Chapters
In 286 CE (or 287 CE), an unprecedented situation occurred in the Western Roman Empire: the commander of the Roman fleet declared himself emperor and rose against the two legitimate rulers. The prevailing belief was that the Belgian usurper did so out of fear: he appropriated the spoils due to the emperor and, fearing arrest and execution, declared himself emperor. Was this really the case? What were the true political ambitions of Emperor Carausius?
How did the usurpation come about?
Carausius was certainly no coward. The earliest written sources we have about him come from circles hostile to him: Emperor Maximian (286-305) and Emperor Constantine the Great (306-337 CE). Hence the accusations against the usurper of theft, flight, and shameful usurpation of the purple. But could an unplanned usurpation have been so effective that Carausius retained power in Britain and northern Gaul for seven years? Absolutely not.
First and foremost, it is important to recall the difficult situation of the empire at the end of the 3rd century. For several decades, it had been in political, economic, and military crisis. Imperial power changed hands quite rapidly; No prince, even one as distinguished as Emperor Aurelian (270-275 CE), ruled the Roman Empire for more than a few years. Usurps were commonplace. Suffice it to say that, given the dramatic situation posed by Emperor Valerian’s captivity in 260, Postumus usurped power in Gaul, and Spain and Britain also recognized his authority. After his death in 269, it was not until 274 that Emperor Aurelian abolished the so-called Gallic Empire (Imperium Galliarum) created by Postumus and incorporated it into the Roman Empire. However, the western provinces, such as Gaul and Britain, definitely benefited from the rule of a local usurper, who was able to restore order and defend their borders against Germanic invasions from the Rhine or Pictish attacks from behind Hadrian’s Wall. The emperor, residing in Rome, was unable to extinguish all the fires within the Empire’s borders.
The situation in Britain itself was very specific. The island province struggled to cope with Pictish raids and attacks by Frankish pirates, who plundered ports in Britain and northern Gaul. Therefore, in 285 CE, Emperor Diocletian appointed a co-ruler, Maximian, in the West to better govern the provinces there. However, the capable and ambitious naval commander, Carausius, likely saw himself as a better candidate for the purple, especially since he had been the one to stop pirate attacks and thus gain recognition in the eyes of the inhabitants of Britain and northern Gaul. The conflict with Maximian only pushed him to claim the purple, which he did in 286 or 287.
Usurper or legitimate emperor?
Who was the new ruler in Britain, really? Marcus Aurelius Mauseus Carausius (Marcus Aurelius Mausaeus Carausius) came from the Celtic Menapii tribe in the province of Gallia Belgica. He was quite well-known in the West for his successful warfare against the barbarians in Gaul and the North Sea. As emperor, he efficiently governed Britain: he developed coinage and defended the northern borders against the Picts. He restored peace to the island, and his only remaining opponents were the legitimate emperors: Diocletian and Maximian. In 289 (or 290), the latter attempted an armed expedition against the usurper but was defeated. Carausius thus won temporary acceptance of his authority. However, he was never recognized as emperor; He always remained a usurper, merely illegally ruling Britain and northern Gaul. He ruled until 293, when he was assassinated by someone close to him, Allectus. The latter took his place but was overthrown in 296 by the emperor Constantius Chlorus, and thus, from the perspective of Diocletian and Maximian, the Roman Empire became whole again.
So, was Carausius’s usurpation a kind of “secession” of Britain? Was it a kind of ancient Brexit? According to Maximian, it would certainly have looked that way, but in reality, it was nothing of the sort. It’s important to understand Carausius’s political ambitions.
Numismatic sources are helpful here. The usurper issued a considerable number of diverse coins. The depictions on them were aimed primarily at domestic audiences, such as the people of Britain, and were intended to legitimize the usurper’s power. However, they also expressed the ambitions of the ruler himself and how he wished to be perceived. It could be said that Carausius’s primary and most important goal was to recognize the legitimacy of his rule as one of the emperors of the Roman Empire. On his coins, Carausius listed the names of legions, not only the British ones, which he commanded himself, but also legions from across the empire. These include Legion IV and Legion VII, stationed in Moesia, south of the lower Danube. Carausius portrayed his own likeness as the legitimate emperor, with the signature Imperator Caesar Carausius Augustus. The dominant motif in his coins is peace (pax) – after all, he brought peace to the borders of his territory, which is the primary task of an emperor. An exceptionally interesting coin is the aureus with a depiction of Jupiter on the reverse. On the one hand, it is an expression of devotion to Jupiter. On the other hand, Emperor Diocletian had the nickname “Jovian” (Iovius) and considered himself a descendant of Jupiter (which was intended to strengthen his power), so this coin may also be an expression of a desire to gain recognition from Diocletian, whose authority Carausius, in a sense, wanted to submit to. The depiction of three emperors (Diocletian, Maximian, and Carausius) on the coin, with the inscription “Carausius and his brothers” (Carausius et fratres suis), served a similar purpose. This is a clear expression of Carausius’s goal: a single Roman Empire ruled by three emperors. The dream of a “British Emperor” was never fulfilled, cut short by his sudden death in 293 CE.
Conclusions
Carausius’s political ambitions were therefore quite clear: they were not about separating Britain from the Empire, but about ensuring order and security there, something only he, at the head of an army and navy, could do. As a usurper, he sought recognition as the legitimate co-ruler. Through effective management and command of the army, he managed to maintain his newly acquired power. However, he was unable to expand his power and become sole ruler in Rome.
He could never count on recognition of his rule by the other emperors. While they had to acknowledge the factual situation, they could not afford for a self-proclaimed ruler to be recognized as legitimate. However, Carausius’s plan to divide power among several emperors paradoxically came to fruition, albeit without his participation. Diocletian, drawing lessons from the Gallic Empire (260-274) and the usurpation of Carausius (286-293), decided that it would be more effective if the empire were governed by four emperors. Thus, in 293, the system of tetrarchy was born. However, the rulers were to be appointed by their predecessors; there was no question of self-appointed adornment of the purple. Each of the two emperors therefore appointed an assistant. Constantius Chlorus became Caesar in Gaul and Britain. In 296, he regained power in Britain by overthrowing Allectus. However, after Diocletian’s abdication in 305, the tetrarchy fell to ruins, as in 306 the sons of the previous emperors usurped power: Constantine in Britain and Maxentius in Italy. By donning the purple in defiance of the law, they essentially did the same thing as Carausius, who could have laughed at this from the afterlife…
