ABSTRACT
The invasion of Britain by the Roman army had taken place late in the summer of AD 43. It had been in response to the sudden rise to power by the anti-Roman faction of the royal house of the Trinovantes, following the death of its King, Cunobelinus. The task of the first governor, Aulus Plautius, had been to land his forces without serious opposition and defeat the Britons. The latter he had achieved with remarkable success at the decisive battle of the Medway; thereafter he was able to spread out and occupy the rest of the new province with little difficulty, except for fierce resistance in the south-west, which was overcome by the future emperor Vespasian, then in command of Legio II Augusta.
