CELTIC AND ROMANO-BRITISH HERTFORDSHIRE 



become Romanized before the Roman Conquest, and so justified the early 

 grant of such privileges. The ' colonia ' was of military formation for 

 securing conquered territory by the establishment of time-expired soldiers in 

 provincial towns.*' In both, the inhabitants had the rights of Roman 

 citizenship. They were self-governed and were ruled by duoviri or presi- 

 dents of the local assemblies, quaestors and other magistrates, each town 

 having its ordo or senate." Like other cantonal towns each had its forum, 

 basilica, baths, temples, amphitheatre, and Verulamium its theatre. 



It was on account of their Romanized condition that during the 

 insurrection of Boadicea the Britons wreaked their vengeance on Camulo- 

 dunum and Verulamium in a.d. 6o. Tacitus dismisses the matter as 

 regards Verulamium by the entry that the inhabitants were put to the 

 sword.*® Without accepting the figures of the number of Romans and 

 loyalist Britons massacred in these towns, London and elsewhere, namely, 

 70,000 as given by Tacitus '" or 80,000 by Dio Cassius," it would seem 

 that each town had a large population of Romans and Romanized Britons. 

 It probably took Verulamium and the other towns some time to recover 

 from the destruction which they must have suffered in this revolt, and it 

 would seem likely that in re-establishing them opportunity was taken to 

 introduce the improvements of Roman civilization. Agricola we know made 

 an attempt about a.d. 80 to Romanize the country more completely, and it 

 was possibly about this period that Verulamium was laid out in Roman 

 fashion on a definite street plan.'^ The excavations on the site of the forum 

 suggest a rearrangement of plan and the earlier plan of that building may be 

 of the Flavian period. 



Before the end of the ist century London on account of its position 

 began rapidly to develop on purely Roman lines till it became the greatest com- 

 mercial city of the country and the centre of the Roman road system in Britain. 

 Thus, although it never attained municipal or colonial rank, nor was even a 

 cantonal town, it soon entirely overshadowed the more ancient tribal towns of 

 the province in wealth and importance. It would seem that towards the end 

 of the ist century or during the 2nd century the seat of the central authority of 

 the Roman government in Britain was transferred to it from Camulodunum 

 or Verulamium and the position of these latter towns fell in consequence. 



We know practically nothing of the subsequent history of Verulamium. 

 So far as the slight excavations indicate, its buildings were on a larger scale 

 than those found on other Romano-British town-sites, and the existence of 

 a theatre points to wealth. The inhabitants were official and commercial, 

 and so far as the slight evidence we have goes there is nothing to indicate 

 any military life within the town. If conclusions may be drawn from the 

 evidence of burning in the forum and other buildings, it would appear that 

 the town experienced some disturbance at a date not yet fixed, possibly in 

 the 4th century, when Picts and Saxons were devastating the country. 



*^ There were four ' coloniae ' in Britain, viz. Camulodunum (Colchester) established by Claudius 

 about A.D. 49, Lindum (Lincoln) about a.d. 70-80, Glevum (Gloucester) in a.d. 96-8 and Eburacum 

 (York) in the late 2nd qr early 3rd century (Haverfield, The Romanization of Roman Britain [ed. 2], 48). 



*8 Ibid. 50 ; Camb. Medieval Hist, i, 371-3. 



*» Annals, xiv, 33. '" Ibid. " Dio Cassius, Hist. Rom. lib. Ix. 



'^^ Haverfield, Romanization of Roman Britain (ed. 2), 56 ; cf. evidence as to the lay out of Silchester 

 and Bath in ibid. 56, note 2 ; Annals, xiv, 21 ; Camb. Medieval Hist, i, 371. 



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