Sack of Verulamium (Boudiccan Revolt)
Who Fought
Boudiccan rebel forces drawn from the Trinovantes and Iceni tribes
History & Significance
In the Iron Age, Essex was home to the Trinovantes. In AD 43 the Roman conquest of Britain saw Roman control established over Essex, with the centre of Roman power in Britain being, for a time, Colchester. The Boudiccan revolt saw Colchester razed, but it was rebuilt.
Following the collapse of Roman authority, Essex was settled by Saxons, and in the 6th century the kingdom of the East Saxons, from which Essex gets its name, emerged. The early East Saxons were pagan, but were converted to Christianity by Cedd, who is now the county's patron saint, in 653. Essex was frequently under the overlordship of other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, and by the late 9th century had been absorbed by the kingdom of Wessex. In the mid 9th century Essex was conquered by Scandinavian invaders, and became part of the Danelaw, before being reconquered by Wessex in the early 10th century, and becoming part of the emergent kingdom of England. Colchester and Maldon established themselves as Essex's principal towns by the end of this period.
Essex has been part of England ever since, and has played a role in events such as the Peasant's Revolt of 1381, the Wars of the Roses and the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Throughout the medieval era, Essex was one of the most densely populated and prosperous parts of England, in no small part thanks to the wool trade in which it was heavily involved. Chelmsford established itself as the county town, while Harwich emerged as a major port and naval base. Overseas, Essex people made major contributions to the colonisation of the Americas.
In the industrial era, the introduction of the railway saw the rise of several seaside resort towns throughout Essex, most notably Southend-on-Sea and Clacton-on-Sea. Meanwhile, the expansion of London saw parts of south-west Essex subsumed by Greater London, which would only become official with the London Government Act 1963.
The Second World War saw much military activity in Essex, with fighter airbases in the south of the country taking part in the Battle of Britain, and bomber airbases in the north contributing to the bombing of Germany. After the war, new towns were established at Basildon and Harlow, and Essex's economy increasingly became dependant on the London commute. The decline of seaside resorts across Britain hit Essex particularly hard, impoverishing areas such as Jaywick.
In the Iron Age, Essex and parts of southern Suffolk were controlled by the local Trinovantes tribe. Their production of their own coinage marks them out as one of the more advanced tribes on the island, this advantage (in common with other tribes in the south-east) is probably due to the Belgic element within their elite. Their capital was the oppidum (a type of town) of Camulodunon (present-day Colchester), which had its own mint. The tribe were in extended conflict with their western neighbours, the Catuvellauni, and steadily lost ground. By AD 10 they had come under the complete control of the Catuvellauni, who took Colchester as their own capital.
The ground they fought on
The site of Sack of Verulamium (Boudiccan Revolt) lies on White Chalk Subgroup, bedrock that formed in the Maastrichtian. The rock here is chalk.
Having already razed Camulodunum and sacked Londinium, the Boudiccan rebels turned on Verulamium, present-day St Albans, continuing a devastating campaign that contemporary sources suggest may have claimed as many as 80,000 lives before the revolt was finally brought to an end in battle.
- Contemporary sources claim the revolt as a whole may have killed as many as 80,000 people
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