| Caratacus | |
|---|---|
| King of the Britons King of the Catuvellauni | |
 Caractacus before the Emperor Claudius at Rome, 18th-century print, artist unknown (British Museum) | |
| King of theCatuvellauni | |
| Reign | 1st century AD, toc. 50 |
| Predecessor | Epaticcus |
| Successor | None (Catuvellauni territory conquered byClaudius) |
| King of the Britons | |
| Reign | 43–50 |
| Predecessor | Cunobelinus |
| Successor | Cogidubnus |
| Born | c. 10? Probably in Catuvellauni territory |
| Died | Afterc. 50 Rome |
| Brythonic | *Caratācos |
| Greek | Καράτακος /Καρτάκης |
| Father | Cunobelinus |
| Mother | Unknown |
Caratacus[a] was a 1st-century ADBritishchieftain of theCatuvellauni tribe, who resisted theRoman conquest of Britain.
Before the Roman invasion, Caratacus is associated with the expansion of his tribe's territory. His apparent success led to Roman invasion, nominally in support of his defeated enemies. He resisted the Romans for almost a decade, usingguerrilla warfare, but when he offered aset-piece battle he was defeated by Roman forces. After defeat he fled to the territory of QueenCartimandua, who captured him and handed him over to the Romans. He was sentenced to death but made a speech before his execution that persuaded the EmperorClaudius to spare him. Caratacus' speech to Claudius has been a popular subject in visual art.
Caratacus' name appears as bothCaratacus andCaractacus in manuscripts of Tacitus, and asΚαράτακος andΚαρτάκης in manuscripts of Dio. Older reference works tend to favour the spellingCaractacus.
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Coins minted during his rule show the beginning of his name CARA' on the obverse, but some modern scholars[who?] agree, based onhistorical linguistics and source criticism, that the originalCommon Brittonic form was*Karatākos, pronounced[karaˈtaːkos], cognate withWelshCaradog,BretonKaradeg, andIrishCarthach, meaning "loving, beloved, dear; friend".[1][additional citation(s) needed]
Caratacus is named byDio Cassius as a son of the Catuvellaunian kingCunobelinus.[2] Based oncoin distribution Caratacus appears to have been the protégé of his uncleEpaticcus, who expanded Catuvellaunian power westwards most likely from his palace in Verulam, the heartland of the Catuvellauni, into the territory of theAtrebates.[3] After Epaticcus died in about AD 35, the Atrebates, underVerica, regained some of their territory, but it appears Caratacus completely conquered the Atrebates, since Dio tells us Verica was ousted, fled toRome and appealed to theemperorClaudius for help. This was the excuse used by Claudius to launch hisinvasion of Britain in the summer of 43.
The invasion targeted Caratacus' stronghold ofCamulodunon (modernColchester), previously the seat of his father Cunobelinus.[4][5] Cunobelinus had died some time before the invasion. Caratacus and his brotherTogodumnus led the initial defence of the country againstAulus Plautius's fourlegions, thought to have been around 40,000 men, primarily usingguerrilla tactics.[6] They lost much of the south-east after being defeated in two crucial battles, theBattle of the River Medway andRiver Thames.
Dio reports that Togodumnus was killed (although bothMiles Russell and John Hind argue that Dio was mistaken in reporting Togodumnus' death, that he was defeated but survived and was later appointed by the Romans as a friendly king over a number of territories, becoming the loyal king referred to by Tacitus as Cogidubnus orTogidubnus)[7][8] and the Romans conquered the Catuvellaunian territories. Their stronghold of Camulodunon was converted into the first Romancolonia in Britain,Colonia Victricensis.[4][9][10]
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We next hear of Caratacus inTacitus'sAnnals, leading theSilures andOrdovices ofWales against Plautius' successor asgovernor,Publius Ostorius Scapula.[11] Finally, in 50, Scapula managed todefeat Caratacus in a set-piece battle somewhere in Ordovician territory, capturing Caratacus' wife and daughter and receiving the surrender of his brothers. Caratacus himself escaped and fled north to the lands of theBrigantes (modernYorkshire), where the Brigantian queen,Cartimandua, handed him over to the Romans in chains. This was one of the factors that led to two Brigantian revolts against Cartimandua and her Roman allies, once later in the 50s and once in 69, led byVenutius, who had once been Cartimandua's husband. With the capture of Caratacus, much of southern Britain from theHumber to theSevern waspacified and garrisoned throughout the 50s.[12]
Legends place Caratacus' last stand at eitherCaer Caradoc[13] nearChurch Stretton orBritish Camp[14] in theMalvern Hills, but the description ofTacitus makes either unlikely:
[Caratacus] resorted to the ultimate hazard, adopting a place for battle so that entry, exit, everything would be unfavourable to us and for the better to his own men, with steep mountains all around, and, wherever a gentle access was possible, he strewed rocks in front in the manner of a rampart. And in front too there flowed a stream with an unsure ford, and companies of armed men had taken up position along the defences.[15]
Although theSevern is visible from British Camp, it is nowhere near it, so this battle must have taken place elsewhere. A number of locations have been suggested, including a site nearBrampton Bryan. Bari Jones, inArchaeology Today in 1998, identified Blodwel Rocks atLlanymynech inPowys as representing a close fit with Tacitus' account.[full citation needed]
After his capture, Caratacus was sent to Rome as a war prize, presumably to be killed after atriumphal parade. Although a captive, he was allowed to address theRoman Senate. Tacitus records a version of his speech in which he says that his stubborn resistance made Rome's glory in defeating him all the greater:
If the degree of my nobility and fortune had been matched by moderation in success, I would have come to this City as a friend rather than a captive, nor would you have disdained to receive with a treaty of peace one sprung from brilliant ancestors and commanding a great many nations. But my present lot, disfiguring as it is for me, is magnificent for you. I had horses, men, arms, and wealth: what wonder if I was unwilling to lose them? If you wish to command everyone, does it really follow that everyone should accept your slavery? If I were now being handed over as one who had surrendered immediately, neither my fortune nor your glory would have achieved brilliance. It is also true that in my case any reprisal will be followed by oblivion. On the other hand, if you preserve me safe and sound, I shall be an eternal example of your clemency.[16]
He made such an impression that he was pardoned and allowed to live in peace in Rome. After his liberation, according to Dio Cassius, Caratacus was so impressed by the city of Rome that he said "And can you, then, who have got such possessions and so many of them, still covet our poor huts?"[17]
Caratacus' memory may have been preserved in medieval Welsh tradition. Agenealogy in the Welsh Harley MS 3859 (c. 1100) includes the generations "Caratauc map Cinbelin map Teuhant", corresponding, via established processes of language change, to "Caratacus, son of Cunobelinus, son ofTasciovanus", preserving the names of the three historical figures in correct relationship.[18]
Caratacus does not appear inGeoffrey of Monmouth'sHistory of the Kings of Britain (1136), although he appears to correspond toArviragus, the younger son ofKymbelinus, who continues to resist the Roman invasion after the death of his older brotherGuiderius.[19] In Welsh versions his name is Gweirydd, son of Cynfelyn, and his brother is called Gwydyr;[20] the name Arviragus is taken from a poem byJuvenal.[21]
Caradog, son of Bran, who appears in medieval Welsh literature, has also been identified with Caratacus, although nothing in the medieval legend corresponds except his name. He appears in theMabinogion as a son ofBran the Blessed, who is left in charge of Britain while his father makes war inIreland, but is overthrown byCaswallawn (the historicalCassivellaunus, who lived a century earlier than Caratacus).[22] TheWelsh Triads agree that he was Bran's son, and name two sons, Cawrdaf and Eudaf.[23]
Two hills in Shropshire bear the name Caer Caradoc (Welsh – Caer Caradog), meaning fort of Caradoc, and have popular associations with him. One is an Iron Age hill fort and Scheduled Monument near the town of Clun. It overlooks the village of Chapel Lawn. The other Caer Caradoc is a prominent hill and Iron Age hill fort near Church Stretton, 16 miles (26 km) to the north-east.
Caradog began to be identified with Caratacus only after the rediscovery of the works of Tacitus and new material appeared based on this identification. An 18th-century tradition, popularised by the Welsh antiquarian and forgerIolo Morganwg, credits Caradog, on his return from imprisonment in Rome, with the introduction of Christianity to Britain. Iolo also makes the legendary kingCoel Hen a son of Caradog's sonSaint Cyllin.[24]Richard Williams Morgan said a reference to Cyllin as a son of Caratacus was found in the family records ofIestyn ab Gwrgant and used this as evidence of the early entry of Christianity to Britain: "Cyllin ab Caradog, a wise and just king. In his days many of the Cymry embraced the faith in Christ through the teaching of the saints of Cor-Eurgain, and many godly men from the countries of Greece and Rome were in Cambria. He first of the Cymry gave infants names; for before, names were not given except to adults, and then from something characteristic in their bodies, minds, or manners."[25]
Another tradition, which has remained popular amongBritish Israelites and others, makes Caratacus already a Christian before he came to Rome, Christianity having been brought to Britain by eitherJoseph of Arimathea orSt Paul, and identifies a number of early Christians as his relatives.[26]
One isPomponia Graecina, wife ofAulus Plautius, the conqueror of Britain, who as Tacitus relates, was accused of following a "foreign superstition", which the tradition considers to be Christianity.[27] Tacitus describes her as the "wife of the Plautius who returned from Britain with an ovation", which ledJohn Lingard (1771–1851) to conclude, in hisHistory and Antiquities of the Anglo-Saxon Church, that she was British;[28] however, this conclusion is a misinterpretation of what Tacitus wrote. Anovation was a military parade in honour of a victorious general, so the person who "returned from Britain with an ovation" is clearly Plautius, not Pomponia. This has not prevented the error being repeated and disseminated widely.
Another isClaudia Rufina, a historical British woman known to the poetMartial.[29] Martial describes Claudia's marriage to a man named Pudens,[30] almost certainlyAulus Pudens, anUmbriancenturion and friend of the poet who appears regularly in hisEpigrams. It has been argued since the 17th century[31] that this pair may be the same as the Claudia and Pudens mentioned as members of the Roman Christian community in2 Timothy in theNew Testament.[32] Some go further, asserting that Claudia was Caratacus' daughter, and that the historicalPope Linus, who is described as the "brother of Claudia" in an early church document, was Caratacus' son. Pudens is identified withSt. Pudens, and it is asserted that the basilica ofSanta Pudenziana in Rome, and with which St. Pudens is associated, was once called thePalatium Britannicum and was the home of Caratacus and his family.
This theory was popularised in a 1961 book calledThe Drama of the Lost Disciples by George Jowett, but Jowett did not originate it. He cites renaissance historians such as ArchbishopJames Ussher,Caesar Baronius andJohn Hardyng, as well as classical writers likeCaesar,Tacitus andJuvenal, although his classical citations at least are wildly inaccurate, many of his assertions are unsourced, and many of his identifications entirely speculative. He also frequently citesSt. Paul in Britain, an 1860 book byR. W. Morgan, and advocates other tenets of British Israelism, in particular that the British are descended from thelost tribes of Israel.[33]
Caractacus has been referenced in a variety of modern works. The famous "Major-General's Song" fromGilbert and Sullivan's 1879 comic opera, "The Pirates of Penzance" references Caractactus in the following line:
Then I can write a washing bill inBabyloniccuneiform,And tell you ev'ry detail ofCaractacus's uniform
Caractacus' relevance to musical comedy continued in the 20th century withRolf Harris' humorouscumulative song, "The Court of King Caractacus", the chorus of which ends as follows:
Now if you want to take some pictures of the fascinating witches who put the scintilating stiches in the britches of the boys who put the powder on the noses on the faces of the ladies of the harem of the court of KingCaractacus...
Other works that reference Caractacus includeEdward Elgar'sCaractacus,Seamus Kennedy's "King Caractacus", andMandalaband's (2011) "Palatium Britannicum". Finally, the father inChitty Chitty Bang Bang is namedCaractacus Pott, a borrowing of name from the original historical figure who is otherwise unrelated.
| Regnal titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | King of the Catuvellauni | Roman rule |
| Legendary titles | ||
| Preceded by Metallanus | King of Scotland | Succeeded by Corbredus I |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
