Ad Britannia: First Century Roman Invasion of Britain Book One Ad 23 to 52

Copyright 2016 Donald A. Walbrecht, Ph.D.

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ISBN: 978-1-4907-4089-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4907-4091-1 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4907-4090-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014912001

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface

1    Kindheit

2    The First Battle

3    The Raid

4    My Prisoners

5    Caligula

6    Caligula’s End

7    Legatus Vespasianus

8    Iberian Horses

9    Over the Alps to Roma

10    Roma

11    Roma to Gallia

12    Across Gallia

13    Preparations

14    Gallia to Hispania

15    My Hispanic Herd

16    Through Gallia

17    To Britannia

18    In Britannia

19    River Battles

20    To the West

21    Campaign of AUC 798 (AD 44)

22    Departing Britannia

23    Roma, Caprium, and Tusculum

24    Charging Sabatini

25    Imperial German Guards

26    The Claudian Empire

27    Good News

28    Childbirth

29    Villa Rustica Antigua

30    More Travels

31    Into Cambrian Society

32    The Cambrian Tribes

33    Brigantes and Caratacus

34    A Funeral and two Weddings

Appendix 1    The First Century AD

Appendix 2    Ancient European Tribes

Appendix 3    Latin Glossary

Bibliography

Maps

Author’s Other Works

Dedicated to the Memory of

AUNT FREDA BELLE WALBRECHT

Lawyer, World Traveler, Adventurer, and

Climber of many of the tallest Mountains in

Africa, Japan, Mexico, South America,

Canada, and the United States.

PREFACE

The 1st Century AD

Twenty centuries ago, the world was ruled by Rome. From England to Africa and from Syria to Spain, one-fourth of the people on earth lived and died under Roman law. The 1st-Century Empire mixed sophistication with brutality and lurched from strength to tyranny and greed. After winning a 13-year civil war, Octavianus secured his throne to become one of Rome’s greatest leaders––Augustus. By acting in the best traditions of the old Republic, he restored Rome’s glories, ruled conservatively, expanded the Empire, adding Egypt, north Spain, and much of middle Europe. By his death, his Empire was an enormous marketplace where millions could trade and move under legionnary protection. By his death in AD 14, he’d ruled over 40 years of peace and prosperity, transforming Rome from a corrupted Republic into a global power. The Romans believed he brought civilization to the darkest corners of Europe and Asia with a culture superior to all others, doing barbarians a favor by conquering them.

First-Century Germany: In this century, a million people in Germania spoke Goth, Vandal, Burgund, Lombard, Frank, Saxon, Frisi, Angle, and Norse dialects that had spread across Europe over the previous thousand years. Although language was foundational to tribal ties, parallels in mythologies, customs, and cultures connected those people. Despite interactions with Rome’s expanding culture, these outsiders were called barbarians, ignorant of the benefits or evils of Roman civilization, or its successors who altered Europe’s character. Among scores of tribes beyond the Rhein, the Chatti and Cherusci represent hundreds of tribes outside the Empire’s borders during the 1st century AD (See tribes, page 163). This story involves a German warrior who participates in Rome’s expansion into Britannia. It begins in AD 35 when Chatti Ivo is 12 years old and has entered training to fight Rome’s intruders in Germania Magna.

The Chatti: Ivo’s tribe lived throughout the Eder, Fulda, and Lahn River Valleys and Mountains (Modern North Hesse). The tribe’s first description was by Strabo who wrote, "It is a poor tribe with disciplined warriors." Later in the 1st century, Tacitus wrote of the Chatti’s part in the Germanic wars and of the great tribal victory at Teutoburg. He also wrote, "General Germanicus raided Chatti lands in revenge, destroying Mattium (their ancient capital)––a fortified town with ritual sites and tribal settlements."

The Cherusci: These warlike tribesmen inhabited north German valleys and forests. When the Roman legions crossed the Rhein to subjugate the so-called "barbarians," War Chief Arminius united eight tribes to defeat three Roman legions in AD 9. Later, they moved south to close the Rhein-Danube Gap to stop invader tribes from the east.

Calendar Dating Systems: During the Republic Era (BC 509-27), years were counted from Rome’s founding date using the ad urbe condita (AUC) numbers starting as year-one at 753 BC. Other calendar-year systems used named years of Roman consuls or the reigning years of current or past emperors. Centuries later, Dionysius developed our "Anno Domini system," correlating the Julian and Gregorian Calendars using an assumed birth-of-Christ date.

Adoption in Ancient Rome: Adoption was common in the Empire. The need for a male heir was a strong incentive to have at least one son––hence adoption. Since Rome was ruled by powerful families, every senator needed a son to inherit his estate, family name, and political tradition. Having a large family was expensive with daughters needing large dowries and sons pursuing the cursus honorum (military and political offices for aspiring men). The higher the family status, the greater the cost. Since adoption was expensive, adoptable boys needed proven health and abilities. A plebian adopted into an elite family would become a patrician with the boy assuming the adoptive father’s name. Even emperors used adoption with Augustus becoming the son of his great-uncle Julius Ceasar, acquiring the name Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus. After Augustus, adoption became a common way of acceding to the throne. Tiberius, was Augustus’ adopted son; Caligula, Nero, Trajan, Hadrian, and Antoninus Pius all became emperors through adoption.

First-Century Emperors

Imperator Caesar Augustus (Octavian)(BC 63-AD 14) ruled from BC 27 until AD 14. Born to a wealthy equestrian family, he was adopted by his maternal great-uncle Julius Ceasar. Together with Mark Anthony and Marcus Lepidus, he formed the Second Triumvirate to defeat the assassins of Caesar. Following their victory at Philipi, they divided the Republic and ruled as military dictators. Their Triumvirate was ruined by personal ambitions: Lepidus was driven to exile and Anthony committed suicide after his defeat at Actium. Augustus restored a form of the Republic with senators governing as executive magistrates. He retained power as military dictator, holding supreme powers granted to him by the Senate. He called himself Princeps Civitatis (First Citizen) whose constitutional framework became known as the Principate––the first phase of an era of peace known as the Pax Romana. Despite frontier wars, the inner region remained peaceful for two centuries. He annexed Egypt, Dalmatia, Panonia, Noricum, and Raetia, expanded holdings in Africa and Germania, and conquered Hispania. Beyond the empire’s expanding frontiers, he formed a buffer of client states and made peace with outsiders. He reformed the tax system, developed roads, established a standing army and the Praetorian Guard, created police and fire-fighter forces for Rome, and rebuilt the City. He died in AD 14 and was succeeded by his adopted son, Tiberius.

Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus (Tiberius)(42 BC–AD 37), (the son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia Drusilla) ruled from 14 to 37. He married Augustus’ daughter (Julia the Elder) and was adopted by Augustus, taking the name Tiberius Julius Caesar. As a dynastic relative, he was the stepson of Augustus, great-uncle of Caligula, paternal uncle of Claudius, and great-great uncle of Nero. As one of Rome’s greatest generals, he conquered Pannonia, Dalmatia, Raetia, and Germania, founding the northern frontier. After his son Drusus Julius Caesar died in 23, he became reclusive, exiling himself from Rome in AD 26 and leaving Rome’s administration to unscrupulous Praetorian Prefects. His adopted grandson, Caligula, succeeded him in 37.

Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (Caligula)(AD 12–AD 41) ruled from 37 to 41. His father, Germanicus (nephew and adopted son of Emperor Tiberius) was a beloved general. Young Gaius was nicknamed Caligula by soldiers during campaigns in Germania. When Germanicus died in 19, his wife (Agrippina the Elder) returned to Rome with her six children, where Tiberius destroyed her family, leaving Caligula the only survivor. Caligula joined the self-exiled emperor on the island of Capri in 31, where Tiberius had withdrawn five years earlier. At Tiberius’ death in 37, Caligula succeeded his great-uncle and adoptive grandfather. A moderate ruler during his first two years, he became cruel, extravagant, perverted, and tyrannical. He worked to increase his personal powers, directing construction projects that included luxurious dwellings and Rome’s aqueduct waterworks. In January 41, he became the first emperor assassinated by conspirators desiring to restore the Republic.

Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (Claudius)(10 BC–AD 54), the son of Drusus and Antonia Minor, ruled from 41 to 54. As the last male of his line, he rose to power after Caligula’s assassination, becoming an efficient administrator and builder of new roads, aqueducts, and canals throughout the empire. His legions conquered Thrace, Noricum, Pamphylia, Lycia, and Judea, and began the conquest of Britannia. Considered vulnerable by the nobility, he was forced to shore up his position, ordering the deaths of senators. After his death in 54, his grandnephew and adopted son Nero succeeded him.

Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (Nero)(AD 37–AD 68) ruled from 54 to 68 after his great uncle Claudius adopted him as successor. During his reign, he focused on diplomacy, trade, and culture, building theaters and promoting athletic games. His generals made peace with the Parthian Empire, crushed a revolt in Britannia, annexed the Cimmerian Kingdom, and started the 1st Jewish War. Most of Rome was destroyed in a fire blamed on Nero for clearing land for his palatial Domus Aurea complex. His 14-year rule was one of tyranny, during which he ordered many executions, including those of his mother and 14-year-old stepbrother, Tiberius Britannicus (Claudius’ son).

AD 69 was a troubled year when four emperors ruled in a rapid succession. Between June 68 and July 69, Rome saw the rise and fall of Galba, Otho, Vitellius, until Vespasian acceded in mid 69.

(Additional 1st Century Information continues in Appendix One).

The Cast

Historical Figures:

CHAPTER 1

Kindheit

I, Chatti Ivo (the second son of Iovannes and grandson of Odalric of the Valburga Clan) was born on the Ides of March 777 AUC (23 AD). Our Biebertal clan of the 26,000-strong Chatti tribe lived east of the Rhenus Fluss (the Rhein River) in the vast eastern region the Roman invaders called "Barbarian Germania Magna."

Here beyond the edge of Rome’s expanding frontier, our tribesmen have resisted legionary efforts to dominate us. During the Augustan and Tiberian years of the early empire, we’d been forced from our riverside farmlands, to live deep in old-growth forests evading Legio XIV’s thrusts from Mogontiacum (Mainz) where Emperor Augustus had established a legionary fort on the western side of our river in 750 AUC (4 BC).

Although I knew little about the lands west of our great river, I’d visited some eastern settlements where our relatives lived across the Weser and Elbe rivers that flowed toward the northern Mare Suebicum (Baltic Sea). Scores of other Germanic tribes lived on that northern plain mixing with Keltoi tribespeople who’d radiated north from early settlements beneath the mighty alpine mountains and thick forests near the big east-flowing river they called the Danuvius (Danube).

Sixty-year-old Opa Odalric (the silver-haired, blue-eyed, headstrong chief of our 2,000-person clan with whom I’ve lived since mother died and father became a roving warrior) told me he knew of a thousandthousand Germans who lived throughout these forest lands our enemies called Germania Magna. Now in the Roman year of 790 AUC (37AD) when I was nearly 14, the armies of Emperor Tiberius faced us again just east of the Rhenus Fluss, attempting to force us to join his expanding empire, while ruling millions of people from his rich southern city Odalric spitefully calls The Viper’s Nest. Opa told us,

Those haughty toga wearers call us barbarian Gutoni. They say we’re coarser and more warlike than the cultured Keltoi, Suebians, and western Gallians Caesar had conquered.

Our Society

Although our Teutonic tribes had been warlike long before they first contacted Roman legionary soldiers, our Chatti clans carefully avoided contact with them and chose to live in quiet valleys north of the Taunus Mountains, subsisting by simple pastoral activities. Farther east, my 70-year-old Great-Uncle Clodovech (our Chatti King with multi-clan authority) became a welcome peacemaker under whom intertribal raiding sharply declined and Roman contact was avoided. Quite the opposite, his son (my fiery Grandfather) Opa Odalric, led raids against other tribes, bearing the scars of a warrior, often telling us boys,

We Chattis train hard to keep our lads from being lazy. When I say we’re going raiding, all my fighting-age men must join me. If any do not, I won’t trust them in anything we do. A fighting man’s power lies in his ability to attract followers who’ll share in captured goods, cattle, and young women––increasing his personal wealth, status, and ability to lead.

From that perspective, I knew I had to become a skilled horseman and a bold warrior, facing Opa’s hard training that would follow. One evening, he told us,

Despite our old king’s peacemaking efforts, significant changes came to our Chatti tribe after the Romans swept through our valley. A dozen of our clan leaders united to find a leader who’d lead our combined armies into battle. Since King Clodovech moved too slowly from old wounds, a dozen clans elected me as the tribe’s dux to lead raids. Hence, I became our clan’s warrior-duke.

Odalric continued,

We don’t like the powerful Romans and their legions, but we like their gold and silver coins, which have stimulated trade in our region. Their merchants brought us useful items and amphorae of good southern wine. In turn, we’ve sold them amber, iron, cheese, cattle, and farm products, which have allowed some Chatti clans to seem wealthy and less fearsome.

Odalric’s Tale of a Grand Battle

One summer evening, Opa Oldracic told us, "Emperor Augustus’ infantry secured high Alpine mountain passes 60 years ago and built legionary forts in Helvetii territory (Switzerland). The Roman Army then moved its legions to the Rhein to begin occupying our territory. Our tribes harried those legions, raiding their supply lines throughout the vast Germanic terrain, and forcing the invaders to bring all their supplies with them and blaze new roadways into our forests. After a great battle it became clear to Emperor Augustus he had little to gain by taking our lands."

He continued, "Despite pressure from Rome’s mighty legions, our Chatti clans still hold these favored trans-Rhenus lands now being threatened by the emperor’s armies pressing upon us from Gallia and Germania Superior. At the same time, unfriendly Teutonic, Gothic, Slavic, and Celtic tribes hold lands north and east of us where we may be forced to move. He then brightened saying, Before you were born, Emperor Augustus lost three legions in a shocking defeat 90 leagues north of here."

Opa Odalric then told us about the heroic Teutoberger Battle in which he’d led the warriors of six Chatti clans fighting with Arminius’ 50,000 Cherusci, Bructeri, Marsi, Sicambri, and Chauci warriors who slaughtered 12,000 legionaries, 3,000 auxiliares, and 5,000 camp followers:

More than 20 years ago (in 9 AD), we confronted three powerful Roman legions led by Publius Quinctilius Varus (a cruel nobleman who’d been ordered to conquer Germania). The emperor’s stepson, Tiberius, attacked the Marcomanni who’d formed a powerful alliance with the Hermunduri, Quadi, Semnoni, Lugii, Zumi, Butoni, Mugiloni, Langobardi tribes. Tiberius thrust his army across the Weser Fluss, subjugated the Cananefati and Bructeri, and severely punished my tribe until a rebellion arose in Illyricum (Bosnia).

That faraway Bellum Batonianum forced Tiberius to send eight legions from Germania, Gallia, and Hispania to crush the Balkan uprising triggered by food shortages and extreme taxes. His campaign was critical for Augustus who’d sent Consul Varus as a special envoy whose extreme cruelty became widely known for crucifying thousands of insurgents.

Eighteen years earlier (when Drusus defeated the Cherusci) the chief’s son (Arminius) was sent to Rome where he earned equestrian rank. Meanwhile, hostility deepened among our tribes dominated by the Cherusci. When Arminius returned to Germania, he served as an advisor to General Varus while forging alliances with the Cherusci, Chatti, Marsi, Bructeri, Chauci, Sicambri, and Suebi tribes to unite all of us against Roman cruelty. Arminius continued serving Varus until the legions began moving to winter quarters at the Rhein. At a critical point, Arminius told Varus of a rebellion at a place where Arminius had prepared us for an ambush.

Varus’ forces included three legions, six auxiliary cohorts, and four cavalry turmae streched in a marching file interspersed with 5,000 camp followers. As they entered our forest, a violent storm arose in which we attacked with swords, lances, and spears, and rained javelins onto his disoranized army.

At twilight, Varus escaped while his soldiers struggled in torrential rains, becoming defenseless behind waterlogged shields. As thousands fled in a desperate attempt to storm an earthen wall, we plugged a gap between the woods and a great bog, entrapping the struggling masses whom we slaughtered. Later we estimated 15,000 legionaries and auxiliaries died with two hundred officers falling on their swords. We sacrificed centurions, held senior officers for ransom, and enslaved thousands. After our victory, we gathered horses, weapons, armor, food, and trunkloads of