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The Brigantes: From Clientage to Conquest
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 November 2011
Extract
It is generally assumed that the Brigantes under Queen Cartimandua had been formally recognised as Roman allies at some stage not long after the Roman invasion, though nowhere does Tacitus or any other ancient author make a direct statement to that effect. Cartimandua's reliance on Roman arms on more than one occasion, however, and her handing over of the fugitive Caratacus to the Roman authorities in A.D. 51 provide sufficiently strong hints that some such arrangement was in force. In modern parlance, she is characterised as a ‘client’ queen, although it is unlikely that this would have been the contemporary term applied. Precisely how long before A.D. 51 such a relationship had come into existence and whether with Cartimandua from the beginning is uncertain. She may have been placed on the throne after the Brigantian uprising of c. A.D. 48, although the scale of the problem, apparently dealt with quickly with only a few executions, seems more likely to reflect minor factional disagreement than a major revolt requiring a change of ruler.
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References
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