Back to the Nearly All Romans calendar

We made this section “Nearly All Romans” so let's start with the bit before the Roman invasion, although, as you will see, there is a connection. In 10AD Cunobelinus became chief of the Catuvellauni tribe, a position he would hold for nearly 30 years which was a very long time for an Iron Age chief to rule. He also conquered nearby tribes and his name was found on coins issued in both Colchester and St Albans.

However in 40AD he was ill and it was obvious he would soon die. He had 3 sons, Caratacus, Togodumnus and Adminus (still no John). A struggle began as to who would succeed their father. Caratacus already ruled some of the lands of the Atrebates, Togodumnus was king of the British Catuvellauni tribe, whose capital was at St. Albans while Adminus had control of Kent. Check back on our tribal map to see where the tribes were. The map is here .

In about 40AD Cunobelinus banished Adminius from England. No one seems to know why but I guess he did something wrong. Adminus then went to Rome and the Emperor there, who was called Caligula and was a bit of a nutter, decided to invade Britain but the army refused to board the ships. They were frightened of stories about the weird tribal people who lived in Britain and also the massive dark forests which made up part of the land. Caligula was so angry, he got angry quite easily, so he told his soldiers to attack the waves and pick up seashells as the spoils of victory. I told you he was a nutter.

By the way, old Bill Shakespeare, I’m sure you’ve heard of him, wrote a play about Cunobelinus but his spell checker wasn’t working so he called the play Cymbeline. Fancy a read? The play was performed as early as 1611 which is only just after 4’o clock so most people would have still been at work. And I think Caligula is a nutter?

Forward to 43AD