40 – 50s

Events in the 40s 3

• 37 – 41 Caligula — madness and murder Gaius Caesar Germanicus — nicknamed Caligula (Little Boot) by his father's soldiers — begins promisingly but within a year descends into what contemporaries describe as insanity. He humiliates the Senate, appoints his horse Incitatus to the consulship (allegedly), proclaims himself a living god, and conducts arbitrary executions. He is assassinated by Praetorian officers on 24 January 41 AD after less than four years. The Senate briefly considers restoring the Republic; the Praetorians instead choose Claudius, found hiding behind a curtain.
• 41 – 54 Claudius — the unexpected emperor Claudius, considered a fool by his family because of his physical disabilities (a limp and a stammer), proves a capable and reforming emperor. He conquers Britain in 43 AD — the first Roman landing since Caesar's raids — annexes Mauretania and Thrace, extends citizenship rights and reforms the bureaucracy. His fourth wife Agrippina the Younger poisons him with mushrooms in 54 AD to secure the succession for her son Nero. His Histories and Etruscan studies are lost; his memoirs survive only in fragments.
• 43 Roman invasion of Britain In 43 AD, Emperor Claudius dispatches four legions under Aulus Plautius to invade Britain. The crossing of the Channel and the campaign up to the Thames are completed in weeks. Claudius himself arrives for the decisive battle at Camulodunum (Colchester), which becomes the first Roman capital of Britain. The province of Britannia is established; within a generation Rome controls most of what is now England and Wales, eventually pushing into southern Scotland.