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XXII.—On the Castra of the Littus Saxonicum, and particularly the Castrum of Othona

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2012

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Extract

The castra of the Littus Saxonicum were nine in number, and are thus catalogued in the Notitia, the military survey made of the Roman empire in the last stage of its existence:

1. Branodunum or Brancaster.

2. Garianonum or Burgh Castle.

3. Regulbium or Reculver.

4. Rutupiæ or Richborough.

5. Dubræ or Dover.

6. Lemanse or Lymne.

7. Anderida or Pevensey.

8. Portus Adurni or Bramber Castle.

9. Othona.

In discussing the subject of the castra I propose to follow the course which my own mind took during the investigation.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1868

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References

page 421 note a See Lewin's Fasti Sacri, p. 274, No. 1641.

page 422 note a ἐϕ᾽ ᾣ Γερόντιος ἀχθόμενος , καὶ τοὺς ἀυτόθι περιησάμενος στρατιώτας, ἐπανίστησι Κωνσταντίνῳ τοὺς ἐν Κελτοῖς βαρβάρους πρὸς οὓς οὺκ ἀντισχὼν ὁ Κωνσταντῖνος, ἄτε δὴ τοῦ πλέιονος τῆς δυνάμεως μέρους ὄντος ἐν ᾽Ιβηρίᾳ, πάντα κατ᾿ έξουσίαν έπιόντες οἱ ὑπὲρ τὸν ῾Ρῆνον βάρβαροι, κατέστησαν εἰς ἀνἀγκην τούς τε ἐν ᾽Ιβηρίᾳ, πἀντα κατ᾿ έξουσίαν ἐπιόντες οἱ ύπἑρ τὸν Κελτοῖς ὲθνῶν ἔνια, τῆς ῾Ρωμαίων ἀρχῆς ἀποστῆναι, καὶ καθ᾿ ὲαυτὸν βιοτύειν, ὸυκέτι τοῖς τούτων ὲπακούοντα νόμοις Βρεττανίας ὅπλα ὲνδύντες, καὶ σΦῶν ἀυτῶν προκινδυνεύσαντες, ἠλευθὲρωσαν τῶν ὲπικειμένων βαρβάρων τὰς πόλεις.—Zosim. Lib. Vi. C. 5

page 412 note b Bρɛττανία δὲ ἡ νῆσος Ῥωμαίων ἀέστη. … Bρɛττανίαν μέντοι Ῥωμαῖοι ἀνασώσασθαι ὀυκέτι ἔσχον ἀλλ᾽ ὄυσα ὑπὸ Tυράννοις ἀπ᾽ ἀυτοῦ ἔμɛνɛ.” — Procop. Bell. Vand. i. 2.

page 412 note c “Ὁνωρίου δὲ γράμμασι πρὸσ τὰς ὲν Bρɛττανίᾳ χρησαμένου πόλɛις φυλάττɛσθαι π αραγ;γέλλέουσι,” κ.τλ— Zosim. lib.vi.c.10.

page 412 note d “Kᾀυταῦθα (inter Bodunos) φρουρὰν καταλιπών.”— Dion. Ix. 20.“Kᾀυταῦθα (inter Bodunos) φρουρὰν καταλιπών.”— Dion. Ix. 20.

page 423 note a “Cunctosque castris ad Auvonam et Sabrinam fluvios (Ostorius) cohibere parat.”—Tac. Ann. xii. 31. “Præfectum castrorum et legionarias cohortes, exstruendis apud Siluras præsidiis relictas, (Silures) circumfundunt.”—Ibid. 38.

page 423 note b “Paucis admodum castellis in ulteriora promotis.”—Tac. Agric. 14.

page 423 note c “Sparsos per castella milites (Britanni) consectati, expugnatis præsidiis, ipsam coloniam invasere.”—Ibid. 16.

page 423 note d “Nec arduum videbatur exscindere coloniam nullis munimentis septam, quod ducibus nostris parùm provisum erat, dum amœnitati prius quam usui consulitur.”—Tac. Ann. xiv. 31.

“‥‥ vigiles speculas, castellaque longe

Adspicis ? Ille dedit, cinxitque hæc mœnia fossa.”

Stat. Sylv. lib. v. Ad Crispinum, v. 145.

page 424 note a Eutrop. ix. 21. Aurel. Viet, de Cæs. c. 39.

page 424 note b Aurel. Viet, de Cæs. c. 39.

page 424 note c Eutrop. ix. 22.

page 425 note a Zosim. iii. 1 and 6.

page 425 note b Amm, Marcell. xxvi. 4. Claudian. iv. Consul. Honor, sub initio.

page 425 note c “Nectaridumque Comitem maritimi tractus occisum, et Fullofaudem ducem hostium insidüs circumventum.”—Amm. Marc, xxvii. 8, s. 1.

page 425 note d Ibid, xxviii. 2, 1.

page 425 note e Ibid, xxvii. 8, 1.

page 425 note f Ibid, xxvii. 8, 6; xxviii. 3, 1.

page 426 note a “……Maduerunt Saxone fuso

Orcades: incaluit Pictorum sanguine Thule:

Scotorum cumulos flevit glacialis Ierne.”—Claud, iv. Consul. Hon. v. 31.

page 426 note b “Instaurabat urbes et præsidiaria, ut diximus, castra limitesque vigiliis tuebatur et prætenturis.”—Amm. Marc, xxviii. 3, 7.

page 426 note c “Me quoque vicinis pereuntem gentibus, inquit (Britannia)

Me juvit Stilicho, totam cum Scotus Iernen

Movit, et infesto spumavit remige Tethys.

Illius effectum curis, ne tela timerem

Scotica, ne Pictum tremerem, ne littore toto

Prospicerem dubiis venturum Saxona ventis.”—Claud. Laud. Stil. lib. ii. v. 250.

page 427 note a “Murutn … tramite a mari usque ad mare inter urbes, quæ ibidem forte ob metum hostium collocatæ fuerant, directo librant … in littore quoque oceani ad meridianam plagam, quâ naves eorum habebantur, et inde barbariæ feræ bestiæ timebantur, turres per intervalla ad prospectum maris collocant; valedicunt tanquam non reversuri.”—Gildas Hist. c. 18.

page 427 note b Beæ Chronic, et Hist. lib. i. c. 12.

page 427 note c Henric. Huntind. Hist. lib. i.

page 428 note a Blomefield's Norfolk.

page 429 note a Grose's Antiq. and Ives's Remarks upon the Garianonum of the Romans. Yarmouth, 1803, p. 22.

page 429 note b For an exact description of the foundations as examined by an architect, see Knight's “Old London.”

page 430 note a Ives, p. 39.

page 430 note b Ives, p. 24.

page 430 note c Ives, p. 35.

page 430 note d Ives, p. 30.

page 430 note e See Wesseling, Anton. Itin. sub voce “stabulis.”

page 431 note a Bede, iii. c. 19.

page 431 note b Upon the balk of a kitchen in a small farm-house in the parish is cut an inscription, which Ives has figured on a plate dedicated to the Society of Antiquaries, no doubt as a puzzle upon which they might exercise their ingenuity. He reads it thus: “Bis acuad atin denuo reedificatur—Twyce brent aforne is bylt agenn bi Robir Thorne the Parson, 1348—62.” The words “acuad atin ” evidently signify burnt before, but how this meaning can be extracted from any Latin words bearing the slightest resemblance to them exceeds my understanding. Ives, p. 49.

page 431 note c See C. Roach Smith's Reculver, p. 192.

page 431 note d Ibid. p. 194.

page 431 note e On the Norfolk coast at Bacton it appears that the land is washed away at the rate of at least 90 yards in 35 years, which would amount to between two and three miles since the Christian era. (See Athenæum for 6 April, 1867, No. 2058, p. 455.) The wear on the Norfolk coast would of course be greater than in the estuary of the Thames.

page 432 note a “Adtanatos insula adspiratur freto Gallico, a Britanniæ continente æstuario tenui separata.”—Solin. Polyhist. c. 22. How can this be reconciled with the tradition that the Goodwin Sands were once part of the mainland?

page 432 note b “Est autem ad orientalem Cantiæ plagam Tanatos insula non modica ‥‥ quam a continenti terrâ secernit fluvius Vantsumu qui est latitudinis circiter trium stadiorum et duobus tantum in locis est transmeabilis.”—Bede, Hist. lib. i. c. 25.

page 432 note c “Donare decreveram ‥‥ duarum navium transvectionis censum qui etiam nostri juris erat in loco cujus vocabulum est ad Serræ [Sarr] ‥‥. sicut à regibus Merciorum Æthilbaldo … et rege Offan longe ante concessum est tributum in loco cujus vocabulum est Lundenwic [Sandwich].”—Historia Mon. S. Aug. Cant. London, 1858, p. 322.

page 432 note d Saxon Chron. Mon. Hist. Brit. p. 440.

page 432 note e Ibid. p. 449.

page 432 note f Thorn, (apud Twysden,) 2015.

page 433 note a C. Roach Smith's Reculver, p. 221.

page 434 note a C. Roach Smith's Reculver, p. 53.

page 435 note a C. Roach Smith' Richborough, p. 52.

page 435 note b Ibid. p. 51.

page 435 note c Ibid. p. 45.

page 436 note a See paper by T. Lewin on the Portus Lemanis, Archæolog. vol. xl.

page 436 note b Tac. Hist. lib. iv. c. 66.

page 440 note a Morant's Essex, vol. ii. p. 574.

page 441 note a Hist. Eccles. lib. iii. c. 22.

page 441 note b Thus far the learned Gamden had traced the etymology, vol. ii. p. 123. Ed. Gough.

page 444 note a I have since been furnished by Mr. O. Parker with the following list of articles found at Othona:

page 446 note a Bede, lib. iii. c. 21.

page 447 note a I have since ascertained from a resident at Maldon, on whose authority I can rely, that the part of the estuary from the sea to within seven or eight miles of Maldon is still called the “Pant,” so that Bede is strictly correct in placing Ithancester on the Pant or Pent.

page 448 note a It is the opinion of some that in the interior the apse or chancel was approached from the body of the church by a double arch, and they rely upon the fact that at about the middle of the chord of the apse is still seen the base of a stone, which they think must have supported the division between the two arches, but in truth the stone is not exactly in the middle, and therefore, instead of supporting, disproves the theory.

page 449 note a Terra Sancti Walerici, Hund. de Witbrichtesherna. Effecestram tenuit Turchilhis liber homo T. E.E. &c.

Terra Hugonis de Monteforte, Hund. de Witbrichtesherna. Effecestre tenet Ulmerus de Hugene, quod tenuit Ingulphus liber homo T. R. E. &c.

page 449 note b Morant's Essex, vol. ii. p. 377.

page 450 note a Morant, Hist, of Essex, vol. i. p. 377.