Regionalism in Roman Britain: Roman Military Deployment in the Scottish Lowlands

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AR3037        Student No. 061867039         6th March 2010

Regionalism in Roman Britain: Roman Military Deployment in the Scottish Lowlands

Subduing Scotland has always proved an un-enviable task for most of its attackers throughout history. From the campaigns of Cerialis and Agricola in the 2nd century AD in ancient Caledonia up to the Wars of Scottish Independence in the 13th and 14th centuries, the final nail in the conquered coffin of Scotland was never fully hammered in. In antiquity, the country of ‘Scotland’ didn’t exist and in the times of the Roman Empire, it was just a series of tribal identities given the name of ‘Caledonia’. The Romans launched 3 invasions of this province and whilst achieving a degree of success, they never established total control – eventually to withdraw completely by AD213. What I would like to explore in this essay is the military history of the region, the relationship between the native population with the Roman Empire and the extent with which the region conformed/varied with other parts of Britain under Roman occupation.

To look at the Scottish Lowland’s history under Roman occupation, we need to look at the state that the lowland Caledonian peoples were in before the Invasion. Settlement types in lower Caledonia were akin to those throughout Britannia before the Roman invasion. In modern day Borders and Lothian territory, the native Votadini commonly lived in ‘scooped enclosures’ – stone huts enclosed by a series of earth walls dug into a hill-slope (Cunliffe, 1974: 215-6). Hill-forts were still a common occurrence throughout Iron Age Caledonia, but during the 1st c. AD, it is probable that many smaller hill-forts were abandoned in favour of defended enclosures, yet the larger hill-forts remained occupied, such as ‘Traprain Law’ (a tribal centre of the Votadini) in East Lothian (Cunliffe, 1974: 215-6). Brochs (multi-purpose towers) were also still in use (Cunliffe, 1974: 215-6, 219).

The Votadini and their neighbours to the west (in modern day South Clyde Valley and North Dumfriesshire), the Selgovae, began to nucleate and communities grew larger at a handful of sites (Cunliffe, 1974: 216). Their neighbours, the Novantae and Damnonii (in West Dumfriesshire & Galloway, Ayrshire and the North Clyde Valley) had only 4 hill forts in excess of 2.5 hectares, unlike their neighbours to the east, who had 13 of greater size (Cunliffe, 1974: 215-6). The Vacomagi and Venicones to the north east (modern day North East Scotland, Tayside, Fife and East Central) were similar in settlement composition with hill-forts, brochs, defended settlements and sou-terrains existed (despite the lack of archaeological knowledge for them - Cunliffe, 1974: 218). These types of settlement existed throughout the Iron Age in Caledonia.

In the summer of AD71, Quintus P. Cerialis may have launched an invasion of Lowland Caledonia (Mattingly, 2006: 115).If we are to believe Moffat, the Votadini succumbed to Roman pressure very easily when Roman forces marched through their territory in order to secure the banks of the Firth of Forth (Moffat, 2005: 230-1). The Selgovae were suppressed by the 20th legion (Moffat, 2005: 247) in quick order. Cerialis’ vigil in Scotland was brief, but he was succeeded Gaius J. Agricola (AD78) who extended further operations in Caledonia.

In AD79, Caledonia was invaded by Agricola and with astonishing speed (Tacitus, Agricola, xxii), subdued the Selgovae. In AD80, the Roman advance was carried towards the Tay – if the Votadini had already been subdued from the prior campaign of Cerialis or had sued for term with Rome, this would explain the quick advance to the Tay against the Venicones. Conquered territory was secured by the construction and garrisoning of forts in the winter (Frere, 1987: 90; Maxwell, 1998: 27; Tacitus, Agricola, xxiii).

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In 80-81AD, the peoples of South West Caledonia, the Novantae and Damnonii, were subdued by Agricola’s forces and in AD82, a line of forts was established between the Firths of Clyde and Forth (Frere, 1987: 91). He also established a large fort at Newstead (Cunliffe, 1974: 230). Under new instructions, Agricola marched north in AD83. Evidently, he split his force into three groups to cover all advance routes along the east cost of Caledonia, establishing a series of marching camps along the way (Frere, 1987: 93-4; Mattingly, 2006: 117), most of which were of the ‘Stracathro’ type (enabling us to ...

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