The Mammoth Book of King Arthur (4 page)

These
civitas
capitals were rather like present day county towns. They were essentially self-governing, run by elected magistrates. Although all too few of these magistrates’ names
survive, it is entirely likely that they came from the ruling families of the tribes and that the pre-Roman mini-kingdoms effectively continued, now reconstituted in Roman form (
see
Map 2
).

The capitals were not the only important towns in Roman Britain. Of more significance were the
coloniae.
Initially these were independent towns with their own
surrounding territory (separate from the
civitates
) and city council, occupied only by Roman citizens, usually retired soldiers and administrators. There were originally three
coloniae
: Camulodunum (Colchester), Lindum (Lincoln) and Glevum (Gloucester). Eboracum (York), one of the most important cities in Roman Britain, was later granted the status of
colonia
by the emperor Septimius Severus, who used it as his imperial capital from 208 until his death in 211, while he was involved in campaigns against the northern tribes.

York had been one of the three legionary fortresses at the start of the Roman occupation. It was home first to the IX Hispana Legion and then, from around 122, to the VI
Victrix Legion. The other two fortresses were Isca (Caerleon), the home of the II Augustan Legion, and Deva (Chester) home, from around 87
AD
onwards, of the XX Valeria
Victrix. Each became known as the City of the Legion. Before becoming a
colonia
, Lincoln had also briefly been a legionary fort, as had Wroxeter before it was developed as a
civitas
capital, but their legionary days were over by around 87
AD
.

Some large towns also acquired the status of
municipium
, in which the ruling magistrates and their families were all granted Roman citizenship. Each
colonia
must have been a
municipium
before rising in status. It is known that Verulamium (St. Albans) was later granted this status, and it is likely that Londinium (London) and Venta Belgarum (Winchester) were
similarly rewarded. There were other smaller towns and forts, but those listed above were the primary centres of Roman Britain. They gave their occupants a status in the Roman world, although not
all freeborn Britons were automatically granted Roman citizenship (that did not happen until 212, during the reign of Caracalla).

There were also countless villas dotted around the countryside. The majority were in the south, with concentrations around Gloucester and Cirencester, between Silchester and Winchester, and
around London. Their number rapidly thinned to the north, and there were no substantial villas north of Vinovium, a fort near what is now Binchester, in County Durham. These villas, the Roman
equivalent of stately homes, were also working farms, more suited to the soils of the southern lowlands.

North of Vinovia was essentially a military zone, running up to Hadrian’s Wall and beyond to the Antonine Wall, an earth rampart with a series of forts built between the Forth and the
Clyde. An advance under emperor Antoninus Pius in 139 was maintained for barely twenty years, and after Pius’s death in 161 there was an effective withdrawal to Hadrian’s Wall.

Between the walls lay the Scottish lowlands, inhabited by three major tribes (four if you count the Damnonii who lived in the area of what is now Glasgow). To the east were the Votadini, whose
territory stretched from what is now Edinburgh down as far as
Newcastle. To the west, in the area of Galloway, were the Novantae. In the centre, inhabiting the vast wooded
uplands, were the Selgovae. The Romans never conquered these tribes, but did reach a peace with the more amenable Votadini. The largest forts that the Romans established in the Scottish lowlands,
at Bremenium (High Rochester) and Trimontium (Galashiels) were in the territory of the Votadini, and were as much to protect the Votadini as to serve the Roman advance.

Further north, beyond the Antonine Wall, was the heartland of the peoples who were to become known as the Picts. Writing at the start of the third century, the Roman historian and governor
Cassius Dio recognised two main groupings of tribes: the Caledonii, far to the north, and the Mæatae, or Miathi, a confederation of Pictish tribes who lived just north of the Antonine Wall,
near Stirling. In fact, both the Caledonii and Mæatae were confederations of tribes who united against the Romans, and in time they came to be ruled by separate Pictish kings.

There were many fortresses along Hadrian’s Wall, and at the western end was the fortress town of Luguvalium (Carlisle). In later years this was raised to the status of a capital of the
civitas
of Carvetiorum, the homeland of the Carvetii tribe, an offshoot of the Brigantes. Luguvalium remained a military town, and was the largest of any administrative significance in
northern Britain.

All of these towns, fortresses and villas were linked by a system of roads that remains the basis for the country’s existing network, fourteen centuries later (
see
Map 3
). The roads
were kept in good repair by the army, certainly into the fourth century, and would still have been in good condition in Arthur’s day. They were essential for Arthur’s forces (and those
of other war leaders) in moving quickly across country. The Romans regarded a day’s steady march as twenty miles and as a consequence staging posts and refreshment establishments appeared at
roughly twenty-mile intervals along all of the major routes. These did not vanish overnight at the end of the Roman era. As archaeology is still rediscovering, Britain was a thriving society
throughout the Roman period and it was not until some time afterwards that the major towns were abandoned and the native Britons returned to their hill forts and encampments.

2. The first Arthur?

Despite the Romans having stamped their authority on Britain, the undercurrent of rebellion was always there. After the Boudiccan revolt, the southern tribes learned to adapt to
the Roman way of life, recognising the benefits, though that did not mean that they lost their individual identity. The creation of the
civitas
perpetuated the original tribal structure, and
this remained throughout the Roman occupation.

The northern tribes were less compliant. Hadrian’s Wall was built as much to separate the north’s two main troublemakers, the Brigantes and the Selgovae, as it was to contain the
Empire. It was almost certainly at this time that the Brigantian
civitas
was created, with the capital at Isurium. At the same time a more extensive network of forts was developed in the
west, suggesting that although the eastern Brigantes were calming down, the western Brigantes remained less trustworthy. Amongst these forts was Bremetennacum, modern-day Ribchester, which was
significantly developed at the start of the second century. Over the next hundred years or so a large civilian settlement developed around the fort, making it a town of some note.

When the Roman forces moved north to man the Antonine Wall, with the inevitable reduction in troops along Hadrian’s Wall, the equally inevitable rebellion happened. Although evidence is
thin, it looks as if the western Brigantes, perhaps in a concerted action with the Selgovae, rose up against the Romans in 154
AD
, with widespread destruction, so that troops
came back from the Antonine Wall and a new governor, Julius Verus, was brought in with additional troops. Verus regained control by 158
AD
, and the Brigantes were deprived of
their
civitas.
It was probably at this time that the
civitas
at Carlisle was created.

An uneasy peace remained. A generation later, around 183, there was another rebellion, this time from the tribes north of the wall. Archaeological evidence suggests that they broke through the
wall near the fort of Onnum (Halton) and attacked the forts at Cilurnum (Chesters) and Vindobala (Rudchester), their army probably marching down the Roman road of Dere Street, attacking
Coriosopitum (Corbridge). Just how far south they reached is not clear. There’s some suggestion they may have reached York.
Cassius Dio reported that they “did a
great amount of damage, even cutting down a general together with his troops.” David Breeze, in
The Northern Frontiers of Roman Britain
, has suggested that the officer killed may have
been a legate from York, or a provincial governor. It may be pertinent that the term of office of the governor, Quintus Antistius Adventus, ceased in 183, suggesting that he was either recalled to
face the wrath of the emperor Commodus or was killed.

A new governor, Lucius Ulpius Marcellus, who had served in Britain ten years earlier, was despatched to Britain. Commodus must have felt it was important to have a man who knew the territory and
was noted for his discipline and severity. According to Cassius Dio, Marcellus was “a temperate and frugal man and when on active service lived like a soldier . . . but he was becoming
haughty and arrogant.” Apparently Marcellus needed little sleep and was forever issuing commands and orders, ensuring that his soldiers also slept little. So although he might have endeared
himself to some, he must have made many enemies. He inflicted major defeats on the Picts, but the soldiers were in disarray, and Marcellus was recalled. A new governor, Publius Helvius Pertinax,
was sent to Britain in 185 to sort out the mess.