The Birlh of the English Land System. 1 7 



in Britain long before the immigration of the Anglo-Saxons, 

 that it is necessary to examine briefly any evidence which 

 would connect what we know to have been the general Roman 

 policy over conquered and barbarous nations with that in this 

 particular case. Happily for our purpose most forms of Roman 

 taxation aroused native opposition, and such serious occurrences 

 did not escape mention by the Roman historians. 



The great revolt of Boadicea ^ seems to have been brought 

 about principally owing to the nefarious exactions of the Roman 

 officials. Prasutagus, king of the Iceni, had died, bequeathing 

 to the emperor his kingdom and daughters. This, however, 

 proved no safeguard to either. The late king's subjects were 

 plundered by the military officials on the pretext of purveyance 

 for the army ; his home was ruined through the instrumen- 

 tality of the civil officials by an abusive manipulation of the 

 imperial fiscal system ; and lastly, his kingdom was reduced 

 to the form of a Roman province. But the stirring words of 

 their maddened queen are significant of far longer outstanding 

 discontent. It was not only the frumentum for the troops, but 

 the forced labour on the roads, the exactions and violence of 

 military and fiscal officers which aroused to arms the tribes 

 under her command. 



The British of the interior were for a long period too ignorant 

 of agriculture to avail themselves to any large extent of the de- 

 cumal system of land tenure. They continued to carry on the 

 pastoral semi-nomadic life they had hitherto led, acknowledg- 

 ing the Roman Emperor's sovereignty over their Folcland by 

 the payment of scriptura. Half-ruined already by their pro- 

 longed resistance, they were forced to borrow money at usury 

 from their Roman masters. Jn this way Seneca alone is said 

 to have lent £322,000, and this was another grievance which 

 swelled the ranks of the rebels under Boadicea. 



But evidence afforded by ancient British coins also points to 

 the peculiar forms of taxation adopted one time or another by the 

 Romans, Camden alludes to the fact that the Britons used brass 

 money, rings, or plates of iron, and proceeds to describe in nu- 

 merical order the coins of gold, silver, and " brasse of sundrie 



^ Tacitus, Kht.^ xiv, 31 ; Agric.^ IG. 



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