Battle of the Medway

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Battle of the Medway

The Battle of the Medway took place in 43

Year 43 was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar....
on the River Medway

River Medway

The 'River Medway', which is almost entirely in Kent, England, flows for from just inside the West Sussex border to the point where it enters the Thames Estuary....
in the lands of the Iron Age

Iron Age

In archaeology, the Iron Age was the stage in the development of any people in which tools and weapons whose main ingredient was iron were prominent....
tribe of the Cantiaci

Cantiaci

The Cantiaci or Cantii were a Celtic or Belgae people living in Britain before the Roman conquest of Britain, and gave their name to a civitas of Roman Britain....
, now the English

England

Kent

Kent is a Counties of England in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the River Thames estuary....
. It was an early battle in the Claudian invasion of Britain

Roman conquest of Britain

By AD 43, the time of the main Roman invasion of Britain, Great Britain had already frequently been the target of invasions, planned and actual, by forces of the Roman Republic and Roman Empire....
, led by Aulus Plautius

Aulus Plautius

Aulus Plautius was a Roman empire politician and general of the mid-1st century. He led the Roman conquest of Britain in 43, and became the first List of Roman governors of Britain of the new province, serving from 43 to 47....
.

On the news of the Roman landing, the British tribes united under the command of Togodumnus

Togodumnus

Togodumnus was a historical king of the British Catuvellauni tribe at the time of the Roman conquest of Britain. He can probably be identified with the legendary British king Guiderius....
and his brother Caratacus

Caratacus

Caratacus was a historical British Iron Age chieftain of the Catuvellauni tribe, who led the British resistance to the Roman conquest. The legendary Welsh mythology character Caradoc and the legendary British king Arvirargus may be based upon Caratacus....
of the Catuvellauni

Catuvellauni

The Catuvellauni were a Celtic/Belgae tribe or state of south-eastern Prehistoric Britain before the Roman conquest of Britain.The fortunes of the Catuvellauni and their kings before the conquest can be traced through numismatic evidence and scattered references in classical histories....
tribe to fight them. After losing two initial skirmishes in eastern Kent, the natives gathered on the banks of a river further west to face the invaders.

At the same time, the Romans received the surrender of the Dobunni

Dobunni

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Encyclopedia

The Battle of the Medway took place in 43

Year 43 was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar....
on the River Medway

River Medway

The 'River Medway', which is almost entirely in Kent, England, flows for from just inside the West Sussex border to the point where it enters the Thames Estuary....
in the lands of the Iron Age

Iron Age

In archaeology, the Iron Age was the stage in the development of any people in which tools and weapons whose main ingredient was iron were prominent....
tribe of the Cantiaci

Cantiaci

The Cantiaci or Cantii were a Celtic or Belgae people living in Britain before the Roman conquest of Britain, and gave their name to a civitas of Roman Britain....
, now the English

England

Kent

Roman conquest of Britain

Aulus Plautius

Togodumnus

Caratacus

Catuvellauni

Dobunni

The Dobunni were one of the Celtic tribes living in the British Iron Age prior to the Roman invasion of Britain. The tribe lived in the part of southwestern Britain that today broadly coincides with the English counties of North Somerset, Bristol and Gloucestershire although at times their territory may have extended into parts of what are no...
tribe in western Britain. The Dobunni were subjects of the Catuvellauni and this diplomatic gain was likely a blow to native morale and manpower.

There was no bridge over the river and so a detachment of specially-trained Roman auxiliaries (described by the only historical source for the battle Cassius Dio as "Celt

Celt

Celts , is a modern term used to describe any of the European peoples who spoke, or speak, a Celtic languages. The term is also used in a wider sense to describe the Modern Celts of those peoples, notably those who participate in a Celtic culture....
ic") swam across the river and attacked the natives' chariot

Chariot

The chariot is the earliest and simplest type of carriage, used in both peace and war as the chief vehicle of many ancient peoples. Chariots were built in Mesopotamia by the Mesopotamians as early as 3000 BC and in China during the 2nd millennium BC....
horses. In the chaos that followed, the bulk of the invasion force spearheaded by Legio II Augusta under Vespasian

Vespasian

Titus Flavius Vespasianus, commonly known as Vespasian , was a Roman Emperor who reigned from 69 A.D. until his death in 79 A.D. Vespasian was the founder of the short lived Flavian dynasty, which ruled the Roman Empire between 69 A.D....
crossed the river, under the overall command of Titus Flavius Sabinus II. It seems the natives were taken by surprise at how fully-armed legionaries were able to cross the river and Peter Salway states that even Dio seems taken aback. The Romans were unable to press home victory immediately and the first day of fighting ended without a result. During the second day, a daring attack led by Gnaeus Hosidius Geta

Gnaeus Hosidius Geta

Gaius or Gnaeus Hosidius Geta was a Roman Senator and General who lived in the 1st century. Geta was a praetor some time before 42. In 42, commanding a Roman legion, probably the Legio VIIII Hispana in the Africa Province, he was a part of Gaius Suetonius Paulinus' campaigns into Mauretania....
almost led to the Roman officer being captured. His troops retaliated however and put the Britons to flight. Geta was awarded a triumph for securing victory, a rare honour for someone who had not been consul

Consul

Consul was the highest elected office of the Roman Republic and an appointive office under the Roman Empire. The title was also used in other city states, and revived in modern states, notably French Republic before the Napoleon I of Franceic counter-revolution....
. Given the primary roles taken by Geta and Sabinus on different days it has been suggested by the historian Malcolm Todd that the Romans were operating as two, or possibly three, battle group

Battle group

Battle group may refer to:* Carrier battle group, an aircraft carrier and its escorts, examples of which are:** the Abraham Lincoln Battle Group...
s.

Such a long battle was unusual in ancient warfare

Ancient warfare

Ancient warfare is war as conducted from the beginnings of recorded history to the end of the ancient period. In Europe and the Near East, the end of antiquity is often equated with the Roman Empire in 476....
and it is likely that the Romans had defeated a significant native force. The Britons fell back to the Thames

River Thames

The Thames is a major river flowing through southern England. While best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows through several other towns and cities, including Oxford, Reading, Berkshire and Windsor, Berkshire....
where they were afforded a greater strategic advantage.

Dio does not in fact name the battle's location or even the river in question but its site is usually said to be on the Medway. The Romans would have made use of existing trackways as they moved west from Richborough

Richborough

Richborough is a settlement north of Sandwich, Kent on the east coast of the county of Kent, England. Richborough lies close to the Isle of Thanet....
, and the most well-travelled prehistoric trackway would been the route of the later Pilgrims' Way

Pilgrims' Way

The Pilgrims' Way is the historic route supposed to have been taken by pilgrims from Winchester, Hampshire in Hampshire, England, to the shrine of Thomas Becket at Canterbury in Kent....
, which forded the Medway at Aylesford

Aylesford

Aylesford is a large village on the River Medway in Kent, 4 miles NW of Maidstone in England. Originally a small riverside settlement, Aylesford has expanded rapidly over the past thirty years to gain a population of around 5,000....
. Other theories, however, note that the river is narrow enough at Aylesford not to pose significant difficulties in crossing, and place the battle closer to Rochester, where a large Iron Age settlement stood at the time. Further evidence of a more northern location is at Bredgar

Bredgar

Bredgar is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Swale in Kent, England. The village lies some 4 miles to the southwest of Sittingbourne on the road between Tunstall, Kent and Hollingbourne....
, where a find of a hoard

Hoard

In archaeology, a hoard is a collection of valuable objects or artifact , sometimes purposely buried in the ground. This would usually be with the intention of later recovery by the hoarder; hoarders sometimes died before retrieving the hoard, and these surviving hoards may be uncovered by metal-detectorists, members of the public and arch...
of Roman coins from the period has been interpreted as a Roman officer's savings buried for safekeeping before a battle. This hoard could, however, post-date the battle by as much as 20 years. Possibly the Romans followed the future route of Watling Street

Watling Street

Watling Street is the name given to an ancient trackway in England and Wales that was first used by the Celts mainly between the modern cities of Canterbury and St Albans....
to the battle, although its role as a pre-Roman communications route is not certain.

Bibliography

Frere, S, Britannia, Routledge, 1987
Salway, P, Roman Britain OUP, 1986
Todd, M, Roman Britain, Fontana, 1985