73 chapters
16 hour read
Selected Chapters
73 chapters
PREFACE
PREFACE
This book is in one sense a companion of my Caesar’s Conquest of Gaul ; and much that was written in the preface of that volume is equally applicable here. The last three chapters of Part I, and the later articles in Part II, are intended to do for Britain what I formerly tried to do for Gaul; but whereas the main object was then to illustrate the conquest, and the opening chapter was merely introductory, my aim in these pages has been to tell the story of man’s life in our island from the earli
4 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
When Caesar was about to sail on his first expedition to Britain, he summoned the Gallic traders whose vessels used to ply between Gaul and the Kentish coast, and tried to elicit from them information; but, to quote his own words, ‘he could not find out either the extent of the island, or what tribes dwelt therein, or their size, or their method of fighting, or their manners and customs, or what harbours were capable of accommodating a large flotilla.’ Even after he had seen the country and its
16 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE PALAEOLITHIC AGE
THE PALAEOLITHIC AGE
A chapter devoted to Palaeolithic Man may perhaps appear irrelevant to a work the aim of which is to serve as an introduction to English history; for it has been questioned whether in this country he left any descendants, and therefore whether he exercised even the smallest influence upon the later immigrants. But in France, if not here, the Palaeolithic merged, perhaps by a long period of transition, into the Neolithic Age: 17 the neolithic inhabitants of Britain were of course descended from p
31 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE NEOLITHIC AGE
THE NEOLITHIC AGE
No one can say how long after the close of the Ice Age the first neolithic immigrants appeared; 209 nor can it even be positively affirmed that in Northern Britain the last glacier had then melted away. If they sailed across the Dover Strait, it was, as we have seen, extremely narrow; and we can hardly be sure that it existed at all. 210 Neolithic hunters, who may not have belonged to the earliest horde, roamed in forests which now lie buried beneath the Bristol Channel and the waves that break
13 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE BRONZE AGE AND THE VOYAGE OF PYTHEAS
THE BRONZE AGE AND THE VOYAGE OF PYTHEAS
Those who have learned to realize the extreme slowness with which material culture was evolved in its earlier stages would be disposed to doubt whether the first metallic implements were made of bronze, and to ask whether, at all events in some part of the world, the Neolithic must not have merged into a Copper Age. It is easy to imagine that the accidental melting of a piece of copper ore may have suggested the possibility of fashioning the metal into tools; and that inventive cutlers took impr
41 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE EARLY IRON AGE
THE EARLY IRON AGE
Iron-working was of course familiar to the people of the Mediterranean and even to the continental Celts long before it was introduced into Britain; 966 but, it need scarcely be said, everywhere until the Middle Ages, the metal was not cast, but only wrought. Not far from Hallstatt, the only place in Europe where the gradual transition from the use of bronze to that of iron can be traced, were the iron mines of Noreia, which were certainly worked at a very early period, and from which, some arch
24 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CAESAR’S FIRST INVASION OF BRITAIN
CAESAR’S FIRST INVASION OF BRITAIN
Before Caesar could venture to undertake so difficult an enterprise as the invasion of Britain, it was necessary for him to secure the country in his rear. His first two campaigns had been directed against enemies who were as dangerous to Gaul as to Rome. Cavalry levied from friendly Gallic tribes fought side by side with the Roman legions against the Helvetii and against Ariovistus: after the defeat of the Helvetii envoys came from all the tribes of Central and Eastern Gaul to congratulate the
38 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CAESAR’S SECOND INVASION OF BRITAIN
CAESAR’S SECOND INVASION OF BRITAIN
Caesar had learned the lessons which failure had taught Caesar builds a fleet for a second expedition. him. In the winter he was obliged, as usual, to go to Cisalpine Gaul, partly in order to discharge judicial and administrative business, partly to safeguard his own political interests in Italy. Before he left Belgium he ordered his generals to employ the legions in repairing the old ships and building a new fleet for the second expedition. He drew up minute instructions for their guidance. Two
45 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE RESULTS OF CAESAR’S INVASIONS OF BRITAIN
THE RESULTS OF CAESAR’S INVASIONS OF BRITAIN
Caesar’s contemporaries and the Roman writers of succeeding The importance of Caesar’s British expeditions under estimated by his contemporaries and by historians. generations did not over-estimate the results of his British campaigns. The well-known line of Lucan— is only worth quoting as an instance of the poet’s animosity; but the impression left by the various passages which refer to Caesar’s expeditions is, that public expectation, having been wrought up to a high pitch, had suffered disapp
25 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
I. INTRODUCTION
I. INTRODUCTION
The ethnology of ancient Britain has been studied from many points of view. Writers of a past generation relied simply upon the notices which are to be found in the works of Caesar, Strabo, Tacitus, and other ancient writers. In the last century the science, if it may now be so called, of physical anthropology came into being. The barrows in which our prehistoric ancestors had buried their dead were opened; and the skeletons which had been left in them by earlier explorers were systematically me
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
II">THE METHODS OF ANTHROPOLOGY
II">THE METHODS OF ANTHROPOLOGY
A lay reader who takes up a treatise on ethnology ought to understand the methods by which anthropologists differentiate the various human types. I may be allowed to reproduce a paragraph which I wrote a few years ago in another volume, and to which I shall have something to add. ‘Anthropologists are obliged to make use of technical terms, more or less uncouth; and they are guided in their observations by very precise and minute rules, framed with the object of eliminating, as far as possible, t
5 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
III. EOLITHIC MAN(?)
III. EOLITHIC MAN(?)
Much controversy was excited in the last decade of the nineteenth century by the announcement that stone implements, ruder than the rudest of the Palaeolithic Age, had been discovered on the plateau between the Medway and Caterham valleys: but even if it were possible to convince sceptics that some of these flints were wrought by men’s hands, the proof would not affect the present inquiry; for we should have no means of ascertaining to what race (supposing that it differed from that of the earli
26 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
IV. PALAEOLITHIC MAN
IV. PALAEOLITHIC MAN
1. The people who inhabited this island in the Old Stone Age appear to have been confined to the south; for no palaeolithic implement has yet been found further north than Lincoln, or, as some maintain, the East Riding of Yorkshire. 1535 An attempt has indeed been made to prove that such tools were used in Scotland; 1536 but the best judges are unanimously of opinion that the contention has not been established. 1537 Little direct evidence exists as to the physical type of the palaeolithic inhab
18 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
V. THE PYGMIES (?)
V. THE PYGMIES (?)
British pygmies are the creation of Celtic imagination. The evidence on which we are required to believe that they existed is this. Professor Rhys 1606 suggests that the name of the Coritani, a tribe mentioned by Ptolemy, 1607 who inhabited the country between the Trent and the Nen, is related to the word cor , a dwarf. ‘Then,’ the professor concludes, ‘we should have accordingly to suppose the old race to have survived so long and in such numbers that the Celtic lords of Southern Britain called
4 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
VI. NEOLITHIC MAN
VI. NEOLITHIC MAN
The remains of neolithic man have been discovered in caves, in cairns, in submerged forests, and in barrows in Essex, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, Somersetshire, Derbyshire, Staffordshire, Yorkshire, Caermarthenshire, Denbighshire, the Isle of Man, 1623 Argyllshire and the island of Arran, Caithness, and the Orkney Islands. 1624 The neolithic population, however, it need hardly be said, were scattered over many other parts of Britain in which their skeletons have not come to light. Many anthropol
25 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
VII. THE ‘PICTISH QUESTION’
VII. THE ‘PICTISH QUESTION’
A view which has become fashionable of late years, owing to the influence of Professor Rhys and Professor Zimmer, is that the [dolichocephalic] neolithic people of this country were identical with the Picts, 1775 whose name first occurs in the panegyric addressed about A.D. 296 to Constantius Caesar. 1776 To clear the ground, I should say, first, that it is universally admitted that descendants of the neolithic race survived not only in the part of Scotland which was inhabited by the Picts but i
28 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
VIII. THE ROUND-HEADS
VIII. THE ROUND-HEADS
There is, as we have already seen, 1889 sufficient evidence that round-headed immigrants had begun to appear in Britain towards the end of the Neolithic Age; but the majority of the prehistoric skulls of this kind undoubtedly belong to the Age of Bronze. Men of the same type were living in England at the time of the Saxon invasion;[1890] and their descendants may be recognized here and there at the present day. 1891 The prehistoric skeletons have been found not only in the round barrows of Yorks
29 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
IX. THE CELTS
IX. THE CELTS
1. Little can be added to what has been said in the previous section about the physical characteristics of the Celtic invaders of Britain. Some Celtic scholars, as we shall presently see, 2008 deny that any Goidels reached this country before the Roman conquest; but, assuming that some did so, there is no reason to suppose that they differed much physically from the Brythons. If Strabo 2009 was right in saying that the Britons generally were less fair-haired than the Gauls, the inference would s
18 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
X. CONCLUSION
X. CONCLUSION
For the sake of clearness I shall summarize the results which this inquiry has attained. No human remains, except those of Bury St. Edmunds and Cattedown, which can be certainly attributed to the Quaternary Period have been found in Britain; but it is probable that the earlier inhabitants belonged in part to the Neanderthal stock, and that towards the close of the Palaeolithic Age they were joined by immigrants akin to the Chancelade people of the Lozère valley. There is no conclusive evidence t
7 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE NAMES ΠΡΕΤΑΝΙΚΑΙ ΝΗΣΟΙ, BRITANNI AND BRITANNIA
THE NAMES ΠΡΕΤΑΝΙΚΑΙ ΝΗΣΟΙ, BRITANNI AND BRITANNIA
Πρεττανοί, which (written with a single τ) is supposed to represent the Brythonic or the Gaulish equivalent of a Goidelic word Qrtanoi —the assumed progenitor of the Irish Cruthni 2098 —is found in certain manuscripts of Strabo 2099 instead of the more usual Βρεττανοί: Diodorus Siculus 2100 (who derived part of his information about the British Isles indirectly from Pytheas 2101 ) Strabo, Ptolemy, 2102 and Marcian, 2103 appear to have described them as Πρετανικαὶ νῆσοι, for perhaps they were not
5 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE BIRTHDAY OF RELIGION
THE BIRTHDAY OF RELIGION
Those who, like Professor Tylor, reject the theory that certain savage tribes have no religious belief would probably accept the evidence which Lord Avebury 2119 adduces in its favour: only they attach to the word Religion a meaning different from his. Indeed he himself, in one passage, 2120 uses the word in Professor Tylor’s sense; for he remarks that ‘one of the lowest forms of religion is that presented by the Australians, which consists of a mere unreasoning belief in the existence of myster
3 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
DUMBUCK, LANGBANK, DUNBUIE
DUMBUCK, LANGBANK, DUNBUIE
I have said nothing in the first part of this book about the famous ‘crannogs’, or pile-dwellings (so called), which were discovered a few years ago at Dumbuck and Langbank in the estuary of the Clyde, the hill-fort of Dunbuie by Dumbarton Castle, and the remarkable objects which they contained, because it is admitted that they belong to a period several centuries later than the Roman conquest of Britain; but, for a reason which will presently be apparent, they must not be ignored. Everything wo
3 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
INHUMATION AND CREMATION
INHUMATION AND CREMATION
Dr. R. Munro 2144 says, on what authority I do not know, that the object of cremation was ‘to liberate the spirit more quickly’. Is it then to be concluded that in cases where inhumation and cremation were practised simultaneously in the same barrow, 2145 it was intended that certain spirits should be liberated quickly and others slowly? Mr. W. C. Borlase 2146 remarks that ‘the transformation which would have taken place when incineration was introduced ... would ... have ... been from a cult wh
3 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
SEPULCHRAL POTTERY
SEPULCHRAL POTTERY
Some antiquaries have maintained that drinking-cups, food-vessels, incense-cups, and urns were not specially made for sepulchral purposes, but were merely ordinary domestic vessels. 2164 On the other hand, it has been urged that most of them were too fragile to stand rough usage; that many are so contracted at the bottom that they would have been ill adapted to serve as table or culinary ware; that the food-vessels and the drinking-cups were too porous to hold fluid long, while the shape of most
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
STONEHENGE
STONEHENGE
Stonehenge has exercised the minds of many generations of antiquaries. An exhaustive bibliography, filling 169 pages and containing the titles of 947 books and articles, was published in the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine for 1901: but nearly all the works therein enumerated are obsolete; and any one who wishes to form an independent judgement will find all the necessary materials in the volumes which will be referred to in this article. I. Modern opinion has for some time
27 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
I. THE CASSITERIDES
I. THE CASSITERIDES
I. The identity of ‘the tin-islands’, which ancient writers called the Cassiterides, is still a matter of dispute. Professor Haverfield, indeed, has affirmed that ‘the recent researches of Usener [for which read Unger], Rhys, and others, have made it almost certain that the Cassiterides were off N.W. Spain’. 2249 Professor Rhys shall speak for himself. ‘M. Reinach,’ he says, 2250 ‘argues, convincingly as it seems to me, that the Cassiterides meant the Celtic islands, or, as I may call them, the
29 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
II. ICTIS AND THE BRITISH TRADE IN TIN
II. ICTIS AND THE BRITISH TRADE IN TIN
I. Diodorus Siculus 2342 states, on the authority of Timaeus, who derived his information on this matter from Pytheas, 2343 that tin was conveyed by the people of Belerium (the Land’s End) in wagons at low tide from the British mainland to an island called Ictis; purchased there by merchants from the natives; carried to Gaul; and transported on pack-horses to the mouth of the Rhône, 2344 the overland journey lasting thirty days. In another chapter 2345 he says, following Posidonius, that tin was
29 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
DENE-HOLES
DENE-HOLES
Of the various theories which have been published as to the object of dene-holes three only are worth considering, namely, that they were granaries; that they were refuges; and that they were sunk in order to obtain chalk. Subterranean granaries have of course been used in many countries; 2428 but it is said that no grain has ever been found in any dene-hole, 2429 whereas grain has been found in shallow pits and on numerous other prehistoric sites in Britain. 2430 On the other hand, a thorough e
5 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE COAST BETWEEN CALAIS AND THE SOMME IN THE TIME OF CAESAR
THE COAST BETWEEN CALAIS AND THE SOMME IN THE TIME OF CAESAR
The question of the period during which the gulf of St. Omer existed has given rise to much discussion. According to Reclus, 2448 Desjardins, 2449 and many other writers, 2450 even in the time of Caesar this so-called gulf, which was really a shallow salt-water ‘mere’, covered the lowlands north-east of the hills of Artois between Sangatte and Dunkirk, and extended inland to within a short distance of St. Omer. No evidence, however, has been adduced to show that it existed at that time; 2451 and
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
I. BETWEEN RAMSGATE AND SANDOWN CASTLE
I. BETWEEN RAMSGATE AND SANDOWN CASTLE
Thanet, as everybody knows, was an island in Caesar’s time; and Bede 2456 says that it was separated from the mainland by an estuary three furlongs broad: but the late George Dowker 2457 concluded from ‘an attentive examination of the estuary’ that it was ‘much shallower and narrower than is generally supposed’. John Lewis, 2458 a well-known antiquary of the eighteenth century, and William Boys, 2459 the historian of Sandwich, maintained that an estuary, in which was included the harbour of Rich
4 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
II. BETWEEN SANDOWN CASTLE AND WALMER CASTLE
II. BETWEEN SANDOWN CASTLE AND WALMER CASTLE
When we endeavour to trace the shore-line, as it existed in Caesar’s time, opposite Deal and Walmer, we find that the writers who have dealt with the question differ widely among themselves; while Dowker again shows himself a most troublesome witness. Unfortunately this meritorious geologist, who laboured hard to elucidate the geographical questions connected with the ancient history of East Kent, was a bad writer, and sometimes failed to make his meaning clear. Major Rennell, who was in his day
6 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
III. THE GOODWIN SANDS
III. THE GOODWIN SANDS
Before we attempt to inquire what was the condition of the Goodwin Sands in the time of Caesar, it will be well to state the relevant facts which have been ascertained since exact observations began to be recorded. ‘The north-eastern part of the North Goodwin,’ says the author of the Channel Pilot , 2497 ‘dries in places 7 feet at low water; the South Goodwin not more than 4 or 5 feet at any part.’ The form of the sands is altered periodically by the tides. Beale Poste argued in 1857 that the Go
5 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
IV. THE SOUTH FORELAND AND THE DOVER CLIFFS
IV. THE SOUTH FORELAND AND THE DOVER CLIFFS
Professor Montagu Burrows 2522 affirms that ‘the space over which the tides travel [in the Straits of Dover] must be at least two miles wider than it was some 2,000 years ago’. This is one of the ex cathedra statements in which the professor’s work abounds, and for proof of which his amazed readers search his pages in vain. Dowker’s estimate is more moderate: he only bids us ‘assume the Straits are now one mile wider than when Caesar visited our shores’; 2523 but, like Professor Burrows, he requ
3 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
V. DOVER HARBOUR
V. DOVER HARBOUR
That a natural harbour existed at Dover in the time of Caesar is beyond dispute. It is mentioned under the name of Portus Dubris in the Itinerary of Antonine; 2538 and it was connected by a Roman road with Canterbury and London, and also with Richborough. Napoleon the Third 2539 affirms that it was entirely choked up about 950 A.D. ; but this is a blunder, for the harbour is mentioned in Domesday Book. 2540 Even as late as 1582 it was stated by an engineer, named Thomas Digges, that ‘Before the
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
VI. BETWEEN DOVER AND SANDGATE
VI. BETWEEN DOVER AND SANDGATE
During the last three centuries, at all events, the coast between Sandgate and Dover has undergone considerable changes. Large quantities of stone have been removed from the Folkestone cliffs; and landslips have occurred at Shakespeare’s Cliff, between Folkestone and Sandgate, and behind East Wear Bay. 2550 It would be useless, however, for our purpose, to describe these changes in detail; for they do not affect the topographical questions that belong to the history of Caesar’s invasions of Brit
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
VII. ROMNEY MARSH
VII. ROMNEY MARSH
Between Hythe and Dungeness, on the other hand, there has been complete transformation. There, within the brief span of historical time, wind, tide, and river, and finally the labour of man, have wrought changes as remarkable as those that in other regions required the lapse of ages which the imagination fails to conceive. The antiquary who walks from Westenhanger Station to the brow of Lympne Hill, and looks out over the vast field of shingle that extends seaward, and, on his left, towards Hyth
37 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
I. REVIEW OF THE CONTROVERSY
I. REVIEW OF THE CONTROVERSY
The greater part of the vast literature which has accumulated on the question of the identity of the Portus Itius is obsolete; 2665 and it is now sometimes taken for granted that the choice is restricted to Wissant and Boulogne. Nevertheless, as I am determined to set the question at rest, I shall examine the claims of three other ports, which, in recent times, have found advocates whose names command respect,—the estuary of the Somme, Ambleteuse, and Calais. The question began to be seriously d
3 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
II. THE DATA FURNISHED BY CAESAR, STRABO, AND PTOLEMY
II. THE DATA FURNISHED BY CAESAR, STRABO, AND PTOLEMY
Caesar says that, before his first expedition to Britain, he sent Gaius Volusenus to reconnoitre the British coast and ascertain what harbours were capable of accommodating a large fleet, and that he himself marched with his whole force for the country of the Morini, ‘because the shortest passage to Britain was from their country’ ( quod inde erat brevissimus in Britanniam traiectus ); and he goes on to say that he ordered ships from the neighbouring districts, and likewise the fleet which he ha
3 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
III. CAESAR SAILED FROM THE PORTUS ITIUS ON BOTH HIS EXPEDITIONS
III. CAESAR SAILED FROM THE PORTUS ITIUS ON BOTH HIS EXPEDITIONS
It is necessary to inquire whether Caesar sailed from the same port on both his expeditions; for he mentions the ulterior portus only in connexion with the first; and if on that occasion he sailed from the Portus Itius, the search for the Portus Itius is conditioned by the existence of the ulterior portus . Drumann, 2691 remarking that Caesar chose the Portus Itius in 54 B.C. because he had ascertained that the passage from it to the island was the most convenient , argues that ‘before it was co
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
IV. THE VALUE OF CAESAR’S ESTIMATE OF THE DISTANCE BETWEEN THE PORTUS ITIUS AND BRITAIN
IV. THE VALUE OF CAESAR’S ESTIMATE OF THE DISTANCE BETWEEN THE PORTUS ITIUS AND BRITAIN
Rudolf Schneider 2697 insists that it is idle to lay stress on Caesar’s estimate of the distance from the Portus Itius to Britain, first, because he had no means of making an accurate calculation, and, secondly, because we cannot tell whether he reckoned the distance to the nearest point of Britain or to his own landing-place. As regards correspondence with Caesar’s estimate, Schneider continues, there is nothing to choose between Boulogne, Wissant, and Calais: Dover is 34 Roman miles from Boulo
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
V. THE ESTUARY OF THE SOMME
V. THE ESTUARY OF THE SOMME
The advocate of the Somme was the late Astronomer-Royal, Sir George Airy. His arguments shall be considered for the benefit of those who are influenced by his great reputation; but one fact, which he ignores, is alone sufficient to wreck his theory. If Caesar sailed from the mouth of the Somme, the superior portus , from which his cavalry transports sailed was, as Airy of course maintains, the mouth of the Authie, and the place where he landed in Britain was, as Airy likewise maintains, Pevensey
10 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
VI. AMBLETEUSE
VI. AMBLETEUSE
The Commission de la Topographie des Gaules 2741 identify the Portus Itius with Ambleteuse; and Mommsen 2742 is disposed to agree with them. They argue that Strabo 2743 affirms the existence of two ports in the country of the Morini; that one of the two was evidently Gesoriacum; and that the Portus Itius was therefore something different. The passage in Strabo to which the commission refers will be most conveniently examined in a later section. 2744 Meanwhile it is enough to say that if it prove
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
VII. CALAIS
VII. CALAIS
I only consider the claims of Calais because their one modern advocate, General von Göler, 2752 was a distinguished Caesarian scholar. There is no evidence that Calais was ever used as a harbour in, or for twelve centuries after, the time of Caesar. If Caesar started from the Portus Itius on his first expedition, it is impossible, on the theory that Calais was the Portus Itius, to find the ulterior portus . Moreover, it would have been impossible for Caesar to sail, on his second expedition, fro
48 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
VIII. WISSANT
VIII. WISSANT
Wissant is between Cape Grisnez and Cape Blancnez, both of which, in Caesar’s time, projected somewhat further out to sea than they do now. 2756 Dr. Guest argues that the sandy waste, more than two miles long and varying in breadth from a quarter to half a mile, which lies between the uplands and the sand-hills, was once covered by the sea; 2757 and he conjectures that the ‘pool-harbour’ thus formed communicated with the English Channel by ‘the gap through which flows the Rieu des Aiguilles’, a
35 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
IX. BOULOGNE
IX. BOULOGNE
The reasons which point to the identification of the Portus Itius with Boulogne are, speaking generally, that Boulogne, and Boulogne only, satisfies all the requirements of Caesar’s narrative. To begin with, the passage for sailing-vessels from Boulogne to the south-eastern part of Britain is, and always has been, in circumstances such as Caesar described, not only very convenient but by far the most convenient. This is the testimony of seafaring men, both English and French, who have practical
16 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
I. INTRODUCTION
I. INTRODUCTION
After I had completed the researches which I undertook for the purpose of writing this article, I saw that if an able soldier, or even an intelligent civilian, who had a sufficient knowledge of ancient warfare, were to ask himself where Caesar landed in Britain, he could solve the problem after a brief inspection of the Ordnance Map. He would perceive that there was only one part of the Kentish coast on which Caesar could have expected to land, in the face of an enemy, and then to march into the
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
II. THE DATA FURNISHED BY CAESAR AND OTHER ANCIENT WRITERS
II. THE DATA FURNISHED BY CAESAR AND OTHER ANCIENT WRITERS
The data which we find in the Commentaries are the following. Before starting on his first voyage, Caesar sent a military tribune, named Volusenus, whom he believed to possess the necessary qualifications, in a ship of war, to make a thorough reconnaissance of the British coast, and to ascertain what harbours were capable of accommodating a large flotilla. 2935 Volusenus returned to Gaul four days after his departure, having made all the observations that it was possible for him to make without
8 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
III. THE DAY ON WHICH CAESAR LANDED IN 55 B.C.
III. THE DAY ON WHICH CAESAR LANDED IN 55 B.C.
It is absolutely certain, and is universally admitted, that the full moon which Caesar mentions occurred on the night of August 30-1, 55 B.C. : 2947 to speak more precisely, it occurred at 3 h. 33 m. a.m. on the 31st. 2948 Now, with one or two exceptions, which shall be presently considered, the commentators have concluded that Caesar landed on the fourth day before the full moon, that is to say, on the 27th of August. But any one who has read this article with close attention will have seen tha
5 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
IV. DID CAESAR LAND AT THE SAME PLACE IN BOTH HIS EXPEDITIONS?
IV. DID CAESAR LAND AT THE SAME PLACE IN BOTH HIS EXPEDITIONS?
It remains to inquire whether, in both his expeditions, Caesar landed at the same place. The commentators are virtually unanimous in holding that he did; and Napoleon, whose view is an exception to the rule, believes that the landing-place of 54 B.C. was only a few kilometres north of that of the preceding year. 2957 He and von Göler 2958 both rely on the express statement of Dion Cassius 2959 ; but Dr. F. Vogel, 2960 who attaches no importance to Dion’s testimony on matters of this kind, remind
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
V. THE VARIOUS THEORIES ABOUT CAESAR’S PLACE OF LANDING
V. THE VARIOUS THEORIES ABOUT CAESAR’S PLACE OF LANDING
Not less than a dozen different theories have been formed regarding the place of Caesar’s landing. It has been identified with Weybourne on the coast of Norfolk; with Richborough; with the neighbourhood of Sandwich; with Deal, or, to speak more correctly, the coast between Deal Castle and Walmer Castle; with Dover, Folkestone, Hythe, Lympne, Hurst on the northern fringe of Romney Marsh, Bonnington near Appledore, Rye, Bulverhythe, and Pevensey. Most of these theories, however, obviously fall int
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
VI. THE QUESTION OF THE TIDES
VI. THE QUESTION OF THE TIDES
Before we attempt to construct a tide-table for the 26th and 27th of August, 55 B.C. , we must first satisfy ourselves whether in that year, at any given period of the moon’s age, the tidal stream in the eastern part of the English Channel began to flow and to ebb at precisely the same time as it does in similar circumstances now. On this point there has been much divergence of opinion. Dr. Guest, the late geologist George Dowker, and Professor Montagu Burrows have all argued that the changes wh
13 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
VII. THE THEORY THAT CAESAR LANDED AT PEVENSEY
VII. THE THEORY THAT CAESAR LANDED AT PEVENSEY
The two distinguished advocates of the theory that Caesar landed at Pevensey are not in complete accord. Airy holds that he sailed both in 55 and in 54 B.C. from the mouth of the Somme; 3001 Professor Ridgeway from Wissant. 3002 It has been proved in my article on the Portus Itius that he started from Boulogne; and whoever accepts that proof will, perhaps, skip this section. I am willing, however, for the sake of argument, to accept in turn both Airy’s identification of the Portus Itius and that
21 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
VIII. THE THEORY THAT CAESAR LANDED AT LYMPNE OR HYTHE
VIII. THE THEORY THAT CAESAR LANDED AT LYMPNE OR HYTHE
The most dexterous advocate of the theory that Caesar landed on Romney Marsh was Thomas Lewin; and it says a great deal for his persuasiveness that not one of his critics appears to have detected the inconsistencies with which his work abounds. Those which vitiate his argument, in so far as it relates to the tides, I have mentioned already. 3072 The rest all spring from one and the same source. When Lewin wrote his book, he adopted a theory as to the configuration of Romney Marsh which, after ob
33 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
IX. THE THEORY THAT CAESAR LANDED AT HURST
IX. THE THEORY THAT CAESAR LANDED AT HURST
The latest supporters of the theory that Caesar landed on Romney Marsh are Mr. H. E. Malden and, tentatively, Mr. Warde Fowler 3181 and Professor Pelham. 3182 Mr. Malden relies upon the argument, drawn from the study of the tides, which I have already refuted. 3183 But on certain points of detail he differs from Lewin. He maintains that Lewin’s description of Romney Marsh, as it existed in the time of Caesar, is incorrect, and that ‘the coast-line then ran nearly east and west from Sandgate towa
4 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
X. THE THEORY THAT CAESAR LANDED BETWEEN HURST AND KENNARDINGTON
X. THE THEORY THAT CAESAR LANDED BETWEEN HURST AND KENNARDINGTON
The late Francis Hobson Appach published in 1868 a book called Caius Julius Caesar’s British Expeditions , the principal object of which was to prove that Caesar’s troops disembarked in 55 B.C. between ‘the foot of the spur from Aldington Knoll’ (which is about four miles west of Lympne) on the right, and a point ‘about half way between Bonnington and Bilsington’ on the left; 3193 and that in the following year the left of the line extended as far westward as Kennardington. This theory differs b
8 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
XI. THE THEORY THAT CAESAR LANDED BETWEEN WALMER AND DEAL
XI. THE THEORY THAT CAESAR LANDED BETWEEN WALMER AND DEAL
The oldest English writers whose works have come down to us believed that Caesar had landed on the north of the South Foreland. This was certainly the view of Nennius, or of an author whose work Nennius edited; 3215 and Dr. Guest attached great weight to his testimony. 3216 I think that, in doing so, he showed less than his usual judgement; and perhaps he was not aware that Maistre Wace, who lived in the twelfth century, had anticipated the modern theory that Caesar landed on Romney Marsh. 3217
35 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
XII. THE THEORY THAT CAESAR LANDED AT RICHBOROUGH OR SANDWICH
XII. THE THEORY THAT CAESAR LANDED AT RICHBOROUGH OR SANDWICH
The commentators who believe that Caesar landed in the neighbourhood of Sandwich are not agreed among themselves. Napoleon III, who holds that he landed between Walmer and Deal in 55, and at or near Sandwich in 54 B.C. , argues that the disaster which befell his ships on the night of the full moon in August, 55 B.C. , must have taught him the danger to which they would be exposed on the beach near Deal, and that accordingly he must have selected a better landing-place ‘some kilometres further no
8 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE CREDIBILITY OF CAESAR’S NARRATIVE OF HIS INVASIONS OF BRITAIN
THE CREDIBILITY OF CAESAR’S NARRATIVE OF HIS INVASIONS OF BRITAIN
I have already published in Caesar’s Conquest of Gaul an essay upon the credibility of Caesar’s Commentaries ; but, as it only deals incidentally with the invasions of Britain, I intend in this place to examine certain charges which have been made against that section of Caesar’s narrative. It has been objected, perhaps justly, to the essay by competent critics in this country (though not on the Continent 3345 ) that it devotes an undue amount of space to the refutation of inferior writers; but
13 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE DISEMBARKATION OF THE ROMANS IN 55 B. C.
THE DISEMBARKATION OF THE ROMANS IN 55 B. C.
‘The men ... weighed down with their heavy cumbrous armour, had to leap down from the ships and keep their foothold in the waves,’ &c. ( militibus autem ... magno et gravi onere armorum oppressis simul et de navibus desiliendum et in fluctibus consistendum , &c. 3378 ) This passage has occasioned needless perplexity to commentators who forgot that the ships’ bows may have projected considerably, and also that when they were run aground they would necessarily have been buried for
34 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE SITE OF CAESAR’S CAMP IN 55, AND OF HIS NAVAL CAMP IN 54 B. C.
THE SITE OF CAESAR’S CAMP IN 55, AND OF HIS NAVAL CAMP IN 54 B. C.
I have proved in an earlier article that Caesar landed in 55 B.C. between Walmer Castle and Deal Castle, and in the following year between Deal Castle and Sandwich. 3380 Camden, 3381 who assumed that Caesar landed at the same place on both his expeditions, remarked that ‘for a considerable length under this shore [in the neighbourhood of Deal] are a number of heaps like banks which some suppose to have been blown up by the wind; but’, he added, ‘I rather take them for the fortifications or defen
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE WAR-CHARIOTS OF THE BRITONS
THE WAR-CHARIOTS OF THE BRITONS
‘Chariots,’ says Caesar, 3386 ‘are used in action in the following way. First of all the charioteers drive all over the field, the warriors hurling missiles; and generally they throw the enemy’s ranks into confusion by the mere terror inspired by their horses and the clatter of the wheels. As soon as they have penetrated between the troops of cavalry the warriors jump off the chariots and fight on foot. The drivers meanwhile gradually withdraw from the action, and range the cars in such a positi
5 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE OPERATIONS OF THE BRITONS DURING THE LAST FEW DAYS OF CAESAR’S FIRST EXPEDITION
THE OPERATIONS OF THE BRITONS DURING THE LAST FEW DAYS OF CAESAR’S FIRST EXPEDITION
After describing how he rescued the 7th legion, which had been sent out on a foraging expedition and surprised by a British force, Caesar tells us that he led this legion and the force with which he had marched to its assistance back to camp. ‘Meanwhile,’ he continues, ‘our people were all busy, and the Britons who were still in their districts moved off’ ( dum haec geruntur, nostris omnibus occupatis, qui erant in agris reliqui discesserunt 3410 ). The words ‘the Britons who were still in their
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
WHERE DID CAESAR ENCOUNTER THE BRITONS ON THE MORNING AFTER HIS SECOND LANDING IN BRITAIN?
WHERE DID CAESAR ENCOUNTER THE BRITONS ON THE MORNING AFTER HIS SECOND LANDING IN BRITAIN?
‘Caesar disembarked the army, and chose a suitable spot for a camp. Having ascertained from prisoners where the enemy’s forces were posted, he marched against them about the third watch.... After a night march of about twelve miles he descried the enemy’s force. Advancing with their cavalry and chariots from higher ground towards a river, 3412 they attempted to check our men, and forced on an action. Beaten off by the cavalry, they fell back into the woods and occupied a well-fortified post of g
14 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CAESAR’S EARLIER OPERATIONS IN 54 B. C. (B. G., V, 9-11)
CAESAR’S EARLIER OPERATIONS IN 54 B. C. (B. G., V, 9-11)
Caesar’s account of the events which occurred on the day after his first encounter with the Britons in 54 B.C. has been interpreted in several different ways; and yet his narrative is so clear that one would have thought it impossible to misunderstand it. After describing the first encounter, he proceeds, ‘Caesar, however, forbade them [the legionaries] to pursue the fugitives far, partly because he had no knowledge of the ground, partly because the day was far spent and he wished to have time f
6 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CAESAR’S SECOND COMBAT WITH THE BRITONS IN 54 B. C.
CAESAR’S SECOND COMBAT WITH THE BRITONS IN 54 B. C.
There is a passage in Caesar’s account of his second combat with the Britons in 54 B.C. which has greatly exercised the minds of the commentators; and editors have put upon it an interpretation which soldiers will not accept. The passage runs as follows:—‘Throughout this peculiar combat, which was fought in full view of every one and actually in front of the camp, it was clear that our infantry, owing to the weight of their armour, were ill fitted to engage an enemy of this kind; for they could
7 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE COMBAT BETWEEN TREBONIUS AND THE BRITONS
THE COMBAT BETWEEN TREBONIUS AND THE BRITONS
‘At midday Caesar having sent three legions and all his cavalry on a foraging expedition under one of his generals, Gaius Trebonius, they [the enemy] suddenly swooped down from all points on the foragers, not hesitating to attack the ordered ranks of the legions’ ( Sed meridie cum Caesar pabulandi causa tres legiones atque omnem equitatum cum C. Trebonio legato misisset, repente ex omnibus partibus [hostes] ad pabulatores advolaverunt, sic uti ab signis legionibusque non absisterent 3477 ). To a
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
WHERE DID CAESAR CROSS THE THAMES?
WHERE DID CAESAR CROSS THE THAMES?
The only indications which Caesar gives as to the place where he crossed the Thames are these. At an early stage of his narrative he tells us that ‘the chief command and the general direction of the campaign had been entrusted by common consent to Cassivellaunus, whose territories are separated from those of the maritime tribes by a river called the Thames, about eighty miles [or seventy-three English miles] from the sea’ ( summa imperii bellique administrandi communi consilio permissa Cassivell
11 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CAESAR’S PASSAGE OF THE THAMES
CAESAR’S PASSAGE OF THE THAMES
The excessively laconic chapter in which Caesar describes how he crossed the Thames in the face of a British force seems at first sight hard to explain. He tells us that ‘the river can only be forded at one spot, and there with difficulty’. ‘On reaching this place,’ he continues, ‘he observed that the enemy were drawn up in great force near the opposite bank of the river. The bank was fenced by sharp stakes planted along its edge; and similar stakes were fixed under water and concealed by the ri
3 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE SITE OF CASSIVELLAUNUS’S STRONGHOLD
THE SITE OF CASSIVELLAUNUS’S STRONGHOLD
The indications which Caesar gives as to the geographical position of the stronghold of Cassivellaunus are of the vaguest kind. After describing his passage from the southern to the northern bank of the Thames, which brought him into the territory of Cassivellaunus, he gives the following account of his operations:— ‘Cassivellaunus, abandoning, as we have remarked above, 3517 all thoughts of regular combat, disbanded all his forces, except some four thousand charioteers, watched our line of marc
6 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
DID LONDINIUM EXIST IN CAESAR’S TIME?
DID LONDINIUM EXIST IN CAESAR’S TIME?
The earliest mention of London occurs in the Annals 3529 of Tacitus, who, describing the events of the year 61, speaks of it as a busy centre of commerce. It has been argued 3530 that a settlement existed there before the Roman conquest of Britain, because the name Londinium is Celtic. Lewin 3531 maintains further that if London had been founded by the Romans, it would have been a strong military post, whereas in 61, eighteen years after the invasion of Britain by Aulus Plautius, it was attacked
5 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE JULIAN CALENDAR AND THE CHRONOLOGY OF CAESAR’S INVASIONS OF BRITAIN
THE JULIAN CALENDAR AND THE CHRONOLOGY OF CAESAR’S INVASIONS OF BRITAIN
I. The chronology of Caesar’s first invasion of Britain is simple enough, so far as it can be ascertained, and requires no knowledge of the intricacies of the Roman calendar. I have shown in an earlier article that the disembarkation took place on the 26th or 27th of August, 55 B.C. 3550 After describing the storm which occurred on the night of August 30-31, and the consequent loss of many of his ships, Caesar goes on to say that the Britons endeavoured to protract the war by cutting off his sup
50 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
TOPOGRAPHICAL NOTES
TOPOGRAPHICAL NOTES
On April 25, 1902, I observed more carefully than I had ever done before the coast between Sandgate and West Hythe. To speak of the hills between Sandgate and Hythe as angusti montes is sheer nonsense. Caesar would never have attempted to force a passage inland at any point between Lympne and Sandgate; 3687 nor would the Britons have abandoned these loca superiora , which lay ready to hand. There are, indeed, depressions in the line of hills—(1) just west of Sandgate railway station, (2) nearly
4 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
ADDENDA
ADDENDA
Page 122. ‘There was certainly a Copper Age ... Ireland.’ Professor Gowland ( Journ. Anthr. Inst. , xxxvi, 1906, pp. 26-7) deprecates the use of the expression ‘Copper Age’, remarking that ‘the so-called Copper Age possesses no characteristics which are not common to the Neolithic Age, except the imitations and limited use of stone forms in metal’, &c. The question seems to be purely verbal. Page 140. ‘It is worthy of remark ... not pure.’ The proportion of lead in Scottish bronze implem
10 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter