CHAP. II.
Of the Time when the Romans first attempted Brettaine, and how long it remained under the Roman Servitude,
I. Caesar's first Attempt upon Brettaine was 55 Years before the Birth of Christ, according to the vulgar Computation, which falls in An. Mundi Conditi 3895. Caesar de Bello Gallico, lib. 4. & 5. tells us, His first Expedition into Brettaine was when M. Crassus and Cneius Pompeius were Consuls; which was Anno Urbis Conditae 699. & Anno Mundi 3895. & antè Christum 55. But Caesar did not subdue Brettaine, so as to make it Tributary, till his second Expedition into this Island, and that was the Year following; and at this second coming, the strong City of the Trinobants (now called London) yielded themselves, and submitted to the Romans, as not able to sustain their Force; and soon after also many other Towns submitted: And so Caesar having received Pledges from Cassibelan for his Submission to the Government of the Romans, and appointed what Tribute yearly Brettain should pay, departed out of Brettaine. Cae∣sar lib. 5. pag. 164. The Tribute imposed on the Brettains was 3000 l. yearly, if we may believe Speed in his History at large, pag. 187. a. also Ponticus Virunnius, pag. 25. out of the Welsh History.
Now the City of Rome being taken by Alaricus King of the Gothes, Anno Christi 410. the Roman Empire began to decline: Bede de Hist. Ang. lib. 1. cap. 11. So as the Rule and Sovereignty of the Romans over Brettaine continued almost 470 Years from the first coming of Caius Julius Caesar into this Island, as Bede himself computeth in the same Chapter: But Cambden saith, it continued 476 Years, computing to the time of Valen∣tinian the Third, in his Britannia Printed 1607. pag. 60.
- Danmonii
- ...Cornwal.
- ...Devonshire.
- Durotriges
- ...Dorsetshire.
- Belgae
- ...Somersetshire.
- ...Wiltshire.
- ...Hantshire.
- ...Isle of Wight.
- Atrebatii
- ...Barkshire.
- Regni
- ...Surrey.
- ...Sussex.
- Cantium
- ...Kent.
- Dobuni
- ...Glocestershire.
- ...Oxfordshire.
- Cattieuclani
- ...Buckinghamshire.
- ...Bedfordshire.
- ...Hartfordshire.
- Trinobantes
- ...Middlesex.
- ...Essex.
- Iceni
- ...Suffolk.
- ...Norfolk.
- ...Cambridgeshire.
- ...Huntingtonshire.
- Coritani
- ...Northamptonshire.
- ...Leycestershire.
- ...Rutlandshire.
- ...Lincolnshire.
- ...Nottinghamshire.
- ...Derbyshire.
- ...