The Roman Conquest

Introduction:
By right of their superior civilization, the Romans came to
exploit and invade England. Their success with the Gauls
was permanent, but in Britain the initial success
culminated in failure. In the end, the Romans left behind
them three valuable things: the Welsh Christianity, the
Roman roads and the new city sites, especially that of
London.
However, the Latin life of the cities, the villas, the art, the
language and the political organization of Rome vanished
like a dream. It is a matter of fact that the Romans did not
succeed in permanently Latinizing Britain as they Latinized
France.
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• What attracted the Romans to Britain:

• The Island’s Wealth in terms of:
• Agriculture: forests for woods and farmlands
• Metals: Iron was an essential metal for the empire and was
able to be crafted into a wide array of tools.
• Tools such as ploughs, hoes, sickles, and pitchforks were crucial
for agricultural purposes just as iron weapons – javelins,
arrows, swords, armor – were needed for the military.
• Perhaps an even more important use for iron was in the tools of
blacksmiths. Anvils were almost always made of iron, the
hardest metal the Romans had access to, and even the
hammers, tongs, and chisels were often made of iron.
• Slavery: forced industry workers and soldiers in the Roman
army.
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• Julius Caesar’s Expedition (55-54 B.C):

• Caesar arrived to Britain in 55 B. C. His intention was
not to set up a Roman administration because he had
neither time nor enough men for that. His decision
was enhanced by the need for tribute and slaves to
enrich his partisans, pay his soldiers, and fill his war-
chest. Another motivation behind Caesar’s invasion
was to force the tribes of North Gaul into submission.
In fact, the tribes of North Gaul and South Britain
were so closely allied that Gaul would be more
submissive if its neighbors were constrained to pay
tribute and to fear the mighty name of Rome.
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• Caesar’s first invasion was a failure because he took

too small force and met the resistance of the local
populations.
• In 54 B. C, he built a strong army and tried to invade
the island, but he was obliged to return to Rome
because of the different political conflicts. The
expedition of 54 B. C was not a great success either.
Cicero wrote that gold was secured in very
inadequate qualities, the slaves were too ignorant
to fete fancy prices in the market, and there had
been neither the time nor the means to carry off
rebellious clans.
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• Claudius Conquest:
• In 43 AD, general Plautius landed in England with four
legions as an advance guard of annexation which was to be
directed by emperor Claudius in person. The Romans
wanted the British corns, the produce of its mines and to
stop the ceaseless troubles in Gaul by the Druid priests of
the independent British tribes. The first region to be
occupied was Kent.
• Since 50AD, the Romans occupied all the South and East of
Severn and Trent. In 61, they arrived to Wales where they
massacred the Druids.
• The Romans faced a strong Celtic resistance mainly by the
Tceni tribe and its queen, Boadicea. In 75, the Romans
spread their occupation until York and Chester in the North.
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• C) Britain and Agricola 77-84 AD:

• The arrival of Agricola marked the beginning
of the control of Wales by the introduction of
a system of roads and forts. This also provided
the means to conquer Ireland while leaving
the conquest of Scotland incomplete. At that
time, then, many roads were built. In the
second century, after the Hadrian wall,
Antonius built another one as a frontier from
coast to coast.
 The Romanization of Britain
• The Romanization of Britain:
• Even during its heyday of prosperity and peace, Britain was
never really absorbed into the Roman world. In the
mountains beyond Chester and York and the South West,
there were military establishments where the majority of the
Britons were untouched by the Roman civilization. Tribes
lived apart paying their tribute of taxes but always aware of
the lost land and hoped for independence. Towns grew in the
south, trading posts and villas multiplied along the main road.
London, a Celtic name was to play so great a part first in
English history after it gained its original importance under
the Roman rule. It was the best leading place for continental
commerce coming up the estuary of the Thames.
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The most obvious characteristic of Roman Britain was

its towns which were the basis of Roman
administration and civilization. Many grew up of
Celtic settlements, military camps or market centers.
There were three different types of these towns:
A- Colonaie: towns peopled by Roman settlers.
B- Municipia: large cities in which the whole
pupolation was given Roman citizenship.
The civitas: including the old Celtic tribal capitals,
through which the Romans administered the Celtic
population in the countryside.
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• Outside the towns, the biggest change during

the Roman occupation was the growth of
large farms called ‘villas’. They belonged to the
richer Britons who were, like the towns
people, more Roman than Celts in their
manners. The villas were usually closed to
towns so that the crops could be sold easily.