Colchester was not merely a settlement but the capital of the Trinovantes tribe, an Iron Age people who minted their own coins and displayed a level of sophistication rare for the British Isles. This oppidum, as the town was called, became the first recorded town in Britain, predating London by centuries. The Trinovantes were not passive inhabitants; they were in a state of extended conflict with their western neighbors, the Catuvellauni, eventually losing ground and their capital to them by AD 10. When the Roman invasion began in AD 43, the city was the primary target, and the Emperor Claudius held a review of his invasion force on Lexden Heath. The combined army, including four legions, mounted auxiliaries, and an elephant corps, numbered around 30,000 men. Upon taking the city, Claudius was proclaimed Imperator, and the kings of 11 British tribes surrendered to him. The Romans established a Colonia here, naming it Colonia Claudia Victricensis, which translates to the City of Claudius' Victory. This became the most important city in Roman Britain, featuring the largest temple to a God-Emperor in the entire empire. The establishment of this Colonia involved extensive land appropriation from the local people, creating deep grievances that would soon erupt into violence.
The Boudican Massacre
The tranquility of Roman Colchester was shattered in AD 60 when the Trinovantes joined their northern neighbors, the Iceni, in the Boudican revolt. The rebels entered the city and, after a desperate Roman last stand at the temple of Claudius, methodically destroyed the temple and massacred many thousands of inhabitants. A significant Roman force attempting to relieve Colchester was destroyed in a pitched battle known as the Massacre of the Ninth Legion. The rebels then proceeded to sack London and St Albans, with the historian Tacitus estimating that 70,000 to 80,000 people were killed in the destruction of the three cities. Although Boudicca was eventually defeated in battle somewhere in the west midlands, the Romans are likely to have ravaged the lands of the rebel tribes, meaning Essex suffered greatly. Despite this devastation, the Trinovantes' identity persisted, and by the fourth century, Christianity was thought to be flourishing among them. Archaeological evidence includes the remains of a probable church at Colchester, dating from sometime after 320, shortly after Constantine the Great granted freedom of worship to Christians in 313. Other finds include a chi-rho symbol etched on a tile at a site in Wickford and a gold ring inscribed with a chi-rho monogram found at Brentwood.
The East Saxons and The Danegeld
The name Essex originates from the Anglo-Saxon period, deriving from the Old English name for the East Saxons, the eastern kingdom of the Saxons who had come from the continent and settled in Britain. Excavations at Mucking have demonstrated the presence of Anglo-Saxon settlers in the early fifth century, though the manner in which they became ascendent in the territory of the Trinovantes remains unknown. Studies suggest a pattern of typically peaceful co-existence, with the structure of the Romano-British landscape being maintained, and with the Saxon settlers believed to have been in the minority. The first known king of the East Saxons was Sledd in 587, though less reliable sources give an account of Aescwine founding the kingdom in 527. The early kings were pagan and uniquely amongst the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms traced their lineage back to Seaxnēat, god of the Saxons, rather than Woden. The kings of Essex are notable for their S-nomenclature, nearly all of them beginning with the letter S. The Kingdom of the East Saxons included not just the subsequent county of Essex, but also Middlesex, much of Hertfordshire, and at times also the sub-Kingdom of Surrey. The later Anglo-Saxon period shows three major battles fought with the Norse recorded in Essex: the Battle of Benfleet in 894, the Battle of Maldon in 991, and the Battle of Assandun in 1016. The Battle of Maldon was particularly significant as the Vikings, after winning, were able to extract the first Danegeld from King Aethelred.
After the Norman Conquest, William the Conqueror initially based himself at Barking Abbey, an already ancient nunnery, for several months while a secure base, which eventually became the Tower of London, could be established in the city. The invaders established a number of castles in the county, to help protect the new elites in a hostile country, including castles at Colchester, Castle Hedingham, Rayleigh, and Pleshey. After the arrival of the Normans, the Forest of Essex was established as a royal forest, though at that time the term forest was a legal term. There was a weak correlation between the area covered by the Forest of Essex and the much smaller area covered by woodland. An analysis of Domesday returns for Essex has shown that the Forest of Essex was mostly farmland, and that the county as a whole was 20% wooded in 1086. In 1218, Chelmsford became the county town. After that point population growth caused the proportion of woodland to fall steadily until the arrival of the Black Death in 1348, which killed between a third and a half of England's population, leading to a long-term stabilization of the extent of woodland. The Black Death significantly reduced England's population, leading to a change in the balance of power between the working population and their masters. By 1381, England's economic situation was very poor due to the war with France, so a new Poll Tax was levied. The Peasants' Revolt broke out in Brentwood on the 1st of June 1381, partly inspired by the egalitarian preaching of the radical Essex priest John Ball. Several thousand Essex rebels gathered at Bocking on the 4th of June, and then divided, with some heading to London. The rebels gained access to the walled City of London and gained control of the Tower of London. The revolt was crushed after the events at West Smithfield on the 15th of June, and the rebels were defeated in battle at Billericay on the 28th of June, with mass executions including hangings and disembowelments at Chelmsford and Colchester.
The Armada and The Dutch Quarter
In 1588, Tilbury Fort was chosen as the focal point of the English defenses against King Philip II's Spanish Armada, and the large veteran army he had ordered to invade England. The English believed that the Spanish would land near the Fort, so Queen Elizabeth's small and relatively poorly trained forces gathered at Tilbury, where the Queen made her famous speech to the troops. The tradition of generally friendly relations between England and the Netherlands is reflected in the history of Essex. In the 16th century, many Dutch and Flemish refugees came to Essex, and the name of the Dutch Quarter in Colchester is a legacy of that time. In the 17th century, Dutch engineers were used to drain part of Essex's coastal marshes. In the early 1620s, Dutchman Cornelius Vermuyden repaired a sea wall at Dagenham and was working to reclaim Canvey Island. The latter project was financed by Joas Croppenburg, a Dutch haberdasher to whom Vermuyden was related by marriage. Around 200 Dutch workers and refugees settled in Canvey around that time, establishing a church on the island. This influx of Dutch labor and refugees transformed the coastal landscape and economy, creating a unique cultural enclave that persists in the place names and history of the region.
The Siege and The New Towns
Essex, London, and the eastern counties backed Parliament in the English Civil War, but by 1648, this loyalty was stretched. In June 1648, a force of 500 Kentish Royalists landed near the Isle of Dogs, linked up with a small Royalist cavalry force from Essex, fought a battle with local parliamentarians at Bow Bridge, then crossed the River Lea into Essex. The combined force marched towards Royalist held Colchester, but a Parliamentarian force caught up with them just as they were about to enter the city's medieval walls, and a bitter battle was fought. The Royalists were able to retire to the security of the walls, and the Siege of Colchester followed. Ten weeks of starvation and news of Royalist defeats elsewhere led the Royalists to surrender. In the 19th century, the population of Essex at the time of the 1841 census was 344,979. The railways allowed coastal resorts such as Clacton-on-Sea to develop, and the Port of London shifted downriver to Tilbury. Subsequent development has included the new towns of Basildon and Harlow, originally developed to resettle Londoners after the destruction of London housing in the Second World War. These new towns have since been significantly developed and expanded, transforming the rural landscape into a hub of electronics, science, and pharmaceutical companies, with Harlow becoming a center for these industries and Basildon home to the European headquarters of New Holland Agriculture and the British HQ of the Ford Motor Company.
The Longest Coastline
Essex is a low-lying county with a flat coastline, yet it contains pockets of ancient woodland, including Epping Forest in the south-west. The coast is one of the longest of any English county, at 562 miles or 905 kilometers. It is deeply indented by estuaries, the largest being those of the Stour, which forms the Suffolk border, the Colne, Blackwater, Crouch, and the Thames in the south. Parts of the coast are wetland and salt marsh, including a large expanse at Hamford Water, and it contains several large beaches. The deep estuaries on the east coast give Essex, by some measures, the longest coast of any county. These estuaries mean the county's North Sea coast is characterized by three major peninsulas, each named after the Hundred based on the peninsula: the Tendring Peninsula between the Stour and the Colne, the Dengie Peninsula between the Blackwater and the Crouch, and the Rochford Peninsula between the Crouch and the Thames. A consequence of these features is that the broad estuaries defining them have been a factor in preventing any transport infrastructure linking them to neighboring areas on the other side of the river estuaries, to the north and south. The county has six main strategic routes, five of which reflect the powerful influence exerted by London, including the M25, which redistributes traffic across the London area and includes the Dartford Road Crossings over the Thames Estuary, linking Essex to Kent.
The Three Seaxes and The Flitch
Both the flag of Essex and the county's coat of arms comprise three Saxon seax knives, mainly white and pointing to the right, arranged vertically one above another on a red background. The three-seax device is also used as the official logo of Essex County Council, granted in 1932. The emblem was attributed to Anglo-Saxon Essex in early modern historiography, with the earliest reference to the arms of the East Saxon kings by Richard Verstegan in 1605, claiming that Erkenwyne king of the East-Saxons did bear for his arms three seaxes argent in a field gules. The county is also home to the Dunmow Flitch Trials, a traditional ceremony that takes place every four years and consists of a test of a married couple's devotion to one another. A common claim of the origin of the Dunmow Flitch dates back to 1104 and the Augustinian priory of Little Dunmow, founded by Lady Juga Baynard. Lord of the Manor Reginald Fitzwalter and his wife dressed themselves as humble folk and begged blessing of the Prior a year and a day after marriage. The prior, impressed by their devotion, bestowed upon them a flitch of bacon. Upon revealing his true identity, Fitzwalter gave his land to the priory on condition that a flitch should be awarded to any couple who could claim they were similarly devoted. By the 14th century, the Dunmow Flitch Trials appear to have achieved a significant reputation outside the local area, mentioned by the author William Langland in his 1362 book The Vision of Piers Plowman. The county also boasts Southend Pier, which is in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest pleasure pier in the world, and over 14,000 buildings have listed status in the county, including the 7th century Saxon church of St Peter-on-the-Wall.