Britain after the Roman Invasion

When Julius Caesar made his expeditions to Britain, he only ventured as far as the South-East before abandoning his exploration. Now it was 43 AD and the Romans had won complete control of the whole country. Britain was now a Roman province: Britannia. Romans of this time, were now traveling further afield to seek out more distant tribes to bring them under the Roman rule.

Even though they now ruled Britannia, they had not, as yet, traveled much beyond the Midlands. Roman knowledge of Britain was very limited at this point, and it was the task of Plautius to take his Roman forces further north. From writings of that time and archaeological finds, it has been established that the Romans occupied an area that extended south from the Humber Estuary the Trent and West from Bristol.

That is where the Romans made a big mistake. The province of Britannia was a divided country. The South and South0East were under Roman rule, with the tribes devoid of weapons. The remainder of the country still had the tribes in control of their own territories and with their weapons intact. Wars between tribes was common, but the southern tribes only had the protection of their new ROMAN masters. This caused unrest, especially amongst those tribes that had been openly hostile to the Romans.

The Romans now had an abundant supply of silver lead ore in the Mendips, iron from the South East along with other minerals that could be of use.

It was the task of Plautius to not only bring the whole country under Roman rule, but to also make them into respectable Roman citizens. The Roman invasion had, so far concentrated in the lower part of Britain, where the land was mostly flat and of good agricultural value. The next part of the occupation was to extend to the north, where the landscape was more mountainous and bleak. In this area, the natives were independent, with a much more basic way of life than those in the South. These people wouldn't submit so readily to becoming model citizens of a foreign power. This wasn't going to be much of a problem though, as the Romans had years of experience in battling savage tribes in other foreign lands. The Romans were not just fighters, they were also masters diplomatic tactics for their own ends. They had a simple political method to win land: The relationship with a selected ruler. They looked upon themselves as "patrons," and the peoples they conquered as "clients." This was especially so, when dealing with those having a high social status and wealth. The leaders would take great care of their people, and in return receive unshakable loyalty from their subjects. So, we see that the Emperor would look upon the king of a tribe under his control as a client. He would also expect the subjects in that tribe to follow suit with their leader. The Romans would make treaties with the tribal leaders. These treaties would ensure the King and their tribe pledged allegiance to Rome, and in return would be assisted by Rome in any invasion from another force into their country, or internal revolt.

The application of such an attitude secured the northern frontier, the area around the Pennines. Using their political skill, the Romans brought into the fold lands that were that were inhabited by a number of minor tribes with the Parisi in the east. This was a large tribe — prosperous and socially more advanced, compared to the remainder. The brilliance of the Roman diplomatic machine managed to bring all these people under the influence of one ruler, Queen Cartimandua. She was most likely belonged to one of the leading families and held a very high position within their structure. Her position was strengthened following her marriage to Venutius, a senior in a tribe from the northern territory. Knowing the Romans, it could well be that this marriage was a political move engineered for the purposes of winning over the remainder of the tribes. this made the Roman position even more secure, with Cartimandua remaining loyal throughout the crises that arose during the next 20 years. She was powerful, and resisted all attempts by those around her to persuade her to break the treaty.

The Romans were also using the same tactics to gain the confidence of those West of Bristol. This time they were not so successful, as a suitable leader was not found amongst these tribes. Caratacus had succeeded in gained control of these areas and with powerful Druid support, he had prevented any defections to Rome. Devon and Cornwall was occupied by the Dumnonii and they probably had a treaty with the Romans that did not quite go as far as the client relationship.