Of Northern Britain David Shotter

Contrebis Vol )OOV 1999 Cerialiso Agricola and the Conquest of Northern Britain David Shotter as incoming emperors must have carried out O* chief source for the Roman conquest of reviews of on-going activities. northern Britain is, of course, the historian, The chief purpose of the present paper is to Cornelius Tacitus, in his eulogistic biography of attempt to create a more realistic account of the his father-in-law, Gnaeus Julius Agricola. Not conquest of northern Britain, bearing in mind surprisingly, Agricola's achievements, the whole assemblage of evidence that can be culminating with those in Britain, provide the derived from literary, epigraphic and centrepiece of this work. The impression that archaeological sources and the observation, Tacitus clearly wished to give was that it was made many years ago by Professor Barri Jones very largely down to Agricola that Roman arms and which pointed the way to the present progressed from the north Midlands almost to exercise, that 'Agricolan is a much overworked the very north of Scotland, and that it was a adjective'. short-sighted and envious emperor (Domitian) who ordered a retreat from much of this When the Romans came to Britain in AD. 43, it likely that they very soon forged a mutually territory. is beneficial relationship with Canimandua, the It has long been suspected that this account is, leader of the northern tribe of the Brigantes. to say the least, 'economical with the truth'; in Her name suggests that she may have been recent years, however, we have begun to intrusive from further south, as the mandu put the test acquire the means to the matter to element is reminiscent of Mandubracius, a rather more confidently. The first point to make leader of the Trinovantes (of Essex) in the time is that the dates of Agricola's governorship were of Julius Caesar. From Rome's point of view almost certainly AD. 77-83 (not 78-84, as the value of such a treaty relationship would previously accepted); the change is due to the have been to provide a tribe that was at least impression which Tacitus clearly gives, that the 'neutral' on the northern flank of the initial interval between Agricola's consulship in AD. advance. For Cartimandua, friendship with govemorship was 77 and the taking up of his Rome would have meant help, when necessary, his short, and that he is unlikely to have ended against Venutius who was possibly an consular tenure later than June or July. His first indigenous tribal ieader and who is singled out we campaign (in north Wales), therefore, which for comment by Tacitus for his qualities as a are specifically told was undertaken very late in warior. It may indeed have been Rome that the campaigning season, fits much better if it insisted upon the ma:riage of these two as a year. belonged to the autumn of his consular means to ensuring stability in the region. The revised dating has important implications The first test of the relationship that is on record for the understanding of the course of came in A.D. 51, when the southern warlord, Agricola's governorship, as crucial points in it Caratacus, after defeat by Rome somewhere on can now be seen to coincide with what were the Wales/Shropshire border, asked politically the most important dates of the Cartimandua for sanctuary. It is possible that period AD.79 (the death of Vespasian and the the hoard of mainly Trinovantian gold coins, accession of Titus; end of campaign three), and which was found in 1998 in West Yorkshire, AD. 81 (the death of Titus and the accession of represents the whole (or part) of a payment by Domitian; end of campaign five). We must Caratacus' southem kin to secure his safety. allow that such events in Rome were capable of having major effects on the conduct of lnstead, Cartimandua felt sufficiently confident provincial governors and campaigning armies, in her Roman alliance to run the risk of local Confrebis Vol )O(tV 1999 political 'fall-out', and handed the British leader poet, Papinius Statius, &d the encyclopaedic over to Rome. It may be that this act of betrayal historian, the Elder Pliny, who perished in the precipitated the first outbreak of trouble eruption of Vesuvius in AD. 79. Further, this between Cartimandua and her husband. early entry into Scotland is confirrred by Although chronologically very imprecise, another contemporary poeL Silius Italicus. It Tacitus alludes to periodic disturbances which would not be unreasonable to suggest that not had to be put down by Roman militarY only did Bolanus' troops ftmge widely in intervention. It is apparent that these episodes, northem Britain but that they may have been in the 50s and 60s, did not lead to permanent responsible for the defeat and removal of the Roman occupation, but were rather hostile Venutius, perhaps having chased him characterised by what would nowadays be into Scotland; it would not be the last time that called'search-and destroy' missions. Rome would be troubled by political and military cannections between the Brigantes and Such activities are diffrcult to fix with any certain the tribes of southern Scotland. precision archaeologically, but it may be of Further, it is evident that although Bolanus did surmised from findspots of characteristically not live long after his govemorshp, he was early Roman copper coins that land-based regarded by the emperor, Vespasian, as a man troops worked northwards from such bases as of considerable achievement. Wroxeter and Littlechester, whilst other troops were taken by coastal shipping, perhaps from a The next governor was a man of impressive fort at Chester, to be disembarked in the status in the new Flavian regime; Quintus northwest's river estuaries to efflect junctions Petillius Cerialis Caesius Rufus was the son- with the land-based troops; it is likely that the in-law of Vespasian. He had served in Britain Ribble estuary will have been particularly before during Boudicca's rebellion and had important, giving access via the Ribble/Aire taken a part (albeit not too distinguished) in the corridor to Barwick-in-Elmet, which has been war which had in AD. 69 brought his father- canvassed as Cartimandua's centre . in-law to power; most recently (AD. 69-70) he had brought to a close a dangerous rebellion The final upheaval certainly occurred in AD. amongst tribesmen on the Rhine (though again 69, at a moment when Roman troops were not without mishap along the way). distracted by civil war. It is evident that on this occasion Venutius prevailed over his former It has been written that Tacitus loathed Cerialis; wife, who had to be rescued by Roman troops, certainly, he does not go out of his way to load and is not heard of again. As Tacitus shows, the man with praise for his achievements either overnight this changed Brigantian territory from in Britain or elsewhere. The historian does a treatied to an openly hostile neighbour. nonetheless admit that under Cerialis much of Tacitus is far from complimentary in his the Brigantian territory was conquered, or at comments about the then Governor, Vettius least fought over, though he has to add that the Bolanus, who, he says, was too mild a man for a fighting was not uncostly. Professor Anthony dangerous province. It would, however, be as Bidey has argued that Tacitus' dislike of Cerialis well to remember two things: first, Bolanus may have stemmed from Cerialis' part in AD. remained in position for two years after the 83, along with his brother-in-law, the emperor Brigantian volte-face, and can hardly have spent Domitian, in the removal of Agricola from the that time in idleness. Secondly, one source governorship of Britain. This may have specifically and another more generally, suggest contributed, but another cause suggests itself: in that during this period Roman arms penetrated AD. 60-61, both Cerialis and Agricola were in into Caledonia - a term of rather vague location Britain, the former as commander (legatus) of in Roman writers, but evidently suggesting an legion IX (which received something of a area to the north of the Forth/C$e isthmus. mauling), the latter as a military tribune Respectively, these sources are the Domitianic (tribunus militum) evidently on the staff of the jffiM Contrebis Vol )OilV 1999 governor, Suetonius Paullinus. In the aftermath Ribble with a disembarkation-site at Kirkham, of the rebellion, it is likely that Cerialis and which in Roman times was much closer to the Agricola found themselves on opposite sides of water than it now is, and from which it was a an exceedingly acrimonious post-mortem. In straightforward advance to Ribchester. That temper, too, the two men were very different: Chester was the base for this seems clear, Cerialis, highly placed, an opportr:nist and a though it should be noted that Chester was not, risk-taker (not always successfully); Agricola, until Agricola's own govemorship, a base for a efficient, methodical, and perhaps a little land-based advance. lndeed, it has been colourless - or, as he has recently been observed that the road northwards from described, a'modest achiever'. Envy on the part Whitchurch originally crossed the Dee al of the latter, with regard to the former, is not FarndonAlolt, the extension to Chester being unknown in the human condition. secondary to this. Cerialis came to Britain in AD.71; his Each side of the Pennines also saw the instructions were plainly to move the conquest separation of people whom the Romans forward, and he brought with him a new legion, evidently chose to protect: in the east, the II Adiutrix, which had recently been recruited coastal Parisi were separated from their from members of the fleet at Raverura.

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