along.

In 61CE Prasutagus, the king of the Iceni, who had been a client-kingdom to Rome, died. Customarily, when this occurred, the kingdom would pass to Rome, but Prasutagus requested in his will that the kingdom be split between Rome and his wife, Boudica. The Roman procurator Catus Decianus ignored this request, seizing the entire estate, and then ordered that Boudica be flogged and her daughters raped. Roman money-lenders called in their loans, and unrest in the region spilled over into furious rebellion, with the Iceni allying with the neighboring Trinovantes tribe.

Boudica and her forces seemed to attract ever-growing numbers, and were hell-bent on wiping out all things Roman. They were not concerned with capturing property, preferring to burn buildings, and butcher or crucify any Roman they came across. They burnt the settlements at Camulodunum (modern day Colchester) – including its temple to Claudius – Londinium, and Verulamium (modern day St Albans), before finally engaging Paulinus’ forces in battle, where they suffered a decisive loss despite vastly outnumbering Rome’s forces, with Boudicca then disappearing from history.

Paulinus was removed from office in the wake of Boudica’s rebellion, and was replaced by Publius Petroius Turpilianus in 62CE. His short-lived governorship marked a more conciliatory approach to relations between Rome and the Briton tribes. Indeed, Turpilianus is the only Claudian governor not to have faced a rebellion in Britain, as he governed for only 12 month and was then replaced by Marcus Trebellius Maximus. 

Maximus was not a military man, and was more concerned with increasing the Romanization of Britain. Londinium grew considerably in both wealth and importance during his governorship. However, Maximus’ distance from the military led to growing agitation in the Roman forces, and a series of mutinies, as well as a major falling out with Marcus Roscius Coelis, the commander of Legion XX. 

Such disorder was always likely to provide opportunity, and so Maximus was to get his rebellion too. In 69CE Venutius, ex-husband of Cartimandua, once more raised forces against his ex-wife and her allies. This time Rome were only able to send auxiliaries to whisk Cartimandua to safety, and obscurity, in Chester, whilst the kingdom fell into the hands of Venutius and his anti-Roman cadre.

The instability that came with the Year of the Four Emperors (69CE), ended with Legio XX’s commander (the aforementioned Marcus Roscius Coelis) taking up arms against Maximus, declaring his support for the imperial candidate Vitelius in the civil war that followed Nero’s suicide. The Claudian dynasty, and its enmeshed  history with Britain, had come to an end, but Rome’s dealings with the island and its inhabitants were far from over.

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Previous Articles: 

The First Stirrings of Rebellion: Britannia

Conquest: Britannia – Claudius and the Establishment of Roman Britain