Slavery was a normal part of life in the classical world, and once Britain became part of the Roman Empire, it became a much more integral part of life within Britain itself. Society was completely dependent on slave labour and as Rome grew, the demand for slaves steadily increased. That demand was met by war and conquest, but people could also be enslaved because of debt and crime, or simply by birth. Freeing slaves was a common practice in the Roman world, and was often a reward for loyal service. Until that time a slave had no rights and no independent identity.
Freedmen are found almost everywhere in Britain, but having once been a slave was still something of a social stigma. The Claudian army was furious when the emperor sent his freedman Narcissus to encourage them to drop their opposition to the invasion. When Nero sent his own freedman, Polyclitus, to sort out the differences between the governor and procurator after the Boudican revolt, the Britons were said to be stunned that Roman senior administrators
Should have to obey an ex-slave. 44 Before the revolt, the Iceni had been subjected to exploitation by official slaves on the procuratorial staff, adding
Insult to injury.45
There can be no doubt that thousands of Britons were enslaved during the conquest, though we know nothing about individual cases. The speech composed by Tacitus for Calgacus, leader of the Caledonian tribes in the war against Agricola, stated that slavery was the consequence of defeat. In it, Calgacus encouraged his men to fight so that they could escape the prospect of
‘tribute, the mines, and all the other penalties of slavery’. 46 Tacitus also used the term metaphorically, as he regarded defeated peoples, or those who had
Accepted Roman ways, as effectively ‘enslaved’.47 In the same way, the Carausian regime was accused by the legitimate Empire of having ‘enslaved’ the children of the Britons.
Not surprisingly, we have very few instances of individual slaves in Britain since they were unlikely to be in a position to record themselves. However, a recently discovered document, dating to c. 75-125, concerns the sale of a slave
Woman from Gaul called Fortunata.48 She had been bought for 600 denarii by an imperial slave, Vegetus, who was himself owned by a senior imperial slave, Iucundus. There is no certainty that the transaction occurred in London, where the document was found, but another tablet from London famously records the
Intention ‘to turn that girl into cash’.49
Most slaves in Britain led anonymous lives, engaged in endless cycles of toil that could have involved anything from turning the water-wheels in London to tilling the soil on the wind-blown agricultural terraces beside Housesteads fort on Hadrian’s Wall. At Caistor-by-Norwich, leg-irons have been found. Slaves who were unruly or unreliable were routinely shackled into chain gangs for their work and then chained in prisons at night.
Life for any slave could be hard, but especially so was that of the rural slave,
Who was lumped together with farm animals and tools as a means of cultivating
The land.50 Even worse was life in the mines, which was short and vicious. In the first century BC, Columella, in his book on agriculture, recommended that a villa estate consist of the residential house, the farmhouse and the storehouse. He declared that the farmhouse should be where the slave staff lived in individual rooms, unless they worked as shepherds or herdsmen, in which case they should occupy part of the animal buildings. The Gorhambury (Hertfordshire) villa is just one of many instances where this pattern seems to have been followed. At Hambleden (Buckinghamshire), nearly a hundred infant burials were discovered. Possibly the offspring of slaves on the estate, they recall Columella’s suggestion that female slaves be encouraged to bear children, and to be
Exempted from work if they had three sons, or even freed if they had more.51
This sexual side to slave life could occasionally work out for the best. Along with that of Regina, the wife of Barates, the other remarkable tombstone from South Shields is of Victor, the Moorish tribesman and freedman of Numerianus, a young trooper in the First Cavalry Regiment of Asturians [218]. It has been suggested, based on the tombstone’s affectionate nature, that Victor and Numerianus had had a homosexual relationship, which led to his freedom and the expensive tombstone.
Freedmen are in fact the best evidence for the existence of slaves in Britain, particularly the freedmen of soldiers. At Bath, Aufidius Maximus, centurion of the VI legion, benefited from a dedication to the goddess Sulis, made on his behalf by his freedman, Marcus Aufidius Lemnus. Lucius Manius Dionisias made a similar gesture to his former master, Gaius Javolenus Saturnalis, a
Standard-bearer with the II legion.52 Freedmen also included prominent individuals in Romano-British civic communities. Marcus Aurelius Lunaris, the sevir Augustalis at Lincoln and York, was probably a freedman since the post was normally held by one.
2i8. South Shields (Northumberland).
Tombstone from Arbeia of Victor the Moor, freedman of Numerianus, a soldier in the First Cavalry Regiment of Asturians. Victor may have been a spoil of war, or perhaps simply an unfortunate sold into the slave trade. Early third century.
World History
