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In August of the year 55 B.C., Cæsar landed on the coast of Britain with eighty ships, and two legions, the 7th and the 10th. He stayed in the country three weeks, and during that short period he fought two battles. In the summer of the following year he landed again with an army of thirty or forty thousand men and eight hundred ships. The Britons retreated before his advance, and fought him first at the passage of the Stour, when they were defeated, and next at a fortified ford across the Thames, perhaps the place indicated by tradition, now called “Cowey Stakes,” near Walton on Thames, where they were again defeated. He then marched upon the stronghold of Cassivellaunus, the British general, took it by storm, accepted the submission of the tribes and departed, leaving the island nominally submissive to the Roman power. He tells us that the manners and customs of the people of Kent closely resembled those of the Gauls, but that in the more northern parts the people were much ruder. He also tells us that the trade with Gaul was carried on by way of Kent.
I have shown the reasons for believing that there was an extensive trade with Gaul; that it passed through Kent by the road afterwards called Watling Street and over Thorney Island; that Thorney was a populous and prosperous place; and that London when the Romans came was already a port with a considerable amount of trade.
Nearly a hundred years passed away before the islanders were again disturbed by their Roman conquerors. The prudence of Augustus would not allow any increase to the garrisoned frontier of the vast Empire. During this century great changes took place in the island. Many of the Gauls, escaping from their conquered country, had crossed the Channel and settled in Britannia: the Atrebates on the country north and south of the upper Thames; the Parisii in Yorkshire; the Belgæ between the Solent and the Bristol Channel. The islanders knew the use of money; they adopted iron and steel for their weapons instead of bronze; they worked their gold, silver, and iron mines; they exported cattle, hides, slaves, wheat and barley, and sporting dogs; their chieftains grew rich; they built cities.
During this century of development London may possibly have been founded.54 As we explained in the last chapter, the first essential fact to be discovered was the central position of London as a port. This once grasped, the rest would follow easily and quickly. However, this guessing at a date in a prehistoric event is of little use. The fact is, we do not know when London was founded, but I have attempted to prove that the City began with an annual Fair.
It was eighty-eight years after Cæsar’s first visit that Britain was again invaded. The invasion was undertaken partly at the instigation of one Bericus, a British prince who had fled to Rome for protection; partly because, though a so-called province, the country paid no tribute and sent no hostages; partly because of the belief that it was rich in gold, silver, and pearls.
The Emperor Claudius therefore resolved upon a new invasion of Britain. Four legions, the 2nd, the 9th, the 14th, and the 20th, together with cavalry and auxiliaries, making perhaps 50,000 men, formed the army of invasion under Aulus Plautius in the year A.D. 43. Some delay was caused by the mutinous conduct of the troops, who declared that Britain lay beyond the limits of the world and refused to embark. However, they agreed at length to follow their General. With Aulus Plautius were Vespasian, afterwards Emperor, and Vespasian’s brother, Flavius Sabinus. What happened next to the Roman army is vaguely told by Dion Cassius. The whole passage is confused: it is evidently written by one who has no map before him: there is only one thing clear, viz. that at high tide there was a broad expanse of water, and at low tide a marsh. Consider the passage—Dion’s account is quoted in Edwin Guest’sOrigines Celticæ, vol. ii. p. 397:—
“When they had come to a certain river which the barbarians did not think the Romans could pass without a bridge, and on that account were encamped on the opposite side somewhat carelessly, he sends forward the Keltoi, whose custom it is to swim, with their arms, even over the most rapid rivers; and they having thus fallen on their opponents unexpectedly, though they hit none of the men, and only wounded the horses that drew the chariots, yet, as they were thus thrown into confusion, the riders could no longer be sure of their safety. He sent over also Flavius Vespasianus, the same who afterwards obtained the supreme power, and his brother Sabinus, who served under him as lieutenant, and so they also, having somewhere passed the river, slew many of the barbarians who were not expecting them. The rest, however, did not fly; but on the following day, having again come to an engagement, they contended on almost equal terms, till Cneius Osidius Geta, after running the risk of being captured, so thoroughly defeated them that he obtained triumphal honours, though he had never been Consul. The Britons having withdrawn themselves thence to the river Thames whence it empties itself into the ocean and at flow of tide forms a lake, and having easily passed it, as being well acquainted with such parts as were firm and easy of passage, the Romans followed them, but on this occasion failed in their object. The Keltoi, however, having again swum over, and certain others having passed by a bridge a little higher up, engaged them on several sides at once, and cut off many of them; but following the rest heedlessly, they fell into difficult marshes, and lost many of their men.”
The learned antiquary, Dr. Guest, is of opinion that London had as yet no existence, for it lay beyond the limits of the Trinobantes; that the marshes in which Aulus Plautius found himself entangled were those of the river Lea; that when he55 withdrew his soldiers he encamped on what is now the site of London, and that his camp began the City. He also supposes an uninhabited marsh-land stretching from the Lea to the Brent. All this is pure assumption. Nothing is said by the historian about any camp on the site of London. Moreover, Dion Cassius says nothing about the foundation of London, which, when he wrote his history about the end of the second century, was a very great and important city. And, as we have seen, Tacitus, writing in A.D. 61, speaks of London—it is the first mention of the town—as a populous and much-frequented place. One cannot believe that such a city would spring up and flourish in eighteen years. That London is on the confines or outside the confines of the Trinobantes does not affect the question, because most assuredly the foundation of London and its importance were due to its central position as a port and place of trade. My own opinion, already advanced, is simply that, at the coming of the Romans, London had arrived at importance on account of the annual Fair, but on no other account.
The first observation, however, that occurs on reading this passage is that the historian wrote without a map and without any knowledge of the country. It is perfectly impossible even to guess where the “certain river” was; how far it was from the Thames; where, upon the Thames, the Romans fell into the marshes; or where was the bridge over which some of the army passed. Dr. Guest thinks that the historian or the document from which he obtained his account confused the Lea with the Thames. That, however, brings us no nearer his point, which is that the Roman camp in which, after the engagements, Aulus Plautius awaited the arrival of the Emperor Claudius, was on the site of London and was the actual origin of the City. We may observe that there was not any bridge over the Thames for at least a hundred years after this battle. The only British bridges were those of which two or three examples, perhaps, survive, as on Dartmoor, where a narrow and shallow stream is crossed by slabs of stone lying on boulders or upright blocks. It is perfectly certain that there was no such bridge over the Thames; there may have been one over the Lea, but higher up. For “bridge” read ford perhaps. But the whole narrative is too confused. If the camp had been upon one of the twin hillocks overhanging the Walbrook, the historian would scarcely fail to call attention to the fact that on this spot had grown up one of the largest and most important towns in the Roman Empire. But a little consideration will show that Aulus Plautius would not have placed his camp on that place. First, even a Roman army did not march through thick forest and over trackless swampy moorland without an object. Either London was already settled, or it was a desolate and unknown place. If the former, Aulus may very well have encamped there, using the ordinary roads of communication. But in that case he cannot be said to have founded the town. If the latter, there was no road, or path, or way of getting at the place at all, save through the forests and moors which closed it in on the north and west, or over the marshes, or across the56 river. Now the first thing the Romans did on getting into a marsh was to get out of it as best they could—and to encamp on this hillock with marshes and forest all around, without a road of any kind or description, without any means of procuring supplies, would have been a military blunder which a Roman general was incapable of committing. It seems to me, therefore, perfectly certain that Aulus did not encamp upon the hill above Walbrook.
For the purposes of this work it is not necessary to inquire where he did encamp. We may, however, point out that the road from Dover to the north broke off near Lambeth, where the marsh began, and that it began again where the marsh ended on the other side opposite Thorney; that the invaders would certainly use this road; that there was here a ford at low tide, and that at high tide the marsh became a lake; so that I think we need go no higher up the river. The place was Lambeth or Westminster as I read it.
The taking of Camulodunum (Colchester) was followed by the submission of the tribes. The Emperor was himself present at the conclusion of the war, and held a splendid triumph, at which was exhibited an imitation of Camulodunum, which was attacked and defended by thousands of British captives reserved to kill each other in this mimic war.
The story of the Roman conquest reveals a people stubborn and brave. Tribe after tribe, nation after nation, fought for freedom; they were defeated, submitted, revolted, and were defeated again. Their young men were taken prisoners, were sent to Rome to grace the shows by fighting in the arena, or were enrolled in regiments and served in foreign countries. Vespasian and Titus won the south with thirty pitched battles; Aulus Plautius conquered the Midlands. A line of forts was constructed from the Severn to the fens; a colony of discharged soldiers was planted at Camulodunum, and the Britons were turned out of their farms to make room for these colonists.
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