ARRAS MEDALLION 4

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 33, 9 February 1937, Page 6

ARRAS MEDALLION 4

EXHIBIT AT MUSEUM an interesting acquisition One of the latest and most interesting acquisitions to the Alexander) Museum at Wanganui is a pair of plasters of the Arras Meda'iion made for the museum by the Blbliotheque Nationale, Paris, and forwarded to Wanganui through Mr. Hope Gibbons, by Miss O. F. Abbott, historical research worker, Neuilly-sur-Seine, France. The history of the medallion is told in a memorandum forwarded by Miss Abbott. While clearing away war wreckage to rebuild the central portion of Arras (well known to many New Zealanders who served in the Great War) in 1923, a large hoard of Roman gold medals and coins was unearthed, one of which represents Constantius Chlorus riding over Lont»n Bridge. The inscription gives a clue to the date and the occasion commemorated.

History, states the memorandum, recalls that Constantius, while “noble Caesar” of the Gauls and before he became full Emperor, took an expedition to Britain in AD-296 to over- A throw the usurper Allectus and restore order in that province. “It is absolutely the first coin which has come to hand to illustrate the fact that London was, in the days of the Roman Empire, not merely a large provincial town, but the official head of the great “dioceses" of the fourth century Empire, on a parallel with Treves, Carthage, Ciscus, or Antioch. While coins were known which illustrated all those cities, none celebrating London had ever been discovered till now.

“The question naturally arises as to the connection with Arras," Miss Abbott continues in her account of the finding of the medallion. "A history of the Atrebates supplies the clue. This was a tribe of Belgic Celts settled in north eastern France between the rivers Seine and Rhine, whose capital was Arras. They likewise owned a flourishing colony ,n Britain with a capital called Callena Atrebatum, now known as Silchester. Extensive excavations have been made on this site in recent years and many coins of the Atrebate kings have been unearthed. In the Middle Ages the Atrebate territory was known as the province of Atrois, with Arras the chief city. When Julius Caesar conquered Gaul he made a treaty with the Atrebates and their king or chieftain was a sort of Roman Consul, Caesar sent their King Commius on a mission to Britain to exhort the native tribes peacefully to accept Roman domination. But the British Atrebates held Commius a prisoner (perhaps with his own consent, for he joined the Gaulish revon later) and Caesar's invasion was merely a short raid.

“A great many silver coins have been found at Silchester bearing the effigies of Commius and his three sons, indicating that they ruled in Britain over dominions stretching from Hampshire to Kent. Their reigns probably occupied the last thirty years before the Christian era. Although Silchester was their capital, London was undoubtedly their great shipping port, already famous in Caesar's time for the number of its merchants and abundance of its supplies.

“All Roman invasions of Britain started from the continental Atrebote territory, and probably the Romans were tempted by the known wealth and prosperity of the colony across the Channel. The Atrebates were famous for their woollen cloth, and made handsome mantles dyed reddish brown shades, decorated with a shield or lozenge pattern, which were fashionable for centuries throughout the Roman Empire. St. Jerome reproached the worldlings for the luxury of their Atrebate clothes, and the Emperor Gallien exclaimed with disdain on hearing of the Gaulish revolt: “Is the republic in danger because we are deprived of Atrebate woollens?"

“As late as AD-330 Roman troops in the Rhine valley were fed with British corn, and British cloth earned notice in the Eastern Edict of Diocletian in AD-301. At that time skilled artisans abounded in Britain far more than in Gaul and were fetched from th'e island to build public and private edifices as far south as Autun, in France.

“For details of the mission of Constantius Chlorus, one must look up the history ot the British Emperor Carausius, who reigned from AD-287 to 293. He was a Belgic Celt, born in Flanders, appointed by the Romans commander-in-chief of tne naval squadron at Boulogne in order to check the piratical Franks and Saxons who were beginning to infest both coasts of the British Channel. When summoned to give an account of his doings, Carausius sailed for Britain and made himself Emperor of that country, even constraining tne two legitimate Roman Emperors to recognise him as a quasi-partner of their dignity. “It is supposed by some that Carausius may have been a descendant ot the Commius dynasty, ancient allies of Rome, which would explain why he was left unmolested. During his reign the city of London was fortified by , a wall and London Bridge was probably built. He issued many coins, but was finally assassinated by one of his officers named Allectus, who at once assumed the purple and struck other coins describing himself as Pious, Fortunate and August. “Roman historians of the period have left long-winded descriptions of Constantius' expedition to overthrow this usurper, and mention that a band ot soldiers became separated from the main expedition in a tog and were fortunate enough to meet and defeat in the streets of London the remnants of the mercenary multitude of Allectus’ forces which had taken refuge in that city. “The Constantine period which followed was one of progressive prosperity in Britain, when large numbers of manors and farms were installed and t’.ade prospered exceedingly. The excavations at Silchester have brought t > light the foundations of a Christian church—probably the first in Britain —adjoining a temple. The walls of Silchester are about four miles in circumference and vary in eight from 10 to 20 feet. Continued excavations will probably add considerably the known history_of_the period.”