Cæsar, at his first landing on the island, found it not under a sole monarchy, but divided into divers provinces, or petty kingdoms.
Soon after having defeated Cassibelan
, and taken several British provinces, he left the island, and the Romans entirely abandoned it for ninety years and upwards.
However, in the year of our Lord 42, Claudius Cæsar, the 5th Emperor of Rome, sent his General Plautius, with great force, into Britain, and following him soon after in person, subdued a great part of the island, by which means he procured the title of Britannicus.
In the year 50, London is supposed to have been built by the Romans.
In this year Ostorius, the Roman general, defeated Caractacus
, the chief of the British Princes, and having taken him prisoner, carried him to Rome.
The Christian religion, about this time, was first planted in Britain.
In the year 61, the Britons, under the conduct of Boadicea, a British Queen, destroyed 70,000 Romans.
The next year Suetonius, the Roman general, defeated the Britons, and killed 80,000 of them upon the spot; whereupon Boadicea poisoned herself.