THE EARLY HISTORY OF BARLICK (8)

[Stanley]

THE EARLY HISTORY OF BARLICK (8)

19 October 2001

Last week we had a look at what was happening in the Isle in the first century AD. In order to come to some understanding of what was happening in Barlick at the time we need to look more closely at the arrival of the Romans in force. The most important fact we have to understand is that this was the first time in the history of the Isles that we had been conquered by an invader. The Claudian Invasion was just that, a full-blooded take-over of the Isle by a foreign power. Up to this point Britannica as the Romans called the Isle had no unity. It was a collection of territories overseen by local warlords or chiefs. By the turn of the millennium the various local tribes had amalgamated into larger units such as the Brigantes in the north. They had their own hierarchies and culture and in their own eyes would be fairly complex and sophisticated.
They were very successful agriculturalists and had exploited natural resources such as mining metal ores and processing them. They understood foreign trade, transport and travel, indeed many had travelled to Rome and some had permanent homes there from which they acted as merchants. They sold the Romans wheat and metals and bought wines, olive oil, spices and luxury goods which they sent back to Britannia. Some of the Roman culture rubbed off on to them and they imported this to the Isle as well. It was the fact that these traders were doing so well that led them to appeal to Claudius for help to pacify the country around 40AD when they saw that the Catuvellauni in what is now Herefordshire and the Trinovantes in Essex were a threat to their livelihood.
It would be a mistake to imagine that this improvement in the quality of life was restricted to the southern half of the country. The mechanism by which improvement spread would be that it travelled to the seats of wealth and power, the tribal cities such as Colchester, York, Chester and some which, like Stanwick and Isurium (Aldborough), the headquarters of the Brigantes, have declined in importance. Some of the more affordable luxuries would spread inside the tribal areas and so it isn’t outside the bounds of probability that Barlick in its own small way shared in the improvements. The scale of the share would be decided by how much surplus production an area had. I think we have to assume that Barlick wouldn’t be at the head of the league table but nevertheless would see and taste the differences.
How did the Romans view Britannica and the inhabitants? We have to remember here that all the written evidence we have about this period comes from the Romans, the victors write the history and give it the gloss that suits them. They regarded the inhabitants of the Isle as barbarians. They weren’t interested in the culture or skills of the Britons beyond exploiting them. They certainly didn’t regard them as ‘civilised’ as in their minds the mark of ‘civilisation’ was city dwellers and a unified political system and Britannica had neither of these. Search the Roman historians as you may, you will only find passing references to the wealth of fine metal goods and sculpture that the Britons were capable of producing. Stanwick produced some notable finds when it was excavated one of which was a beautiful bronze horse mask. Even the Brigantes of the north had art and a culture of fine craftsmanship, look at the bronze head opposite.
Because there are no native written records surviving we don’t know a lot about patterns of trade and transport. However, we suspect that there was a surplus of grain from the area round Barlick and lead and some silver from the Dales. In order to be exported these goods had to be transported to the coast for shipping to Rome and the continent. The most likely way this was accomplished was by pack horse and there must have been a well established system which someone had to service and run. I have often thought that one of the vital elements of trade at this time was what we would now call the haulage contractors, people who bred pack animals and provided the man power. Satellite villages like Barlick would be the ideal places to take advantage of this demand. I don’t want to push this any further as it’s pure speculation but in a dynamic system of trade with a healthy export market there would be opportunities outside actual production of goods and there is no reason to suppose that places like Barlick would be too backward to take advantage of this. Indeed, they had the strongest motive to seek out these opportunities as it was the only way they could get a piece of the action.
When the Romans invaded in 43AD, Aulus Plautius, Claudius’ commander, knew enough about the native society to realise that if he conquered the tribal centres he would have conquered the country. That is why he struck first at Camudolunum (Colchester), the headquarters of the Iceni led by Cunobelinus. All over the Isle, the news of this catastrophe galvanised the local chieftains, some to opposition but many to collaboration. Let’s have a look at this because it gives us some clues about Barlick.
When he heard the news, Togidubnus, king of the Regnenses in what is now Kent immediately signed on as an ally, his trading links with Rome had been very profitable and he saw no reason to jeopardise them. He changed his name to Tiberius Claudius Cogidumnus, built himself a palace near Chichester and became more Roman than Briton. This pattern was repeated all throughout the Isle. When Colchester fell, Caratucus, son of Cunobelinus fled and after being defeated by the legate Ostorius Scapula in Wales he took refuge with the Brigantes. Queen Cartimandua of the Brigantes handed him over to the Romans in 51AD as proof of her loyalty and this guaranteed freedom from attack by the Romans. The fourth century Roman historian Eutropius recorded that the king of Orkney submitted to Claudius at the time of the invasion in 43AD. This was always regarded with suspicion by historians as it was so early but excavations at Gurness on Orkney revealed the remains of Roman amphorae (pottery containers used to transport liquids like olive oil, wine or fish sauce). What was even more surprising was that they were of a type that was out of use by the end of the first century AD. News could have travelled just as fast!
How does all this bear on our understanding of Barlick? First of all the Brigantes threw in their lot with the Romans and avoided attack. Secondly, if the news of the fall of Colchester could reach the Orkneys in less than a year communications must have been far better than we have previously thought. Perhaps Barlick wasn’t such a backwater as we might have supposed, could it be that one of the topics of conversation around the fire at night was international politics?
What we can be sure of is that Barlickers would be as partial to a good bit of gossip as they are now and one of the subjects was almost certainly to be the goings on at the royal court. Cartimandua’s husband Venetius was a bit of a firebrand and wasn’t half as keen on collaboration with the Romans as his wife was. Tacitus the Roman historian recognised him as the most able warlord in Britannica and so when Venutius fell out with his wife over the surrender of Caratucus in 51AD it was a serious matter. In 53AD he divorced his wife, gathered a band of followers and tried to take over the kingdom. The Romans had been half expecting such a move and came to Cartimandua’s aid, Venutius was banished and we think he went back to his birth-place in Cumbria.
Cartimandua’s success seems to have gone to her head and she took her husband’s squire, Vellocatus as a lover. This scandalised the court and enraged Venutius, aided by allies within the court who disapproved of the queen’s behaviour he made a second and successful attempt on the throne in 70AD. Cartimandua had to be rescued by the Romans leaving Venetius on the throne. The Romans withdrew client status from the Brigantes and declared them outlaws. This was to have serious repercussions for Barlick.
In 71AD a new governor was appointed to Britannica, Petillius Cerialis. He brought a new legion with him, the Second Adiutrix and made it one of his first objectives to punish the Brigantes. Venutius was killed at Stanwick in 71AD and during the next three years Petillius gradually annexed the territory of the tribe. Before he could finish this task he was relieved and replaced by Sextus Julius Frontinus who had a different priority, subduing the Silures in Wales who had revolted. This gave the Brigantes a respite but by this time, as one of the southern outposts of the tribe, Barlick had almost certainly been taken into Roman Military Rule.
In 79AD Julius Agricola set out from the garrison town of Deva (Chester) to subjugate the Caledonians. He had a force of at least 10,000 legionaries and they marched north up the west coast. On the way, he camped on each estuary he came to so that he could maintain his sea-borne supply routes and raided inland. From the Ribble estuary he struck into the heart of the Brigantes territory and finally subjugated the Brigantes to brought them under direct Roman rule. Eventually in AD83 Agricola met an army of 30,000 Caledonians under a general called Calgacus and their allies at Mount Graupius (Historians are still debating where this was but certainly north of the River Tay) and defeated them. 10,000 Caledonians were killed for a loss of 362 legionaries.
The picture I’m trying to build up for you is one of a small and insignificant village sheltering under the lee of the Weets which was protected from the worst excesses of the early Roman conquest by their relative unimportance and the astute politicking of their tribal queen, Cartimandua. They weren’t ignorant or ill-informed, indeed I suspect we would be surprised by how fast news travelled along the trade routes. The scandals at the royal court and the aftermath of invasion by Petillius Cerialis must have affected Barlick but probably not by direct assault. By 100AD things would have settled down, the tribal structure had been broken and Barlick had to accustom itself to life under Roman Military Rule.

SCG/19 October 2001