| Battle: Medway | Plautius/Togodumnus+Caratacus | 43 |
The Catuvellauni were a Celtic tribe located in central southern Britain and centred on the modern counties of Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire. To the northeast they bordered the Iceni (east Cambridgeshire/Norfolk/north Suffolk); to the east the Trinovantes (south Suffolk/east Essex); to the southeast the Cantiaci (Kent/east Sussex); to the south the Regneneses (south London/Surrey/west Sussex/east Hampshire); to the southwest the Atrebates (Berkshire/north Wiltshire); and finally to the west the Dobunni (west Oxfordshire/Gloucestershire). Westwards from the Atrebates were the Belgae (west Hampshire/south Wiltshire/northeast Somerset), the Durotriges (Dorset/southeast Somerset) and the Dumnonii (west Somerset/Devon/Cornwall) respectively
Britain was still a largely forested agricultural country with centres of industrial activity in the south and west. Large areas belonged to tribal confederacies, some of whom were prepared to ally themselves with Rome, whilst others fiercely opposed any form of contact.
Around the turn of the century Cunobelinus (Shakespeare’s Cymbeline; r.9-40+), king of the Catuvellauni, conquered his eastern neighbours, the Trinovantes. In the early forties his sons, Caratacus (r.43-c.50) and Togodumnus (d.43), in their turn, drove out their western neighbour Verica (r.15-40+), king of the Atrebates. Verica fled to Rome to seek the help of the emperor, who agreed to help him to regain his throne.
In spring 43 Plautius (1) (cos.29) sailed from Gesoriacum (=Boulogne-sur-Mer, northern France) with four legions – IX Hispana, XIV Gemina, XX Valeria Victrix, and II Augusta under the future emperor 06Flavius Vespasian (69; fl.30-79), together with auxiliaries, some forty thousand men in all, and landed unopposed at Rutupiae (Richborough, northeast Kent).
While spending the first few stages of his campaign in an abortive search for an enemy in east Kent, Plautius was attacked by Caratacus, perhaps at the position of Caesar’s old battlefield at the crossing of the Stour. Caratacus was driven back along the line of Watling Street, somewhere along which Plautius met up with Togodumnus and defeated him also.
These first engagements were skirmishes to gain time for a levy of fighters to be assembled on the hills west of the Medway (west Kent) near Durobrivae (=Rochester, northwest Kent) where they were soon joined by survivors from the defeated forces of Caratacus and Togodumnus. When Plautius came across them they were unprepared. His Gallic cavalry swam the river and charged the British charioteers, while the Second Legion under Vespasian crossed the river upstream and attacked the enemy right wing. This initial Roman attack was beaten off, but the following day Plautius gained the ridge and saw the Britons retreating towards Dartford.
This, the Battle of the Medway River, was the decisive engagement of the campaign and by comparison the crossing of the Thames was relatively unopposed. With a trading settlement in existence at London itself, the Thames had already been bridged and there were also fords downstream.
In their flight from the Medway the Britons made for these fords and with the Romans in close pursuit continued their retreat towards Camulodunum (=Colchester), the old Trinovantian stronghold in northeast Essex. In the marshes of the Lea River, a left (north) tributary of the Thames, the Britons turned and checked their pursuers sharply.
At this point Plautius halted and sent word to Claudius for him to conclude the campaign. The emperor eventually arrived with supplies, equipment and elephants. Caratacus, whose brother had been killed earlier, gave Claudius battle somewhere between London and Colchester, but was completely defeated.
All the tribes in southeastern Britain were subdued and the more remote people did homage in order to save their territory from invasion. Britain was formally constituted as a province. Claudius returned to Italy having remained no more than sixteen days in Britain. He celebrated a triumph and the Senate voted the title of Britannicus both to him and his son.
Plautius was left in command of the new province and ruled there until 47. He seems to have established a military frontier of considerable strategic merit, having conquered all the country south and east of a line drawn from the mouth of the Seven to the Wash. When Plautius retired he was replaced by 01Ostorius Scapula (r.47-52) who arrived in Britain just in time to confront serious uprisings in the west and north.
The warlike tribes in the hills of Wales, the Ordovices (central-north) and Silurians (southeast), and the Brigantes in northern England, persisted in ravaging the borders of the new province. Caratacus having escaped had then sought refuge among the Silurians and was now leading their forays.
To protect his rear, Scapula ordered all the provincials whose loyalty he suspected to be disarmed. This roused a general revolt, headed by the Iceni, in eastern England. They were joined by the Corieltauvi, living between the Wash and Humber, and the survivors of the Catuvellauni, and offered battle to Ostorius, choosing ground favourable to themselves, it being inaccessible to the Roman cavalry. Scapula attacked with his auxiliaries and won a complete victory (48).
In preparation for his campaign against the tribes of the Welsh hills, Scapula established a colony of veterans instead of a garrison at the provincial capital at Camulodunum. At the beginning of the ensuing campaigns Caratacus took the war northwards. Scapula followed and attacked him when he was in a strong defensive position. In a desperate fight the Britons were broken but then rallied at the top of a hill. In a second combat they were again broken and then dispersed in all directions. Caratacus fled to the Brigantes, who were ruled by Queen Cartimandua (r.c.43-c.69). She, having already decided not to court war with the Romans, handed him over to Scapula who then sent the captive to Rome (51).
With war seemingly over, Scapula began to build forts in the country of the Silures in order to keep them quiet. But with the Second Legion dispersed in working parties around the region, the Silures attacked the soldiers in their half-built forts. Although the Silures were eventually driven off, the legion’s praefectus castrorum (camp prefect), eight centurions and many in the working parties had been killed.
The Silures, however, remained in the vicinity of the forts waiting for an opportunity to strike. Once they overwhelmed a foraging party, cut up the cavalry sent out to rescue them, routed the auxiliary infantry sent out in support of the cavalry, and were only put to flight when Scapula led out his legions.
When Scapula died in 52 the immediate task for his successor 04Didius Gallus (cos.39) was to re-establish the defence of the Severn Valley. He had no sooner done this than Cartimandua’s husband Venutius, headed a faction to dethrone the queen and turn Brigantia against the Romans. Didius immediately dispatched a force of auxiliaries and followed it up with a legion which eventually put down the rising.
Didius continued to govern in Britain and was content to defend his province without advancing its frontiers. His only contribution consisted in the establishment of a few forts, probably in the country of the Silures. Upon the death of Claudius, Gallus retired in favour of Veranius Nepos (d.57).
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