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Caradoc was a Brythonic king of the Catuvellauni tribe of the 1st century AD. He is known as the First British Hero in Great Britain, especially amongst the Welsh. Caradoc is also believed to have had ties with the early Christian movement.
Sadly we do not know much about Caradoc’s early life. Due to the scanty record keeping of the Brythonic Celts we do not know when Caradoc was born. However guesses by historians place the location at Camulodunum (modern Colchester). His father was Cunobelinus or Cynfelyn, the First British Statesman. His mother is unknown. Caradoc was the youngest of his father’s children. From his later actions we can surmise that Caradoc and his elder brother Togodumnus became close in childhood while he had a falling out with his eldest brother Adminius.
We get our first mention of Caradoc around 25 AD. From the records we can gather that Caradoc was the favored nephew of Epaticcus, the younger brother of Cunobelinus. When Cunobelinus sought to expand his territory in the mid 20s AD Caradoc volunteered to accompany uncle Epaticcus in his war against Verica of the Atrebates. The campaign was a success, culminating with the fall of the Atrebatean capital of Calleva (modern Silchester). For the next ten years Epaticcus and Caradoc ruled the conquered Atrebatean lands jointly, with Caradoc being allowed to mint his own coins from Calleva. In 35 AD Epaticcus died and in the resulting division of power by Cunobelinus Caradoc was granted his uncle’s former lands. Verica took the opportunity to launch an attack and despite a spirited defense on the part of Caradoc some of the land was lost to the Atrebates. About this time Cunobelinus began to make public his disapproval of Caradoc and Togodumnus’ involvement with the Druids. The Druids, the native priesthood of the Brythonic Celt religion, were anti-Rome and this was why Caradoc and his brother associated with them. Unlike their elder brother Adminius, who in his own little princedom in Cantium (modern Kent) lived like a Roman (even eating and dressing like one), or their own father Caradoc and Togodumnus had no love of Rome or anything Roman. They resented the fact that Cunobelinus held a Roman title and that the Romans seemed to exercise a degree of remote control over them. An alliance with the Druids was a powerful way to state so. In 40 AD Cunobelinus suffered a stroke rendering him unable to rule. Caradoc and Togodumnus reacted quickly and were able to seize control of the Catuvellauni before Adminius. Togodumnus, despite being older, deferred their near rulership to Caradoc. For his first action Caradoc issued a false decree from Cunobelinus depriving Adminius of his lands and banishing him from the lands of the Catuvellauni. The decree bestowed the former lands of Adminius on Caradoc. Soon after assuming rulership of Cantium news reached Caradoc that Adminius had fled to Rome and recruited the aid of the mad emperor Gaius Caligula. Togodumnus and Caradoc jointly prepared to defend after a large invasion army was sighted in Gaul. But it turns out to be a false alarm for at the last minute the army starts to collect seashells instead. Caradoc does not let down his guard and he continues to keep an active defense until his father’s death in 42 AD. The whole of Southeastern Britain mourns the passing of Cunobelinus and Togodumnus becomes the new king. However Caradoc is the one who holds real power. With the blessings of his brother Caradoc set out in mid 42 AD (an approximate guess by historians) to wage war against Verica and the Atrebates. Caradoc is relentless against his foe and with the help of the Durotriges and Dobunni he conquers the Atrebates by year’s end. In victory Caradoc sets up his capital near modern Guilford and begins to mint coins there. However the celebration would not last for long.
Meanwhile Verica had fled from Britain and gone to Rome where a new emperor ruled. Back in 41 AD Caligula was assassinated by the Praetorian Guard and his uncle, the aging Claudius, was installed in the purple. Claudius needed a military campaign or some other comparable event to gain glory and to prove himself to Rome that he could rule. Verica’s arrival and Adminius’ own pleas convinced Claudius that this was just what he needed. So in 43 AD Claudius Caesar sent an invasion force consisting of four legions (Legio IX Hispana, Legio II Augusta, Legio XIV Gemina, and Legio XX Valeria Victrix) and 20,000 auxiliary troops under the command of Aulus Plautius. Meanwhile Togodumnus and Caradoc prepare to defend, forming an alliance of tribes to fight the Romans. At first the Romans encounter success defeating a number of skirmishing parties sent by Caradoc to test them. Unfortunately for the Catuvellauni the Dobunni defect to the Romans which results in a major blow to morale and troop numbers. Caradoc and Togodumnus then decided to pull their forces back to the River Medway and group their united armies there. Caradoc was hoping that the Medway would provide a trap to catch the Romans in and massacre, seeing how that with their armor crossing the river without a bridge was suicide. But the Romans, in a moment of ingenuity that surprised even their own historians, dispatched a special light swimmer unit across the Medway to attack the horses of the Brythonic chariots. In the uproar this caused the Roman center led by Legio II under the future emperor Vespasian crossed the Medway and attacked. However in a testament to Caradoc and Togodumnus’ skills at leadership the Brythonic forces rallied and fought the Romans to a stalemate, causing them to retreat at nightfall. The next day G. Hosidius Geta led the attack and was defeated by Caradoc, and nearly captured in the retreat. But Geta did not give up and in the second attack Geta’s troops were a key element in routing the Brythonic army. One of the many casualties was Togodumnus, who had been cut down by a Roman. Caradoc, from the new Brythonic camp along the Thames swore revenge. But he was denied that when the Romans defeated him in battle along the river. Now realizing that with the main alliance army twice defeated and broken and with the capital of Camulodunum in danger the best thing to do would be to evacuate. So after returning home with Togodumnus’ body Caradoc announced that for the safety of the people the old lands of the Catuvellauni must be abandoned to the invaders. However the people would not leave their homes, so only Caradoc’s own family and retinue left Camulodunum for the rugged mountains of what is now Wales.
Having been forced out of his own home Caradoc continued the fight in Wales. Upon arrival in the mountains Caradoc discovered that his reputation had made him famous and one by one the Welsh tribes (the Silures, Demetae, Ordovices, and Deceangli) swore allegiance to him. In Wales Caradoc bided his time to strike back for several years and once Plautius left Britain in 47 AD Caradoc knew the time was right. At the head of the Silures Caradoc led a series of lightning raids into Roman territory as far as modern Gloucestershire. For the new Roman governor, Ostorius Scapula, this was to the mark the beginning of a several year long headache that would last his career. To try to remedy the problem Scapula had Legio XX Valeria Victrix stationed at Glevum (modern Gloucester) as a guard along the lower Severn River. Scapula then had a colonia (a group of retired veterans and their families) established at Camulodunum and after making sure everything was secure Scapula dispatched Legio II Augusta into Wales. Caradoc heard of the invasion and moved his base of operations out of Siluran land in southern Wales to the land of the Ordovices in mid Wales. Scapula responded by building a new camp at Viroconium and stationing Legio XIV Gemina there. Caradoc would continue to raid the Romans for the next several years, and Scapula would keep failing to catch him. Finally in mid 50 AD Scapula caught Caradoc, who was traveling with his family, and his army off guard at a place called Caer Caradoc (Welsh: Caradoc’s Fort). In the ensuing battle despite having to fight uphill the Romans defeat the Brythonic forces and capture Caradoc’s family as well as force the surrender of his other surviving brothers (who were never mentioned by any records before this point). However Caradoc himself disappears seemingly from the face of the earth. The fact was that Caradoc had used the confusion of battle to escape into the hills. Caradoc went north and eventually reached the lands of the Brigantes, which were ruled by a woman named Cartimandua. Caradoc hoped to use the lands of the Brigantes as a base to further attack the Romans. Unfortunately Queen Cartimandua was a client ruler for Rome and bound by that relationship, so she tricked Caradoc into thinking himself safe. Then she let the Romans knew his location and had Caradoc hauled off in chains to Rome.
The time of Caradoc in Rome was the last stage of his life. Like Vercingetorix so many years before the reputation and skill of Caradoc was widely known and spread in Rome itself, in order to make Claudius’ defeat of him all the more impressive. Upon arrival Caradoc is reunited with his wife and daughter and together they are forced to walk in Claudius’ Triumph as a war prize, a testament to Rome’s strength in arms. After the Triumph ended Caradoc was allowed to speak before the Senate and Emperor in the Curia (The chamber where the Senate met). Against Roman tradition his wife and daughter stood with him as he delivered the following the speech as recorded by the historian Tacticus: "If the degree of my nobility and fortune had been matched by moderation in success, I would have come to this City as a friend rather than a captive, nor would you have disdained to receive with a treaty of peace one sprung from brilliant ancestors and commanding a great many nations. But my present lot, disfiguring as it is for me, is magnificent for you. I had horses, men, arms, and wealth: what wonder if I was unwilling to lose them? If you wish to command everyone, does it really follow that everyone should accept your slavery? If I were now being handed over as one who had surrendered immediately, neither my fortune nor your glory would have achieved brilliance. It is also true that in my case any reprisal will be followed by oblivion. On the other hand, if you preserve me safe and sound, I shall be an eternal example of your clemency." The eloquence of the speech combined with the proud and noble pose of Caradoc as he said it made a great impact on Claudius, and instead of having Caradoc and his family executed, pardoned them of the crime of resistance to Rome and he allowed them to live in Rome as free citizens for the rest of their lives. Caradoc and his family lived quite happily in Rome, though at one point Caradoc remarked to a Roman visitor “And can you, then, who have got such possessions and so many of them, covet our poor tents?” Caradoc reportedly died around 54 AD of old age. So died Caradoc, the first British rebel to Rome, at an unknown age.
In conclusion Caradoc was hero of his people and a formidable opponent of Rome. After Caradoc’s death there was reportedly much mourning in Rome over the loss of such a great foe. Upon the later return of Caradoc’s wife, daughter, and her family there was much mourning in Britain as well. Due to the status of Caradoc as a great rebel leader a mythos grew up around him, especially in Wales. Due to the mystique of him and the stories Caradoc the myth and Caradoc the man have become nigh on inseparable, making modern study of him a hard one. Interestingly enough Caradoc has a tie to early Christianity in the form of his daughter’s conversion, possibly during the house arrest of Paul of Tarsus in Nero’s reign. She took the name Claudia and married Paul’s half brother Rufus Pudens. These two are credited with the founding of the Church in Britain. So in closing Caradoc was one of the great military heroes of the Brythonic Celts and a great rebel leader besides that. A man who is deserving of his title of ‘First British Hero'. |
User Comments:
| Caesar
:: February 5 2006 |
Great Article 
Very informative  |
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| Cassador_Chris
:: October 1 2008 |
| Good article. I actually never remember learning about Caradoc before. Well done! |
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