77-273: The Problem of Caledonia

The arrival of Gnaeus Julius Agricola gives us the most famous Roman Governor of antiquity because his life and deeds were written up by the Roman historian, his son-in-law Tacitus, but he was an important element in the final conquest of Britain even if his public relations ran ahead of his achievements. Having moved against the Ordovices and Anglesey, over which Rome had temporarily lost control, Agricola then undertook a campaign to subdue Northern England in 78, possibly as far as the Firth of Tay (Scotland) in the following year. There may even have been a small exploratory expedition to Ireland similar to that of Caesar's in 55 though nothing came of it and nothing may be assumed about its reality.

In 80, Agricola was faced with a major Caledonian (Scottish) rising. A war ensued that led to the pivotal battle of Mons Graupius (83-84) in the far north of Scotland which, if it actually took place (there is some doubt amongst a minority of historians) resulted in the complete defeat of the Northern British, led by Calgacus, Chief of the Caledonian Confederation. Whether the 10,000 British casualties figure is true or not is debatable but the Romans are unlikely to have taken many prisoners so far from home and surrounded by the enemy. Nevertheless, the battle may still have left 20,000 defeated but still formidable Caledonians in the surrounding forests.

Tacitus almost certainly invents a famous speech by Calgacus before the battle that probably tells us more about Roman doubts and sensibilities than it does those of the British. It is worth quoting in full because it suggests that intelligent Romans had some qualms about the ethical basis for their own imperialist endeavours:

Whenever I consider the origin of this war and the necessities of our position, I have a sure confidence that this day, and this union of yours, will be the beginning of freedom to the whole of Britain. To all of us slavery is a thing unknown; there are no lands beyond us, and even the sea is not safe, menaced as we are by a Roman fleet. And thus in war and battle, in which the brave find glory, even the coward will find safety. Former contests, in which, with varying fortune, the Romans were resisted, still left in us a last hope of succour, inasmuch as being the most renowned nation of Britain, dwelling in the very heart of the country, and out of sight of the shores of the conquered, we could keep even our eyes unpolluted by the contagion of slavery. To us who dwell on the uttermost confines of the earth and of freedom, this remote sanctuary of Britain's glory has up to this time been a defence. Now, however, the furthest limits of Britain are thrown open, and the unknown always passes for the marvellous. But there are no tribes beyond us, nothing indeed but waves and rocks, and the yet more terrible Romans, from whose oppression escape is vainly sought by obedience and submission. Robbers of the world, having by their universal plunder exhausted the land, they rifle the deep. If the enemy be rich, they are rapacious; if he be poor, they lust for dominion; neither the east nor the west has been able to satisfy them. Alone among men they covet with equal eagerness poverty and riches. To robbery, slaughter, plunder, they give the lying name of empire; they make a solitude and call it peace.

This speech inspired intellectual and educated anti-imperialists and British nationalists within the later British Imperium when it aspired to be the New Rome and perhaps acted as a restraint on a ruling caste educated in the classics and torn between the libertarian values of the Isles and the mission to create an ethical world empire. Be all that as it may, and despite doubts about the extent of Agricola's victory, the drive against the North Britons created space for the South Britons to be fully romanised. In fact, Scotland itself was far from pacified. Within a few years of Agricola's campaign, Rome had withdrawn to a line between the Tyne and Solway Firth which was to be the Roman frontier for much of Imperial history.

Hadrian's Wall today (For Source - See Note 1)

In 117, Hadrian became Emperor and appeared in Britain in 121 after a rebellion (119-121) in order to restore order. He famously settled the matter (with one significant gap under the later Antonines 142-162 which temporarily restored the frontier to the Firth of Forth and Firth of Clyde line and was briefly reoccupied by Septimus Severus in 208-211) of the boundary between barbarian North Briton and Roman Britain by ordering the building of his famous wall along the Tyne-Solway frontier between 122 and 128 under his Governor Aulus Platorius Nepos. Hadrian died in 138.

Rome's Northernmost Frontier - The Antonine Wall (Source - Wikipedia)

As suggested above, the advance into Scotland by Emperor Antoninus Pius in 140 was a temporary business especially as the tribes between the Antonine (under Governor Quintus Lolius Albinus) and Hadrian's Wall were organised into another anti-Roman confederacy, the continuously troublesome Maeatae: the Antonine Wall may have merely been intended to limit the connections between these lowland tribes and the Caledonians to their North as well as to control trade between them. The withdrawal from the more northerly wall in 162 simply meant the restoration of Hadrian's Wall as the definitive frontier under Marcus Aurelius.

The vulnerability of Southern Britain to Caledonian resurgence is demonstrated at the end of the second century AD. Septimius Severus, who was to die in Eboracum (York) in 211, became Emperor in 193 and appointed Clodius Albinus, a powerful Imperial politician who had tried to become Emperor in 193, as Governor of Britain. It may have been a necessary but was not a wise choice because the British and Hispanic Legions declared for Clodius Albinus as Emperor and the Legions followed him in a (second) attempt in 196 to seize the Imperial throne. Britain was left undefended. What actually happened next is unclear but it is probable that the northern tribes started to become troublesome with the withdrawal of the three Legions generally required to hold down the province. Once Clodius Albinus had been crushed with consummate brutality (Septimius Severus is said to have ridden his horse over his naked corpse as an act of humiliation and beheaded his wife and sons), Severus returned to Britain personally to restore order on the Scottish frontier with near-genocidal fervour. After his death, his son Caracalla eventually sued for peace and the Romans permanently withdrew to the Tyne-Solway line. The engagement of these Emperors in Britain throughout this period suggests that the South of Britain was a major economic asset to be protected even at great cost in men and financial resources. At the end of the day, we must never forget that empires are fundamentally intended to be profitable businesses. Legions were merely what corporate lawyers are today - very expensive necessities.

Notes

1. "Hadrian's wall at Greenhead Lough" by Velella - Personal photograph taken by Velella.. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hadrian%27s_wall_at_Greenhead_Lough.jpg#/media/File:Hadrian%27s_wall_at_Greenhead_Lough.jpg