LONDINIUM
(London) England.
The largest
town in Roman Britain. The site does not appear to have
been occupied in pre-Roman times, but owed its importance to its position at the lowest point where the
roads built by the imperial government could cross the
Thames by bridge, and to its suitability as a terminal
for maritime trade with the Rhine, Seine, Loire, and
Garonne estuaries. It is probable that Julius Caesar
crossed the river here in 54 B.C., and Aulus Plautius
in A.D. 43. There was, however, a subsidiary crossing at
Westminster, at which the Kentish and Hertfordshire
Watling Streets both aim; as these roads are clearly
early in date it is possible that the Roman army had a
depot at Westminster in 43. No certain trace of a fort of
the conquest period there or in London itself has yet
been found, but it is inconceivable that the crossings
were not guarded.
London itself is described by Tacitus in connection
with the rebellion of A.D. 60 as an important center for
merchants and merchandise (
Ann. 14.33); it is likely
that a large traders' settlement had sprung up around an
army stores-depot—a normal development. Though at
that date it had no official urban status, it is probable
that already the site's advantages had attracted the
offices of the provincial procurator, for Catus Decianus
was not in Colchester when the rebellion of Boudicca
broke out (Tac.
Ann. 14.32), and certainly his successor,
Julius Classicianus, who appears to have died in office,
was buried not at Colchester but in London. At what
date the governor's headquarters also migrated to London is uncertain; but that it was there in the 2d c. and
probably earlier is suggested by a dedication by the
legatus iuridicus giving thanks for Trajan's Dacian victory, and by inscriptions mentioning speculatores and
legionaries from all three British legions.
London's importance as a center of population ever
since Roman times has limited opportunities for excavation, while continual rebuilding and digging of pits and
wells has ensured that excavated remains will be fragmentary. Only since WW II, when many areas of the
city were destroyed by bombing, has planned exploration been possible, but even so commercial interests have
on the whole proved inimical to careful investigation.
The earliest buildings were almost all of timber framing
packed with clay, which burnt easily when the settlement was sacked in A.D. 60. A map of these burnt remains indicates that of the two low hills occupied by
the later city only the one to the E was originally settled, with some development along the main road to the
W. The Wallbrook stream which divides the hills was
the effective limit of occupation. The debris of a later
fire, however, which destroyed London in Hadrian's
reign, ca. A.D. 130, is much more widely distributed on
each side of the stream. By this date, though the city
was still unwalled, a large fort of ca. 4.8 ha had been
built on the NW outskirts, another indication of the
exceptional importance of London in the British province.
A town wall was at length provided early in the 3d c.,
incorporating two sides of the existing fort and enclosing
an area of 132 ha. No trace has yet been discovered
of any earlier earthwork surrounding the city, though
the majority of Romano-British towns were thus defended
late in the 2d c. before walls were added; it is possible,
however, that such a defense, if it existed, enclosed a
more constricted area. At 132 ha within its walls Roman
London was 40 ha larger than either Cirencester, Verulamium, or Wroxeter, its nearest rivals, and in size compares favorably with the majority of towns in the W provinces. The wall was provided with external towers along
part of the circuit probably ca. A.D. 370 (into one of
which was built much of Classicianus' tombstone); the
purpose of these towers was to make greater use of artillery in the defense of the wall and thus save manpower.
Thereafter, with successive restorations, the Roman wall
continued to defend and bound the city throughout the
mediaeval period.
ByHadrianic times, if not some 30 years earlier, a very
large forum and basilica had been erected; recent excavations have confirmed that it succeeded a smaller courtyard structure on the same site (also probably a forum),
built soon after Boudicca's rebellion. Since the forum-with-basilica is usually found only in administrative
centers, it can be deduced that the city gained self-governing status in the 1st c., and as it was not the capital
of a tribal civitas it was probably created a municipium.
There were also offices of the provincial government, as
shown by tile-stamps and a wooden writing-tablet stamped
by the procurator's office, and by the recent excavation
of a large building in Canon Street, overlooking the
Thames, which is best interpreted as the governor's praetorium. The first stages of this building go back to the
reign of Domitian. There is, indeed, much other evidence
for developments in the later 1st c., including part of a
public baths at Huggin Hill; the most illuminating perhaps are the wooden tablets of this date which illustrate
the thriving commercial life of the city. Remains indicating the presence of gold- and bronze-smiths have been
found, and the cutler Basilis, several of whose knives have
been found in London, also almost certainly worked
there. Pottery kilns were unearthed by Wren during the
rebuilding of St. Paul's Cathedral. The city also certainly
served as the main importing and distributing center for
the extensive trade in Gaulish terra sigillata, and probably
also for Rhineland glass.
Excavation has shown that the Wallbrook stream,
which divided the city, was not the extensive harbor
once imagined: its bed was only 4.5 m wide, but the
margins were subject to extensive flooding. At first the
banks were revetted with timber, and continual sinkage
led to dumping earth to maintain the levels. Vast quantities of well-preserved metal objects have been preserved in the mud; they suggest a market in the vicinity,
though some may be votive offerings. Towards the end
of the 2d c. a small Mithraeum was built on the E bank
which attracted wealthy worshipers; excavation has recovered some distinguished sculptures in imported marble
which had apparently been buried during the reign of
Constantine I, perhaps as a precaution against Christian
persecution. The building itself continued in use for
another generation. The Severan period was also prosperous: a large bath structure in Lower Thames Street
is now known to have formed part of a residence built
ca. A.D. 200. The city wall erected a little later was built
of Kentish ragstone, quarried probably in the vicinity of
Maidstone and brought by barge to London. Part of a
river barge with a cargo of this stone was excavated in
1962 at Blackfriars Bridge: the boat seems to have
foundered when its cargo shifted.
During the 3d c., after the Severan reorganization,
London served as capital of Britannia Superior. At the
end of the century a mint, established there by the
usurper Carausius, continued to issue coins until 326; in
383 another usurper, Magnus Maximus, reopened the
mint for the issue of gold and silver. In 296 the struggle
between Carausius' successor and the legitimate regime
culminated in the rescue of London by the forces of
Constantius I from the danger of looting by the defeated
mercenaries of Allectus. The event is immortalized on a
large gold medallion of the conqueror which was found
at Arras, France, in 1922. It depicts a city gate and the
kneeling figure of Lon(dinium) welcoming the mounted
Caesar and a galley-load of his men. The recovery of
Britain in 296 resulted in reorganization after the pattern of Diocletian. London, which perhaps in 306 received the title Augusta, became the capital of Maxima
Caesariensis, one of the four new provinces into which
the island was divided, but was also almost certainly
the seat of the vicarius Britanniarum, who represented
the praetorian prefect in the Diocese of Britain. The
Notitia Dignitatum tells us that it was also the seat of
the Treasury.
Of the fate of the city in the 5th and 6th c. little is
known. There is some evidence from the distribution
of early Anglo-Saxon cemeteries that an effort was made
to defend its approaches by settlements of barbarians
who may represent foederati. A 5th c. Saxon saucer-brooch was found in the ruins of the Lower Thames
Street bath block, suggesting that this building did not
become ruinous much before 500. Other finds earlier
than the 7th c. are rare. Though London may never
have become completely depopulated, its surviving population shrank considerably. The recovery of its prosperity, which has always depended upon commerce,
occurred only with the return of more settled conditions
under the established Saxon monarchy.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
R. Merrifield,
The Roman City of London (1965); id.,
Roman London (1969); W. F. Grimes,
The Excavation of Roman and Mediaeval London
(1968); “Roman Britain,”
JRS 11-59 (1921-69);
Britannia (1969-).
S. S. FRERE
