THE ROMAN PERIOD. B.C. 55 TO A.D. 410.
Reading edition
B.C.
55. JULIUS CÆSAR, A ROMAN GENERAL, INVADED BRITAIN.
54. Cæsar invaded Britain a second time, defeated Cassivelaunus, the most able of the British chiefs, and imposed a tribute on the inhabitants.
A.D.
43. After an interval of nearly a hundred years, another attempt was made to conquer the country; Aulus Plautius sent as general to Britain by the emperor Claudius.
51. Ostorius Scapula, who had succeeded Plautius, defeated Caractacus at Caer Caradoc, in Shropshire. Caractacus afterwards betrayed by his stepmother, and sent as a prisoner to Rome.
61. Suetonius captured Anglesea. He gained a decisive victory over Boadicea, queen of the Iceni, who poisoned herself after the battle.
78. Julius Agricola became governor. He subdued and then conciliated the natives.
84. Agricola vanquished a Caledonian chief, named Galgacus, at the foot of the Grampians.
121. The emperor Hadrian drove back the northern barbarians, and built a wall between the Solway Firth and the mouth of the Tyne, for the purpose of preventing their incursions.
139. Lollius Urbicus constructed a rampart between the Firths of Forth and Clyde, called the wall of Antoninus.
209. The emperor Severus invaded Caledonia (Scotland) to chastise the people for their ravages in South Britain.
210. Severus constructed a wall near that of Hadrian.
211. Severus died at York.
286. Carausius, admiral of the Roman fleet, threw off his allegiance, and became sovereign of Britain.
294. Carausius slain by his minister, Allectus, who mounted the throne.
296. Allectus slain, and the country re-annexed to the Roman empire.
304. St. Alban put to death for refusing to renounce Christianity.
306. The emperor Constantius died at York.
368. Theodosius restored the discipline of the Roman troops in Britain, and drove back the Picts and Scots.
383. Maximus, a Roman general, proclaimed emperor in Britain.
388. Maximus defeated and slain in Italy.
410. The emperor Honorius informed the Britons that they must in future provide for their own defence.
END OF THE ROMAN DOMINION IN BRITAIN.
Britain under the Romans was divided into five provinces:—1. Britannia Prima, the country south of the Thames and the Bristol Channel. 2. Britannia Secunda, almost the same as the Principality of Wales. 3. Flavia Cæsariensis, the country north of the Thames, east of the Severn, and south of the Mersey and Humber. 4. Maxima Cæsariensis, the territory northward to the wall of Severus. 5. Valentia, the district between the wall of Severus and that of Antoninus.