As an integral part of their campaign to conquer Britain, the Roman forces sought out alliances with local tribal chiefs or kings. As a reward for loyal co-operation, certain leaders were given the middle name of 'Claudius'.

1. 'Claudius' as a name for friendship or allegiance
to Rome
by Keith Armstrong
Key words: Caratacus, Onomastics, onomatology, imperialism, Rome,
Roman Britain, classical history, British history.
© Copyright Keith Armstrong London 2015

2. Acknowledgements
I am grateful to the assistance of Miss Eva Skoulariki and James Fowler. I would also
like to thank the many people who have helped me to live and given me the energy and
encouragement to complete this article. This includes the people of Camden. I am
particularly grateful to the kind members of staff at all levels within the British Library
in London.
I am particularly grateful to the kind members of staff at all levels within the British Library
and to The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies in London.
-----------
I must point out that any factual errors or sentiment unwittingly suggested are my
responsibility alone. The punctuation and typeface of the authors quoted have at
times been modified.
All rights are reserved. The author's moral rights are asserted. No part of this paper
may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,
without written permission from the author.
© Copyright 2015 Keith Armstrong, London

3. 1
Claudius as a Name for Friendship or Allegiance to Rome
As an integral part of their campaign to conquer Britain, the Roman forces sought out alliances with
local tribal chiefs or kings. As a reward for loyal co-operation, certain leaders were given the
middle name of 'Claudius'.
The tribal leader Caratacus, King of the Catuvellaunians of Britain, was certainly a thorn in the
side of Roman plans to conquer Britain. Some historians consider that his strength and known
hostility of disposition toward Rome were among the factors which led Claudius to
invade Britain. Fletcher tells us that:
After being defeated early on in the invasion, Caratacus disappears from our sources
for a few years: he seems to have withdrawn to those western regions beyond the
reach of Roman power. In 47 he reappears, leading first the Silures of south Wales
and then the Ordovices of central Wales in their resistance to Roman advance. In 51
he was defeated by the Roman governor Ostorius Scapula, possibly on the southern
fringes of Snowdonia [...] 1
Here he escaped from Scapula's army and sought safety in the land of the Brigantes.
However, by 51 CE the land of the Brigantes had a treaty with the Romans for at least four years.
Cartimandua (Claudia Cartimandua or Julia Cartimandua), Queen of the Brigantes, captured
Caratacus and then handed him over to the Roman military authorities as was required under the
terms of the agreement. 2
It is possible that Cartimandua was a monarch even before Claudius' invasion in 43 CE. The date
she came to the throne, the length of her reign and even the boundary of her land is still unknown.
Queen Cartimandua's story first emerges in Tacitus' record of Roman history in 51 CE.
Our knowledge of Cartimandua depends almost entirely on two passages of Tacitus: in the
Histories (iii.45) and the Annals (xii.40). 3
Roman military tents

4. 2
Hanson and Campbell in their article The Brigantes: From Clientage to Conquest,
published in the journal Britannia by the Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies,
write that:
Cartimandua surely risked great unpopularity when she handed over Caratacus to the
Roman authorities. As the revolt of c. 48 [CE] indicated, not all of the Brigantes were
in favour of Rome and even those whose attitude towards the invaders was one of
acquiescence might well have baulked at such an act: even the Romans themselves
had come to respect and honour Caratacus' heroic resistance. Given the large size of
the Brigantian kingdom, factional disagreement is likely to have been common [...] 4
Hanson and Campbell continue:
The political advantages of an alliance with Rome would have been
considerable: any ruler who could call upon the support of Roman arms was not to
be challenged lightly by dissident elements within his kingdom. [...] Thus, abundant
material manifestations of Roman civilisation could be acquired without cost or the
disadvantage of direct Roman rule. Indeed, Tacitus implies that Cartimandua
obtained her wealth as a consequence of her assistance to Rome [...] 5
Caratacus was later taken in chains to Rome with his family and exhibited alongside other prisoners
in 52 CE. His speech and bearing on this occasion so impressed Claudius, Tacitus records, that
Caratacus and his family were released from burdensome captivity and permitted to live out their
lives in honourable confinement in Italy. 6
Dio tells us that Caratacus: "wandered about the city after his liberation and after beholding its
splendour and its magnitude he exclaimed: "And can you, then, who have got such
possessions and so many of them, covet our poor tents?" 7
Roman with a prisoner
The date of Caratacus' death is unknown.

5. 3
David Braund writes in his entry for Cartimandua in the online Oxford Dictionary of National
Biography that: "As a royal ally of Rome under the principate, she would have been awarded
Roman citizenship, if she had not inherited it. If granted her citizenship by emperor Claudius
she had the right to call herself Claudia Cartimandua." 8
However, Braund considers that if her citizenship was derived from a grant of an earlier
emperor, she was Julia Cartimandua. Neither name is proven, but one was certainly hers.
Nothing is known of Cartimandua after 69 CE.
Braund reflects that:
It is just as likely that she retired to Italy, even Rome. Since she was well
established as queen by 51 CE, she was probably dead by 100 CE. Cartimandua had
done Rome a great service through the middle of the first century CE. The Brigantes
were not an easy people to rule: they were diverse and apparently prone to unrest. 9
A parasol for a lady in Rome 10
Another such client-king or 'puppet leader' (depending on your point of view) was Tiberius
Claudius Cogidubnus. Fletcher states that Cogidubnus, who was not necessarily of British birth,
was trusted by the authorities in the early stages of the Roman occupation with the rule of certain
British communities near the south coast of England. He is known to us from only one literary
reference, a sentence in the biography of the Roman general Agricola by his son-in-law Tacitus.
However, a damaged inscription on stone, found at Chichester in 1723, refers to him as "king and
imperial legate," and serves to localise his principality. The palatial villa at Fishbourne, near
Chichester in west Sussex, is likely to have been his principal residence, though it should be
emphasised that a connection between Fishbourne and Cogidubnus cannot be proven with any
certainty. Fishbourne invites comparison with any of the great country houses. It covered a greater
area than Blenheim Palace and first hints at the high value they set upon their newly acquired
province of Britannia, and secondly, as Fletcher suggests, how far the Roman authorities were
prepared to go in rewarding loyal co-operation. 11

6. 4
End Notes
Note 1: Fletcher, Richard, (1989, 2002: 4), Who's Who in Roman Britain and Anglo-Saxon
England, (Mechanicsburg: Stackpole Books).
Note 2: Braund, David, 'Observations on Cartimandua', Britannia, 15 (1984) 1 - 6.
Note 3: Tacitus, (1956, 1996: 67), Tacitus: The Annals of Ancient Rome, [trans. from the Latin by
Michael Grant], (London: Penguin Books).
Note 4: Hanson; W. S. and Campbell, D. B., (1986: 73 - 89), The Brigantes: From Clientage to
Conquest, Britannia, Vol. 17.
Note 5: Hanson; W. S. and Campbell, D. B., (1986: 73 - 89), The Brigantes: From Clientage to
Conquest, Britannia, Vol. 17.
Note 6: Tacitus, (1997, 1999: 209), The Histories, Levene, D. S., (Ed.) [trans. from the Latin by W.
H. Fyfe], (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
Note 7: Dio, Cassius, LXI, (1925, 2005: 22), The Roman History, Vol. VIII, [trans. from the Greek
by Jeffrey Henderson], Loeb Classical Library, (Cambridge, Massachusetts and London: Harvard
University Press).
Note 8: Braund, David, 'Cartimandua (died after CE 69)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography,
(2004), (Oxford University Press) [as retrieved on 29 November 2004:
http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/41192].
Note 9: Braund, David, 'Cartimandua (died after CE 69)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography,
(2004), (Oxford University Press) [as retrieved on 29 November 2004:
http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/41192].
Note 10: Rich, Anthony, (Ed.), (1873: 542), Dictionary of Roman and Greek Antiquities, (3rd Ed.),
(London: Longmans, Green, & Co.).
Note 11: Fletcher, Richard, (1989, 2002: 5), Who's Who in Roman Britain and Anglo-Saxon
England, (Mechanicsburg: Stackpole Books).

7. Further writings by Keith Armstrong on Claudius I and the Roman
Julio-Claudians
Claudius I the man, his physical impairment, and reactions to it
Challenges the suggestion that both Emperor Claudius I and Franklin Delano Roosevelt
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office.
http://www.slideshare.net/yourkamden/claudius-the-man-his-physical-impairment-and-reactions-to-it
A few words about the word the 'claudius': An etymological journey: Five short
essays on the word 'claudius'
1 Introduction
2 Claudius or Claudia as a personal or first name
3 The word 'claudius' and it many meanings in Latin
4 The word 'claudius' as used in Old and Medieval English
5 The word 'claudius' in the Cymraeg-Welsh language
6 The word claudius as used in Anatomical Biological and Medical terms
http://www.slideshare.net/yourkamden/a-few-words-about-the-word-claudius-keith-armstrong
India and Sri Lanka in the time of the Roman Julio-Claudians
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emperor Claudius's court and on going Roman trade with India.
http://www.slideshare.net/yourkamden/india-and-sri-lanka-in-the-time-of-the-roman-julio-claudians-by-
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Social policies under Claudius I
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Roman and Anglo-Saxon societies. Claudius also made substantial changes to the laws
governing women as he "upgraded the mother's right to inherit. This concession to her
contribution to the family was also a move in line to the 'cognatic' principle of wills, which
tended to spread goods beyond the male line of agnatic succession.
http://www.slideshare.net/yourkamden/social-policies-under-claudius-i-by-keith-armstrong1

8. Emperor Claudius I and the Etruscans
Apart from being an emperor he was also a major Roman historian who was tutored by
Livy (one of most significant Roman historians of all time). Claudius wrote a number of
history books and he was one of the last major figures to be fluent in Etruscan. Emperor
Claudius I first wife was Etruscan. He also wrote a history of the Etruscans which has
since disappeared.
http://www.slideshare.net/yourkamden/claudius-i-and-the-etruscans
Emperor Claudius I and his relationships with women
Emperor Claudius I was married four times, unfortunately each relationship was worse
than the one before. A true tale of love, marriage and murder.
http://www.slideshare.net/yourkamden/emperor-claudius-i-and-his-relationships-with-women-by-keith-
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Expanding the Roman Empire's infrastructure in the time of Claudius I
Claudius I was Roman emperor from 41- 54 CE As emperor he greatly expanded the
Roman Empire's infrastru!ture.
http://www.slideshare.net/yourkamden/expanding-the-roman-empires-infrastructure-in-the-
time-of-claudius-i
Other Roman related articles:
Possibly the first wheeled walking aid (revised) by Keith Armstrong
A review of the third known representation of a three wheeled mobility aid, the first with a
practical application. This paper is to encourage discussion on the British Museum item
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context of the evolution of three wheeled transport history. Revised version contains minor
typos corrected and some additional information.
http://www.slideshare.net/yourkamden/possibly-the-first-wheeled-walking-aid-revised-by-
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Virginia, a commentary on Lord Macaulays pastiche of
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http://www.slideshare.net/yourkamden/virginia-a-commentary-on-lord-macaulays-pastiche-
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