A guide to its North West Frontier in Britain
The Northern-British-Roman Frontier
Northern Roman Frontier
Forts and Roads
There is more to the defence of the Northern Roman British Frontier than Hadrian’s Wall. First, there are forts south of the Wall defending the lines of communications, On Dere Street (roughly the A68 from Corbridge south to York the legionary HQ) Binchester was built to defend the River Wear crossing and Piercebridge defending the River Tees crossing. Whitley Castle was on the Maiden Way fifteen miles down the South Tyne, there to control the lead mining.
Possibly the most important road was from York to Carlisle.
The Cumbria forts defended the road (roughly A66) southeast through the Stainmore Gap to York (with the forts in Durham), the home of the Legionnaire fortress.
Also, there was a road south from Brampton to Ribchester, Manchester and the Legionnaire fortress at Chester
These forts were there to defend road communications.
Then there were a series of forts north of the Wall like Bewcastle north of Birdoswald and forts defending Dere Street North of the Wall such as Risingham, High Rochester, and Newsteads near Montrose.( both on A68).
The Cumbrian coastal defences continue south from the end of the Wall at Bowness on Solway with turrets, Milecastles and forts, but no wall. At Maryport, there is a fort with a large extramural settlement and Ravenglass with some of the tallest Roman ruins in the North of England. Just east of Maryport was Papcastle, a Roman town, probably the largest after Carlisle.
The Conquest of the North
BRIGANTES-TRIBAL-AREA
The Brigantes tribe inhabited most of the north with the exception of the Carvettii in Cumbria and Parisii in east Yorkshire. It was probably the largest tribe and certainly occupied the largest territory in Britain. At the time of the invasion in AD43, the tribe signed a treaty with Rome as an ally, which meant that they were not occupied and remained self-governing.
Queen Cartimandua
Queen Cartmandua
Queen Cartimandua, in her own right, ruled the tribe from the time of the Roman invasion until AD 69, She started to lose support from AD 51, when the British resistance leader Caratacus sought refuge with Brigantes. He had resisted the Romans in the South and in Wales and was finally defeated. The Queen is said to have put him in chains and handed him over to the Romans, and was well rewarded for it. It was expected that he would be executed after being sent to Rome with his family to be paraded through the city as part of Emperor Claudius’s Triumph for the conquest of Britain. Emperor Claudius was persuaded to give clemency after Caratacus’s personal appeal. He retired to the Italian countryside.
Venutius, her husband led a revolt against her and there was a civil war that continued on and off throughout her reign and she only survived with Roman help.
The Boadicean insurrection (circa 60 AD) did little to settle the situation. The decision of Cartimandua to divorce her husband and marry her bodyguard did not help her cause. Finally, the Roman civil war after the death of Nero enabled Venutius to gain control and Cartimandua only escaped with the help of the Roman Army.
New Emperor New Governor
Vespasian
With the death of Nero, there was no obvious successor as the entire Julio-Claudian dynasty had gone and the family of Augustus and Julia were no more. It was up to the military commanders to fight it out for the imperial crown.
Vespasian was a veteran soldier of the lowest senatorial rank and gained control after three other emperors were deposed. He served a legion legate during the invasion and had been given an independent command to conquer the South West.
He was Governor of Judea, covering a revolt by the Jews and fought his way to the crown by the end of AD69.
In AD 71 he appointed Cerialis Governor, an ally from the civil war, who had been a legate in Britain.
He immediately invaded Brigantes, probably from Lincoln, and began to build the Legionnaire fortress at York.
With the 9th Legion and a number of cohorts of ancillary cavalry and infantry, Cerialis marched north. He ordered Agricola, then legate of the 20th Legion with more ancillary troops to marsh north from its base at Wroxester west of the Pennines.
There are no details; it is likely that Cerialis’ army passed through the Stanmore Gaps between Bowes and Brough in Cumbria (both with Roman forts built later) from York. Governor Cerialis joined Agricola in the west to march north to Carlisle, which was the regional capital of the Carvettii tribe. A log has identified that a fort was built about AD72/73.
At the end of Cerialis’ governorship in AD 73, Brigantes had been occupied, but probably far from conquered. Roman governors served 3 years in the post, any longer considered dangerous. In 74AD the new governor Frontinus decided to locate the legionary fortress at Chester which was established and built by the 2nd Adiutrix legion. This legion had just been formed by Vespasian from Naval forces.
Frontinus seemed to have concentrated on fully subduing South Wales and occupying parts of North Wales. He built the legionary fortress at Caerleon in 75 AD and occupied the 2nd Legion, which came with the invasion.
The Roman Art of Conquest
The first task was building roads so that troops could move quickly to trouble spots and the courier could pass information to the high command. In extreme circumstances, reports could be sent from Carlisle to York in one day (about 120 miles along the Roman road). Armed camps later turf and wood forts would defend the river crossings and strong points along the roads. This was to defend the bridges and provide fresh horses for the couriers. The couriers had an organised structure in the cursus publicus, a Roman express postal service.
What followed was usually Romanisation, which included towns, markets and luxury goods. What tribe leader would want his Roman Villa instead of a smoky roundhouse? The benefits overcame the taxes. By 100AD Britain south of Chester was a typical Roman province, no different from any other province in the empire except in Wales and the north. There would have almost no garrisons in the South, they were not needed.
North of the rough line between York and Ribchester, this did not happen, the tribal system did not break down, and the old order prevailed. They were not often in open revolt but they did not consider themselves Romans.
Agricola
Agrcola
In 77/78 AD Frontinus retired and was replaced by Gnaeus Julius Agricola, former legate of the 20th legion, governor and Consol. Agricola’s son-in-law was Tacitus, historian and senate, as a result, we know more about him than any other governor of Britain. The problem is that Tacitus frames him as the perfect governor, and as a result, we are unlikely to find out what he got wrong. Immediately upon arrival, he finished the conquest of North Wales in 78 AD.
In 78/79 AD he turned his attention to the North, which had already been conquered. By 80 AD there were a considerable number of forts had been built, particularly in East Cumbria, Durham and Northumberland, but without dating evidence it is difficult to determine under which governor the forts were built. Significant numbers of roads were also built in these areas, possibly the Stanegate from Corbridge to Carlisle and probably west to Kilbride; again roads are difficult to date.
In 79/80 AD Agricola moved into “Scotland”, which is not part of this story
Northern Garrisons
It was probably that a large proportion of the British garrison was moved to the North by about 80 AD and was used for the Scottish invasion and to man the northern forts. So who was deployed in what we now call Scotland? Probably most of the 9th Legion, part of the 2nd Legion, and of the 20th Legion. 2nd Adiutrix legion was probably left at Chesters. The ancillary troopers were in the majority. It is unlikely that Agricola’s invasion of Scotland consisted of less than 30,000 troops, at least 15,000 were needed to garrison the recently conquered North in view of the significant fort building programme.
It is possible that the British garrison was supplemented from the continent in the early 80’AD taking into account a significant force in the newly conquered Welsh territory; we are looking at a British garrison approaching 60,000 troops.
When the problem developed in Dacia (Rumania). The 2nd Adiutrix legion and number cohorts of ancillaries were removed from Britain possibly in 87AD. It was necessary to start to evaluate parts of Scotland and these troops were incorporated into Northern defences.
First, it was the garrisons, north of or on the Clyde/ Forth corridor. that were withdrawn and this coincided with additional forts being built in Western Cumbria, which had largely been bypassed during the northern conquest.
About 105AD the rest of the Scottish invasion force was withdrawn. The reason was probably increased hostility north of the Stanegate; it could have been the Dacia campaign, where troops would have been required at this time
The Stanegate road was the obvious choice for the new frontier, running from Carlisle to Corbridge built 25 years before. There were already forts at Carlisle, Vindolanda, Corbridge and Carvoran on the road, more would be added and these existing forts enhanced. The Stanegate was extended to Kirkbride, on the Cumbrian possibly about this time.
After this change, the Ninth Legion based at York was moved from Britain. There is no certainty on dates except it was later than 108 and before 122AD, the best guess is 114 AD, if this is the case then there was no legate in York.
Hadrian
When Hadrian came to the throne in 117 AD there was a war in Britain, in which the Romans suffered heavy losses, there are no details, except that a victory medal was issued in 119 AD.
The best assumptions available are that it was in the North and it was an incursion from Scotland. It is likely that the command structure had in the past controlled the frontier from York, but that command structure had probably moved on, this may have contributed to the problem. With no legion at York, the problem would have been greater.
There is no detailed written information between this process and the building of Hadrian’s Wall years later.
With this number of troops, the British governorship was almost as important as any in the Empire. The Northern British Frontier was the most heavily defended frontier.
At this point in time ancillary troopers represented about 80% of the British Garrison., with only 2 legions.
[Two hundred years later the forts were still occupied, although with reduced manning. Some forts were manned to the end of the 4th century and beyond.]