After Julius Caesar’s consulship in 59 BC, he first became governor of Cisalpine and then of Transalpine Gaul. Caesar chronicled his progress through Gaul in detail in the Commentarii de Bello Gallico. It was compiled for his dispatches to the Senate and can be seen as a skilful justification of his activities.
Caesar’s interest in Britain was no doubt inspired by hopes of plunder, such as he had enjoyed in Gaul, but also perhaps to ‘upstage’ his Roman rival Pompey in venturing across the sea beyond the known world, but there was a more important factor. He had learnt from traders that the cross-channel trade was mainly controlled by the Veneti, a seafaring people occupying what is now the Cherbourg peninsula, which thrusts itself so intrusively into the Channel. So powerful was the control the Veneti possessed that, according to Caesar (ill.8), they exacted tolls for all those who ventured into their waters. He was also informed that there was a long and well-established relationship between this tribe and those of southern Britain. According to Strabo (iv.4.1), the Veneti had even established a trading post in Britain. It has been argued from the excavations by Barry Cunliffe (Mays 1981; 55-7) that this could have been Hengistbury Head. The history and extent of this trade has been tentatively studied by Cunliffe (Cunliffe 1987). There is, however, more work needed at other points of entry such as Hamworth, Poole, before any considered assessment can be made. The Morini, who controlled the shorter route to the east, may have had trading relationships with the tribes of the area that is now Sussex and Kent. One of the obvious entry-points would have been Bosham Harbour, later to be occupied by the Roman fleet (Cunliffe 1971: 26-52).
Caesar became aware of the close relationship between the tribes of south-east Britain and north-east Gaul through cross-channel movements which had already been taking place and which were accelerated by his hostile activities in Gaul. Of the tribes affected, the Bellovaci had, according to Diviciacus, fled to Britain after Caesar’s advance into north-east Gaul (ll. 14.2-5). This provided Caesar with a useful pretext to present to the Senate the evidence that those tribes now in Britain had been sending men and supplies to their distant relations (iv.20). There has even been a suggestion that the presence of a large number of Gallic coins in Britain was sent to pay for that help (Hawkes 1977: 142 ) though doubt has been expressed about this (Muckelroy 1981: 275-97 ). Strabo (iv.4.1) stated that the Veneti were prepared to attempt to hinder Caesar’s projected campaign against Britain for fear of the loss of their monopoly, a suggestion explored by C. E. Stevens (1982; 3-18).
For Caesar to gam control over the Channel, it was essential that the Veneti and their fleet should be destroyed. The pretext for hostilities was the detention of the Roman officers sent to collect corn. Caesar probably made the offence seem far more serious by adding that they had been imprisoned {in vincla). Caesar had been collecting and hiring ships for his invasion of Britain, but he had come to realize that he could not compete seriously with the Veneti in the Channel. He began by attacking their cliff castles on the edges of the promontories. But he soon discovered that they were protected by the tides and they were also very difficult to approach by land, a completely new factor for one accustomed to the Mediterranean. Caesar describes in some detail the physical problems and also the type of ships used by the tribe (ill. 13). The only way the Romans could hope to capture and destroy the Venetic ships was by boarding them and he chronicles in detail the successful tactics that followed. Caesar’s treatment of the Veneti was especially savage: the whole of their senate was put to the sword and all the able-bodied males sold into slavery. Thus the Channel trade monopoly was broken by the virtual destruction of the tribal leaders.
World History
