In the year 78 C.E., the Roman Emperor, Vespasian, appointed Julius Agricola as Governor in Britain. As Governor, Agricola had the task of conquering the untamed north and completing the occupation of the remote island.
Tacitus and Agricola
Most of what is known of Agricola’s enterprise in Britain was recorded by his son-in-law, Publius Cornelius Tacitus. Tacitus, for his part, used the narrative of Agricola’s invasion of Caledonia, a region roughly correlating with modern Scotland, to make his own political statement, as well as to provide a historical account.
Agricola’s strategy, as described by Tacitus, is fairly typical for a Roman offensive. First Agricola consolidated the southern parts of Britain. Then he constructed a series of forts leading up the east coast of Britain north to the Firth of Forth. After years of slow progress, in 84 C.E., Agricola was finally prepared to move into the hills and mountains that had provided refuge for the last of the organized British resistance.
Calgacus
Opposing Agricola, and leading an army of 30,000 warriors, was Calgacus. He is identified by Tacitus as a Prince of the Caledonii, one of the tribes that were native to the far north. United under Calgacus were other northern tribes, such as the Taexali and Venicones, combined with remnants of southern peoples like the Brigantes, who had fled to the north to continue their insurgency. According to some interpretations, the Caledonnii should be regarded as more of a tribal confederation than an individual tribe. However, it is certain that the people of Britain, comprising both Celtic and pre-Celtic cultures, united to face this Roman invasion force.
Tacitus commends Calgacus, crediting him with having given a brilliant speech to his gathered army. Although Tacitus may have embellished upon the Caledonian princes’ actual words in order to make a political statement against Roman excess, much of the content rings true given what is known of the contemptuous attitude that many Celts felt for the Romans. In his speech Calgacus reminds his men that “the frontiers of Britain are open and beyond us there are no people, nothing other than the seas.” Tacitus discribes Calgacus continuing with an oratory worthy of a great leader, inspiring his men to have confidence that the non-roman troops in Agricola’a army would remember their heritage and turn on their commanders.
Calgacus also offered harsh criticism of Roman imperial politics declaring that, “stealing, murdering and plundering they call it government; and where they create a desert they call it peace.” If these words belong to Calgacus it would prove him to have been very knowledgeable of the world beyond Britain. The implications of this prologue are clear, the Caledonians knew that they were among the last holdouts against Roman authority and, having avoided Roman rule by moving northward, there was, at last, nowhere left to run.
The Fight on Mons Graupius
Agricola also rallied his 10,000 troops with a speech, but his words are less eloquent, perhaps indicating a bias on behalf of the author, even at the expense of his own father-in-law. Agricola states rather bluntly that the enemy should be regarded as the last remnant of an already defeated people who had only turned to fight because they had no choice.
Agricola found Calgacus with his army drawn up along Mons Graupius, an as yet unidentified hill in the Grampian region of Scotland. Calgacus faced the Romans with a long front-line which was protected by chariots and other skirmishers. The Roman commander ordered his infantry into a tight formation because he feared an enveloping flanking attack from the Caledonians. He wisely kept his cavalry units in reserve and sent his own Gaelic and Germanic infantry forward to lead the attack.
In the cramped conditions created by the massed infantry, the Roman-equipped troops were to fair better. They fought with larger shields and short stabbing swords, versus the longer slashing swords preferred by the Caledonii. As Agricola saw the field tilting to his advantage, he sent in a wave of cavalry against the tribesmen. This time the terrain favored the defenders, the horses foundered along the slopes, and they were driven back. Still, the center of the field was gradually being taken by the relentless advance of the Roman swordsmen.
As the center of his army began to give way, Calgacus attempted to send his reserve units down the hillside to sweep around the flank of his enemies heavy infantry. Agricola was cautious, and he still had another cavalry force ready to counterattack. This Roman charge broke the ranks of Calgacus’s flanking force, and proceeded to roll up the entire front line of the Caledonian army.
The Aftermath
According to the accounts of the battle, entire units of the British force left the field intact, while others were destroyed to the last man. The fate of Calgacus is unknown. The official records place the Caledonian casualties at nearly 10,000, while listing the Roman fallen as only 360. However, this number does not include the Gauls and the Germans serving with the Roman forces who had borne the main burden of the fight.
When Agricola regrouped his army and prepared to pursue the enemy, there was no clear path to follow. The land was scorched before his advancing force, with nothing but burnt out hovels to suggest it had once been occupied. As it was near the end of the summer campaign season, Agricola withdrew to the south, leaving only a fleet of ships to raid the coast.
The next year, the new emperor in Rome, Domitian, recalled Agricola before he could complete his conquest. The final work of the occupation of Caledonia was never finished. The tribes of Caledonia would continue to keep the resistance against Rome alive for nearly three hundred years. Finally, a general uprising, dubbed the “Barbarian Conspiracy” united the descendants of the Caledonii with the Angles, Jutes and Saxons in a series of invasions that were the beginning of the end of Roman Britain.
Sources:
The Complete Works of Tacitus, (McGraw-Hill, September 1, 1964)
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