1. Who were the Catuvellauni and the Atrebates?

2. When did the Romans under emperor Claudius invade Britain?

3. Why were the Roman troops unwilling to cross the ocean?

4. Who were Cartimandua and Boudicca?

5. Were they friends or enemies of the Romans?

 

From about 20 BC it is possible to distinguish two principal powers in Britain: the Catuvellauni north of the Thames, who established a paramount power all over the south-east and ruled from Camulodunum (Colchester), and, south of the river, the kingdom of the Atrebates. Beyond these kingdoms lay many other tribes such as the Iceni in what is now Norfolk, the Coritani in the Midlands, the Brigantes of Yorkshire, etc. […]

The Romans established a client relationship with certain British tribes. In particular, the Atrebatic kings welcomed Roman aid in their resistance to Catuvellaunian expansion. The decision of the emperor Claudius to conquer the island was the result partly of his personal ambition, partly of British aggression. […]

Under Aulus Plautius an army of four legions was assembled, together with a number of auxiliary regiments consisting of cavalry and infantry raised among warlike tribes subject to the empire. After delay caused by the troops’ unwillingness to cross the ocean, which they then regarded as the boundary of the human world, a landing was made at Richborough, Kent, in AD 43. The British were taken by surprise and defeated. They retired to defend the Medway crossing near Rochester but were again defeated in a hard battle. The way to Camulodunum was open, but Plautius halted at the Thames to await the arrival of the emperor, who took personal command of the final stages of the campaign. […]

Some tribes submitted, others were overrun in the following months. In a short time the main military opposition was crushed.

 

Cartimandua was the queen of the Brigantes, a large tribe in northern Britain, whose rule depended upon support from the invading Roman armies. After concluding a treaty with Rome early in its conquest of Britain, which began in AD 43, Cartimandua was faced with a series of revolts by anti-Roman elements among her subjects. In 48 the imperial forces intervened for the first time to help her quell these disturbances.

Three years later the Queen’s forces arrested the leader of the British resistance, Caratacus and turned him over to the Romans. In so doing she assured continuation of Roman support. In 57, when her husband and co-ruler, Venutius, attempted to overthrow her by stirring up anti-Roman sentiment, the legions put down the uprising. Venutius and Cartimandua were reconciled and reigned together until 69, when she left him for his armour bearer, Vellocatus. Once again Venutius rebelled, and for the third time the Queen was rescued by Roman troops. After this insurrection there is no further record of her career. In 71 the Romans defeated the Brigantes under Venutius and annexed their territory.

Boudicca, also called Boadicea, was an ancient British queen who in AD 60 led a revolt against Roman rule. Her husband, Prasutagus, was king of the Iceni (in what is now Norfolk) as a client under Roman suzerainty. When he died in 60 with no male heir, he left his private wealth to his two daughters and to the emperor Nero, trusting thereby to win imperial protection for his family. Instead, the Romans annexed his kingdom, humiliated his family, and plundered the chief tribesmen.

While the provincial governor Suetonius Paulinus was absent, Boudicca raised a rebellion through East Anglia. The rebels sacked and burned Camulodunum (Colchester), Verulamium (St. Albans),and Londinium (London) and several military posts. They massacred (according to Tacitus) 70,000 Romans and pro-Roman Britons. When Paulinus regained the province, Boudicca either took poison or fell ill and died.