Britannia Inferior

Map of Britannia Inferior in 260 AD
Britannia Inferior locator

Britannia Inferior (Latin for "Lower Britain") was a new province carved out of Roman Britain probably around AD 197 during the reforms of Septimius Severus although the division may have occurred later, between 211 and 220, under Caracalla.[1] The removal of the governors in Londinium from control over the legions guarding Hadrian's Wall was aimed at reducing their power, given Clodius Albinus's recent bid to become emperor. The province was probably formalised around 214 by Severus's son Caracalla.

Including most of modern northern England and the Midlands, the region was governed from the city of Eboracum (modern York) by a praetorian legate in command of a single legion stationed in the city.[2] This subdivision of Britannia lasted throughout the Severan dynasty until the reorganisation of the empire under Diocletian in 296.

Hadrian's Wall, the northern border of Britannia Inferior
Major landmarks of the province, showing in red the Antonine Wall (top) and Hadrian's Wall (below)
  1. ^ Graham, A.J. (1966). "The Division of Britain". The Journal of Roman Studies. 56: 107. doi:10.2307/300136. JSTOR 300136.
  2. ^ The Cambridge Ancient History, Volume XII, London: Cambridge University Press, 1970: p.706