A large Roman fort believed to have played a key role in the successful invasion of Britain in 43 AD has been discovered on the Dutch coast.
A Roman legion of “several thousand” battle-ready soldiers was stationed in Velsen, 32km from Amsterdam, on the banks of the Oer-IJ, a tributary of the Rhine, research suggests.
Arjen Bosman, the archeologist behind the findings, said the evidence pointed to Velsen, or Flevum in Latin, having been the empire’s most northerly castra (fortress) built to keep a Germanic tribe, known as the Chauci, at bay as the invading Roman forces prepared to cross from Boulogne, France, to England’s southern beaches.
The fortified camp appears to have been established by emperor Caligula (12 to 41 AD) in preparation for his failed attempt to take Britannia in about 40 AD, but was then successfully developed and exploited by his successor, Claudius, for his own invasion in 43 AD.
“We know for sure Caligula was in the Netherlands as there are markings on wooden wine barrels with the initials of the emperor burnt in, suggesting that these came from the imperial court,” Bosman said.
“What Caligula came to do were the preparations for invading England — to have the same kind of military achievement as Julius Caesar — but to invade and remain there. He couldn’t finish the job as he was killed in 41 AD and Claudius took over where he left off in 43 AD,” he said.
“We have found wooden planks underneath the watchtower, or the gate, of the fort, and this is the phase just before the invasion of England. The wooden plank has been dated in the winter of 42-43 AD. That is a lovely date. I jumped in the air when I heard it,” Bosman said.
Claudius’ invading forces, untouched by the Germanic tribes, made their landing in Kent, England, and by the summer of 43 AD the emperor was confident enough to travel himself, entering Camulodunum (Colchester, England) in triumph to receive the submission of 12 chieftains.
Within three years, the Romans had claimed the whole of Britain as part of their empire.
“The main force came from Boulogne and Calais, but the northern flank of that attack had to be covered and it was covered by the fort in Velsen. The Germanic threat comes up in Roman literature several times,” Bosman said. “It was an early warning system to the troops in France. It didn’t matter what the Germanic tribes put in the field as there was a legion there.”
The Velsen fort was abandoned in 47 AD after Claudius ordered all his troops to retreat behind the Rhine.
Roman rule of Britain ended in about 410 AD as the empire began to collapse in response to internal fighting and the ever-growing threats from Germanic tribes.
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