THE EARLY HISTORY OF BARLICK (7)

[Stanley]

THE EARLY HISTORY OF BARLICK (7)

19 October 2001

We’re in the last century before Christ, 100BC and we’ve decided that Barlick is bumbling along fairly well, they aren’t important enough to stand up to the Brigantes and are too poor to be bothered much by raiders except an occasional rustling raid from the north. They’ve got almost all the domestic animals we have today including cats and dogs and they are growing wheat, barley and of course, grass.
By this time they are growing other things as well, we know that the Neolithic hunter gatherers had discovered the wild carrot and the sea carrot (only found on the south coast) and when agriculture started these were cultivated. By selecting the seed from the best plants the quality and size was improved and this happened for other plants such as the wild onion, radish and many of the herbs (Nothing new about genetic modification by selection!). Our first century Barlickers would have been able to knock out quite a tasty stew containing vegetables like carrots and turnips and flavoured with onion, mint, fennel and other herbs. They would have had a small cabbage, water cress and of course nuts and hedgerow fruits. We can assume they knew about milk, cream and eggs. They had pigs and wild mushrooms and so the full English breakfast would have been quite possible. There were fish in the streams and they could trap wild birds. They had barley and it wouldn’t surprise me if they had found out how to make ale. On the whole, it was a varied diet, the only problem would be to make sure they had enough. We suspect that they were doing pretty well actually because, country-wide, the population was rising and it couldn’t have done so without adequate food. We have some harder evidence about this, Julius Caesar.
Julius Caesar was born in 100BC and by the time he was 40 had established himself as one of the leading men of Rome. He was fighting his way across Europe and conquering the Celts in Gaul, the Gallic Wars, and by 54BC had reached the western coast. He had a problem, he was running out of resources and food to keep the armies going so in 54 and 55BC he mounted two expeditions to what he called Britannica, the mainland Isle. These were not invasions or conquests, they were armed trading expeditions, what he was looking for was allies and trading partners, not subjects, he had enough on his plate with Europe. It’s true that he had a secondary objective, he knew of the close links between the Britannic tribes and their fellow Celts in Europe and his strategy was to make The Isle a trading partner rather than a reserve of reinforcements for Gallic Celts. The Isle at this time was an exporter of tin, copper, iron and wheat, all commodities that Caesar needed. The large tribes of the south were, on the whole, receptive and started trading their surplus with the Romans and this business partnership lasted for almost ninety years.
We’ve already noted the evidence that there was a lot of tribal unrest in The Isle and this was eventually to prove disastrous. Bear this in mind while we have a look at the effect of trading with the Romans. We’ve got some good evidence about Glastonbury at this time and it is a useful example of how the new trade affected the southern parts of the Isle. The close links between the Isle and mainland European Celts included regular trade between Armorica (now Brittany) and the south west of the Isle. This is the reason why what is now a French province got its name. In fact the name Great Britain was originally coined to distinguish the Isle from the lesser Britain across the sea. As the Romans advanced across Gaul, many Armoricans fled across the sea to Glastonbury. They lived on two crannogs there and soon integrated with the locals who traded with Gaul, sending pottery and other trade goods. As trade increased with both Gaul and the Romans, Glastonbury grew in size and imported not only new goods introduced by the Romans but a new culture as well. Spices, wine and other Roman luxuries came in and eventually a new religion, Christianity. William of Malmsbury writing in 1126 was convinced that Glastonbury was the first Christian church on the Isle but he didn’t support the legend that Joseph of Aramathea had been sent there in AD63 by St Philip. Whatever the truth, it is almost certain that the new religion came in by the same route as trade. It's worth noting that the same mechanism was probably true of Ireland.
Julius Caesar had gone back to Rome, been proclaimed dictator and in 44BC was assassinated. These were troubled times in Rome and after what almost amounted to civil war Tiberius and Gaius (Caligula) ruled in quick succession and in 41AD Claudius became emperor. Claudius wasn’t a well favoured man, he was partially paralysed and had a speech impediment and this meant that he was never going to be a successful campaigner. The senate gave him on honorary triumph when he acceded but Claudius never regarded this as the real thing.
By 40AD the unrest in Britannica had reached the stage where it was serious enough to interfere with trade so some of the tribal chiefs went to Rome and appealed to Claudius for help to pacify the country. Claudius’ advisers warned him to leave well alone but he saw a chance to gain a genuine conquest and become entitled to a triumph. In 43AD he sent Aulus Plautius to Britannica with about 50,000 troops, this was no expedition, it was a full-blooded invasion and was to end in the Roman conquest of Britannica. Once Plautius had established a beachhead and was ready to attack Camudolunum (Colchester) he held his men back and sent to Rome for Claudius to come and witness the victory. As soon as the emperor arrived the town was attacked and taken and Claudius spent sixteen days touring the district, he then went back to Rome and claimed his triumph but was poisoned by Agrippa and succeeded by Nero in 54AD, the conquest proceeded for forty years.
The Romans had perfected conquest during their progress across Europe. Their policy wasn’t to crush the natives but to persuade them to cooperate. If they did, they were left alone to carry on normally, if they resisted they were attacked unmercifully, terror was a weapon they understood perfectly. A case in point was the rising of the Iceni in 60/61AD. Their territory was in what is now East Anglia. Led by Boudicca (Boadicea), they almost broke the Roman hold but in the end were defeated by the governor, Suetonius Paulinus. 70,000 were killed during the rebellion and a further 80,000 when Suetonius turned the legions loose on the survivors. We don’t know how fast news of this slaughter spread but we can be sure that it was swift and had the desired effect. The Brigantes, in whose territory Barlick lay, had cooperated with the Romans from the start. Cartimandua was queen of the tribe and maintained this policy, Venutius her consort would have nothing to do with this and revolted. He made his last stand at the great fort of Stanwick Hill in 71AD and was defeated and killed.
In 78AD Julius Agricola was governor of Britannica and he set out to subdue the whole of the Isles. He reduced the Ordovices of central Wales, the last tribe holding out against the Romans in the West. In 79AD he set out from the garrison town of Deva (Chester) to subjugate the Caledonians. He met them in battle somewhere in the Highlands and defeated them but he was recalled to Rome before he could start on Ireland. The conquest of Britannica could be said to be complete but at a terrible cost.
How about Barlick through all this? I don’t think they would be affected too much. For one thing, the western side of Brigante territory had always been firmly under the control of Cartimandua and she never rebelled. Most of the other troubles were in the south and were about acquisition and territorial gain and Barlick wasn’t all that attractive, it was also a bit off the beaten track. The old track across the Weets would be falling out of use, the gold trade to the Baltic had dried up and anyway it was easier and safer to go by sea at the turn of the millennium. Just like today, the only time anyone came here was if they had a reason, there was no through traffic.
I was wondering earlier how long it took for the massacre of the Iceni to become common knowledge, I think we might be surprised nowadays by how fast news travelled. Other things travelled as well, The Romans brought us wine, olive oil, spices and their favourite cooking ingredient, fish sauce. Here’s the original Roman recipe (Don’t try this at home, it sounds lethal to me!). Use fatty fish like sardines, and a well-sealed container with a 26-35 quart capacity. Add dried aromatic herbs possessing a strong flavour such as dill, coriander, fennel, celery, mint, oregano, and others making a layer on the bottom of the container, then put down a layer of fish (if small, leave them whole, if large, use pieces) and over this add a layer of salt two fingers high. Repeat these layers until the container is filled. Let it rest for seven days in the sun. Then mix the sauce daily for 20 days, after that, it becomes a liquid. (Very similar to our modern Worcestershire Sauce!) Notice that we have the original recipe, written evidence is with us now and we can be reasonably precise with names if not dates when it comes to the Romans. No such luck with our Old Barlickers, none of them could read or write.
These new influences would gradually make their way up the country and whilst Barlick might never have see any wine, some herbs, spices and olive oil might have found their way here and they would know about wine. At this point they were still definitely Pagan and all the old beliefs would be intact, people would be re-telling the old myths of gods and goddesses and their deeds round the fire at night, the same charms would be used for healing wounds and warding of illness. Once a year on Beltane night, on the first of May, fires would be lit to celebrate the coming of summer and the cattle would be driven through the smoke to ward off disease (Remember the old cure for foot and mouth disease?). The highest point of the summer sun would be marked with a ceremony on Midsummer’s day and all the other old festivals that marked the seasons would be faithfully observed. Of course I might be completely wrong one way or another. Things might have been much worse or much better. On the whole though it was a pretty quiet corner of Britannia and I’d like to think that our Old Barlickers were left undisturbed to get on with what was still a hard life, but the only one they had ever known. How were they to get along as the Roman Occupation took hold? We’ll have a look at that next week. (19 October 2001)