CARATACUS

A king of the Catuvellauni tribe, who led the British resistance to the Roman invasion in the first century AD.

Caratacus (Caradog in Welsh) was a son of King Cunobelin of the Catuvellauni and a warrior chief already experienced in warfare before the Roman conquest began. He was actively involved in the expansion of his tribe’s territory, fighting battles to achieve this. He was the protege of his uncle Epaticcus, who was responsible for extending the power of the Catuvellauni westward into the territory of the Atrebates. Epaticcus died in about AD 35, and after that the Atrebates, under their leader, King Verica, were successful in regaining some of their lost territory. But Caratacus regained the upper hand, completed the Catuvellaunian conquest of the Atrebates, and Verica was deposed.

Success for Caratacus meant defeat for his enemies, and defeated kings went to Rome with their grievances. Verica went and appealed to Claudius to have his kingdom restored to him. This gave Claudius the pretext he was looking for to invade and conquer Britain in AD 43. By now, the powerful Cunobelin was dead and the defense of his Southern Kingdom was in the hands of two of his sons, Caratacus and Togodumnus. The smaller kingdoms in Britain were relatively powerless and disorganized, so it was left to Caratacus and Togodumnus to provide the leadership.

Rome meanwhile pitted four legions against Britain, under Aulus Plautius: around 40,000 men. In his resistance to Rome, Caratacus used a combination of guerrilla warfare and set-piece formal battles. He was more successful in guerrilla fighting and kept to this whenever he could.

The Catuvellauni were defeated in two crucial battles, on the Medway and Thames, and this led to the loss of most of the south-east to the Romans. According to one reading of the Roman accounts, Togodumnus was killed and the Catuvellauni territory was overrun by Rome. Another reading suggests that Togodumnus may have been on the side of Rome against his brother, survived the two battles and later continued to collaborate with the Romans.

Claudius arrived in Britain in time to witness his legions marching in triumph into the town of Camulodunum.

Caratacus survived this final defeat, retreating to the west, where he continued the resistance against the spread of Roman control in Wales, leading the Silures and Ordovices tribes. He was now fighting Plautius’ successor as governor, Publius Ostorius Scapula. Scapula defeated Caratacus in the Battle of Caer Caradoc, captured Caratacus’ wife and daughter, and received the surrender of his brothers. Caratacus himself somehow escaped capture and fled northward into the territory of the Brigantes. There Queen Cartimandua captured him and handed him over to the Romans.

Once Caratacus had been captured, the Romans were in control of most of what is now England and Wales. He was sent to Rome as a prize of war, and would, according to normal Roman practice, have been executed after a triumphal procession. In spite of being a captive, he was allowed to make a speech to the senate:

If the degree of my nobility and fortune had been matched by moderation in success, I would have come to this City as a friend rather than a captive, nor would you have disdained to receive with a treaty of peace one sprung from brilliant ancestors and commanding a great many nations. But my present lot, disfiguring as it is for me, is magnificent for you. I had horses, men, arms, and wealth: what wonder if I was unwilling to lose them? If you wish to command everyone, does it really follow that everyone should accept your slavery? If I were now being handed over as one who had surrendered immediately, neither my fortune nor your glory would have achieved brilliance. It is also true that in my case any reprisal will be followed by oblivion. On the other hand, if you preserve me safe and sound, I shall be an eternal example of your clemency.

This speech was so impressive and effective that Claudius pardoned Caratacus. He was granted a pension and he and his family were permitted to live in Rome. Caratacus in his turn was so overwhelmed by the majesty of the city that he was bewildered that the Romans could be interested in conquering Britain. He said, “And can you, then, who have such possessions and so many of them, covet our poor tents?”

CARTIMANDUA

Queen of the Brigantes in the first century AD. Her kingdom was in northern England and she ruled from about AD 43 until 69.

Little is known about her, though she was clearly influential in Roman Britain. Unlike Boudicca, who opposed the Romans, Cartimandua was an ally of Rome. In fact she formed a large tribal alliance that was loyal to Rome. The inscription on the triumphal arch of the emperor Claudius declared that 11 “kings” of Britain surrendered to Rome without fighting, and Cartimandua may have been one of them. She was of noble birth and probably ruled by hereditary right rather than by marriage. Her husband was Venutius. The couple were seen by Rome as loyal and, in return, they were “defended by our [Roman] arms.”

In AD 51, when Caratacus sought refuge with Cartimandua after he had been defeated by Ostorius Scapula in Wales, she put him in chains and handed him over to the Romans. In return for supplying Claudius with the prize exhibit for his triumph, she was rewarded with enormous wealth.

Eventually Cartimandua divorced Venutius and married his armor-bearer, a common soldier called Vellocatus. She took the precaution of holding Venutius’ brother and other relatives hostage, but Venutius still made war against her, building alliances against her. In about 55, he invaded her kingdom, but the Romans anticipated this and supplied Cartimandua with troops for her defense. There was some inconclusive fighting until Caesius Nasica appeared with a legion to defeat Venutius and the rebels. Rome recognized its debt to Cartimandua and helped her to keep her kingdom.

In 69, the year of four emperors, she was less lucky. During the instability Venutius mounted another revolt, aided by other tribes. Cartimandua asked the Romans for help, but this time they sent only auxiliaries. Cartimandua was evacuated and Venutius took over the kingdom of the Brigantes.

From this moment, Cartimandua vanishes from history.

CASSIVELLAUNUS

A great Celtic chief, and the earliest British Celt whose name we know. He was known as Caswallawn by his fellow Britons; the Romans knew him by the Latin form of his name, Cassivellaunus. He was king of the powerful Catuvellauni tribe and led the British resistance to Julius Caesar’s invasion of 55 and 54 BC. Caesar mentions him by name in his reminiscences. Cassivellaunus killed the King of the Trinovantes, whose son Mandubracius fled for his life to the European mainland to seek Caesar’s protection. At that time, Caesar was engaged in the conquest of Gaul and some of the British tribes had been supporting Gaulish tribes in resisting him, which explains his interest in invading Britain.

The Roman legions landed in Cantium (Kent) and their focus of attention was on the Thames estuary. Cassivellaunus’s strategy was to draw the Roman columns into the interior, with a view to mounting an attack on their landing-site, perhaps to cut off their retreat. His difficulty was in persuading his fellow kings to collaborate with his strategy. His ancestral tribal base was at St. Albans, but he had an ongoing feud with his neighbors to the east, the Trinovantes, who gave in to Caesar without a fight. Cassivellaunus also failed to rally the Cantii. Alone, the Catuvellauni were no match for the heavily armed legionaries of the Roman army On the other hand, Cassivellaunus’s 4,000 chariots were able to harry the Romans very effectively as they tried to ford the Thames River, and the Catuvellauni put up a good fight in pitched battle.

Cassivellaunus and his soldiers fled north, perhaps first to St. Albans and then to Camulodunum, hoping for an attack on the Romans’ rear from Cantium. When he saw that it was not going to happen, Cassivellaunus surrendered hostages to Caesar, who made him promise to leave the Trinovantes in peace and agree to pay Rome an annual tribute. Caesar also allowed the Trinovantes to appoint Mandubracius as their king.

After Cassivellaunus’s submission, Caesar considered that as far as Rome was concerned Britain had been conquered, and sailed away.

Cassivellaunus was the grandfather or great-grandfather of Cunobelin.