Category Archives: Towns and Cities

Medieval Colchester

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Colchester Castle By Jonathan Dann – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=129383764

There are no prizes for spotting yesterday’s typo I’m afraid. Several of you identified that instead of 1086 I managed to land in the twentieth century – the error has now been fixed. Many thanks to those of you who gave me a gentle nudge. However, today we’re back in medieval Colchester.

East Anglia became associated with sheep, wool and the cloth trade during the medieval period. Magnificent churches, such as the one at Lavenham, were built on the back of the profits. Colchester was a centre of the trade with its own market, although it was never as wealthy as Norwich. And matters weren’t helped at the turn of the thirteenth century when the Bishop of London established the town of Chelmsford which was close to a royal manor and more convenient for court sittings. However, until 1250 Colchester Castle was key to the defence of the region. The Plantagenet kings all spent time in the town.

In 1214, prior to the Barons’ War, King John showed up to try and persuade the castle’s constable, William de Lanvali, to side with him rather than the barons – to no avail. The castle did find itself under siege in 1215 having changed hands from de Lanvali, to the king’s man Stephen Harangood( who was a Flemish mercenary) and then back to de Lanvali after the signing of Magna Carta in June 1215. In March 1216, John arrived in Colchester to take the surrender of the castle garrison which was composed of 115 French troops. The garrison thought that they had safe passage to London but on leaving the castle they were all arrested. That year the castle changed hands five times but it was a few months later when an army favouring the barons looted the town. Keeping up? Good, because in 1217 Prince Louis of France reoccupied the castle on behalf of the barons. It reverted into the hands of Henry III’s regents the same year, by which time I’m guessing that the inhabitants of the town were well and truly fed up.

In 1290 Colchester’s Jewish community, nine households, were expelled from the kingdom, by Edward I under the jauntily named Edict of Expulsion. Essentially the king wished to raise taxes to fight a French campaign and parliament saw an opportunity to rid itself of the realm’s entire Jewish population. Edward’s need for funding proved greater than his desire to safeguard England’s Jews. On the same day as the edict became law the Sheriff of Essex, Henry Gropinel, received a writ to proclaim that the county’s Jewish community was to leave the kingdom by 1 November, taking with them only what they could carry. Property was forfeit to the Crown, anyone remaining might be executed but the king provided that families should be escorted to safety to prevent any harm coming to them (not always terribly successfully). Up until 1290, medieval Colchester had a synagogue on Stockwell Street. It and nine properties on Stockwell Street became Crown property. Officially, anyone Jewish was not allowed to resettle in England until 1656 unless they had a special licence.

In 1348 the Black Death arrived and two years later the castle’s principal role changed from fortification to goal.

Throughout the period there were tensions between St John’s Abbey and the town over land rights and fishing rights but the abbey wasn’t alone. The FitzWalter family held the manor of Lexden and appeared reluctant on several occasions to allow the people of Colchester their rights. In 1343, John FitzWalter accused 96 townsmen of cutting down his trees, hunting deer and taking his fish. Trespass turned into a brawl. There were injuries, a death and a protracted court case which involved jury intimidation.

Colchester even has its own chronicle, or oath book, dating from the fourteenth century written by the town clerk of the time. Morant’s History of Essex, written during the eighteenth century, contains a translation and explanation for its existence. This is one of the texts that gives us the story of St Helena originating from Colchester and being the daughter of King Coel or Cole (yup – the merry old soul) and identifies the town’s problems with the Danes in 1071. The chronology for early Colchester is not entirely accurate but as Philip Crummy observes, the archeology and the medieval account of Colchester’s past tie together remarkably well even if the inhabitants of the town mistook the Temple of Claudius for King Cole’s palace The book also contains information about the burgesses, where they lived and where they came from, deeds, wills, legal precedents and a summary of court rolls. It helps to unpick the evolution of Colchester’s civic administration and the increasing power of the burgesses. It was only in the Elizabethan period that the town clerk was required to keep more thorough records.

What I like about my study of Colchester is that many of the followers of the History Jar, and those of you who have attended various classes, will know the national history that impacts on Colchester and be familiar with key events. Seeing examples from a specific location – in this case my home town- gives context to the various patterns of development and decay that can be repeated in towns across England.

I’m only mildly concerned that the key dates that pop up in my head for medieval history are 1066, 1086, 1100, 1139, 1154, 1204, 1215, 1265, 1314, 1337, 1348, 1381, 1399. The fifteenth century and the Wars of the Roses have their own set of dates lurking at the back of my mind. Of course, you may have different dates entirely that act as your historical reference points. But can you identify the key events which I work around when I navigate medieval history from the Normans onwards. I’ll provide the answers in my next post. You’ll be relieved to hear that I won’t be doing the same for the fifteenth century!

Crummy, Philip, Aspects of Anglo-Saxon and Norman Colchester, (Colchester: Colchester Archeological Trust, 1981)

https://archive.org/details/bim_eighteenth-century_the-history-and-antiquit_morant-philip_1768_1_0/page/28/mode/2up?q=chronicle&view=theater

As a complete aside I’m quite tickled by a discovery made during my search on the Internet for Morant’s History of Essex – regional colouring books for adults depicting the past as well as the present. There’s one for Yorkshire, Hampshire, Cumbria and even one for castles that I spotted in my cursory search. They’re produced by The History Press (what will they come up with next?). I’m thinking that images from the books could be an excellent basis for a blackwork embroidery- because let’s face it I do love my history in many shapes and forms. I’ll also admit to being tempted by the Great Tapestry of Scotland Colouring Book – the original is currently housed in Galashiels…whether the whole experience would be a mindful one is another matter entirely.

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The Normans in Colchester

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So here we are at 1066 – Colchester suddenly became much more important once more when they decided to build a massive castle there. It’s likely that work began in 1075 and very sensibly the Normans decided to use the remains of the Temple of Claudius as their foundation. It’s always good to have building materials at hand! The use of the footprint means that by ground area, the keep at Colchester is the largest Norman keep in Europe. A handy bank and ditch left by the Romans were also incorporated into the build. When it was new it would have looked extremely intimidating. The Saxons knew who was in charge and any passing Scandinavians would have had second thoughts about raiding.

The other thing that the Conqueror gave Colchester was a new tax code. The Domesday book shows that the tax burden rose five fold from the reign of Edward the Confessor to William I. The records of 1086 show that there were 193 households, making in one of the largest towns of the time. Among the principle landowners were the Bishop of London, the Abbey of St Mary in Barking, the Abbey of St Ouen at Rouen, Count Eustace of Bologne who was at Hastings in 1066 (and who had a colourful past), the king who took over the Crown lands that Edward the Confessor held. It also recorded a number of mills on the River Colne. It was also clear that St Peter’s Church was already well established.

The man in charge of building the castle and all that tax gathering was Eudo Dapifer (meaning steward) who I have written about before. https://thehistoryjar.com/2023/06/10/eudo-dapifer-and-his-elder-brother-ralph/. At the time of the Domesday Book, he owned five houses and 40 acres of land which had once belonged to the town burgesses. He also founded St John’s Abbey, where he was later buried, and St Mary Magdalen Hospital (initially for lepers). Dapifer served three Norman kings and was married into the powerful de Clare family. It was Dapifer and Colchester’s strategic importance in the region which turned the town into a prosperous borough with a population reflecting the waves of settlers that had passed through East Anglia by that time.

Philips, Andrew, Colchester a History

Open Domesday Book online

Multiple empires, civil wars and breakaway states: Rome- not all it was cracked up to be.

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Carole Raddato from FRANKFURT, Germany, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

I’m still working my way through the history of Colchester. It means that for the time being I’m in very different territory to the usual History Jar posts and need to get to grips with some of the dates and events of the period.

At the end of the second century, between AD 193 and AD 197 life in Colchester became slightly less certain, although whether Rome’s civil conflict impact on a provincial town is another matter entirely. Clodius Albinus was proclaimed  emperor by the legions in Britain and Hispania. This occurred after the murder of Emperor Pertinax in 193. AD 193 was a difficult year for the empire being known as the ‘Year of Five Emperors. ‘ Emperor Commodus had ruled from AD 177 to AD 192 when he was murdered. Pertinax ruled for a very short time (Jan-March in 193) and after his murder, the Praetorian guard sold the throne Didius Julianus who became emperor in March and was gone by June 193 (another murder). Pescennius Niger proclaimed himself emperor when Didius purchased his position as did Septimus Severus who defeated Niger and had him executed. Septumus Severus ruled until AD 211 .

Albinus was Britain’s governor and he took the legions stationed here to Gaul to fight for his own claim to the throne. He initially came to an arrangement with Septimus Severus who controlled Rome but the pair fell out and, besides which, Severus’s aim was to be sole ruler. It was February AD 197 Albinus was defeated and executed. Severus also had Albinus’s family beheaded. Severus then crossed the Channel to Britain and created two provinces – a southern one ruled from London and a northern one ruled from York.

As the third century got under way there was inflation, Germanic raiders, and ever soaring costs. In 260 the Gallic Empire broke away from Rome . The aim of the ruler of this breakaway empire, Posthumus, was to create a power base from which he could attack Rome and become sole ruler of a united empire. He was assassinated in 274.

In Britain the collapse of the Gallic Empire resulted in a revolt between 277-279. Blame was placed squarely on the shoulders of recently settled Germans for the unrest. They had arrived in Britain as mercenaries to provide support to the overstretched legions.

In 286 there was yet another period of instability when Carausius, a naval commander, took control of Britain and was then murdered by his associate, Allectus. So far – so many murders and much upheaval. Alecto’s ruled until AD 296 when Constantius, the father of Emperor Constantine, invaded and reunited Britain with the rest of the empire. It is said that Constantius rocked up at Colchester but came to an agreement with its then ruler King Coel (I kid you not) and ended up marrying the king’s daughter Helena. This story was promoted in the medieval period by the chronicler Henry of Huntingdon and by Geoffrey of Monmouth. No one knows where the story originated. It may have come from a lost source or from oral history but in any event, Colchester’s patron saint is Saint Helena (other versions of the tale are available).

And what was Colchester doing? By the end of the third century the citizens of Colchester were increasingly alarmed by the fighting and had taken the decision to strengthen their defences. The wall built after the Boudiccian Revolt contained six gateways. Now they blocked off the Balkerne Gate. They also made sure that the ditch outside the wall was enlarged. The suburbs which had thrived outside the walls in earlier times began to disappear by the fourth century it is thought that none remained. The threat was not only from within the fractured empire. By the end of the third century Saxons from modern North Germany were raiding Britain. The Roman Saxon Shore forts found along the coast from Norfolk to Hampshire were built at this time to deter the barbarians.

There were other changes. A huge barn was built (modern Culver Street) to store grain. Colchester was a town adapting to the need for self sufficiency once the smooth running of the empire could no longer be guaranteed. And in 313, Emperor Constantine declared Christianity to be legal – his mother Helena may have come from Colchester. It is her statue that stands watch from the top of the town hall.

And just as you’re heaving a huge sigh of relief after this post’s gallop through emperors, pretenders and various assassinations – in 350 Magnentius proclaimed himself emperor having gained control of the Western Empire (of which Britain was part) by killing Emperor Constans who was Constantine’s younger son. Constan’s elder brother Constantine II defeated Magentius and made life difficult for his supporters. And last but not least in 407, Constantine III, who started out as an ordinary soldier, declare himself emperor but by then Rome had plenty of troubles of its own. It was sacked by the Goths in 410. The archeological record shows that no more new bronze coins were circulated from Rome to Britain and taxes were not collected. It meant that the administrative service gradually came to a halt because there was no pay for the men who ran it.

It did not mean that the Romano-British way of life was at an end but more changes were coming. And so far as history was concerned until the mid twentieth century Colchester was plunged into the Dark Ages – which scholars today agree aren’t as dark as previous texts may have suggested. During the fifth and sixth centuries waves of Saxon migrants settled in Britain. And among the changes was a new name for Camulodunum.

Amazon Associate – click on the image to open a new tab at the book.

The Iceni Revolt – Colchester burned to the ground.

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In AD 60 King Prasutagus of the Iceni died. he was a client king and he decided to leave half his estate to the Emperor Nero to ensure that his wife Boudicca and his daughters would be allowed to continue ruling. Unfortunately the Romans who dealt with the matter plundered the kingdom, enslaved many of the Iceni, flogged Boudicca and raped her daughters. Tacitus wrote condemning the behaviour of the Romans involved but matters had gone beyond a strongly worded note.

The Iceni rose in rebellion and were joined by the Trinovantes who had had just about enough of the Romans. They headed for Colchester with its expensive temple dedicated to the Emperor Claudius and its triumphal arch…and no walls. The Roman army led by the provincial governor, Suetonius Paulinus, was on Anglesey and when the citizens of Colonia Victricensis sent to Londoninium for help there was only a small force available to assist.

It has to be supposed that the Roman villas outside the town were the first to be attacked and their inhabitants murdered. Then the Britons swept into the town, looting, destroying, killing and razing the colonia to the ground before it turned its attention to the hated Temple of Claudius. Today archeologists have their own name for that layer of soil – it’s the Boudicca destruction layer. Excavations have revealed smashed Samian ware pottery, glass that became so hot that it melted, carbonised dates and charred figs. The Fenwick Hoard tells the story of a panic stricken couple hiding their valuables beneath the floor of their home before fleeing. The fact that they never returned suggests that they were among the victims of the revolt. Oddly though, very few bodies have ever been discovered.

Tacitus recorded that those Romans who remained in Colchester sought sanctuary in the Temple of Claudius where they held out until they were finally overwhelmed and killed. Boudicca and the Britons swept through St Albans and on to London which also went up in flames. Suetonius and the Roman army dashed back towards London and in a set piece battle near St Albans, called the Battle of Watling Street, the Britons were defeated. Boudicca survived the battle and either died soon afterwards or took poison. No one knows where she is buried – and no its not under one of London’s railway stations.

For Colchester it meant the end of its time as the Roman capital. Even so, Colchester today reflects the lines of a Roman garrison and the first colonia in Britain. The town needed to be rebuilt and repopulated. Many of the houses were rebuilt on the same plots as before and most importantly the new town had walls. Today Colchester is proud of the fact it has the most complete Roman walls of any town or city in England. In places they were over six meters high and almost 2.5 meters thick – perhaps a case of bolting the stable door after the horse had well and truly bolted. A new theatre was built at Gosbecks, apparently capable of seating 5,000 people; a circus – the only one discovered thus far in this country; the Temple of Claudius was restored; more temples were built; workshops and shops sprang up; oysters from the region were exported across the empire.

During the next 350 years Colchester would see other uprisings and unrest. The third century saw inflation, a decline in the administrative system across the empire and increasing problems with raiders from outside the empire… more of that tomorrow. In the meantime when Colchester Town Hall was built, Boudicca, the queen who razed the town to the ground was commemorated by a statue and a stained glass window. The more famous statue is in London near Westminster Bridge, commissioned by Prince Albert, depicting the queen driving a war chariot like none that the Iceni would have driven…but its still one of my most favourite statues ever.

I’ve not read the MacKay book yet but am looking forward to doing so. Click on the image to open up the link in a new tab. And for those of you who like a more lighthearted moment, why not look up the wonderful Horrible Histories ‘Boudicca Song’ – what’s not to like?

Colchester – the first city in Britain

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Razumukhin, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

It’s quite a claim but Colchester has been inhabited for a very long time indeed. The Iron Age, which is well outside my usual time frame, began in about 700 BC. About 2000 years ago the inhabitants of modern day Colchester created a series of defensive dykes which stretch for between 12 and 15 miles depending upon which source you read. In either event it was a huge undertaking. It seems likely that the settlement was a high status agricultural estate. An additional benefit of the earthworks may have been to keep herds from straying. As well as the settlement at modern day Gosbecks there was a more industrial settlement at Sheepen.

In 55/54 BC Julius Caesar crossed the Channel. He wrote that the Trinovantes who lived in Essex and the southern parts of Suffolk were the strongest tribe in the southeast. The neighbouring tribe were the Catuvellauni (based in modern Hertfordshire). The visit established links with Rome and trading relations developed. British kings began to issue their own currency. By the time he returned in 54 BC the Trinovantes had been overtaken by the Catuvellauni. King Tasciovanus minted coins at St Albans and later at Colchester.

In 15 BC, or thereabouts, one of the high status individuals who lived in Colchester died and was buried in a tumulus with his possessions. The Lexden Tumulus contains many grave goods demonstrating the man’s status. Among them, 17 amphoras for storing wine. There is also a silver medal bearing the head of the Emperor Augustus. It is possible that it is the resting place of King Addeomaros of Camulodunum as Colchester was then known. Camulodunum means ‘fortress of the war god Camulos’.

In about AD 5 Cunobelin, or Cymbeline as Shakespeare called him, began to issue coins – and kept them coming for about the next thirty years. Colchester was his power base.

AD 40 Cunobelin dies.

AD 43 Emperor Claudius invades. The Roman army, under the command of Julius Plautius, heads for Colchester. Cunobelin’s son, Togodumnus is killed and his second son, Caratucus, rather than accept defeat continued fighting a guerrilla war for several years afterwards . He was eventually betrayed and sent to Rome with his family and lots of loot. He made a dramatic speech to the emperor and was pardoned. He and his family remained in exile in Rome. By then Claudius had accepted the submission of several British kings who become clients of the empire, including the Iceni tribe of present day Norfolk which meant that they retained some independence but were required to pay taxes. It left the Romans with a buffer zone between peaceable tribes and those who were actively hostile. The invasion and early Roman years of Colchester were described by Tacitus in his Annals and later by Dio Cassius.

AD 44 – Colchester became a legionary fortress. The XX legion, who originated from modern Germany, build their fort away from the Iron Age settlement on top of a hill near the River Colne. They continued to utilise the industrial site at Sheepen. In addition, the Romans started their own cemetery on the road leading south away from the garrison. There are two gravestones associated with the garrison in Colchester Castle. One is in memory of Marcus Favonius Facilis, a centurion with Legio XX. The other is dedicated to Longinus Sdapeze, an officer of the 1st squadron of the Thracian cavalry unit. His gravestone depicts him trembling a vanquished Briton beneath his horse (very similar to the one at Hexham).

AD 49 – As the Romans secured the southeast the need for an army in that part of Britain was reduced . It was decreed that Camulodunum should become a colonia. A colonia was a colony for retired army veterans who were entitled to land to support themselves and their family after 25 years service. If they were not already Roman citizens, they were also granted that status. In part, as Tacitus explains, they were there as a military reserve but the real reason for the establishment of colonia in vanquished regions was to Romanise the locals and provide a model of good Roman behaviour. And since the veterans were from the Legio XX it made sense to provide them with land in the newly established province rather than permitting the battle hardened soldiers to return to their own country where they might have turned their skills against the empire or to settle them in Italy. Colchester was the first colonia in Britain, and would remain so for 40 years, but it was joined by Lincoln, Gloucester and York. The fort was repurposed. Some of the barracks were reused, others were demolished and new buildings established.

The new Roman town was named Colonia Victricensis which differentiated it from Iron Age Camulodunum which remained at modern Gosbecks. The two were connected by a road. The Britons who lived there were clients of the Romans and watched over by a Roman fort. Because the inhabitants were part of the British elite they were expected to become more Romanised. This can be seen by the existence of a Romano-Celtic temple there. Little is known about the deity it was built to worship but it is likely to have been dedicated to Camulos-Mars. A theatre was added later. Even so, the burial site at Stanway, close to Gosbecks, reveals its inhabitants continued to be interred according to their own rituals. At Gosbecks it seems that the Romans were careful not to alienate the Britons and left them with their land. Elsewhere it was a different story.

The Roman temple dedicated to Claudius was built at about the same time. It was to the east of the site of the garrison and the defeated Britons were required to help fund its construction – it became symbolic of the power of Rome. Colchester, or Camulodunum, was now the capital of Roman Britain. There was even a monumental gateway built on the orders of Claudius to celebrate his victory over the British. This later became Colchester’s Balkerne Gateway but there weren’t any substantial defences around the colonia.

Tacitus recorded that the veterans of the colonia did not behave well to towards the Trinovantes. Many people were driven from their land and enslaved. It would not end well for the inhabitants of the colonia. More on that tomorrow.

Meanwhile during the course of my search for various texts I was tickled to come across the Colchester edition of Monopoly – I quite fancy owning the Balkerne Gate or the Roman circus, even if its only in a game! Click on the image if you’re tempted- to open the link in a new tab.